10 Father’s Day recipes from Tom Kerridge to Mark Hix and Amy Poon

Dad doesn’t want another novelty mug. He doesn’t want socks. What he might want is a coronation fried chicken sandwich so big and crispy it needs structural support, a Flintstones-sized T-bone slicked in grape molasses, or a brownie so rich it makes you question your life choices halfway through.

This Father’s Day, skip the pub and take the apron. We’ve rounded up 10 proper recipes that lean big on flavour and generous portions – from slow-roasted lamb that falls apart if you look at it funny to smoky short ribs destined for the barbecue. There are Yorkshire puds with toppings that go from breakfast to braised beef, and even a cinnamon bun hack for the health-conscious dad (or the one pretending to be). Cook one. Cook them all. Just don’t expect to be left with any leftovers.

Recipe by: Poppy O’Toole

“These beautiful harissa spices give me flashbacks to a Moroccan holiday with my friends Jackie and Alex, although I can safely say the all-inclusive buffet of mostly chips and pasta didn’t inspire this recipe.

“A slow-roasted number, it will turn even hardened lamb-haters – the meat just tears apart. Put in the effort with the prep, serve it up for dinner and spend half the night convincing your friends you didn’t buy it ready-to-cook. Take the glory.”

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

The core:

2 recipe quantities of easy flatbreads (8 flatbreads; see below)

For the lamb:

2 tbsp rose harissa paste

3 tbsp ras el hanout

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

5 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tbsp light brown soft sugar

6 thyme sprigs, leaves picked

6 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked

2 tbsp almond butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1.4-1.5kg lamb shoulder on the bone

For the couscous:

200g couscous

Seeds of 1 pomegranate

A small bunch of mint, leaves picked and chopped

A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped

5-6 black or green olives, pitted and sliced

1 tbsp dried oregano

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and black pepper

For the flatbreads (makes 4):

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

250g Greek yogurt (or 125ml cup warm water + 2 tbsp vegetable oil, if you’re vegan)

1 tsp onion seeds, poppy seeds or sesame seeds

1 tsp baking powder

Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Start this the night before you want to cook. Place all of the lamb ingredients apart from the meat itself into a blender and blitz to a smooth paste to make a marinade.

2. With a knife, make some small incisions into the lamb shoulder to help the marinade get right into the meat. Rub and massage the marinade into the shoulder like it’s date night, until it’s completely covered.

3. Transfer the lamb to a roasting tin, cover with foil and place it in the fridge overnight (or for a minimum of six hours).

4. Make the flatbreads: in a bowl, mix all the ingredients – flour, yoghurt, seeds, baking powder and seasoning – into a dough. Knead for about three minutes, to a soft but not sticky ball. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave for 10 minutes to rest.

5. Cut the ball into four equal pieces and use a rolling pin to roll each one out to a thin round. You’re aiming for them to be about 12cm/5in diameter – but don’t worry if they look rustic in shape. Set aside the flatbreads on a lightly floured surface.

6. Place a large, dry frying pan over a high heat. Leave it to get hot, then throw in the first flatbread. Once bubbles start to form in the dough (about 30 seconds) and you’ve got a little bit of char on the underside, flip over the flatbread and cook the other side for about 30 seconds, to get a little bit of char there, too. Keep warm while you do the same with the remaining three flatbreads. That’s it, remove from the pan and either serve right away or cool and tightly wrap to store.

7. Put the couscous into a container big enough to allow it to double in size and pour in 400ml of cold water. Cover the bowl and transfer it to the fridge. Leave this overnight, too.

8. Remove the meat from the fridge 30 minutes before you intend to start cooking so that it can come up to room temperature, and preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5.

9. When you’re ready to cook, roast the lamb, still covered with the foil, for 4 hours, until it is charred a little on the outside and the meat is tender and pulls apart.

10. Drain the couscous through a fine sieve, so you don’t lose any of it. Mix all of the other couscous ingredients into it. Season with salt and pepper to taste and leave on the side to come up to room temperature.

11. Towards the end of the lamb cooking time, heat a dry frying pan over a high heat until it’s smoking hot. Place the flatbreads in the pan and warm through (or reheat them in a microwave).

12. Either serve your massive hunk of delicious lamb in the tin as it comes, or transfer it to a wooden board and pour all of the sauce that is left in the bottom of the roasting tin into a little jug.

13. Just let people dig and tear into this huge, sharing-lamb deliciousness, with the warmed flatbreads, the couscous and the sauce served alongside.

Poppy Cooks: The Food You Need’ by Poppy O’Toole (Bloomsbury, £16.99).

Recipe by: Max Halley

Max Halley doesn’t do subtle, and this sandwich is no exception. Crispy fried chicken thigh gets stacked with lime-pickled onions, iceberg, Bombay mix and a tangy coronation sauce that leaves shop-bought versions in the dust. It’s chaotic. It’s brilliant. It might change your life. Or at least your lunch.

Makes: 1 sandwich

Ingredients:

1 brioche or burger bun, cut in half

3 generous tbsp coronation chicken Sauce (see below)

Small handful of Bombay mix (finer London Mix is better if you can get it – the CoFresh brand is excellent)

1 x Carl Clarke’s fried boneless chicken thigh (see below)

1 heaped tbsp lime-pickled onions (see below)

Sprinkling of nigella seeds (if you’ve got them)

1 heaped tbsp shredded iceberg lettuce mixed up with a regular tbsp of finely chopped coriander and mint

For the coronation sauce (makes enough for 2 sandwiches):

2 heaped tbsp store-bought mayonnaise (I like Hellmann’s)

2 heaped tbsp full-fat Greek yoghurt

1 tbsp mild madras curry powder

1 tsp red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

For Carl Clarke’s fried chicken (makes enough for 4 sandwiches):

4 big boneless chicken thighs, skin on if possible

2l flavourless oil, for deep-frying

For brining the chicken:

284ml buttermilk (that seems to be the size of the containers supermarkets sell)

½ tsp fine sea salt

½ tsp MSG powder (optional)

For the wet bit of fried chicken:

1 free-range egg

120ml whole milk

For the dry bit of fried chicken:

50g plain flour

65g rice flour

20g cornflour

½ tsp fine sea salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

For the lime-pickled onions (makes enough for 4 sandwiches):

1 large red onion, peeled and finely sliced

Juice of 1 lime

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp nigella seeds (optional)

Method:

1. For the coronation sauce: Mix all the ingredients together. As always, give it a taste. A bit flat? Up the curry powder and vinegar. Lacking depth? A bit more salt and pepper. Too rich, then maybe a drop of lemon juice or again a splash more vinegar. How easy is that?! And so much better than all those fancy ones. And none of that almonds and raisins rubbish – it’s not a chocolate bar, it’s a chicken sauce, what were they thinking? This will keep for three to four days, at least.

2. For the fried chicken: To brine the chicken, whisk the buttermilk and salt and MSG (if you’re using it) together in a glass or plastic bowl or container. Submerge the thighs in it and stick it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. Turn the thighs over every now and again if you remember. When you want to cook the chicken, make the wet bit by whisking the egg and milk in a bowl until completely combined and set aside.

3. For the dry bit, combine all the ingredients in another bowl, whisk them all together well, using a dry whisk, and set that aside too. Take the chicken thighs out of the buttermilk, give them a shake and dip them, one by one, into the flour mix and then into the wet batter, then back into the flour mix. Carl says to work/squeeze the coating around the thighs with your hands so it has a texture “almost like cornflakes”. Carl double-fries these babies, so I’m gonna tell you how to do that, but quite frankly, at home, once is probably enough, so skip past this bit to step 6, unless you wanna really go for it.

4. Set your deep-fat fryer to 140C, or if you’re frying in a saucepan, you know the drill: take a large, high-sided pan and heat the oil to 140C which is the temperature a piece of bread sizzles and goes golden in about 40 seconds (as opposed to the usual 20). Fry the thighs two at a time, depending on the size of your pan/fryer, for seven minutes, then take them out, put them on a rack and ramp up the heat in the oil (like you’re making French fries). This time heat the oil up to 180C – when a piece of bread is dropped into the oil sizzles and goes golden in 20 seconds.

5. Fry the chicken again, this time for three to four minutes and rest back on that rack to cool a little while you ready all the other ingredients! If you’re only frying once, heat your oil to 180C from the off and fry the chicken for about seven minutes until it is cooked through and over 70C (158F) inside. If your fried thighs are long and flat, you might wanna cut them in half once they’ve been fried and stack ’em on top of each other in your sarnie.

6. Put the sliced onion in a plastic container with the lime juice and salt and massage them all together. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Lid on, and shake, shake, shake. That’s it. The longer you leave them in the refrigerator (three to four days) and the more regularly you shake the hell out of the tub (five times a day?), the more insanely lurid pink and lip-puckering they’ll become, which is a good thing. If your lime is a bit hard, give it a good firm roll on your chopping board under the ball of your hand before cutting it, you’ll get oodles more juice from it that way. If you want to make these even livelier, add a sliced red chilli and you can always switch the lime for lemon. Using the method above (and with loads of violent shaking – every 10 minutes?), the onions will be tasty and usable after two hours if you’re in a rush. Just before you eat these, you can mix the nigella seeds through them. Only do it just before consumption though, otherwise they’ll swell and lose the pleasing smoky pop/crunch thing they have going on.

7. Make the sandwich: Slather the inside top and bottom of the bun in the Coronation chicken sauce and sprinkle the London/Bombay mix all over the top.

8. Put the fried thigh on the bottom and cover it in the pickled onions.

9. Sprinkle the nigella seeds (if using) all over those, then the lettuce and herb mix, put the lid on and you’re done.

‘Max’s World Of Sandwiches’ by Max Halley and Benjamin Benton (Hardie Grant Books, £25).

Dark, dense and dangerously moreish, these Guinness-spiked brownies are about as far from dry cafe traybakes as you can get. The malty stout deepens the chocolate, while the white chocolate buttons baked into the base give it a little surprise crunch. Best eaten warm, ideally straight from the tin.

Makes: 12 generous brownies, or 16 smaller bites

Ingredients:

185g dark chocolate

50g milk chocolate

185g butter

3 eggs

275g caster sugar

Vanilla essence

85g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

50G white chocolate buttons

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and sprinkle white chocolate buttons in a tray.

2. Melt the Guinness, butter, dark and milk chocolate together, remove from heat when melted. Whip eggs, sugar and vanilla essence (until figure of 8) and fold into the chocolate mix.

3. Sieve in flour and cocoa powder, folding in 3 stages.

4. Pour into tray and spread out. Bake for 20-22 minutes at 160C.

5. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe by: Tom Kerridge

“These tender short ribs are seasoned to perfection and present big, bold flavours. The secret is in the initial low, slow cooking, before they are finished on the grill: this is where they will take on that unmistakable smokiness that only a barbecue can deliver.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4 beef short ribs (about 450g each)

For the dry rub:

1 tbsp soft light brown sugar

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp salt

To cook the ribs:

100ml malt vinegar

150ml apple juice

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

200ml good-quality smoky barbecue sauce (from a jar), or bourbon barbecue sauce

To serve:

Pickles

Method:

1. Place the beef short ribs on a tray. For the dry rub, mix the sugar, spices and salt together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the ribs all over with the spice mixture and place in the fridge to marinate overnight.

2. The next day, preheat your oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3.

3. Transfer the beef ribs to a roasting tray. In a bowl, mix the vinegar, apple juice, 200ml water and the Worcestershire sauce together. Pour the mixture over the ribs and cover the roasting tray with a sheet of baking paper, then a layer of foil. Scrunch the edges of the foil and paper around the rim of the roasting tin to seal.

4. Place the roasting tray on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for around three hours until the ribs are meltingly tender.

5. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the ribs to cool slightly. Carefully lift the ribs out of the cooking liquor and place them on another tray.

6. When you’re ready to serve, brush the short ribs all over with the barbecue sauce. Lay the ribs on the barbecue over indirect heat (to achieve a medium heat) and cook for eight minutes or so, basting the ribs with the barbecue sauce as they cook.

7. Lift the ribs off the barbecue, transfer them to a serving platter and brush with any remaining barbecue sauce. Serve straight away, with your favourite pickles alongside.

‘The BBQ Book’ by Tom Kerridge (Bloomsbury, £25).

Recipe by: Ben Tish

“A culinary hymn of praise to simplicity, this is my favourite way to cook steak.

“Fiorentina is traditionally a T-bone or a porterhouse steak – a steak on the bone has more flavour than a boneless one – but a good-quality rib-eye or sirloin steak will work well. The steak must be cut thick, as you want the meat beautifully crisp and caramelised on the outside and medium-rare and pink within.”

To take this dish up a notch, Tish recommends serving the steak with chips and a salad.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 x 1kg T-bone or porterhouse steaks, or 2 x 600g sirloin or rump steaks, at room temperature

Olive oil

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Needles from 3 fresh rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

2 tbsp grape or date molasses (optional)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Light a BBQ about 30 minutes before you want to cook so the coals turn ashen grey and are at the optimum grilling temperature. Position the grill above the coals so it gets very hot. Alternatively, heat a large ridged, cast-iron griddle pan to maximum.

2. Rub the steaks with oil, then season well and place them on the grill or griddle pan. Cook for three minutes on each side, or until nicely caramelised and charred. Now move either the steaks to a cooler spot on the barbecue or turn the heat under the griddle down to medium, and continue cooking for a further six to seven minutes, turning every minute or so for medium-rare. Add another three to four minutes for medium-well.

3. Remove the steaks from the grill and transfer to a tray or rimmed platter and sprinkle over the garlic, rosemary, lemon zest and juice and the molasses, if using. Leave to rest for 10 minutes like this before serving either whole or in the traditional style with the meat cut from the bone, sliced and arranged back against the bone for serving with the resting juices spooned over. Sprinkle with extra salt, if you want.

‘Mediterra’ by Ben Tish (Bloomsbury).

Recipe by: Alex Hughes

“A pan full of fluffy potatoes finished with fried eggs and gooey melted cheese, this is the perfect brunch recipe. You could easily change the egg for scrambled if you fancy meal-prepping this recipe ahead of time for weekday breakfasts.”

Serves: 2

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

400g golden potatoes, cubed

Low-calorie cooking spray

2 rashers of smoked bacon, sliced

1 small green pepper, diced

1 white onion, diced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

Sea salt and pepper

2 medium eggs

40g reduced-fat cheddar, grated

2 spring onions, finely chopped

A few sprigs of fresh parsley, finely chopped

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes in a large pan of salted water. Drain and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.

2. Spray a large frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray, add the bacon and fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes until cooked on both sides. Remove the bacon from the pan and add the green pepper and onion and cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, season the potatoes with the smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Once the onion and peppers have started to soften, add the potatoes and fry for 5 minutes.

4. Move the potatoes to the sides of the pan to make space for the eggs, then crack both into the centre, topping with the cheese. Leave on the heat for the eggs to cook.

5. Top with the cooked bacon, spring onions and parsley.

‘Low-Cal Kitchen Bangers’ by Alexandra Hughes (Ebury Press, £20).

Recipe by: Christina Kynigos

“You just can’t beat fluffy cinnamon buns with a cream cheese icing, so I’ve made a high-protein version using my trusty two-ingredient dough to add protein but still keep the amazing texture.”

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

40g 0% fat Greek yoghurt

40g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tsp light butter, melted

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp granulated sweetener (or sugar)

For the cream cheese icing:

25g light cream cheese

1 tsp icing sugar

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix the yoghurt and flour together to form a dough. Flour the work surface and using a rolling pin, roll it out into a rectangle, around the thickness of a pound coin.

2. Brush over the melted butter, then evenly sprinkle over the cinnamon and sweetener. Roll up the dough into a log, then slice in half.

3. With the sliced side facing up, use your hand to gently press down and flatten each piece slightly. Using the brush you used earlier for the butter, brush any remaining butter around a small baking dish, then place the cinnamon buns inside.

4. Air-fry at 170C for 8 minutes until golden and cooked, then let them cool for a few minutes.

5. Mix the icing ingredients together in a small bowl. Spread the cream cheese icing over the buns and devour.

‘Healthy Air Fryer Feasts: Fast, Easy, High-Protein Recipes in 30 Mins or Less’ by Christina Kynigos (HQ HarperCollins, £20).

Recipe by: Amy Poon

Amy Poon’s take on baked beans is the pantry-flex you didn’t know you needed. Soy sauce, paprika and dark brown sugar take tinned tomatoes and cannellini beans somewhere smoky, savoury and just a little bit addictive. Throw a fried egg on top and call it brunch.

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large golden onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

3 tbsp dark brown sugar

1-2 tbsp red wine vinegar

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp sweet paprika

1 x 400g tinned chopped plum tomatoes

2 x 400g tinned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce, plus extra, to taste

Toast, to serve

Fried eggs, to serve

Vegetarians and vegans can drop the Worcestershire sauce or replace it with Henderson’s Relish for a meat-free version

Method:

1. Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the onions. Once you can hear them sizzling, add the garlic and a big pinch of salt and cook for a further 6-8 minutes until they have begun to soften.

2. Add the sugar, vinegar, soy and paprika to the pan and after a minute or so, once they’ve reduced, add the tomatoes, beans, Worcestershire sauce, half a tin of water and some salt and pepper and leave to simmer for 20 minutes until slightly reduced. Check the seasoning and serve with toast and eggs.

Recipe by: Nagi Maehashi

A proper midweek indulgence that feels like it took hours but absolutely didn’t. Sausage meat is browned until golden and folded into a silky sauce of cream, wine and stock, with just enough kale to pretend it’s healthy. Serve with a heavy hand of parmesan and a glass of whatever’s left in the bottle.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 tsp salt, for cooking the pasta

400g calamarata pasta, rigatoni or other large short pasta

For the creamy sausage sauce:

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

½ brown onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

500g pork sausages, removed from casings

125ml chardonnay wine

185ml low-salt chicken stock

250ml double cream

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

90g kale, torn into bite-sized pieces

To serve:

Finely grated parmesan

Pinch of dried chilli flakes (optional)

Method:

1. Cook the pasta – bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the salt and cook the pasta according to the packet directions. Just before draining, scoop out a mugful of the pasta cooking water. Drain the pasta in a colander. Time the pasta cooking so it’s ready at the same time as the sauce.

2. Cook the sausage – meanwhile, heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for one minute. Add the sausage meat and cook, breaking it up as you go as you would mince. Get some colour on the pork by leaving it undisturbed for 30 seconds. Toss briefly, then leave it for another 30 seconds.

3. Creamy sauce – add the wine and let it simmer rapidly for two minutes, scraping the base of the saucepan to loosen any golden bits stuck there (free flavour!). Reduce the heat to medium-high. Add the stock, cream, salt and pepper and simmer for five minutes. The sauce will still be quite thin, but it will thicken more in the next step.

4. Toss with pasta – add the cooked pasta, kale and 60ml of the reserved pasta cooking water to the sauce. Use two spatulas to toss well for one minute or until the sauce coats the pasta instead of being a watery pool in the pan.

5. Serve – immediately divide among bowls and serve sprinkled with parmesan and a pinch of chilli flakes, if desired.

‘RecipeTin Eats: Tonight’ by Nagi Maehashi (Bluebird, £26).

Recipe by: Mark Hix

“I’ve often heard tales of people eating Yorkshire pudding as a starter; I’ve even heard of leftover ones being served for breakfast with marmalade, which I’ve tried myself on several occasions.

“When I opened my meat-and-chicken restaurant, Tramshed, in east London, I made a conscious decision to serve a large Yorkshire pudding as a starter with a creamy chicken liver pâté – and it’s gone down a storm with customers.

“You can have a lot of fun with filled Yorkshire puds, whether you use leftovers from your Sunday roast or make them fresh for your meal. There’s a huge variety of toppings that will work – and the kids will love making them, too.”

Yorkshire pudding mix

Makes: 4

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten

300ml milk

180-200g plain flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tsp dripping or duck fat

Method:

1. Whisk the eggs with the milk and a third of the flour, then whisk in the remainder of the flour (or enough to make a fairly thick batter); season.

2. Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7, preferably in fan mode.

3. Heat 4 large Yorkshire pudding moulds, with a teaspoon of the dripping in each, for about 10 minutes in the oven.

4. Once the moulds are warmed up, pour the Yorkshire pudding mix into each, and bake the puddings for about 10 minutes – until they have risen and are starting to colour.

5. Now turn the oven down to 200C/gas mark 6 and continue cooking them for a further 10-15 minutes, until they are crisp.

6. Remove the puddings from the oven and keep them warm until the accompanying topping is cooked.

“You can vary the vegetables you use in this curry or just use one, such as the cauliflower or chickpeas.”

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

3 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil

1 large onion, peeled, halved and chopped

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 small piece of root ginger, scraped and finely grated or chopped

½ tsp ground turmeric or 1 tsp fresh, peeled and finely grated

1 small medium heat green chilli, seeded and finely chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp garam masala

A good pinch of curry leaves

8 florets of cauliflower, cut into even-sized florets (large ones halved)

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks

Juice of half a lemon

Salt

250ml vegetable stock

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method:

1. Heat the ghee or oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and gently cook the onion, garlic and spices on a low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the vegetables and the stock, season with a good pinch of salt and bring to the boil.

2. Stir well, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook on a very low heat, stirring every so often, for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the lid and continue to cook on a slightly higher heat until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Add the coriander, season if necessary, and serve spooned into the Yorkshire puddings.

“I do love bangers and mash and served like this, it’s a notch up from a toad-in-the-hole. You can use chipolatas or normal-sized sausages, or if you want to get really adventurous, you can use cooking chorizo.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

12 chipolatas or 4 normal-sized, good-quality sausages

4 servings of mashed potato with butter and milk added

For the onion gravy:

2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tbsp vegetable oil

30g butter

20g flour

1 tsp tomato puree

2 tbsp red wine

2 tsp English mustard

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

500ml beef stock

Method:

1. Fry the onions in the vegetable oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan until they begin to colour, stirring well. Add the butter and continue to cook for a couple of minutes until they brown nicely, add the flour and tomato purée and cook on a low heat for 30 seconds or so.

2. Slowly add the red wine, mustard and Worcestershire sauce, then gradually add the stock, stirring well to avoid any lumps forming. Bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until it has reduced and thickened.

3. Meanwhile, make your mash, then grill your sausages, either under the grill or in a ribbed griddle pan, for 4-5 minutes, depending on size. To serve, spoon the mash into the Yorkshire pudding, stick the sausages in the mash and spoon over the gravy.

“Try to buy beef from one cut rather than just diced stewing beef, which is often a mixture of cuts and will take different cooking times.”

Serves: 4

600g of braising beef, preferably flank, skirt or silverside, cut into rough 2-3cm chunks

250-300ml Yorkshire ale

1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tsp chopped thyme

1 bay leaf

Vegetable oil for frying

30g butter

1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

1½ tbsp plain flour

½ tsp tomato purée

1½l beef stock (a good cube will do)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan, lightly flour the meat with ½ tbsp of the flour, season with salt and pepper and fry the meat on a high heat until nicely browned.

2. Heat the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and gently fry the onions, garlic, thyme and bay leaf for a few minutes until soft. Add the flour and tomato puree and stir over a low heat for a minute. Slowly add the ale, stirring constantly to avoid lumps forming. Bring to the boil and simmer until it has reduced by half.

3. Add the beef stock and the pieces of beef, bring back to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for about 2-2½ hours until the meat is tender (you could use a pressure cooker and it will cook in half the time). It’s difficult to put an exact time on braised meats, sometimes an extra half an hour may be required, depending on the meat itself. The best way to check is by actually tasting the meat.

4. The sauce should have thickened to a gravy-like consistency; if not, dilute a little cornflour in some water and stir into the sauce and simmer for a few minutes. To serve, just spoon the beef into the Yorkshires.

“There is no reason why you can’t serve a Yorkshire as a dessert; I’ve even made one for the restaurant baked with cherries, which is a bit of a take on the French clafoutis. You can adapt this idea how you wish, by varying the flavour of the ice cream, homemade or bought in, and serve things such as chocolate sauce on the ice cream, perhaps with some honeycomb.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

8 or so balls of good-quality vanilla ice cream

8 spoonfuls of good-quality or homemade marmalade

Method:

1. To serve, warm the marmalade in a saucepan, scoop the ice cream into the Yorkshires and spoon the marmalade over.

The end of WFH teaches us an important lesson about bad bosses

Barclays has taken overflow office space in Shoreditch. HSBC, having decided to relocate from Canary Wharf to new headquarters near St Paul’s, is looking for extra room, including moving some workers back to Canary Wharf (and has told staff that their bonuses could be cut unless they’re back in the office). JPMorgan and BBVA are finding accommodating everyone a tight squeeze. And BlackRock is also struggling to fit in all its staff.

Some City firms are using a booking system, which sees those who wish to come to the office having to reserve a slot, such is the demand for desks. After three years, Citigroup has shut its Malaga outpost, billed as providing a better work-life balance for the bank’s analysts, and steered its staff to London.

What distinguishes all these financial corporations and others is that they claim to only recruit the brightest and the best. They make fortunes from advising the rest of us, along with businesses and governments, how to manage our affairs. On deals, they take command, devise strategy, issue orders and tell those involved how to behave. Yet when it comes to their own internal management, they are all over the place.

We’ve seen it before, of course – the sector is littered with numerous instances of banks and investment houses being penalised huge sums for their poor conduct or for showing a lax attitude to other people’s money. Frequently, they’ve set out on one course only to change direction, usually at a substantial cost in both money and people. Their approach to working from home (WFH) and remote working shows a herd instinct – something of which they are often guilty. If their customers did the same, these companies would be the first to complain and criticise.

This is the most stark example of the confusion that rages around hybrid working, certainly in Britain. A recent study by King’s College London found that Britain is the remote-working capital of Europe, with UK employees WFH 1.8 days a week on average – a number that is well above the global average of 1.3 days, and the highest in Europe. Globally, only Canadians average more days a week at home, WFH for 1.9 days.

Dr Cevat Giray Aksoy, associate professor of economics at King’s and lead economist at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, says: “Remote work has moved from being an emergency response to becoming a defining feature of the UK labour market.”

Dr Aksoy, who also advises the House of Lords on policy regarding the implications of remote working for productivity and labour markets, adds: “This shift is forcing businesses, policymakers and city planners to reimagine everything from office space to transport to regional growth.”

But is it? While his study may point to Britain being out in front or lagging, depending on how the figures are viewed, growing apocryphal evidence indicates something different. The City, for one, is signalling “enough”. Stockbroker Panmure Liberum, reports the Financial Times, has joined Deutsche Bank in barring staff from working at home on consecutive Mondays and Fridays. UBS has told its folk they must be in on either Mondays or Fridays or both, as one of their three mandated days in the office. Broker Peel Hunt insists on four days a week in the office, while traders at Man Group are up to five. Santander views five days as the default option.

Goldman Sachs regards WFH as an “aberration”. JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, probably the most influential banker on the planet, argues that remote working allows “bad habits to develop”.

Where the City leads, like it or not, the rest of the country, business and organisation-wise, tends to follow. Brightmine, which studies HR practices, claims that 15.1 per cent of UK companies have reduced their WFH hours.

Slowly but surely, the TWaTs – those who go in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays – have begun to retreat. What began as a temporary solution to Covid and morphed into a trend, then a stampede, is coming to an end. Commuter numbers are edging towards their pre-pandemic levels.

There will be those who resist, and there are bound to be lingering pockets of refuseniks, but by and large, Britain will fall into line. Maybe not reaching all five days, but the number WFH will be lower than it is currently, and will no longer be an outlier.

It was predictable, and the banks for one should have seen what was likely to happen. After all, that is what they do, paying huge sums to smart graduates and deploying state-of-the-art technology to forecast the future. Seemingly no amount of qualifications from Stanford and MIT, no brilliant algorithms or AI, no “thought leadership” gleaned in sessions at Davos or elsewhere, prepared them. This, too, in spite of the refusal of the mighty Goldman and JPMorgan’s Dimon to play ball.

If they had only stopped to think, it would have been obvious. Those super-smart hires are also intensely ambitious. How you get ahead, anywhere, is by standing out, making the boss sit up and notice. It’s by showing that creative spark, which often results from being in the right spot at the right time. Convenient as they may be, the stultifying environments of Zoom or Teams, or even the sunny delights of Malaga and the Costa del Sol, are not that place.

Ours – again, like it or not – is a globally connected world where commerce and trade are concerned. Nowhere more so than in banking. Why should workers in London, or the UK, operate to a different standard from everyone else? It does not make sense.

At present, many employers are on the cusp; they are playing a balancing game. They are keen to not dissuade, and some Gen-Z and millennial employees expect to have the option to work from home. For now. But as they see those who spend more time in the office forging closer relationships with the chiefs, and winning promotions and higher salaries, it is surely a matter of when, not if, that changes.

Biggest-ever lottery jackpot rolls over after no EuroMillions win

The UK’s biggest-ever lottery prize is still up for grabs after no one won Friday’s (13 June) EuroMillions draw.

Tuesday’s jackpot is expected to reach around £208 million, which would make it the largest prize ever awarded in the UK, National Lottery operator Allwyn said.

The total prize money has now been capped, meaning prize pots in the next winning tier will be boosted.

Once it has reached its cap, and if there is no winner, it stays at this value for a further four draws until it must be won in the fifth draw. This will be on 20 June.

In the Must Be Won draw, if no ticket matches all five main numbers and two Lucky Stars, the entire jackpot prize will roll down into the prize tier where there is at least one winner – likely to be five main numbers and one Lucky Star.

Andy Carter, senior winners’ adviser at Allwyn, said: “A win of this magnitude would create the biggest National Lottery winner this country has ever seen.

“Get your tickets early to ensure you’re in with a chance of a massive life-changing win.”

He added: “The EuroMillions jackpot is now capped, so any money that would have gone into increasing the jackpot now boosts prizes in the next winning prize tier, meaning that we’re seeing multiple UK players banking huge prizes for matching just the five main numbers and one Lucky Star.”

In Friday’s draw, five UK players became millionaires after matching five main numbers and one Lucky Star, winning £3.61 million each.

The main EuroMillions winning numbers were 02, 28, 40, 43, 45 and the lucky stars were 03 and 07.

It also saw 13 UK millionaires made through a special EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker event.

“Contrary to superstition, Friday the 13th has proven the luckiest date in the calendar for these lucky UK players,” Mr Carter said.

“All UK EuroMillions players should check their tickets and contact us if they believe they are one of tonight’s lucky winners.”

No players won the £1 million HotPicks jackpot – which uses the same numbers as the EuroMillions draw.

No players won the £500,000 Thunderball jackpot either.

The five Thunderball numbers were 01, 02, 24, 33, 39 and the Thunderball number was 13.

Here are the 10 biggest UK lottery wins to date – all from EuroMillions draws:

Prince William’s friend Sunjay Kapur dies after heart attack

Prince William’s friend and Aureus polo team owner, Sunjay Kapur, has died after having a heart attack during a polo match.

Guards Polo Club issued a statement about Kapur’s death Friday on Instagram, noting he died “after becoming unwell when playing in a match at Smith’s Lawn” in Windsor. On Thursday, he was playing for the Sujan Indian Tigers polo team in the Cartier Trophy Semi-Finals when he fell ill.

“The Club sends its deepest condolences to his wife, Priya Sachdev, his children, the wider Kapur family and his Aureus team-mates,” the organization wrote in the caption.

His death was also confirmed by Sona Comstar, where Kapur worked as Chairman and Non-Executive Director. The automotive company noted that the 53-year-old died “of a sudden heart attack” on Thursday.

However, the heart attack was reportedly triggered by a freak accident. According to The Mirror, a bee stung Kapur in the mouth during the polo match, sending him into anaphylactic shock, before his heart stopped. He then collapsed on Smith’s Lawn, according to the outlet.

A witness told The Telegraph that before he collapsed, Kapur said: “I’ve swallowed something.”

Anaphylactic shock is a type of anaphylaxis, “a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction,” according to the Mayo Clinic. When someone goes into shock due to anaphylaxis, their “blood pressure drops suddenly and the airways narrow, blocking breathing.”

A friend of Kapur also issued a statement about the businessman’s death to Telegraph Sport, saying: “He will be greatly missed not only by his family and friends but the local community around his club as he employed so many people and made so many friends – he was fun, kind and generous.”

“He didn’t distinguish between his grooms or high net worth friends – when he had a party, everyone was invited and everyone was equal.”

In 2015, Kapur inherited Sona Comstar from his father, Dr. Surinder Kapur, who founded the company in 1987. Sona Comstar has nine factories spread across India, China, Mexico, Serbia, and the U.S., according to Forbes. The publication also noted that Sunjay Kapur had an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion.

Sona Comstar also paid tribute to Kapur in its statement, writing: “A visionary leader, Mr. Kapur played a pivotal role in shaping Sona Comstar into a global mobility technology company built on innovation, sustainability, and purpose. His passion, foresight, and relentless commitment to excellence inspired everyone who had the privilege of working with him.”

An avid polo player, Kapur was known to play with members of the British royal family, including Prince William. The team Kapur owned, Aureus Polo, also paid tribute, calling him the “life and soul” of the team.

Kapur was married to Bollywood star Karisma Kapoor from 2003 to 2016. The pair welcomed two children, Samaira, 20, and Kiaan, 14. In 2017, he married model Priya Sachdev, and they welcomed a son, Azarias, 7.

Only hours before his death, Kapur issued an emotional statement on X about the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad that killed all but one of the 242 passengers onboard.

“Terrible news of the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad,” he wrote on X. “My thoughts and prayers are with all the families affected. May they find strength in this difficult hour.”

The Independent has contacted a representative for Prince William and the Guards Polo Club for comment.

Kylie Minogue postpones string of concerts due to illness

Singer Kylie Minogue has postponed several dates of her Tension Tour after “succumbing to a viral infection”.

In a statement, released on Friday (13 June), the 57-year-old said she would postpone her upcoming shows in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia due to her contracting laryngitis, an inflammation of the voice box.

The Padam Padam singer said: “Hi Lovers, as some of you may know, a week ago we finished the UK leg of The Tension Tour.

“I made it over the finish line (Yay) but unfortunately have succumbed to a viral infection (Hello laryngitis) I’ve tried my best to recover fast to start our next run of shows on Monday but I’m afraid it will take me some days to be well enough to get back on stage and perform my best for you.

“I’m so, SO sorry! I have no choice but to postpone the shows in Berlin, Lodz, Kaunas and Tallinn as scheduled.

“Please keep hold of your tickets, we’re doing our very best to reschedule the dates and will update you very soon on that.

“Thank you for understanding – you know I love you all. And I LOVE THIS SHOW! And I’ll miss you next week. And, I can’t wait to see you. Love Kylie xxx”.

In 2024, Tension II, a sequel to her 2023 studio album, saw Minogue secure her 10th number one on the UK albums chart.

Win a Wilderness Festival luxury package for two

Music fans can win a luxury package for two to this year’s Wilderness Festival, all courtesy of Audi.

Wilderness returns this year to the picturesque nature reserve at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, and will be headlined by rock band Supergrass, Nineties rave duo Orbital, and Brit Award-winning, Grammy-nominated indie-rock duo Wet Leg.

Completing the headliner lineup are Basement Jaxx, who are making their return to live shows for the first time in over a decade, as they celebrate the 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking album, Remedy.

The winner will receive a pair of complimentary festival tickets and boutique accommodation in a luxury cabin for two. They will also be treated to an Audi Kitchen experience and, for the ultimate luxury, your own private chauffeur to take you and your guest to the festival and return journey.

Enter the prize draw here.

Wilderness Festival is known for its eclectic music lineup, which this year includes performances from pop singer Lapsley, singer-songwriter Bess Atwell, Scottish musician Jacob Alon and DJ Craig Charles.

At The Sanctuary and Spa, guests will discover an oasis of calm, whether that means taking part in disco yoga or a workshop to explore your sensuality. Highlights include boating, massage treatments, sauna rituals, hot tubs, a wild sauna, Wim Hof method ice baths and wild swimming.

Gourmet food offerings can be found at Ben Quinn’s long table banquet in the woods, a once-in-a-lifetime experience set in the woods and lit by chandeliers. There, Quinn and his team will serve up a feast of flavour cooked right in front of you five courses of carefully curated, responsibly sourced, local and seasonal ingredients.

Elsewhere, attendees can join a number of talks, comedy sets and conversations, from Food Stories with Jay Rayner to a live recording of Jamie Laing’s podcast, Great Company.

Comedian, writer and NHS doctor Matthew Hutchinson will share a sharp and moving look at life on the frontline of British healthcare, while cultural historian Tiffany Watt Smith will uncover a bold and fascinating alternative history of female friendship.

The prize draw will open for entries at 3pm (BST) on 7 May 2025 and close at 3pm BST on 17 June 2025. Only one entry per person is permitted for the Prize Draw. Terms and conditions apply.

Greater Manchester Police chief refuses to apologise for past homophobia

The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has refused to apologise to the LGBT+ community for historic homophobia in the force.

Campaigners said it was an “insult” after 21 other forces have issued formal apologies over their past conduct, adding that GMP was “involved in some of the most extreme unlawful victimisation of LGBTs by any UK force”.

Human rights charity the Peter Tatchell Foundation first issued calls to all forces to say sorry for “decades-long victimisation” of the LGBT+ community in June 2023.

However, in a recent letter, seen by The Independent, its Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, declined to “accede to your request for a general apology”, adding it could be seen as “superficial and merely performative” and could “unfairly impugn” the service of past officers.

The director of the foundation, Peter Tatchell, who was this week named in The Independent’s Pride List 2025 for his gay rights activism, said: “This refusal to apologise is an insult to the LGBT+ community, who suffered so much at the hands of the Manchester police in decades past.”

Mr Tatchell has this week written to CC Watson, appealing once again for him to apologise – noting the troubling history of the force under the late Chief Constable Sir James Anderton in the 1980s.

At the height of the Aids crisis, Mr Anderton said gay men were “swirling about in a human cesspit of their own making”, resulting in calls for his resignation.

“Greater Manchester Police has a particularly troubling homophobic history that deserves specific acknowledgement and apology,” Mr Tatchell said.

“Under Chief Constable James Anderton in the 1980s, the force became synonymous with open hostility towards the LGBT+ community.”

He claimed Mr Anderton’s comments were not “isolated rhetoric” and the force targeted gay venues in raids in the 1980s, which in some cases led to gay and bisexual men being outed and subjected to homophobic insults, threats and violence.

Mr Tatchell added: “To now refuse to apologise adds insult to injury. Apologies are not symbolic—they are acts of justice and healing. They show leadership and humanity. They tell survivors of police witch-hunts: ‘We see you, we acknowledge the harm we caused, and we are sorry.’

“Twenty-one other forces have recognised that acknowledging past wrongs helps rebuild LGBT+ trust. It will encourage more LGBTs to report hate crime, sexual assaults and domestic violence, which is what we all want.

“Not saying sorry undermines LGBT+ confidence in the police and will damage the police’s reputation among LGBTs.

“We are not suggesting all past officers were bad or blaming today’s officers. An apology is about taking responsibility for homophobic police behaviour in previous decades and saying sorry.”

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was the first to apologise in 2023, in a move which was welcomed by Mr Tatchell for drawing “a line under past Met persecution”.

A string of others subsequently followed suit, including Merseyside Police’s former Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, who issued their “sincere apology and deepest regret” for “historical prejudice”. Others include Dorset and North Yorkshire Police.

In his refusal letter, dated April 2025, CC Watson, who was appointed in 2021, said GMP is proud to serve its many diverse communities and strives to understand their past experiences with the force.

He said the force has made “considerable” progress over the past 40 years and takes a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination.

He wrote: “I am, of course, sorry that GMP, and those police bodies which preceded the presently formed GMP prior to 1974, didn’t always perform to the standards deserved by those whom we serve.

“It is also the case, however, that over these many decades, literally thousands of police officers have performed their duties with decency, professionalism and compassion.

“Whilst I acknowledge that you are not seeking an apology for officers having upheld the laws of the day, it would nevertheless be quite unjust for me as the current Chief Constable to cast some sort of sweeping assertion as to the general conduct of the force over a prolonged period of time, particularly when the period in question is now so dated that virtually no serving officer in the entire force can speak to the period with any personal knowledge.

“Such an apology could well be seen, even by the intended recipients, as both superficial and merely performative.

“It would unfairly impugn the faithful and valued services of past officers; and any such apology would likely make little or no difference to developing contemporary practice which is, as you acknowledge, currently very good and which carries the confidence both of our current LGBTQ+ community and our own staff association.

“With regret, therefore, I find that I cannot accede to your request for a general apology.”

Met Office issues ‘danger to life’ warning as thunderstorms to hit UK

The Met Office has issued an amber warning as thunderstorms and flooding are set to hit parts of southern and eastern England tonight.

The warning, which covers the east and south east of England, including London, says thunderstorms are likely from Friday evening into the early hours of Saturday. Essex, Norfolk, Southend-on-Sea, Suffolk, Thurrock, East Sussex, Kent and Medway are all in the area under the new warning.

The Met Office said some places within the warning area could see 30-50mm of rain and winds in excess of 40-50mph, along with frequent lightning.

The forecaster warns that power cuts and the flooding of homes and businesses are likely. Some communities may become cut off if roads flood and public transport may be disrupted where flooding or lightning strikes occur.

Spray and sudden flooding may lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures, with fast flowing or deep floodwater potentially causing danger to life, the forecaster said.

The latest update comes as two yellow warnings for thunderstorms have already been put in place across the south west and south east of England, as well as Wales and the West Midlands across Friday. The warning will stretch into Scotland, the East Midlands and the north of England on Saturday.

The amber weather warning across the south east is set to subside around 5am, while much of the rest of the UK will see thunderstorms until 6pm on Saturday.

Deputy Chief Meteorologist Tony Wisson said: “By Friday afternoon and evening, heavy and thundery showers are likely to spread across southeastern England and East Anglia, tracking north-eastwards overnight. There is currently some uncertainty around the exact location and intensity of the thunderstorms, but there is a risk that some areas could see 30 to 50mm of rain, with a risk of even larger accumulations possible.

“With much of the rain falling in a short space of time there is a risk of impacts such as surface water flooding. Frequent lightning, gusty winds and hail could pose additional hazards. Updates to this warning are expected as confidence increases on the exact location of the greatest risk of the heaviest downpours.”

Friday is expected to be the warmest day of the period, with temperatures reaching 28 or 29°C with the chance of 30°C in some isolated spots in eastern areas.

The thunderstorm warnings coincide with a number of yellow heat health alerts put in place by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) across the East Midlands, the east and south east of England and London. The alert has been put in place from 9pm on Thursday to 8am on Sunday.

Heat Health Alerts are issued when temperatures could affect people’s health and lead to an increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people.

Dr Agostinho Sousa, head of extreme events and health protection at UKHSA, said that even moderate heat can result in serious health outcomes, especially for older adults, making it important for people to take precautions in the sun.

“The forecasted high temperatures are expected to be short-lived but could primarily impact those over the age of 65 or those with pre-existing health conditions,” he said.

“If you have friends, family or neighbours who are more vulnerable, it is important to check in on them and ensure they are aware of the forecasts and are following the necessary advice.’’

Today:

Sunny spells and showers across Scotland and Northern Ireland, some heavy and thundery. A hot, sunny and humid day across England and Wales, with increasing risk of heavy showers and thunderstorms later. Hail and gusty winds and localised flooding possible.

Torrential downpours and thunderstorms will continue to move northwards through the evening and into the early hours. Some places remaining dry. A warm and humid night for many.

Saturday:

Heavy showers and thunderstorms easing a little as the day progresses. Driest and brightest towards the southeast. Still very warm here, but a little cooler elsewhere.

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