Notes about Recipes in this book

• A hotpot of sausage and apples

  • Melanie on March 17, 2012

    p 664 (UK ed) This is a stew, of sorts. First, you cook up some beans. White beans would be the way to go here, but I didn't have any, so I used red. You start the stew by browning some onions in olive oil, then add some thinly sliced garlic, then some bay leaves and fennel seeds. Slice up some sausages, and add them, and brown on all sides. Then you sprinkle over some flour, and add the apples. Stir that around, and add Madeira or sherry (I used sherry), and some stock. Add a little mustard, and simmer about 25 miin. Then you add the beans and simmer about 20-25 minutes more. At this point you have a thick stew. Stir in a little more mustard to finish the dish. Slater reminds you that mustard loses flavor if you cook it too long, so serve soon after adding that last dollop. This is a delicious dish you could serve on it's own. Or you could do as we did, and have it with some potatoes.

  • yelizaveta_38dvwk on March 31, 2026

    A winter favourite in my house. Simple to make, rustic, and hearty.

• Cheese and apple puffs

  • ivyhopegirl on February 11, 2024

    Made with cheddar instead of blue cheese. Eric proclaimed them very weird. They were overly dry inside -- alter filling to be more saucy?

• Whole wheat apple and marmalade cake

  • PatriciaScarpin on April 11, 2011

    Delicious without being too heavy - I did not expect this cake to be so tender, for it's made with whole wheat flour alone.

  • Melanie on October 28, 2011

    p684. Very lovely. Perfect accompaniment to a pot of tea!

• A cake of apples and zucchini

  • Melanie on February 24, 2012

    p685. Quick and easy to prepare. Lovely cake for a relaxing afternoon tea.

• Apfelstrudel

  • Melanie on February 24, 2012

    p694. Low effort for a fancy result. I didn't have any apricot jam so I substituted honey. It took a little while to cut the apples but the end result was worth it.

• Slim apricot tarts

  • Astrid5555 on August 10, 2012

    Quick and very easy. Left out the apricot jam. Made a double batch of the apricots and stored the remaining ones in their cooking liquid. I used them for a week as a topping for my morning oatmeal. So delicious!

• Classic almond apricot tart

  • twoyolks on July 09, 2019

    I liked the almond filling but the apricots turned out too tart for me.

• A cake for midsummer

  • JFM on August 02, 2012

    Made it twice so far - brilliant! Definitely one of my new favourite recipes. And so easy!

  • Astrid5555 on August 06, 2012

    Quick and easy. Made it twice already over the past weeks and was a huge success!

  • TrishaCP on July 21, 2018

    This is a quick and easy dessert and everyone loved it. I used blueberries instead of raspberries and they worked well.

  • eliza on July 10, 2025

    We loved this cake! I made half the recipe in a 6” pan and used cherries, raspberries, and blackberries from the garden. Very easy to make. No self raising flour so I used all purpose and 1 tsp baking powder. I placed the raspberries in the top of the cake batter and got good distribution of fruit. I agree it’s quite easy to underbake; 45 min at 350 fan was not quite enough. 50 min seemed about right. Absolutely delicious cake that we all enjoyed. Will make again and try other fruits.

• A moist cake of damsons and spelt

  • ellabee on September 21, 2013

    Toasted sliced almonds and amaretto excellent additions, per member notes on same recipe in UK version (Tender vol 2).

• Chocolate chip hazelnut cake with chocolate cinnamon buttercream

  • Melanie on February 24, 2012

    p959. Madeleine made this recipe :) it is a 20cm cake and turns out quite small but it tastes lovely. Made hazelnut brittle shards to sprinkle over the top.

• A salad of chicken, mint, and peaches

  • sharifah on November 27, 2011

    Not sure about this one - interesting flavours. Followed recipe to the letter, but used supermarket ready-cooked roast chicken. It was a bit too salty and too sour. Need to add a bit more sugar next time, and more chillies.

• Peaches with kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass

  • apattin on September 13, 2016

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzwTT7I6x1zgelFDSHRiVlRFVE0/view?usp=sharing

• Baked peaches with an almond crust

  • lisachile on July 28, 2014

    This was easy and wonderful. There wasn't a lot of juice in the pan to baste the peaches with, but it was still great. I will make this over and over!

• A pudding cake of honey, cinnamon, and plums

  • Kinhawaii on August 31, 2023

    Very nice snacking cake- easy & moist. While it was cooling I saw another version of his online that had ginger added & a plum compote, pictured with a dollop of cream- I think that would be much nicer for company…it does have a rather plain appearance. I sliced my 3 large plums into eighths.

• Plum crumble tart

  • Jane on October 19, 2014

    This isn't really a tart as no pastry and not really a cake as no eggs but whatever it is, it's a lovely fall dessert. The base is pressed down crumble mix then plums laid on top and scattered with the rest of the crumble mix. I liked the addition of ground almonds and pine nuts to the crumble. I served it with buttermilk ice cream.

  • twoyolks on September 07, 2015

    The crumble does a good job of cutting the tartness of the plums but is better with some ice cream or whipped cream.

• Rhubarb cinnamon polenta cake

  • joyofcooking1931 on June 19, 2014

    Made this using gooseberries instead of rhubarb and did not cook the gooseberries before adding them. When you make this recipe, you will probably feel like you're making a pie crust or a crumble topping or streusel. You use a food processor to make the "dough", and then you press 2/3 of it into a springform, top with fruit, then top with the remaining 1/3 dough. This turned out to be really delicious. I don't know that I'd call it a cake, as it's very crumbly. But the tart fruit and the polenta crust go really nicely together. It would be just about perfect with a scoop of ice cream.

  • eliza on July 14, 2025

    Really delicious cake! I used lemon zest instead of the orange and it worked well. I made 2 smaller cakes; one was 6" and the other 7" in diameter. These smaller cakes took about 30-35 min to bake at 350 convection. As others have said, this dessert is a bit like a crumble pie/cake. Loved the polenta in it. I'm going to try freezing one of them for later. Will definitely repeat this cake. Edited to add; slices froze perfectly.

• KQED Public Media

  As with Tender, however, the real reason to add Ripe to your cookbook shelf is Slater’s smart, supple prose and tart observations, which are at once lyrical, deeply felt, and irresistibly irreverent.

  Full review

• Huffington Post

  Nigel Slater's passionate, intelligent, practical salute to fruit is highly seductive, a mixture of simple, appealing recipes and lucid writing. ...as inspiring as it is practical.

  Full review

• Food in Jars

  It deserves every ounce of adulation too. It is beautifully written and photographed. The recipes are creative and allow you the space to adapt and explore the featured main ingredients.

  Full review

• Serious Eats

  ...contain casual, conversational directions calling for "handfuls" of this or a "large piece" of that. This tone is perhaps a bit of an adjustment, but its vagueness encourages the cook to experiment

  Full review

• NPR by T. Susan Chang

  Not every fruit can be easily found on these shores - white currants, gooseberries, damsons and sloes among them. But Slater is so vivid and surefooted in his manner...you can almost taste them anyway

  Full review