Spring holiday cooking

Ever since my daughter, Cici, six, has been old enough to interact, we’ve cooked together once a week. To start with, it was just an extension of messy play, just quality time spent with each other and me giving her child-friendly jobs like whisking, mixing or picking basil leaves off the stalk. But now she’s started school, she loves to get involved with the family cooking. Here are our favourites, a mix of the simplified versions of the recipes she loves to eat in my restaurants and things that are practical to make over the holidays.

Paul Ainsworth

Panuozzo sandwich

I’m obsessed with all things pizza, which is how I came across this, an inventive way Neapolitan pizza chefs turn leftover dough into baguette-shaped rolls. I now make the dough specially and fill mine with Italian ham and cheese. Yes, you can easily buy pesto, but nothing beats homemade. I make a batch, then keep it in the fridge over the holidays for quick meals and to use in pasta salads (see p55).

4 20 mins plus proving 12 mins