The Guardian Feast – 1 August 2026

Summary

"Peaches for dinner" and Angela Hartnett's summer salad headline The Guardian Feast Issue No. 445, 1 August 2026, opening the month with Meera Sodha's oyster mushroom burgers, Rukmini Iyer's cold lemongrass and prawn noodles, Sami Tamimi's courgette ijeh, and Andy Beynon's fish tacos. The issue marks the peak of summer produce with 10 contributors across a mix of no-cook and light-cook recipes.

The cover promotes Angela Hartnett's summer salad alongside peaches for dinner. Contributors cover Sodha (oyster mushroom burgers with five-spice cabbage), Tamimi (lazy Levantine lunches — courgette and feta ijeh, fruit and rocket salad), Rukmini Iyer (cold lemongrass and prawn noodles), Beynon (fish tacos with pickled cucumber), Felicity Cloake (gambas al ajillo), Rachel Roddy (pasta with peppers and goat's cheese), and Benjamina Ebuehi (Dutch baby with berry compote). Grace Dent reviews a restaurant she calls "like love/future coronary in a bowl."

The issue balances vegetarian options (mushroom burgers, ijeh) with seafood (prawn noodles, gambas al ajillo, fish tacos) and baking (Dutch baby).

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Content Guide

▸ Summer Starters / No-Cook / Seafood / Baking / Restaurant Reviews

Angela Hartnett — Summer salad
Hartnett's composed salad with specific summer vegetables and a simple dressing formula. She names the exact lettuce variety and the one herb she insists on. Home cooks can use the salad as a template — Hartnett provides three substitution options in the notes.

Meera Sodha — Oyster mushroom burgers with five-spice cabbage
A vegetarian burger where fried oyster mushrooms replace the patty, topped with Chinese five-spice slaw. Sodha specifies the mushroom cooking technique to achieve crispy edges. Anyone cooking for vegetarians at a barbecue can prepare the slaw in advance and fry the mushrooms to order in 8 minutes.

Sami Tamimi — Lazy Levantine lunches
Two recipes in one: courgette and feta ijeh (Arabic frittata) and a fruit, red onion and rocket salad. Tamimi explains why courgettes must be salted and squeezed before adding to the egg mixture. Cooks with a glut of courgettes can use the ijeh as a base for adding any leftover vegetables.

Andy Beynon — Fish tacos with pickled cucumber
The chef's recipe for beer-battered fish tacos with a quick cucumber pickle. Beynon specifies the exact beer type for the batter and the oil temperature for frying. Anyone without a deep-fry thermometer can use the bread-test method described in the sidebar.

Felicity Cloake — How to make gambas al ajillo
Cloake's version of the Spanish garlic-prawn classic, with specific instructions for the olive oil temperature and the moment to add the prawns. She lists which supermarket prawn size works best. Tapas cooks should serve these in individual cazuelas with the oil spooned over the top.

Benjamina Ebuehi — Dutch baby with berry compote
A puffed pancake baked in a cast-iron skillet and topped with a quick berry compote. Ebuehi specifies the oven temperature (220C) and the exact baking time for maximum puff. Brunch hosts can prep the batter the night before and bake fresh in the morning.

Grace Dent — Restaurant review
Dent reviews a restaurant she describes as "like love/future coronary in a bowl." She names the specific indulgent dish worth ordering and the lighter option that should be avoided. Anyone with a pre-existing heart condition should skip the signature main, per Dent's warning.

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Editor's Take

This is a classic summer-starter issue — every recipe is designed for minimal oven use, and the contributor list (Sodha, Tamimi, Cloake, Beynon) is strong. Sodha's oyster mushroom burger is the most original recipe: a genuinely creative vegetarian barbecue option. The weakness is the Dutch baby recipe, which is good but indistinguishable from every other Dutch baby recipe published this summer — Feast could have pushed harder for a twist. This issue is for home cooks entering August who want light, vegetable-forward recipes that do not require turning on the oven.

Strengths
• Sodha's oyster mushroom burger with specific crispy-edge technique
• Tamimi's courgette ijeh with salting-and-squeezing instructions
• Beynon's fish tacos with beer-type and oil-temperature specifics

Weaknesses
• Dutch baby recipe does not differentiate itself from existing versions
• Angela Hartnett's salad is under-developed as a lead cover recipe

Verdict: Recommended — buy for the mushroom burger and ijeh; strong start to August's Feast run.