Welcome to August

Every dish tells a story, and Robert Ortiz’s beef estofado is a fascinating one. The Birmingham-based chef, who came to the UK from Peru, explains how his grandmother’s slow-cooked comforting stews, flavoured with fragrant herbs, influenced his own recipe. ‘My family worked in the fields, picking coffee, cane sugar, papaya and avocados, and in the early morning, my grandmother and I would take massive bowls of soup to them.’ Find his recipe on page 136.

This issue, we’ve explored more recipes that put us in mind of sunny holidays, from Greece’s fluffy pitta and tzatziki to Spain’s smoked paprika-spiked salpicón de marisco, Mediterranean spatchcocked chicken, and Jamaica’s ackee & saltfish. We hope you enjoy making and sharing them all this summer.