Ella Risbridger is a writer and poet. She has written for the Guardian, Prospect, Grazia and Stylist, and she is the beauty columnist for the i. Midnight Chicken is her first book. She lives in London.

eatingwithmyfingers.com / @missellabell

Winner of the Guild of Food Writers General Cookbook Award 2020

'A manual for living and a declaration of hope' Nigella Lawson

'A moving testimonial to the redemptive power of cooking. Generous, honest and uplifting' Diana Henry

There are lots of ways to start a story, but this one begins with a chicken…

When the world becomes overwhelming, Ella Risbridger focuses on the little things that bring her joy, like enjoying a glass of wine when cooking, FaceTiming with a friend whilst making bagels, and sharing recipes that are good for the soul. One night she found herself lying on her kitchen floor, wondering if she would ever get up – and it was the thought of a chicken, of roasting it, and of eating it, that got her to her feet and made her want to be alive.

Midnight Chicken is a cookbook. Or, at least, you'll flick through these pages and find recipes so inviting that you will head straight for the kitchen: roast garlic and tomato soup, uplifting chilli-lemon spaghetti, charred leek lasagne, squash skillet pie, spicy fish finger sandwiches and burnt-butter brownies. It's the kind of cooking you can do a little bit drunk, that is probably better if you've got a bottle of wine open and a hunk of bread to mop up the sauce. But if you settle down and read it with a cup of tea (or a glass of that wine), you'll also discover that it's an annotated list of things worth living for – a manifesto of moments worth living for. This is a cookbook to make you fall in love with the world again.

Featuring an entire chapter on storecupboard recipes.

'Risbridger is the most talented British debut writer in a generation' Sunday Times

'A big old massive heart exploding love story' The Times

Reviews

“A moving testimonial to the redemptive power of cooking. Risbridger knows that it offers not just solace but a map; cooking can save you. Generous, honest and uplifting. I wish I'd had this book when I was in my twenties” –  Diana Henry,

“One of the things that makes Midnight Chicken such a very good book is how hard it is to say exactly what it is. Yes, to be sure, it's a cookbook, but it is also a manual for living and a declaration of hope” –  Nigella Lawson,

“Her writing is beautiful, brave and moving. She shares wholeheartedly with her reader, not just of her experience, but also herself. This is a book for all seasons and states of mind and is as effective as a manual for life as it is as a kitchen companion” –  Shamil Thakrar, co-founder of Dishoom, Caterer

“A wholly unconventional cookbook” –  Guardian

“A big old massive heart exploding love story... This is the first recipe book that should be made into a film” –  The Times

“She has found a way to write not just about food itself but, more importantly, about the darkness for which cooking can be a partial remedy” –  Bee Wilson, The Sunday Times

“Risbridger is the most talented British debut writer in a generation” –  Sunday Times, Culture magazine

“What I'll reach for, if I wanted to read a cookbook, is probably Midnight Chicken” –  James Rebanks, Guardian

“This is so much more than a cookbook… Beautifully written and restorative with comforting recipes and ways to find joy, you'll want to read this yourself before you give it as a gift ­ maybe buy two” –  BBC Good Food Magazine

“I couldn't have loved Ella Risbridger's Midnight Chicken more. It's a narrative with recipes and the narrative is about love, grief and healing, and the redemptive power of stirring something at the stove, glass in hand” –  The Sunday Times Magazine

“The new Nigella” –  Good Housekeeping

“Confessional, clever and readable” –  Delicious magazine,

“Heartfelt anecdotes and recipes will bolster your faith in the redemptive power of cooking” –  Waitrose magazine,

“Midnight Chicken is so much more than a cookery book. Which isn't to say that Midnight Chicken won't nourish both your tummy and your tastebuds, but it will also nourish your soul” –  Red

“This is legit the warmest, friendliest, most forgiving cookbook I have ever come across” –  Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley,

“To call this a cookbook is to do it an injustice. It's a love letter to food, a manual on how to appreciate every meal, and a book of memories” –  Emerald Street

“She cooks like a dream and writes like an angel” –  Sarah Phelps

“Divine. Utterly totally perfect” –  Charly Cox

“So full of loving kindness and so thoughtfully and poetically written” –  Josie Long

“Risbridger's debut is also that rare thing: a cookbook in which every recipe works” –  i paper,

“Beautiful, life-affirming memoir with recipes” –  The Sunday Times magazine

“A gentle how-to on cooking real food” –  Oldie