Writer, more butter than toast, mostly outside. MIDNIGHT CHICKEN; SET ME ON FIRE; and THE SECRET DETECTIVES all out now! Rep. by @LandRagency. she/her
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Ella Risbridger
Things I Loved Lately: I Have A Cold
I have a cold! Much like Frank Sinatra! (Much like.) I have a cold and it’s headline news! This time last winter I had laryngitis and was entering my third consecutive week of silence, which was worse. I will admit that. I can be a big enough person to admit that even though I have a cold, which is the headline. What I have done is to make a cup of tea and sack off work early and put on Bake Off and put a blanket over my legs.
Beans and Greens and Sub Ten Minute Soup
This is I think what is called a hack, i.e. it has basically no ingredients and takes no time and is a total cheat, and yet! And yet it was really delicious and very wholesome and took me genuinely under ten minutes, zero prep, from taking off my very wet coat and wellies to sitting with a blanket on my lap and a bowl of soup in my hand: beans, greens, tomato, chilli, a little shimmer of goldy olive oil.
What makes a powerful art dealer tick? Read this cookbook
There’s a funny dichotomy at the heart of A Cookbook for Iwan.
What To Eat This Week: Brown Butter Cornbread
The last days of September, and I am writing to you from a little booth at Paddington Station, where I have found the holy trinity: a seat, a coffee, a plug socket. I am on my way to teach food writing, which is one of the most exciting, exhausting, thrilling, surprising, reinvigorating parts of my year. I have written a curriculum this year that makes me so, so happy every time I look at it.
How long is too long to cook a stew?
It is Thursday May 28 2026, and somewhere in America, Zaq is making dinner. He has been making dinner for 399 days.
Wine, Lamb, Beans, Greens, Garlic
Ah, the rain! The September! Jeans and jumpers! The existence of clouds, the existence of blankets, the annual yearn for a woodburner (will kill us y/y? but so nice)! Sharp pencils! New notebooks! Candles! The joys of slow cooking! Things simmering! Soups! Stews! Slow-cooked things falling apart! Etc etc etc. I do really believe all of these things, as reg. read. will rec. I am a September stan. It is my birthday month, and I believe it is by far the best month in which to be born.
What would Socrates have done with the new Dyson toothbrush?
The writer’s latest book is ‘The Kitchen Book: Good Food for Every Day’ The unexamined life is not worth living, according to Socrates.
The Golden Hours by Louisa Young review – this continuation of the Cazalet Chronicles is a total delight
Elizabeth Jane Howard’s beloved family saga the Cazalet Chronicles spans three decades in the life of the upper-middle-class Cazalet family. The first four books, written in the 1990s, run from a bucolic prewar 1937 to a bruising 1947, while the fifth, 2013’s All Change, skips ahead, sitting lonely in 1956. The books are exquisite doll’s houses of feeling and object: both period detail and eternal emotion are rendered precisely and vigorously in Howard’s lovely prose.
Things I Loved Lately: What To Eat This Week
Happy Sunday, dear friends! I am desperate for autumn. Even more than usual. I hope it rained for you a little? I hope it rains for you some more. It rained for me! It was wonderful! I am going to Scotland this week to do two things, make a tomato tart (???) at Elliot’s and to talk about kissing in the Spiegeltent. You wanna come? Come. We have one more week of August, and one more week of summer, and one more week of summer meals.
It’s not just Homer: the new generation of poets enjoying epic success
The death of poetry – much anticipated, much prematurely mourned – has been put off again, this time by the Odyssey. Thanks to Christopher Nolan’s film, sales of Homer’s epic rose 1,400% in the weeks around release – and it’s not alone. Poetry collections are once again sailing up the charts: Lucas Jones, Donna Ashworth and Nikita Gill, among others, have all burst forth on to the bestseller lists.
You Get In Love And Then
Ah, friends, I’m finding it hard to believe there will ever be an autumn. I can’t picture it at all. This is significantly stupid as we need to have a radiator put back into my workroom/kitchen, and I can’t bring myself to authorise the purchase because I can’t imagine ever, ever wanting a radiator again. Surely not? Surely not? I can’t believe there will ever be an autumn, and I don’t believe it will ever rain. I keep dreaming it’s raining and then I wake up and it’s still dry.
Cucumber, Chive, Champagne
I’m back! I’m back! I’m back with a cucumber and parsley salad and a song in my heart to be home and powered up and human again.
Service by Lauren Mooney review – a very modern ghost story
; ; ; Continue reading More for You
Service by Lauren Mooney review – a very modern ghost story
There are, MR James tells us, five conditions that must be met for a perfect ghost story: the pretence of truth, a “pleasing terror”, no explanation of the machinery, no gratuitous horror, and that the story belong to the writer’s (and reader’s) “own day”. In Lauren Mooney’s sharply observed debut novel, Danielle lives a precarious existence as a PA at a dilettante arts charity called Hodgepodge (strapline: “for ideas”).
Things I Loved Lately: Wet Laptop Edition
Oh my God, the relief, the bliss, hello, here I am. There is cloud cover! I am in a place where the pollen is a little less virulent! I have three kinds of hayfever medication and at least one of them appears to be working! And I am here writing my letter at last.
You Get In Love And Then
The most chic biscuits that there have ever been are these olive oil and rosemary shortbreads (though I’m not sure it’s exactly like a shortbread) with shaved dark chocolate and salt. They are very grown-up, very sparkly, very complex, perfect with coffee, and so so easy: I mean one bowl and straight into the oven and no faffing at all, such a dementedly ideal effort:success ratio.
You Get In Love And Then
music, coffee, books, life Oh, it’s Sunday morning, and sunny without being stifling, and the Essie Gel Couture manicure I gave myself last Wednesday has not one single chip in it, can you believe it? I’m going to buy this one next: it’s a little too olive for the book (my book, obviously), but I think it’s good anyway. I can’t believe it hasn’t chipped: I’m hard on nail polish. It’s so pretty, too: butter-coloured, goes with everything.
You Get In Love And Then
My book is out today. My book is out, and it is out because of you. Here are the acknowledgements, and here you are. I am writing this from the very deep bath of a very fancy hotel. I am eating very hot, very salty French fries, and I am drinking very cold champagne, and I just got back from Broadcasting House, and my book is out today, and I am the luckiest woman in the world.
You Get In Love And Then
Hello, happy Sunday, it’s five in the morning and even the cat is asleep. The light is this very pale almost dove grey, but somehow very clear through all the rain left on the windows by the night. I couldn’t sleep: my book is out on Thursday, and if you have been here for even a little bit of a long time (or if you know any other writers, or are one) you will recall that the week before publication is the traditional time for writers to go insane. It is the most crazy-making time! Am I a star?
You Get In Love And Then
It’s Sunday morning, and listen: I am writing this from my bed. Can you believe? A real bed! With a mattress! I have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for….quite some time…and I am a thousand years old. The last time I slept on a mattress on the floor for a prolonged period I was a youthful slip of a person and I didn’t understand why people complained about sleeping on the floor.
You Get In Love And Then
I made a fantastic green dressing at the weekend, and since it was the first thing I have made in weeks that was delicious I wanted to write and tell you right away: a kind of Green Goddess, a green demi-goddess I suppose. A little green dryad; a dreamy little green dryad. This code is now WORKING on both SIGNED and UNSIGNED editions. The naming of things is important to me.
You Get In Love And Then
I! Have! Written! A! Book! I! Have! Written! A! Book! For! You! Yes, for you. Hi, hello, hi. I wrote it for you, yourself, reading this on a Saturday morning that I hope is sunny and full of peace and dappled light. Crazy! But true, actually. It’s here, my book, in case you can’t be bothered to read too many words about my feelings. (LOL.
You Get In Love And Then
Sunday night, and we’re watching Sort Your Life Out with Stacey Solomon, and the boys are taking us to Mexico (box fajitas), and I am ordering paint. I need to wash my hair. Tomorrow I have two meetings that run all day long. I need to do so much laundry. I need to put so much laundry away. I need to change the sheets. I need to paint the bedroom. I need curtains. I need lamps. I need a bed. I need to call the plumber. I need to call the registry office. I need to call the electrician.
Yet more reasons to look on the bright side . . .
The writer is the author of the upcoming ‘The Kitchen Book: Good Food for Every Day’ It’s nice when science makes sense, isn’t it?
You Get In Love And Then
Happy Thursday, my friends! To finish our Kate Young Dinner At Mine! three-day special, Kate has written a guest post— an exclusive essay and recipe— about being a Former Baking Girl, which….look, it is very relatable to me. I was mainly making a lot of elaborate meals and I was so sure it was my main value in this life that when someone said to me “You know we would still love you if you never cooked again, right?” I felt physically sick.
You Get In Love And Then
This picture by Yuki is on the cover of the book and there’s a reason for that. Say you’ve written a little book and you love your little book. Say you’ve written a little book and you’ve put your whole heart into the little book. Say you’ve written a little book and you want it to be a big book, you want everyone to see that this book is the book of your heart and that you’ve put everything into it and that this book is actually something pretty special.
You Get In Love And Then
My friend Kate is the person who told me about crisps for dinner, and not in the “bag of despair” way, in the good way. In this way: Crisps and eggs by me and Kate, picture by our beloved Yuki Sugiura You cannot believe how delicious this bowl of eggs and tomatoes and onions and crisps is; how delicious and how nourishing and how cheerful. A Mexican breakfast that works perfectly for dinner, especially at this time of year, when the tomatoes are sad and spring feels so necessary.
The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski review - a delicious comfort read
Tyntesfield, Somerset … its sale inspired The Infamous Gilberts. Photograph: Graham, David/Alamy (Photograph: Graham, David/Alamy) Angela Tomaski’s debut novel is a delicious comfort read about loyalty and despair, and a gentle questioning of the nature of progress. Crumbling stately home Thornwalk is on the verge of becoming a luxury hotel.
Cheesebread
A fun thing to know about me is that once I ate the same thing for lunch every single day for two years, when I was sixteen and seventeen: flat Lebanese cheese bread folded in two, soft, salty, pliable. Sometimes za’atar, mostly not. Always warm. Every day. This is of course a credit to the constitution of teenagers, and the faithful constancy of neurodiversity; but it is also a tribute to manakish specifically, and Lebanese baking in general.
Illustration: Inès Pagniez/The Guardian (Illustration: Inès Pagniez/The Guardian) default Opposites attract. He falls first. Coffee shop. Forced proximity. Sports romance. University sports romance. Ivy League university sports romance! Best friend’s brother. Brother’s best friend. Slow burn. Age gap. Amnesia. Wounded hero. Single father. Single mother. Language barrier. The bodyguard. Fake dating. Marriage of convenience. If this list means nothing to you, you’re not a romance reader.
How to survive forty days of rain — and counting
The writer’s latest book is ‘In Love With Love: The Persistence & Joy Of Romantic Fiction’ To rain for 40 days has a biblical quality;...
Anchovy-Garlic-Sauvignon Braised Celery
I am as amazed as anyone to be bringing you this, but holy hell, it’s so good; so good, so easy, kind of bafflingly sexy, salty, umami, peppery, a centrepiece of a single vegetable, a side-dish to sit with anything, leftovers on a thick wedge of sourdough for a sophisticated little lunch. Also, I made this with some meatballs when I didn’t want a tomato sauce, and it was so great for that, too. It is pretty cheap to make. It is one pot. It is in the oven. It is a) not a problem and b) so nice.
Blood Orange White Miso Spatchcock
February already; Monday afternoon already. It’s unclear how it happened. One minute it was last September; now it’s February, and my friends are going away, and my friends are coming home, and we are still in grey London and our neighbours are drilling through the kitchen walls and the whole house is shaking as I type.
In Love with Love: The Persistence and Joy of Romantic Fiction
In Vain I Have Struggled By Sceptre 288pp £16.99 Subscribe or Sign In to read the full article For People Who Devour Books Only a selection of our reviews and articles are free. Subscribers receive the monthly magazine and access to all articles on our website.
Saturday Morning Best Granola
Things I love lately: making coffee in the moka pot, coveting this ludicrous blue and white Dolce and Gabanna moka pot, the Richard Long flint circle sculpture at the Tate, this healing nail polish which does actually appear to be helping, this triple acid (?) moisturiser, a new nightlight which puts stars all over the ceiling, trading our white bed sheets for clay-coloured linen, choosing paint colours, choosing colours over white wherever possible, long walks along the river, seeing the sea...
Resolutions Reconsidered
This year at midnight, when I put my hand in the fire to save the only resolution left to me I found I had burned everything like “Run 10km” and “Write 1000 words every morning” and “Draw every day” and what was there, still, in my hand, was this: It’s All So Nice, Do More Of It. That was my last resolution when I had written eleven and not really believed in any of them. This year I drove myself hard; made things happen; got what I wanted; worked every day, even weekends, until Christmas.
Politicians and the romance novel: a love affair
The writer’s latest book is ‘In Love With Love: The Persistence & Joy Of Romantic Fiction’ The House of Commons has risen for the festive...
Composite: N/A People buy lipstick when the world is falling apart. This genuine economic theory, known as the “lipstick index”, was first noted by Leonard Lauder (son of the more famous Estée). When the world seems very bleak – in the weeks and months after the twin towers fell, for instance, or after the 2008 financial crash – and spending generally goes down, lipstick sales trend strongly upwards.
Bumper Special Edition: How To Christmas When It's Already Mid-December And You're Still Not There
This is not a gift guide. I love writing gift guides: here’s last year, here’s the year before. Honestly: I stand by every word. The Dad Torch, the tiny skulls, the FATMAX trolley, the vintage jewels, the glasses with stars…. All these things still stand. But this is not a gift guide. Or not really. But I have drowned in gift guides this year. Drowned! To death! I was falling through space and around me gift guides were falling from every shelf and drawer and grandfather clock.
What Goes In The Cup
Dear friends, I am pouring from an empty cup. The cat must go to the vet for at least one, probably two, suspected abscesses because he has been beaten up by a bigger and very beautiful tabby, as is his way; the car has a trouble; the house is an uninhabitable wreck, which absorbs more money and time than I thought possible; and December, my personal shipwreck of a month, is mere hours away. Another of my dearest, most touchstone friends has left the country for a prolonged period of time.
My Book Is Out Today And I Feel Good About It
My book is out today! My book is out and you can buy it today, here, or in the bad place, or wherever you usually buy books! There are signed copies in Kent and in Oxford and, like, maybe three for sale in London, and shortly there will be signed copies in Edinburgh and Manchester and Newcastle too.
It's That Time Again: Soup Special
Hello, sweet ones! It’s some kind of notable storm out there, I have been sick for sixteen days and I am starting to feel better and alive again. In that time I have made several major life decisions and done three enormo work tasks, only one of which is ongoing into next Tuesday, so you can see why I have been sick for so long. This week I actually rested, like fully laid up rested, and it— along with the soups below— have cured me.
Chicken, Scallion, Ginger, Water
Thank god for golden glossy green-flecked broth, thank god for chicken, thank god for spoons, thank god for ladles and saucepans and spring onions and above all thank god for ginger: what a miracle to live in a time where ginger can be bought by anyone in any store, thank god again for not living in a time when ginger would be procured old and dried from a witch, thank god again for being your own personal witch, thank god for this machine that makes it possible for me to be both my own...
Perfect Porridge
I know it’s autumn because I have two urges: to eat a lot of porridge, ideally with golden syrup, and to do a PhD. Here they come, the end of September, the desire to fuel myself with oats and write either the great thesis in defence of romantic fiction, or to go headlong into Ulysses and live there until spring, forcing all my unruly undergraduate theories on the subject into neat little arguments.
In the midst of tariffs, spare a thought for the crafters
The writer is an author of fiction, cookery books and poetry anthologies.
Hello Let's Hang Out
Beloved friends! This is an incredibly quick email because I was supposed to send it last night and instead got incredibly distracted by life (update TK TK TK) making a pickled plum vinaigrette for a roast pumpkin salad (which, by the way, I will give you the recipe for ASAP). Pickled plums? Roast pumpkin?
Lemon Cake
Something nice that happened to me over the weekend was that our neighbours asked us to come over for dinner. They asked us on the morning of, and then I made a lemon corn pound cake, and we had tuna pasta in their garden. Then the next day they brought the clean dish back, with some huge and beautiful branches from their rosemary bush. I put the rosemary branches in a jug on the kitchen table because they were so beautiful to look at.
Things I Loved Lately
Good morning, happy Saturday, I am the queen of laundry. I have done three loads of laundry today, if you can imagine such a thing. (This after a no-clean-pants hiatus while I finished a project and had a minor breakdown.) Now we all have clean pants and I think I am on the way out of the minor Bs. I had been feeling a bit odd for a while— work, housing, life— and so here’s something terrible: I started drinking these very delicious CBD drinks. That’s not the terrible thing. They were lovely.
Fattoush
Listen: we live in a post-Ottolenghi world. If you are reading this newsletter, you almost certainly live in a post-Ottolenghi world. There is tahini in the cupboard and hummus in the baby food aisle and pomegranate molasses has gone in and out and back again. We all know our way around a lemon; we all know our way around a chickpea.
Father Figure by Emma Forrest review - a slippery tale of teenage obsession
Deceptive naivity … Emma Forrest.Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer Father Figure opens with a memory of murders, bought and paid for; then skips briskly to scholarship girl Gail, who is on the verge of being expelled from her expensive London academy for writing a scandalous essay. The connection between death and day school is new girl Agata, the daughter of notoriously corrupt East End businessman Ezra Levy.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Ella
Contact Ella, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack