Ella Risbridger’s Midnight Chicken hit me like, to paraphrase Alex Warren’s Fever Dream (currently living rent-free in my head), a freight train to the chest. I’ve never invested so heavily in a cookbook, let alone cried over the ending. I said it then and I’ll say it again: someone should make a movie of it.
A Year of Miracles followed and, where Midnight Chicken broke my heart, A Year of Miracles quietly stitched it back together.
(I reviewed both books here and here).
So what was left? Surely Risbridger had already made me feel every feeling there was to feel?
Joy.
It’s in every exclamation mark (and there are a lot of them), every page and every recipe.
As Ella writes in the introduction, these are recipes she loves to eat, recipes she thinks we might also love, and a few (hello, peanut butter) she’s included simply because she loves them too much not to.
She goes on to write:
“I love to be in the kitchen and I love to be eating and I love to be cooking, and I hate that I have to do it every day, and if I have to do it every day it has to be so much better than just eating toast.
I love to cook; I love to eat; I hate to wash up.
I love when dinner is fantastic and I hate when the kitchen is a horrible hole. I love to eat an elaborate meal and I hate the rag that hangs around the sink. I love food and I hate to use more than two pans, tops.
I love to try very hard and I hate when things aren’t worth it. This is a book of things that are worth it.”
And honestly? That pretty much sums up the whole book.
So far I’ve cooked the Turmeric Satay Salmon with Greens, Cumin Lamb Noodle Ragù, Marmite and Rosemary Chicken Broth, Tahini Tomato Toast, Hetty Lui McKinnon’s Tomato Dumpling Salad and the Dumpling Omelette. Not a dud among them.
Alright, I’m going to be frank with you.
If you like your cookbooks filled with enormous photographs, minimal preamble and concise, bullet-pointed methods, this probably isn’t your book.
Likewise, if you don’t like Marmite (or, in my case, Vegemite), you may struggle with some of Ella’s greatest loves. We might even have words. Ella loves Marmite as passionately as I love Vegemite. Same, same but different. You may also want to skip the Marmite and Rosemary Chicken Broth or the Tahini Tomato Toast, which would be, for you, terribly sad.
Hey ho.
If, however, you love cookbooks with warmth, humour and personality—ones where you find yourself happily reading recipe introductions (and don’t mind turning the page) until you’ve almost forgotten you were supposed to be cooking—you’ll adore this one.
The recipe I’ve chosen to share is Ella’s Dumpling Omelette. As she writes:
“If you have freezer dumplings, you don’t really need this chapter. Freezer dumplings! Soy sauce! That’s all a human being could ask for in this life!”
I did warn you about the exclamation marks.
I’d add another essential to that list: chilli crisp oil. I’ve recently discovered it’s available in enormous 730g jars at Asian supermarkets.
That deserves an exclamation mark.
I’ve halved Ella’s recipe (except for the butter, because when has anything ever needed less than a teaspoon of butter?) since I was making lunch for one in a small frypan. If you’re cooking for two, simply double it and use a slightly larger pan.
Without any further palaver, here’s the recipe.
Dumpling Omelette
Ingredients
1 tbsp neutral oil
4-6 frozen dumplings (I used pork and chive dumplings and, yes, six of them)
2 eggs
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chopped chives (I also had a little coriander because it grows next to the chives and the scissoring just worked out that way)
1 tsp of butter
10g grated cheddar cheese (optional… I didn’t use this…maybe next time …)
A handful of pea shoots (you’ll notice none in the pic because I don’t live in a world where pea shoots are available in winter, or, indeed, at any time during the year), or rocket. I snipped extra coriander instead.
1 tbsp chilli crisp oil (optional, but I used a lot more than this – because I love it)
Method
Heat the oil in a small non-stick frying pan over medium heat and pop in the dumplings. They’ll spit, so pop the lid on. These should take five minutes to crisp up.
While the dumplings are cooking, beat the eggs with the soy sauce and chives.
Once the dumplings are brown and crisp, add the butter and swirl to melt. Turn the dumplings over and arrange in a daisy shape… sort of…
Pour the egg mixture between the dumplings to fill the background. Pop the lid back on and cook for another two minutes.
If you’re using the cheese, sprinkle it over the top, then, with the lid still off, start to swirl it so the egg mix sneaks up the sides.
Slide onto a plate, add your greens and your chilli crisp. I also drizzled some extra chilli oil. What can I say? I love chilli! Ella suggests Kewpie mayonnaise is also a good idea. Next time, maybe… with the grated cheese.
Each month, for the past few years on BKD, I review a cookbook along a specific theme and invite others to link their cookbooks or recipes too. It’s my way of working through some of the cookbooks on my shelves.
If you’re interested in past episodes, you’ll find them here.
For August’s challenge, let’s try something a little different: bready things. Now, you can take this literally and talk about sandwich recipes – I’m thinking also toasties, jaffles, hamburgers – pretty much things either in or on bread (or whatever it is you use instead of bread). You know me, anything goes … The post will be up on August 20, 2026.
I’ll be in Europe in September, so there won’t be a post, but I'll be back for a review in October. I figure that after cruising and spending a couple of weeks in Tuscany eating pasta and drinking red wine, I’ll need to make friends with salad again, so let’s talk about fancy-pants salads (warm or cold) and schedule the post for… say, 28 October, 2026.
If you’d like to join in, the linky is here, or just pop something in the comments.