OFM: Our 50 favourite things for 2015

Welcome to the March issue of Observer Food Monthly featuring the 3rd annual OFM 50. From the best Chinese buns in Paris, the Outback rock star chef, to a few of the women changing the face of food, we celebrate 50 favourite things for 2015. It's not all new, of course. March 1990 marked the last Observer cookery column from the late great Jane Grigson who died 25 years ago this month. Rachel Cooke talks to her friends and family and examines her elegant influence on British food. There are stunning vegetarian recipes from Nigel Slater, maybe the only cookery writer who could fill Jane's understated shoes, and an extract from Blanche Vaughan's brilliant book on eggs – we can't stop making her chocolate, almond and orange cake. We have an Easter taste test with Michelin-starred Helene Darroze who I blame her for my new addiction to Montezuma's peanut butter mini eggs. Plus, the wonderful Mary Berry shares her extraordinary Life on a Plate.  March OFM, a feast of food, out this Sunday. OK! I admit it. I have committed an eco crime. I just couldn't resist a plate of Italian broad beans grilled in the pods and eaten whole, Lebanese-style, with food writer Anissa Helou. I know I should have waited for the ones I am growing on the allotment but I weakened. So sorry. One of the perks of being married to a Dane is that they will likely introduce you to Påskeøl: Easter beer specially brewed with higher hops and higher gravity. The supermarket shelves are full of them, from the big breweries such as Tuborg to smaller producers such as (my current favourite) Mikeller. Hoppy Easter, Skål! It is a sometimes grubby Sichuan cafe at the back of Kings Cross where the service can be a little shaky but I can be found at Chilli Cool more than anywhere else. My favourite dish: the bowl of fish, potato and pickled vegetable, perfect with steamed rice and dry-fried beans. Since soon after Christmas we have been buried under Easter eggs and hot cross buns. It is a bit of a problem for a greedy man like me. You see, for most of the year I can pretend to be sniffy about high cocoa count but Easter demands cheaper chocolate, maybe with Cadbury's buttons. Could there be a better way to celebrate the Easter season than to recreate Nigel Slater’s delicious chocolate panna cotta with hazelnut fingers? We don't think so.   For the full recipe, visit Nigel Slater's Easter recipes. Allan Jenkins, editor, Observer Food Monthly Pick up Observer Food Monthly this Sunday Follow Food Monthly @ObsFood http://twitter.com/ObsFood