Although it’s trending for all the wrong reasons this week, stew evokes comfortable childhood memories for me. I only started cooking it myself after happening upon an advert in a magazine, when we lived at South Croxted Road: ok, the ad was for Waitrose, but the ingredients are basic and cheap (even cheaper if youContinue reading “Beef stew & dumplings”
Tag Archives: years of practice
Pumpkin Pie
Patricia Lousada’s American Sampler (1985) was another book in the Sainsbury’s cookbook series that inspired family meals at Gale (see Greek Walnut Cake). It contains the definitive pumpkin pie recipe, from which I have not deviated at all over the years. The proportions of flour and butter look strange, being greater than the usual 2:1Continue reading “Pumpkin Pie”
Italian toasted sandwiches
Time spent in Sussex en famille is always a treat. It’s not just the Bridge, tennis and long walks that enliven our visits but also the delicious food we eat there. This recipe entered the repertoire after Granny found it (in a weekend newspaper? 15 years ago?) and rustled it up one evening for theContinue reading “Italian toasted sandwiches”
Lamb Dhansak
This is Mary Berry’s recipe, demonstrated on television in 2014 and widely available online. Lentils are an affordable ingredient that add substance and a ‘healthy’ veneer to the dish. Although I haven’t yet experimented with a vegetarian adaptation, you could presumably do this by replacing the beef stock with vegetable stock and using a firmContinue reading “Lamb Dhansak”
Fish cakes
This is a useful recipe to have up your sleeve. Fish cakes are a versatile dish: they can be made with leftovers but also from scratch, and can be seasoned with whatever herbs you have. They can also be padded out with spring onions or vegetables (peas or leeks, for example). Salmon looks pretty butContinue reading “Fish cakes”
Lemon Chicken
A cornerstone of the weekly menu, this dish is based on a recipe in Nigel Slater’s book Real Food, published in 1998. It has undergone a number of modifications over the years – we use only the leg pieces, for example, rather than a whole chicken cut into portions. Allow at least two pieces ofContinue reading “Lemon Chicken”
Sweet & Sour Okra
Here is another one from Madhur Jaffrey, doyenne of Indian cookery . Okra (also called bhindi or ladies’ fingers) is in plentiful, cheap supply in local greengrocers during the summer months and this is a wonderful way to cook it. In colour and texture it complements Lake Palace Aubergines very well. Serve with raitha andContinue reading “Sweet & Sour Okra”
Crab linguine
Crab linguine may be Italian in origin but it will always evoke for me the memory of the British seaside. Two great cooks inspired me to learn to make it: Charlie Taylor whipped it up in Dorset in 2010, and Granny has served it up more than once at Garde. (On one painful occasion yourContinue reading “Crab linguine”
Mayonnaise & more
There’s nothing wrong with a good ready-made mayonnaise from a jar but there’s also something special and satisfying about making your own: any self-respecting domestic cook should know how to whip one up. Mayonnaise is also the base for countless flavoured sauces, three of which are included here as a riff on the ‘mother sauce’. Continue reading “Mayonnaise & more”
Salade Niçoise
Like ratatouille, and as you can tell from its name, Salade Niçoise comes from Nice. The version we eat has several inauthentic elements (potatoes? lettuce? cucumber?), or so Antonia was told by the French teacher who assessed her at 11+. It is a firm family favourite, and the reason you all learned to make aContinue reading “Salade Niçoise”
Years of Practice 