board, a mixing bowl, one big saucepan, one small saucepan, a frying pan and a baking tray – that’s pretty much it.
It’s modern food for the way I live and I hope it fits into your lives too. My two best mates have kids now and spending time with them, cooking together and getting an insight into how this has affected the way they cook, has taught me so much. I think there are lots of recipes here that will be useful if you, too, have the demands of a young family.
My approach to food has been consistent for as long as I can remember – from when I first started cooking as a kid. Deliciousness and joy are my driving force. Texture and flavour, my main concerns. Ease and satisfaction, my aims. None of this has changed, so, add to this useful methods of planning and creating dishes I’ve picked up along the way, and the result is here … Let’s Eat!
I am much more adept at making dinner quickly without sacrificing deliciousness – by far the most important factor in any meal.
I’m sitting at my kitchen table in Bristol and the last few months have been full of cooking, recipe development, eating, writing, washing up and endless trips to the greengrocer. My thoughts have been dominated by applying the learning from my first book, Fast Days & Feast Days, and all my readers’ feedback and making this the best, most useful book possible. Let’s Eat! is the next step for anyone who has enjoyed Fast Days & Feast Days, but this book will also stand alone for those of you who didn’t buy it. (What the hell? – sort that out right away.)
Although you won’t find any recipes labelled as ‘fast day’ dishes in this book, if you are following the 5:2, you can use the skills you learnt from my first book to calculate the calorie counts, if you want to* The recipes in the first chapter of this book, with all the various serving suggestions provided, are particularly well suited to this, meaning you can cook for yourself and others at the same time and use a calorie-counted component as part of a bigger meal for all.
I want to show you how a little advance prep can mean dinner on the table really quickly and easily, any day of the week.
This has been one of the best bits of feedback from Fast Days & Feast Days; following the 5:2 but being able to eat the same food as others is key to keeping the diet up. Who wants to sit and eat a sad ‘diet dinner’, entirely different from your family or housemates?
While doing the 5:2, I recalibrated my ideas about what it meant to really feel full or hungry. I curbed my tendency to mindlessly eat and got a grip of what a sensible portion size was. I also became much more experienced in finding ways to make dishes more interesting, textured and exciting. My garnish game was strong. Crucially, too, I’d discovered the benefits of batch cooking. I’d started using my freezer for more than ice and peas. I’d sorted out my dry stores and was much more adept at making dinner quickly without sacrificing deliciousness – by far the most important factor in any meal. I’d become an expert in using up bits and pieces after the fast days had created an abundance of half-used packets and produce. Now, I want to show you how a little advance prep can mean dinner on the table really quickly and easily, any day of the week.
*A ‘fast day’, for those who don’t know, is the ‘2’ bit of the 5:2 way of eating – two days a week when you restrict your calorie intake to 500 calories.
How to use Let’s Eat!
The first chapter of this book contains five freezable batch-cook recipes. Each is accompanied by four recipes to serve up each base in imaginative and wholly different ways, so you’re not eating the same thing over and over again.
The second gives you nine building-block recipes, each forming the main component for three delicious dishes – make the base once, serve it three ways, The third and final chapter is full of quick and easy menus – whole curated sets of recipes for all sorts of occasions. It’s all covered, from romantic dinners for two to brunch parties and family weeknight dinners. Elements from the previous chapters combined with new recipes and also some bought-in bits. Cook from them as intended, as set menus, or pick and choose individual dishes as you like.
I want to show you some ideas for cookery building blocks that you can then build on in your own way. Lots of inspiration and creative combinations that I hope will get you trying new things, mixing it up and feeling confident to take things in a new direction. These are recipes to make your life easier. Food to be proud of – whether there’s anyone else there to see it or not! Let’s go. Let’s eat.
These are recipes to make your life easier. Food to be proud of – whether there’s anyone there to see it or not!
There’ll be very little in this book that you won’t find easily in your local shops or a supermarket.
Apart from fresh produce, the following items are all the things you need to cook the recipes in this book. If there’s anything you have trouble sourcing in your neighbourhood, I can’t recommend souschef.co.uk highly enough. They won the Observer Food Monthly award for Best Independent Retailer. You’ll see why. A treasure trove of the world’s delights, just a click away.
Storecupboard basics
Oil
I use olive oil for nearly everything – a cheaper one for cooking and fruity, strongly flavoured, top-quality extra-virgin ones for dressings. I keep a cheap vegetable/ sunflower oil in stock for deep-frying (straining, cooling and reusing it a couple of times) and love having other interesting things like argan oil or smoked olive oil on hand for using on salads and to dress vegetables while still warm. My (organic, virgin) coconut oil generally lives in my bathroom, where it makes an excellent face cleanser and moisturiser; it only makes occasional forays into my kitchen.
Vinegars
I love the wide variety of vinegars available and they all have their uses. I have shedloads nearby at all times, but the ones I use most frequently are sherry, balsamic, white wine, red wine, apple cider and rice wine.
Other condiments
Mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, hot sauce, honey, American-style mustard (like French’s), English mustard powder, pomegranate molasses, Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard.
Spices and dried herbs
Bay leaves, cloves, cardamom pods, chilli flakes, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, garam masala, mustard seeds, pul biber (Turkish mild chilli flakes, AKA Aleppo pepper), smoked paprika, star anise, dried thyme, ground cumin, whole nutmeg, vanilla pods, ground cinnamon, Chinese five-spice, turmeric, mixed spice, curry powder, allspice berries, cayenne pepper, chipotle chilli flakes, celery salt, dried oregano.
Nuts and seeds
Blanched almonds, cashew nuts, ground almonds, hazelnuts, nigella seeds, peanuts, pine nuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.
Salt and pepper
Black peppercorns in a mill, Maldon sea salt flakes, smoked salt, vanilla salt, pink peppercorns.
Rice and dried pulses
Black beans, red lentils, green lentils, brown rice (short grain is my favourite).
Pasta
If I could only choose two, I’d pick linguine and rigatoni. Hopefully I’ll never be called upon to make such a huge decision.
Tins
Coconut