Keep it Simple: Fresh Look at Classic Cooking

Product Information

At the time, most of the best restaurants were run by chefs, generally French and steeped in tradition, who had been to catering school and learnt the classic French system. The top restaurants in London were Michelin-starred establishments such as Le Gavroche or La Tante Claire. English chefs at the time generally had a low status: as one food writer put it, cooking as a career was regarded as “a default option for those who couldn’t think of anything better to do”. A Provencal vegetable stew best served at room temperature, ratatouille should be a very basic preparation and not over-refined. Bad variations (vegetables diced too small, too much tomato, using dried herbs and so on) often debase one of the finest possible combinations of Mediterranean flavours. The chef also published a number of cookbooks including: Keep It Simple (1993), Food of the Sun (1995), Italian Kitchen (1996), and Soho Cooking (2000).

Add the prunes and apricots to the tea and put over a very low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave the fruit to plump up.This recipe I have based on an inspired idea of Alice Waters, chef proprietor of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. She is one of the masters of modern cooking, and her recipes have been among my most profound influences.

Soho's service model broke with multiple then-common dining norms. Little dispensed with cover charges and 'extras' for service and vegetables. The menu, which was restricted to soup, salad, fresh fish and meat, plus puddings, was changed twice a day, according to the availability of supplies. [4] [3] There were no tablecloths, the napkins were paper, and the kitchen could be seen from the dining room. [4] Drew Smith of the Good Food Guide described it as "the finest cafe in the country". [7] Preparation: Make the compote the day before: use a potato peeler to scrape off the zest from the lemon. In 2019, he started a home delivery service in London based on the dishes he had created for Tavola called 'ByAlastairLittle'. [11] Impact [ edit ]He is survived by Sharon and their son Alexander, and by George and Frederika, his children with Pedersen. Throughout the 90s Little appeared on Masterchef (BBC1), Hot Chefs, and Ready Steady Cook (ITV). [1] He was consultant on Lenny Henry's television show Chef! [13]

As soon as this is mixed, transfer the custard to a jug and return the tart to the oven on the baking tray. Only then (when the tart is in place in the oven), carefully pour the custard over the apples and prunes, making sure none runs down the sides of the pastry. (It is easier to avoid slopping by doing this only when the tart is in the oven.) The precise type of greens is not important, though dark-green and slightly bitter leaves such as pak choi or Brussels sprout tops are preferable to sweeter and lighter vegetables. Chinese cabbage is not suitable. Cantonese chefs would cook this dish in a wok, but I prefer to use a large and heavy frying pan. This is also an excellent method for cooking spinach or broccoli. Cooking: Over a medium heat, saute the apples in a heavy pan with the butter and sugar, tossing to coat and cooking until just tender (which will take between 10 and 15 minutes). They should be golden brown. Cooking: Scatter the garlic in the prepared gratin dish. Then arrange the drained potatoes on top, cut sides upwards. Pour over the olive oil and dot with the butter. Season with salt and pepper.Serving: Scoop into balls with a spoon or ice- cream scoop and serve in the chilled glasses. I once went out after dark to get some mint from the garden of a friend's restaurant to garnish a sorbet. The portion was rapidly returned with the message that, no matter how authentic, the diner would prefer his sorbet without a caterpillar. So, as a general rule, do not decorate this sorbet with mint leaves. Simply printing recipes different in tone to those that had characterised food for a generation however would not, in all likelihood, have garnered Alastair Little the critical acclaim that he received though. This book is self-consciously polemical. Beginning by telling you what you should have in a kitchen (an unusual move for a chef not known from TV appearances) he preaches simplicity and seasonality in cooking. It is these points that people most probably mean when referring to the book's influence. The last of them was developed to a greater degree by another Glenfiddich Award winner: the thoroughly British The River Cottage Year. In 2017, Little moved to Sydney with his wife Sharon and opened a pop up restaurant "Little Bistro" inside the CBD Hotel, owned by the Merivale Group. He was the co-owner of restaurant Et Al in Potts Point, in the north of the Kings Cross area of Sydney. [10] Alastair Little, who has died aged 72, was a chef who symbolised for many the spurt of energy that revolutionised UK food in the 1980s and was described as “modern British cooking”. Cooks looked beyond the Anglo-French model to the dishes and methods of other cuisines. In the London restaurant that took his name and opened on Frith Street in Soho in 1985, diners might encounter sushi, tataki, carpaccio, pizze, chorizo, couscous, or Thai or Chinese spices, served all on the same day alongside French staples and English standbys.

I serve these seasonal fruits poached in a spicy red wine syrup with a slice of Sauternes and Olive Oil Cake to give a textured contrast. Make this compote at least a day ahead of serving; it will keep for a week or more in the fridge.This book won the Glenfiddich Award in 1994 and I still sometimes hear it referred to reverentially as the godfather of modern British cooking. It is, and it isn't: it clearly marks a break from the French dominated nouvelle cuisine & cuisine classique that had lorded British gastronomy in the 1970s and 1980s; it equally clearly has influenced developments in British dining culture since then as well as in food writing and home cooking. What some people might have forgotten is that British cuisine, as it is today, did not emerge miraculously in its present form from under the tyranny of heavy sauces - there was the rebellious phase of fusion food marking the journey. Drain the prunes and apricots and discard the tea, and add them to the pears. Replace the lid and allow to cool completely before refrigerating overnight. The compote is now ready to serve. I prefer to leave the spices in, but if you do so, warn your guests that they are there for decorative effect. Not everybody likes to crunch on a peppercorn while eating pudding. The Michelin Guide UK also paid tribute: “Alastair Little was a self-taught, intelligent & articulate chef who was ahead of his time. His eponymous Soho restaurant influenced a generation of chefs & restaurateurs and the British food scene owes him so much. We send our deepest condolences to his family and friends.” Remove the mixer bowl and, with the spatula, stir gently, starting from the centre at the bottom and working outwards and upwards while rotating the bowl one quarter-turn. Repeat 3 more times (which means the bowl will have been turned full circle). This is called 'folding' and is the best way of ensuring all the elements are thoroughly mixed without losing lightness by being heavy-handed. urn:lcp:keepitsimplefres0000litt:epub:a8d3b963-1893-4472-b8ac-c43ce2a9bdb8 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier keepitsimplefres0000litt Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t9w21gf6x Invoice 1652 Isbn 1850299080