Let's Eat: Recipes from my kitchen notebook

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Meanwhile, to make the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onions, chillies, and garlic and cook gently until soft. Add the tomatoes, season, and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Add the basil at the end of cooking time. Despite the fact that I don't eat meat (and Tom has some amazing meat based dishes here - from grouse to oxtail) I found plenty that I intend to try out for myself: 'Lemon Risotto', 'Hot Buttered Crab', 'Trifle', 'Shrimp Broth' etc. I was also really impressed with the blender recipes for kids's food, I will definitely be passing many of these along to friends!

Tom writes: "My wife swore that if she heard me mention this dish one more time, she’d shove it where the sun don’t beam. Well, words to that effect. Because this was such a staple of my youth, I roll it out any time anyone asks if my mother is a good cook – which is pretty much all of the time. Italian-American food at its best, star of more mob movies than you can shake a cannoli at. Purists may argue that Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese's red-sauce-splashed classic, was the meatball's greatest ever cinematic moment. "Veal, beef, pork ..." mumbles Vinnie, cooking up his prison feast. "You gotta have the pork. That's the flavour." As well as cutting the garlic with a razor blade. But it's actually in Point Break, Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant surf, screw, run, and rob film, where the meatball reaches its peak. So fine is the sandwich that it actually causes the cops, who are on stakeout, to miss the bank being robbed. When done well, meatballs have that sort of effect. Queen Camilla was born Camilla Rosemary Shand on July 17, 1947 in London. She attended Queen's Gate School, then the Mon Fertile finishing school in Switzerland, and took a course on French literature at the University of London Institute in Paris. She was a debutante in 1965, and has had a lifelong affection for equestrian activities. Bruce Shand was born on January 22, 1917 in London England, to Philip Morton Shand (b. 1888, d. 1960), an architectural writer and critic, and Edith Marguerite Harrington (b. 1893, d. 1981). His parents divorced in 1920 when he was just three years old, and he was primarily raised by his grandmother. Verdict? Yummy, time-consuming, pot-consuming, and VERY, VERY, VERY RICH. But again, it's really hard for a recipe to fail with butter, cream, milk, scallops, shrimp, taters, etc. I think I might like to try my hand at a fish pie again, but would like to explore some of the many other variations out there. There is no one fish pie standard; there are recipes that call for all kinds of interesting additions - breadcrumbs, dry mustard, grated veggies, lemon zest, etc... Is it indeed a "really good fish pie"? This can only be answered after future explorations.

INGREDIENTS

There are endless arguments as to the origins of beef Stroganoff — whether it was a Hungarian dish, a classic Russian one, or a French one, inspired by Russia. The Stroganovs were a rich and wealthy family of merchants, traders with a long geographical reach. And one of the clan was said to have employed a French chef who is reputed to have created the dish. Other experts disagree, citing the etymology as derived from strogat, meaning in Russian to "cut into pieces." The truth is long lost. What remains, though, is a dish that uses sour cream and paprika. Well, sometimes. In other recipes, it uses cream instead. Some marinate the meat, others don't. There is no real "authentic recipe" and this one most certainly isn't. But it's broadly recognizable and tastes damned good, too. Add a good pinch of salt to the beef, and lots of pepper. Mix, cover, and leave in the fridge for an hour. I laughed out loud at Tom's description of a 'British' bolognese, smiled when reading about the movie magic of meatballs, and shook my head when I heard about his week of living on eggs for the Mail on Sunday paper. Did you know you can test the age of an egg by placing it in a jug of water? (If it floats, bin it!) I didn't before reading Tom's book... Recipe 4: Peas with pancetta (p. 94, made 10/21/12). Easy peasy perfection. Adding this one to our permanent repertoire. If beans, bacon, and Burgundy don't ooze comfort, then God only knows what does. Comfort food is familiar, without fuss, drama, or pomp. Straightforward, reliable, and ever welcome, this is the Ronseal of recipe types: "Does exactly what it says on the tin." It's all about easy pleasure and solid flavours, an edible balm that tastes exactly as it should.

Tom clearly knows his stuff; he s an experienced cook and has read widely among the kitchen classics. This book is about to take its place among them. --Flavour magazine It is, though, the most subjective of culinary categories, as the choice of dish is defined entirely by one's gastronomic past. A childhood spent tugging the apron strings of a great English cook will produce markedly different dishes to a youth passed alongside wok and cleaver. Yet anyone with a heartbeat and opposable thumb will have at least one dish — be it hot buttered toast, red lentil dhal, or peppered tripe soup — that coddles, comforts, and soothes. The first cookbook from English foodie and author of The Year Of Eating Dangerously-comfort food from the country that invented it The second of the Shand siblings, Sonia Annabel Shand (she goes by Annabel Elliot, her married name) , was born February 2, 1949. At age 23, she married Simon Elliot, son of William Elliot, an Air Chief Marshal of the RAF, and Rosemary Chancellor. Annabel works as an interior designer and antiquities dealer, and she renovated many of King Charles's estates. At the coronation, she will be one of the two ladies in attendance for her sister. Take a rectangular pie or baking dish and pile in the hot meat. Top with the mash. Fork the top of the mash so it looks like a choppy sea. Dot with a little extra butter and bake for 20–30 minutes, until the top is golden and the meat bubbling fiercely below. Serve with boiled peas.Simon passed away in 2023 at age 82 after a long illness. "He was beyond courageous in his last few months, his family and friends are devastated to lose a man whose middle name was loyalty. He was a fount of common sense and wisdom and it is a great sadness that he has gone so early," a close friend said of his passing. Meanwhile, make the mash. Put the potatoes in a big pan of lightly salted water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 20–25 minutes until a knife goes through with ease. Tip into a colander, let them cool a little, then peel. Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan until the butter melts, then mash the potatoes with the mixture. Season. At home, things must be a little more subdued, but it's never quite as calm as the blessed Delia Smith might suggest. She makes it look easy, as she's been doing what she does, beautifully, for many years. All I'm saying is that cooking is often messy, smelly, noisy, and painful. That a pan full of hot fat will always spit like a cobra when introduced to a handful of raw meat. And sharp knives continue to slice open even the most lauded of hands. Don't fear the heat, and cooking suddenly becomes a whole lot easier. Recipe 1: Orange, red onion & basil salad (p. 132, made 10/20/12): Easy, colorful, fresh, tasty. For more efficient grazing, I recommend cutting up the orange into bite-size chunks and the onion into slivers. To make the meatballs, mix the pork, beef, egg, egg yolk, breadcrumbs, and chillies together with a good pinch of salt and lots of pepper, then cover and chill for 30 minutes (the mixture, not you).