The Family Cook Book

Just Joe and I this weekend. I picked up some wonderful Spanish ingredients on Friday at the marvellous Brindisa in Exmouth market. Everyone at the pub was very amused with my little cookery plans for the weekend. I got the proper cooking Chorizo, some wonderful acorn fed Iberico ham and those little peppers di padron that are a bit like playing a culinary version of Russian roulette. We had the peppers and the ham with some nice bread to start and then moved on to the squid etc. Ingredients 1 tin chickpeas 300 g prepared small squid 300 g uncooked prawns 8 cherry tomatoes, quartered 11⁄2 tablespoons lemon juice 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 medium-hot red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced across 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped A small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped 100 g cooking chorizo picante (hot chorizo sausage), grilled and cut into thickish slices 15–20 g rocket leaves Salt and coarsely ground black pepper Method Drain the chickpeas, put them into a pan an

Joe and I are home alone whilst Martha and Lisa are in Venice, he revised all morning so that we could settle down in front of the telly to watch Portsmouth take on Cardiff in the FA cup final. This is a slight spin on Bill Granger's Spicy asian slaw that turns it from an accompaniment into a protein packed (good for revision) meal. Ingredients For the chicken 3 chicken breasts skinned 1 talk lemon grass, crushed 1 thumb size piece of ginger peeled and sliced 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 1 tbs marigold stock powder For the slaw 2 tbsp caster sugar 2 tbsp rice vinegar, or white vinegar 1 bulb fennel cored and finely sliced or shredded half cucumber seeded halved and finely sliced 2 large handfuls shredded white cabbage 2 large handfuls shredded red cabbage 1 stalk Celery, trimmed, cut into thin matchsticks 1 large red onion, thinly sliced 1 large handful fresh Vietnamese mint leaves, (or ordinary mint leaves) 1 large handful coriander leaves For the sweet chilli dressing 1 t

This week I received the season's must-have cookery book from the deli Ottolenghi courtesey of Amazon. Initial perusal suggests that it will become a well used resource, particularly when it comes to interesting veg. However, the proof of the salad is in the eating , as they don't say. The weekend not only saw the arrival of blinding weather but also of Joe, his girlfriend, the lovely Michelle and his French mate - the piano Maestro, Charles. They had been clubbing until the wee small hours so were in need of sustenance in the form of a late lunch. We also needed to get it done and out of the way in time for the the denouement of the football season. We had this out in the garden along with a few other salads and some grilled lamb. We didn't have sumac or pomegranate but it didn't seem to matter too much..... although I will try it at a later date once I track sumac down. I thought that this salad was particularly tasty and very, very easy ... obviously if you don'

Mr Quarrey and I were out and about at lunch last week sampling the delights of the stalls in Exmouth market. I had a chickpea salad with flatbread and a chicken kebab from Moro. It was delicious so I decided to look up the recipe. It is easy, can be prepared ahead of time and is pretty much made up of store cupboard staples. I made it a couple of times at the weekend to general acclaim.... so here it is Ingredients. 2 x 400g tins of cooked chickpeas, rinsed 1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with salt 1 large green chilli, halved lengthways, seeded and very finely diced (omit or reduce to taste) 1/2 red onion, finely diced a squeeze of lemon 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium cucumber, peeled and finely diced 10 cherry tomatoes, ahlved, seeded and finely diced 1 small bunch each of fresh mint and corinder, roughly chopped sea salt and black pepper Method Put the garlic, chilli, onion, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper into a small mixing bowl

We made this recipe at the weekend (hooray for the arrival of the sunshine) it was an accompaniment to roast chicken pieces but it would be equally good with fish or even on its own. The recipe comes from Simon Hopkinson's 'week in week out' which Joe bought me for my birthday. We used the left over dressing the following day with some grilled asparagus .. it worked brilliantly. This was particularly aided by the fact that the asparagus had literally just come out of the ground from our local farm shop at Garson's farm. I love asparagus and it is bang in season now .... bring on the smelly pee! Serves 4 1 tbsp smooth dijon mustard 1 tsp red wine vinegar ½ garlic clove, peeled and well crushed Pepper 12 anchovy fillets 150ml peanut oil 150ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve 400g-500g extra-fine french green beans, topped and tailed 1 large shallot, peeled and finely chopped Directions First, make the dressing. Blend the mustard, vinegar, garlic, pepper and fou