The Family Cook Book

One of the great joys of food is to discover that you like something that you thought that you hated. I grew up thinking that the only way you get beetroot was the pickled variety in a jar. I associate it with that 1960’s version of a salad that consists of sliced ham, iceberg lettuce, whole tomatoes, cucumber, salad cream and the offending purple golf ball that leaked its stain all across everything in sight. I hated it. Thanks to Jamie I discovered roasted beetroot, which I think is a bit of a revelation particularly with seared fillet of beef. I have one way of preparing and two way of serving them. To prepare Take a bunch of fresh beetroot (6 or 7 bulbs) and trim the leaves and tail off and scrub lightly to clean any remaining dirt off. Pre heat the oven to 180 deg Put the bulbs in a roasting pan drizzle a tbs of olive oil in and roll the beetroot around in the oil until they are lightly coated. Season with salt and pepper and chuck in some thyme leaves if you have them. Cover th

I first made this Chilli when we were up in Vermont. Now we always make enough to make sure that there is plenty left over to freeze for the next trip. Although it's one of those dishes that everyone always seems to go back for more of. Its’ origins lay in a recipe from an American cookery book but it has been adapted and amended over the years to suit our culinary proclivities. Because Martha doesn't like anything too hot we've severely dialled down the Chilli powder. Because I don't like Kidney beans they have also been banished. As a result it has become a sort of hybrid between a chilli and a bolognese which we either serve on its’ own, with rice or, when in the USA, a pile of salty Premium crackers. This is a warming meal that it seems almost everyone loves. It even manages to sneak in a healthy dose of the old five-a-day. A bowl at lunchtime will keep out even the Vermont cold and has the restorative power to gird your loins for another trip to the frozen slope

Right, now for the recipe that got a great response but was a bit tricky to produce on the night, not because it is inherently difficult but because I committed the fatal error of trying something brand new out on a night where I had ten people to dinner and I was cooking five courses. Obviously a little tension was bound to arise despite the increasingly inebriated state of my guests With the 20:20 vision of hindsight my verdict is that this is a recipe that is best done for two, four or six people, as you need space ... firstly in terms of work surface to lay the foil parcels out whilst preparing them and secondly in your oven for them to puff up properly. However that being accepted this is a tasty and pretty easy dish to prepare. Ingredients (4 people) Tomato sauce 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes 3 cloves garlic 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil 1 tbs basil leaves chopped The final dish 320 g spaghetti 8 tbs tomato sauce 500g uncooked prawns 2 garlic cloves finely chopped 1 red chillies seede

We returned from Xmas in Vermont on the 30th December. We were hosting new years eve dinner for some of our best friends - Jerry and Belle Rommer, Bill and Liz Sweeney, Joel and Nushi Levy and David and Cathy Errington - Given the preparation times we decided to do some tried and trusted favourites, livened up with a couple of new additions. We started with some champagne with Pizetta drizzled with Bagna Cauda from Giorgio Locatelli's book. It's a book I rarely cook from and I don't know why, maybe its sheer size is a bit daunting ... or maybe it feels more like a book on cooking than a cookery book ... if you know what I mean. Anyway, the pizetta were great. The rest of the menu was as follows River Cafe prosciutto, fig, basil, mint and rocket salad Moro roasted aubergine and red pepper (see previous blog) River Cafe Easy spaghetti with prawns in a bag Seared Beef with salmoriglio and roasted beetroot River cafe Easy chocolate nemesis We drank far too much but the main cu