The Family Cook Book

We got Bills new book 'Feed me now' at work to provide inspiration for some of the projects we're working on. It looked so good I decided to pinch it and take it home to try out some of the recipes. I think he's a bit like Jamie in that he has a really good sense of what normal people like to eat but delivers it in surprising ways that are still very easy to prepare. This recipe is a perfect case in point, on the surface it's just fish with oven roast potatoes but there are lots of clever little things going on that take the dish to another level. Joe, Lisa and I devoured this on Saturday night. As always with whole fish you have to balance out the fabulous taste versus the whole bone thing. If you dont like bones or staring fish in the face I'm sure you could also do this with fillets just adjusting the cooking time to about 15mins ..ish. For what its worth we also tried one Sea Bass and one Sea bream and the consensus was that the Bream had it by a short fishy

This is a bastardisation of two recipes that was born out of the neccesity of a not quite full enough store cupboard combined with a bank holiday weekend. One recipe was from Moro but called for more Tahini than I had, the other was from Skye Gyngell but required a spice mix, that to be quite frank, I couldn't be bothered to make. So I made this combo and do you know what? It wasn't half bad. I will now try a few amends and see how good we can make it.... Skye adds some Greek yoghurt as well as a spice mix to make a sort of dip rather than hummus. The summer will give me plenty of chance to experiment ps The bowl is a bit empty in the picture because it was the second time we had eaten it that weekend ... not because the recipe makes a stingy amount. Serves 4 Ingredients 1 tin cooked chickpeas 2 cloves chopped garlic one bunch of coriander (including roots) one bunch of mint (leaves only) juice of one lemon 1 tbsp of tahini paste 2fl oz olive oil salt and pepper. Drain the chic

Lisa was the first person to discover the flatbread recipe from the Moro Cookbook (See Turkish Chopped Salad) This recipe is the easy version and is cooked on top of the cooker in heavy non-stick frying pan or flat griddle pan. I made it twice over the weekend, once to go with the fabulous aubergine and red pepper salad (also elsewhere on the blog) and on the other occasion we had it with a fish curry. Makes approx 8 breads. 260g unbleached strong white bread flour 1/2 tsp fine sea salt 1/2 level teaspoon dried yeast 200ml tepid water 2 tbsp olive oil Preheat the oven to 230C/450F. Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the water. Now pour the water into the flour, a bit at a time, while mixing. When all the water is added, now add the oil, mix in and knead well. Continue kneading for about 5 minutes until the dough is ever so slightly tacky, but soft, elastic and smooth. Let it rest for 20 - 30 minutes covered by a tea towel. Roll the dough into a sausa

Yes it's that time again ..... the season of smelly pee, or to be more precise the season of smelly British pee. We went to the River cafe last week with the whole family (oh..my..God! I had forgotten just how wonderful it is) As a starter Lisa had the very first asparagus of the season, it was in a salad with anchovy sauce and was absolutely delicious, so much so that when I saw the first British asaparagus on sale at Waitrose I decided to cook it for dinner on Good Friday evening when all of the family, including Grandma Betty, were a casa mia. I found two recipes in my River cafe collection ... one was a thick sauce the other was a kind of dressing using milk - I decided to do the latter recipe to come

I came home the other night to a hive of kitchen activity. Lisa and Gus had been cooking up a storm preparing spicy slaw and these fabulous little chicken burgers courtesey of the ever smiling Aussie's book 'Holiday' We actually had them without buns simply accompanied by the slaw and some very spicy rocket.You have to be careful not to overcook these little beauties and I have to admit Gus cooked them to perfection...... in fact I would even go as far as to say that they were the best that I've had ... ever. By the way our favourite sauce is the sweet chilli variety. These would work really well for a barbie and if our family are anything to go by they are a real hit with everyone. Ingredients * 600 g minced (ground) chicken * 1 onion, finely grated * 85 g fresh white breadcrumbs * 1 garlic clove * 1 lemongrass stalk white part only, finely chopped * 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) * 2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest