The Family Cook Book

Its just Joe and I tonight, It's half-term and Lisa and Martha are enjoying the delights of Babbington House for a girly night. Seeing as its just us two geezers we are having steak .... of course. I saw this very very simple recipe by April Bloomfield at the weekend and I thought it sounded really good ... maybe tonights the night to try it out. I have also made a mental note to make sure I add The Spotted Pig to my list of places to go to in New York when I am next there. Steak with watercress and chillies T his is my not-so-Thai salad, inspired by those bright heaps of meat and herbs, but quite different. Serves 4 Ingredients 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice 1 packed tsp finely grated lime zest 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus a few glugs 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1/8 tsp finely grated garlic Maldon or another flaky sea salt 450g onglet steak, cut in half or thirds, if necessary 2 large red chillies, thinly sliced (including seeds) 3 medium shallots, thinly sliced

We had pizza tonight, as usual we used the Alice Waters recipe for the dough, I also took a few tips from a blog I was reading last week. The main thing I did was to drain every ingredient of as much liquid as possible, be it oil in the anchovies, water in the mozzarella or juice in the tomatoes. I also spread the ingredients thinly and in small pieces not over loading the centre. The results were definitely better. .... and I have now managed to find rye flour which she uses to make the 'sponge' ... and you know what, I think it might just make a little bit of difference! I can't explain why ... it just does

I know that I only did a shoulder of lamb a few weeks ago but it just feels the right time of year for this kind of dish. This time I did a Skye Gyngell take with Paprika, chickpeas and tomatoes. I know that if I slow cook I am guaranteed to elicit an ooooh! from at least one member of the family as Lisa loves anything thats been cooked for hours. This recipe is very easy and pretty tasty. We served it with some salad leaves dressed with a 'hispano-Franco' french dressing featuring sherry vinegar alongside Dijon and extra Virgin rather than the plain old red wine variety. We polished off the leftovers of the Cake Club trial run as a dessert. Ingredients 1.5kg shoulder of lamb joint  Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper  3 tbsp olive oil  11/2 tsp fennel seeds  750ml pints dry white wine  2 red onions, peeled and chopped  5 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly crushed  Small bunch of thyme  1 dried red chilli  1 tsp sweet Spanish paprika  2 red peppers  400g quali

So here it is, my entry. It doesn't look that brilliant but hopefully it will do well on the taste front. c'mon Chris lets see what you've got!

Yes its back, krow's Cake club; Goswell Road's most fiercely contested culinary competition. I know I'm breaking the first rule of cake club but it's me versus new boy, Chris Hurdiss. Something tells me the boy can bake, so instead of the usual 'go for it with no test' approach, this time I am using a cold Saturday to give the River Cafe plum and orange cake a dry run. Its just out of the oven ... too hot to try but looking ok .... we'll see. Anyway here's the recipe from River cafe Easy Plum filling: 500 g ripe plums 50 g caster sugar juice and zest of one orange 1 vanilla pod Cake: 150 g unsalted butter 150 g caster sugar 2 eggs 85 g self raising flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 100 g almonds, finely ground Almond topping: 30 g unsalted butter 25 g demerara sugar zest of one orange 50 g flaked almonds Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas 4 Halve and stone the plums and put in an ovenproof dish with the sugar, the orange juice an

Its getting cold enough to wear a coat, and maybe even a hat, particularly if you are folically challenged like me. Its bad news for heads but good news if you yearn for the return of cosy rooms and slow roasts. We made this the other day .... pretty good I'd say. ingredients for the  lamb a large bunch of fresh rosemary 1 x 2kg shoulder of  lamb olive oil sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 bulb of garlic, unpeeled, broken into cloves for the sauce 1 tablespoon flour 500ml good-quality hot chicken or  vegetable stock 2 heaped tablespoons capers, soaked, drained and chopped large bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked 2 tbs red wine vinegar Method Preheat your oven to full whack. Slash the fat side of the  lamb  all over with a sharp knife. Lay half the sprigs of rosemary and half the garlic cloves on the bottom of a high-sided roasting tray, rub the  lamb  all over with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place it in the

It has been a while since we made this dish but on Saturday night we wanted easy to make, comfort food that was warming but not full on 'winter hearty'  I have made this recipe from the very beautifully typeset  'The Geometry of Pasta' before ... and blogged about it ... but I enjoyed it so much I was moved to write about it again. The mantra of this book is that  Pasta is a simple thing but getting it absolutely right depends as much on choosing the best pasta shape for the sauce as on cooking it properly.   I got the fish from waitrose and used a combination of fairly delicate fish that break up nicely in the sauce (Sea Bass fillets, tilapia, sole and haddock) To my mind the really clever and unusual part of this recipe is the parsley, almond and garlic paste that you add towards the end, it lifts the dish from the 'nice but mundane' to something altogether more exciting. One other observation .. dont pour the stew over the cous cous before its serv