The Family Cook Book

..but it sounds better that way We were all up in Vermont for Xmas and were very lucky to be joined by our dear friends the Priceys who flew over from LA (and up from NYC in Philly's case) We had a ton of snow, 20 inches on the day after we arrived, and a ton of wine that Pricey had shipped over prior to our arrival. This particular evening we decided to grill a butterflied leg of lamb from Mehurons and in order to make sure that we looked after the veggie member of our team we teamed it up with a cous cous with grilled vegetables courtesy of Pricey and a Moroccan sweet potato salad from 'The art of simple food' by Alice Waters. This is a lovely book that I purchased last time I was in Burlington. I can heartily recommend not only this recipe but also the book as a whole. Apparently she is considered by many to be one of the chefs that has most influenced the way we eat today with the focus on quality of ingredients, most importantly the book lives up to its title and is fu

Sometimes you need to be able to bung everything in one tray to cook it. However quite often I am disappointed with the results ... this was not one of those occasions. This recipe is from River cafe easy, I have just substituted Chicken for Guinea fowl. It was an absolute winner for Sunday lunch and fed a hungry gang including grandma Betty, Auntie Jo,Gus,his mate John,Joe ,Martha,Lisa and I. Serves 8 Ingredients 10 whole chicken legs or mixture of legs and breast/wings (pieces need to be reasonable size) 10 garlic cloves 4 tablespoons rosemary leaves 3 red onion 6 fennel bulbs Extra virgin olive oil 250 gms smoked bacon (or even better pancetta) cut into 1cm pieces or lardons... or buy them ready chopped if you're feeling lazy 500ml white wine Method Peel and finely chop the garlic and chop the rosemary. Peel the onion, and cut the onion and fennel into eights. Cut the pancetta into 1cm pieces. Preheat the oven to 200C/ gas mark 6. Mix the garlic and rosemary with salt and pepp

This is dead easy, dead healthy and dead delicious. The sauce can be made in advance if you want making the preparation even easier. It would make a really good dish for a dinner party. The sauce Ingredients 1 tbs of fresh rosemary leaves stripped from the stalk and finely chopped. 1 small tin of anchovies juice of one lemon 4tbs ex virgin live oil fresh ground pepper Method Crush the rosemary in a pestle and mortar until its well and truly mashed. Now add the anchovies and bash again until the anchovies mix with the rosemary. Then add the lemon juice and olive oil then mix together and season with pepper. put to one side. the rest Ingredients 600gms piece of salmon fillet per person 250gms tenderstem brocolli or purple sprouting per person 3 or 4 small charlotte potatoes per person Method pre heat oven to 200 degrees Put potatoes in a pan toss in a little olive oil and put in he oven for 20- 25 minutes Put a saucepan of salted water to boil put an oven proof frying pan on a medium hea

You just can't beat a really beautiful thin crust homemade pizza. The ones that arrive in a box courtesey of a kamikaze moped rider just bear no comparison to these babies. This is now one of our favourite Saturday night family meals. We eat early whilst viewing the magnificent X Factor, which is of course mandatory viewing for all five Cooks on a Saturday night. It takes a bit of preparation but is worth it. All our gang love it, everybody gets a chance to create their very own perfect pizza and it provides the perfect kind of casual eating that’s just right for telly watching. The real fun of this is getting a whole load of great ingredients and letting everybody choose. Currently the boys fave rave is courgette, with chilli and mint (sometimes with Salami), Martha’s is Margherita (tomato and mozzarella) or the same but with the addition of Salami, capers and olives, Lisa is more of an anchovy, olives and capers girl and as for me its prosciutto and rucola all the way. To make it

Still in Vermont, last night we headed over to Bob and Jane's for dinner. One of the pleasures of coming back here on a regular basis is the extended circle of friends that we have up here. The Sweeney’s met Jane and Bob up here and then introduced them to us, meeting up with them and the very lovely Kasey and Maddie is now part of our summer ritual. The deal last night was that they would provide the venue, the chicken, the sausages and the wonderful fresh Vermont corn and we would provide the salads and of course some booze to feed the ever-thirsty group of young (and not so young) Brits we were bringing too. We arrived to the sounds of Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes (well they are from Philly) and a very warm welcome from the gorgeous addition to their family, Monty the Golden Retriever. We then set into a great evening with all fourteen of us finding a place to sit and given the loquaciousness of all three families the conversation barely stopped for a second for the whole eve

To be honest there is very little that makes this Mojito 'Sugarbush style' other than the fact that we have decided that this is the holiday of the Mojito. Ingredients Bacardi fresh lime brown sugar soda water ice mint leaves method Put half alime cut into four pieces into the bottom of a substantial tumbler, add 12 mint leaves and two teaspoons of sugar. Now 'muddle' ... that is bash it with something to release the sugar, mint and lime to create the base of the drink. I use a pestle (or is it a mortar) but any heavy wooden implement like a roller or spoon handle will do the trick. Once muddled add ice or crushed ice to three quarters of the way to the top of the glass. Now add a measure of Bacardi ( one and three quarter ounces) top with soda water and stir to mix the drink well. Mojito....Done .... as Gordon would say.

Whilst on holiday in Tuscany Gus took load of lovely food shots here are a couple of them

I'm not sure if this recipe is Moroccan or from somewhere else of a Moorish persuasion. This is Joe's favourite marinade and we use it on grilled prawns and Chicken. It couldn't be simpler... so here it is Joe .... go on you can do it! Ingredients 2 tsp Cumin seeds 2 garlic cloves 1 tsp sweet paprika i lemon 1 tsp red wine vinegar 3 tbs chopped coriander 3 tbs olive oil salt Method crush the cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar. Remove and set to one side Put the garlic clovs into the pestle and mortar and crush to a paste with some salt. Add the paprika, the juice of half to one lemon, the crushed cumin seeds and the coriander and bash to a pulp (you can do this in a blender) Then add the olive oil and mix again. marinade your chosen food for at least an hour leaving a little of the marinade over to 'dress' the food once it's cooked.

These brownies aren't just brownies. They are food porn. They are culinary corruption. In the wrong hands they could be dangerous. This recipe should come with a coronary advisory. We here at krow believe that they may just be our finest new business tool. Make them and judge for yourself. The recipe is an adaptation of one by the buttoxsome Nigella .... Thank you Mrs. Saatchi Ingredients 375 g soft unsalted butter 300 g lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate 6 large eggs 1-tablespoon vanilla extract 500 g caster sugar 225 g plain flour 1-teaspoon salt Directions Preheat the oven to 180C. Line your approximately 33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm brownie pan with baking paper. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan. In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla. Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt. When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the flour. Beat to combine and then scrape ou

In the picture you will see our sausages cooking on what appears to be a medieval instrument of torture but is in fact the rather excellent barbeque supplied by the villa owners (which turned out essential as on day two the oven went on the blink) It has a rather interesting mechanism that meant that once you had trapped the meat you did turn the meat but turned a handle which in turn flipped the whole grill. We had Luganica (the long thin ones) Piccante (the big fat one) and normale (the rest) They were fantastic. Lisa suggested we set up ' The Italian sausage company' ... not such a daft idea methinks. We accompanied them with the usual rocket salad but also some lovely little castellucio lentils cooked for about 20 minutes with some celery and garlic. Once you've drained them remove the garlic and celery and then add a good handful of chopped flatleaf parsley and basil and some good quality extra virgin. The finishing touch was provided by some salsa verde made with Ingr

Holiday in Magliano in Toscana with tutte la famiglia including Nona ... or Grandma Betty as we like to call her. Our Villa was perfectly situated, beautiful to look at and the weather was fabulous. Martha was slightly freaked out by he 65 hunting trophies dotted around the villa, including a giant wild boar head with eyes that follow you .. well that's Martha's view anyway. Every day the lovely, if slightly out of breath, maid Guiseppina would leave us some vegetables from the garden. On the first day she left fresh courgette flowers, or fiori di zucchini, as she would say. Mrs Cook and I made the batter together in a rather fetching piece of matrimonial and culinary harmony : 2 tbs flour cold sparkling mineral water (thanks grandma) We mixed the batter with enough fizzy water to make a smoothish batter (the cold sparkling mineral water makes it light and a little tempura like) and then dunked the flowers in and deep fried them in small batches in some olive oil for about 2 -

Our momentous year continued with the celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. Fifty of our nearest and dearest for dinner in a marquee chez Cook. The whole evening was a great success with the catering done by the estimable Jan Gosht We had a kind of Italian feast. Everything was delicious but one of the hits of the evening was the drink we offered on arrival which was prosecco mixed with fresh raspberries. The recipe is from River Cafe. They suggest 500gms of raspberries (fresh NOT frozen) mixed with 150gms caster sugar then pulsed in a blender and pushed through a sieve so that you have a completely seedless juice or coulis. They then mix this with a bottle of prosecco in a jug and give it a good stir .. To my mind this, whilst delicious, is a little too sweet for my taste, particularly if the raspberries are in season and of decent quality and sweetness already. So maybe you could reduce the sugar content a little or do as we did and dilute this quantity of juice in about one a

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

Sunday lunch the day after spending Saturday up in the trees for Martha's birthday (you had to be there to appreciate it .... and just how much Lisa hated it ... but like a good Mum she kept at it until the bitter end of the last zip line). Martha was out so it was just Joe, Lisa and I. We needed something easy, healthy and that the Tesco at the end of the road would have the ingredients for. Bill Granger may have a weird need to smile at almost anything (like in the picture above. He's eating an apple for God's sake, what's to smile about?) and lets face it he's got an irritatingly perfect life, but his laid back food is perfect for an occasion like this. The ribs are a bit of an adaptation of one of his recipes from the book 'Holiday' ...the other a straight rip off. The Ribs Ingredients 50ml ketchup 20 ml sweet chilli sauce 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce 2 Tbsp Olive Oil, plus extra to brush 1 Tbsp Honey 2 Tsp Grated Fresh Ginger 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed A pile of pork

... and the culinary legend that is Peter Lazor prepared a couple of specials to go with some Misty Knoll chickens. This is particularly admirable as he and Cathleen were doing shifts whilst Wyatt and Cooper slept over at their condo. The meatballs were as an appetizer ... they tasted delicious ... particularly after we removed the few that contained melted cooker knob ... Seriously these little babies were wolfed down by all members of the Cook, Lazor and Price clan. The butternut squash was prepared to go with the chicken. Inexplicably our oven overcooked two of them and undercooked the other despite the fact they were in the same tray. By this time we had imbibed so much red wine and beer that it hardly seemed to matter... luckily we didn't poison anyone.... and the squash was appreciated by all. The recipes Spicy New Jersey Meatballs (The name says it all) 1 pound Ground beef - not too lean 1 large onion 2 tablespoons of cumin seed 2 tablespoons of coriander seed 1/2 tablespoon

I have finally turned 50. Following a brilliant party organised by Lisa at Soho House I celebrated my actual birthday in our beloved Vermont. The snow was fantastic, I had all the family there and was blessed by visits from our good friends the Lazors and the Priceys. On my birthday we went to The Common man but on the Sunday Pricey enlisted the boys as sous chefs and cooked up a storm. He arrived in from New York with half of Dean and Deluca in his bag. In particular a magnificent Rib of beef. Mehurons of Waitsfield provided the rest of the ingredients aside from the jeraboam of Pruno that came from California courtesey of Peter's cellar. Entertainment for the evening was provided by wii golf. As for being 50 ... with wonderful friends and family and great food and wine like this how hard can it be? Below are Priceys instructions for the food .... thanks and much love go to him for the recipe and the cooking but most of all for coming all the way over ( with Suzy, Ella and Natasha

Lisa discovered this recipe in her favourite Nigel book. It is one of those fish, 'but not as we know it Jim' recipes. Not just because Monkfish is the fish that can best impersonate meat but also because of the marinade ingredients that are more often featured with lamb. It's not difficult to do but the flavour is a revelation, which makes it a perfect recipe in my book. This can be cooked on a grill pan or a barbecue. Ingredients 3 bushy sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped 4 anchovy fillets 2 large cloves garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 large lemon, juice only 3 tbsp olive oil 800g/1½lb monkfish fillet Method Pull the leaves from the rosemary stalks and chop them finely, then tip them into a bowl large enough to take the fish. Rinse the anchovy fillets and smash them to a rough pulp with the flat edge of your chopping knife. Peel the garlic, crush it flat, then smash it to a purée in the same way. Stir together the herb, anchovy and garlic, adding a grind

Lisa and I had this last night, it was delicious. The recipe yet again comes from River Cafe Easy. No effort, fabulous results, all you need is great fish and preferably a mandoline slicer for the potatoes. INGREDIENTS • 2kg Sea bass, whole • 800 g waxy potatoes • 80g black olives • 60g capers • 3 tbsp thyme leaves • 150ml dry white wine • extra virgin olive oil DIRECTIONS -Heat the oven to 200 deg C -Peel the potatoes and boil in salted water until just cooked. Cut them lengthwise into 0.5cm-thick slices. Pit the olives. Rinse the capers. -Line a shallow roasting pan with baking parchment, drizzle with olive oil, and cover with potatoes. Place the fish on top, and scatter over olives, capers, and thyme. Push some inside fish and season. -Put in the oven, and after five minutes pour over the wine and a little more oil. Bake until the fish is cooked, about 20-25 minutes. -Fillet the bass and divide into four portions. Serve with potatoes, olives, capers, and the fish juices poured over.

I made this recipe in the middle of January. It is definitely one you should really make in the height of summer. It is to Angela's credit that it tastes so good it doesn't really matter when you have it. 'Angela’s Hartnett's Cucina' is another one of those books that I don't use very much. This recipe convinced me that I need to do so more often. It has all the qualities that I look for, it's really tasty, really simple to make and has a certain degree of culinary alchemy that raises it above the norm. Martha, Joe, Lisa and I all enjoyed this one ... its cross-generational appeal is the final touch that ensures its place in our foodie affections. Ingredients For the red wine vinaigrette 100ml olive oil 20ml/1fl oz Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar (good red wine vinegar will do) Salt For the steak 2 tbsp olive oil 1tbs butter 4 x 250-300g/11oz rib-eye steaks (or sirloin steaks) 12 cherry plum tomatoes, de-seeded, cut into halves 10 black olives, pits removed and

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