The Family Cook Book

A very warm and stormy Saturday evening was made all the more enjoyable with the addition of the Rimmers (and Joe's mate Nathan) to our family gathering. We barbecued far too much chicken, served with roast sweet potato, spicy slaw and cauliflower salad. This was preceded by aubergine and pepper salad and asparagus with anchovy and milk sauce .... all recipes that we have done before. However the evening was rounded off by a new discovery from Bill Granger's 'Feed me now": Lemon Posset. We served it in little coffee cups with pistachios on top and a few raspberries on the side. Bill recommends shortbread which I'm sure would also be delicious. Anyway lets say that it went down pretty well, in fact the enamel on the inside of the cups was in danger of being worn away The evening ended with Jerry and I side by side on the sofa watching Glastonbury .... sweet! Ingredients 180ml (6fl oz) lemon juice (about 4 lemons) 125g (4½oz) caster sugar 500ml (18fl oz) double cream

It feels like summer is finally here ... at last. On Saturday night we went to a fabulous party at the home of the lovely Little's, Tim and Julia.It was really fantastic a balmy evening, really nice people, great food (salads courtesey of Ottolenghi)and in my case rather too many Mojitos followed by a considerable amount of red wine. We eventually returned home at what is for us the very ungodly hour of 3 AM. On Sunday we had Gus back from Uni, Joe, Martha and both Grandma's for lunch. This combo of recipes(some of which I have written about before)seemed to suit the mood and my hangover perfectly. They are nice and light, summery and very very easy to do. I made the Romesco the night before and prepared the salad about an hour in advance leaving the dressing to about 30 mins before we ate. I think everyone both young and old enjoyed the lunch .... which was finished off by a lovely polenta cake that Lisa made. However I particularly enjoyed the sleep in the sun tha

I have just returned from a hugely enjoyable but physically punishing four day trip to LA to see my good friend Pricey. Although the length of the journey played its part in that punishment it has to be said that it was due, in the main to the sheer volume of red wine that we also consumed. However I think it is fair to say that we put several of the worlds wrongs to right and shared our own problems both medical, financial and commercial and lets face it a problem shared with a really good friend is a problem much more than halved. We had several excellent meals at some of our usual hangouts including a particularly fine six hour lunch at S'or Tino to welcome my arrival. On the Saturday we abandoned our 'divisible by two' approach to dining and we cooked for ten at the Pricey's house, this of course meant that Peter and I could indulge in a day of expensive shopping in some of LA's most excellent emporiums of food including Gelson's and Santa Monica seafood but

ok ok I know its getting boring but Bill Grangers new book 'Feed me now' really is the culinary gift that just keeps on giving. Either that or Bill and I are twins that have been spookily separated at birth but left with identical palates .... as I am an old slaphead and he is a tousle haired, blond, Aussie beach babe it seems unlikely, but you never know. Anyway back to the cooking. This is perfect comfort food for a night like Saturday. The sunshine and soaring temperatures of last weekend were a distant memory, the thunder woke me up and the rain was bashing down like it was the middle of winter.We were all a little bit knackered and this meal was just what the doctor ordered. It is also the kind of dish that happily straddles the desires of all ages with the side orders allowing the adults to add some spice and interest whilst the basic dish will be acceptable to all but the fussiest of kids Serves 4 Mint sambal 150gms finely sliced shallots big handful of mint leaves 1 sma