The Family Cook Book

Yet another recipe from Plenty. Couscous is one of those things you either love or hate ... if your a hater stop reading now. If you're a lover like me you will really appreciate this new spin on a couscous salad Green Couscous Ingredients 150g couscous 160ml boiling water or stock 1 small onion thinly sliced 1 tbsp olive oil 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp ground cumin 50g shelled unsalted pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped 3 spring onions finely sliced 1 fresh green chilli finely sliced 30g rocket chopped Herb paste 20g parsley 20g coriander 2tbsp chopped tarragon 2tbsp chopped chilli 2tbsp chopped mint 90ml good olive oil Method put the couscous in a heat-proof bowl, cover with the boiling water, then cover the bowl with a plate and leave for 10 minutes. Thinly slice a small onion, fry til soft and golden in a little oil, then add a the cumin, salt and mix. Leave to cool. Next make the paste.In a food processor, whizz up all the ingredients until smooth. Mix the herb paste into the co

well actually my top seventeen now! In response to a request from Hot meat (or Mr Coldham as others know him) I have added a top ten category to the blog. I actually added it a while ago but I think I forgot to mention it. Its a guide to the things we cook again and again and heartily recommend you try

Another bit of Ottolenghi magic .. we luurve sweet potatoes and this is a nice spin on the 'chip and dip'. If you wanted it to be a little lighter then replace the Creme Fraiche with greek yoghurt. Ingredients for 4 persons: 4 medium sweet potatoes (900g) 4 tbsp olive oil 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander 3/4 tsp fine sea salt 1 fresh red chilli, finely diced (or some dried chilli flakes) 15g coriander, leaves picked for the dipping sauce: 1/2 lemongrass stalk 200g crème fraîche grated zest and juice of 2 limes 50g fresh root ginger, peeled and grated 1/2 tsp fine sea salt Method Preheat the oven to 210°C. Wash the sweet potatoes but don't peel them. Cut each lengthways in half, cut again lengthways into quarters and then once more, so you should end up with eight long wedges. Place them in a roasting tin that has been lines with baking parchment and brushed lightly with some of the olive oil. Brush the wedges with the remaining oil and sprinkle with a mixture of the ground corian

After Xmas I bought myself a copy of Yotam Ottolenghi's most recent book 'Plenty'. Early signs are that it is even better than his first book. For my money it is better laid out and more mouth-wateringly art directed (can art direction can be mouth watering?) However the really good thing about the book is the inventive combinations of ingredients in the recipes that blend mediterranean and middle eastern flavours in a very modern and light style. We have already had a few recipes from the book, this was the first one I cooked and it has already become a firm favourite, particularly with Gus. This goes fantastically with something like roast chicken but would be equally delicious on its own btw it also tastes great the next day Roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes Treat this recipe as a blueprint for an infinite number of roast vegetable dishes. The point here is to balance slow-cooked veggies with something crisp and fresh. Ingredients 4 parsnips (700g in total) 4 medium re

I am a predictable cookery bloke .. I love all the gadgets. Over Xmas we added a new Magimix to our kitchen after an incredible 25 years service from our first one, which to be honest hasn't even broken we just fancied a new one. However my favourite new gadget is the rosle digital roasting thermometer which takes the 'oh bugger the recipe said it would medium rare not still alive' out of cooking new recipes. All you GQ loving chefs out there this is for you ... that means you Pricey

ok so lets face it jamie's 30 minute meals don't really take 30 mins, not unless you have an army of sous-chefs at home, but you can't deny that there's some really clever time saving ideas in this series/book. I can report that his 1 minute ice cream takes more like 3 or 4 but it is still a brilliantly simple idea that I suspect I will be doing several times over the summer, trying it with other fruit too. ingredients • 1 x 500g pack of mixed frozen berries • 150g fresh blueberries • 3–4 tablespoons runny honey • 1 x 500g tub of natural yoghurt (I used greek) • a few sprigs of fresh mint serves 4 In advance: Put 4 small glasses in the freezer When you're all set up and ready to go, get the glasses (if using) and the frozen berries out of the freezer. Divide the fresh blueberries between the glasses or cornets. Put the honey and yoghurt and leaves from the sprigs of mint into the food processor and whizz, then add the frozen berries and whiz again until combined. Sp

Our new favourite place to eat in Clerkenwell has to be Morito the tapas bar of the estimable Moro. John and I have been there a few times and are always amazed by quite how much brilliant food they can produce from the tiny cooking space. We always end up ordering about three more dishes than you should but we just cant control ourselves Morito 32 Exmouth Market London EC1R 4QE UK

its been too long. I'm not sure what happened since the 12th of December but I just haven't been blogging. Its not like I haven't been cooking ... so apologies for that. I was inspired to blog by the fact that I had my first cookery lesson yesterday. I went to Recipease Jamie's venue in Clapham for a knife skills class in boning a chicken. Lisa gave it to me for Xmas and to be honest I was a bit reticent about going. I was a little nervous if the truth be told. I needn't have been, all the other people there were perfectly normal and I learnt a couple of recipes, how to cut up a chicken properly and how to 'tunnel bone' a chicken leg ... and I achieved all this in a very relaxed two and a half hour lesson from Jimmy, one of Jamie's teachers. It was £50 and you got to take home all the ingredients plus a couple of enamel trays. I thought it was a veritable bargain and I will be trying another course, if there are any cookery class virgins out there like m