The Family Cook Book

Lisa home from Ibiza and we had one of our favourites, chopped Turkish salad (elsewhere on the blog) but instead of the usual chicken and flatbread we had this delicious mechoui lamb and a loaf of Gails sourdough from waitrose. I had been meaning to do this classic moroccan recipe for some time. It's right up my strasse, its very simple, but i love the way that it elevates fairly ordinary barbecued lamb chops to something rather special....... It also goes perfectly with the Turkish salad btw. Lamb Mechoui with Cumin and Paprika Salt from Casa Moro cookbook Serves 4 Ingredients 2 tbsp. whole cumin seeds, freshly ground 1 tsp. sweet paprika 1/2 tsp. hot paprika 1 tbsp. sea salt, roughly crumbled 12-16 lamb chops, depending on size 40 g. butter, melted Mix the spices and the salt together in a bowl. Just before you are ready to grill the chops, brush them with the melted butter, sprinkle liberally with half the cumin mixture and grill 5-8 minutes either side for pink. Serve immediate

Having just finished stuffing ourselves I can now confrm that the verdict on the aioli was that it was delicious and goes perfectly with barbecued chicken.

lisa is still in Ibiza and having a well deserved fine old time. weather here amazing too, so martha, Joe and I are eating in the garden. I have barbecued a chicken and we are having it with some left over potato salad ( see last entry) a tomato and red onion salad and I have made some aioli by hand with a bit of help from Joe on the oil dribbling front .... I hope it tastes good because I made a bit of a mess of the book at the same time... The recipe comes from Alice waters again In the book she mentions a number of optional 'spins' on each recipe ... In this case we added a handful of fresh chopped flat leaf parsley ... It won't take away the garlic breath but hey ho! Alice Waters AIoli Peel: 2 or 3 small garlic cloves Separate into a mixing bowl: 1 egg yolk 1/2 teaspoon water Mix well with a whisk. Into a cup with a pour spout, measure about: 1 cup olive oil Slowly dribble the oil into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. As the egg yolk absorbs the oil, the sauce

This went with the steak Simon Hopkinson’s simple new potato salad is simple but lovely. Simmer 700g of new potatoes for 9 or 10 minutes,when just cool enough to handle, slice them into a bowl. Make a dressing by mixing 2 tablespoons each of smooth Dijon mustard, 2 tbs red wine vinegar and 6 tbs ex virgin olive oil along with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 3 or 4 chopped spring onions over the chopped potatoes and gently turn them in the dressing We then added some chopped grilled asparagus and turned again Serve while warm

Ok so now it's Saturday, it's just Martha and I again and she has already eaten. So steak for me, but how to give it a little lift? It was sirloin, from Tesco .... Oh yes! And it twas their finest. I did a little bit of searching for inspiration and turned to Alice waters book 'The art of simple food'...... The recipe that follows is hardly really a recipe but it really did make a difference ..... The lovely thing was that i also got all the herbs from the pots outside my back door Serves 4 Ingredients 3 tablespoons mixed chopped herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, or marjoram 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 grass-fed top sirloin steak (20 ounces and 1 1/2 inches thick), trimmed leaving 1/4 inch of fat (or your tesco version of course) Directions In a small bowl, mix together herbs, salt, and pepper. Rub herb mixture onto steak and place in a shallow dish. Drizzle steak with olive oil and let

Lisa in Ibiza, Joe up in Warwick, so it's just Martha and I. We had the ingredients in the fridge for Jamies best tomato and chorizo salad in the world and it seemed to fit the current criteria for cooking ie not much required in this case all we needed was the camping cooker to cook the chorizo. We ate it in front of the telly with lots of bread for supping ... our verdict? not half bad Here's the recipe Best chorizo and tomato salad in the world ‘So many people live their lives eating the most boring tomato salads and there's no need to! Using really ripe sweet tomatoes and a hero ingredient like chorizo means you'll end up with something ridiculously good.’ Serves 4 as a light meal 1 raw chorizo sausage (approx 225g), roughly sliced olive oil 3 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped 3 handfuls (270g) of cherry tomatoes, quartered, smaller ones halved 3 spring onions or 1 shallot, trimmed or peeled and finely sliced sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Spanish extra

Son number two arrived back from LA today after a year studying there. We had the whole family together (only a flying visit by number one son) and we were joined by cousin Barney who is doing work experience with me.However despite the desire to celebrate we are still without a kitchen so we had to use a bit of ingenuity plus the BBQ and camping gaz cooker again. We had lovely italian sausages from the local deli (Jamie says you can use cumberland for this but frankly I take issue with this ... not often I disagree with his bruvva-ness but on this occasion I say NO to anything other than the proper Italian salsiccia. The lentils tasted good and the addition of the crispy prosciutto was an interesting little spin. We added a little had chopped Salsa Verde to give it a bit of a lift. We polished off a bottle of nytimber to toast his return in one piece and had a nice bottle of Il Bruciato with the sausages. all in all it was a lovely evening ingredients • 200g good small green or brown

With no kitchen the gas barbecue has become our other vital piece of equipment alongside the camping gaz cooker I mentioned in the last blog. To add to the general chaos we also have my nephew barney staying with us ....... Poor him! For his first meal we barbecued a spatchcocked chicken that I had marinaded in oregano, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil which I cooked for about 45 mins on a low setting. Alongside it we had Jamies jacket potatoes in foil (see below) and some corn on the cob. ingredients • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed • 4 tablespoons butter, softened • freshly ground black pepper • sea sal • 8 baking potatoes • 8 anchovies, or 4 rashers of bacon (the best quality you can afford) if you’re not an anchovy fan a handful of fresh thyme sprigs method Everyone loves a baked potato and this is one of the tastiest ways to make them. Slice, fill, then fit them back together. Pound the garlic and butter in a pestle and mortar until smooth. Season the garlic butter well with

So what if we haven't got a kitchen. We have got a single ring camping gaz cooker ... and we're gonna use it! So last night I was home early and decided to see what we could put together. this is what we came up with Ingredients 2 Tuna steaks 500g new potatoes 1 red chilli (de-seeded and finely chopped) 3 tbs capers 8 anchovy fillets split in half lengthways Juice of one lemon 4 tbs ex virgin olive oil large handful of roughly chopped rocket leaves method Put anchovies and chillies in a bowl with half the lemon juice. Turn on camping gaz ... you could use a traditional hob if you insist. Now get new potatoes on the boil in well salted water and cook until tender. Drain potatoes and cut in half lengthways (if they are a little big cut them in half crossways too. Pour over the olive oil and lemon juice whilst they are still warm and season... go easy on the salt as you will be adding anchovies and capers that are both pretty salty. Leave for ten minutes to take up the flavours an

At eight o clock this morning the men came to remove our kitchen. As I left the house, lisa was removing various bits and pieces to try and flog them on ebay. When I come home tonight I suspect most of it will be gone. Whilst I am excited about the arrival of a spanking new kitchen (and a little nervous) I am sad to see the old one go as it has served us well for the last decade. On Saturday night Gus came home and my Mum came up and I cooked this Jamie Oliver dish, it was delicious ..... unless you're Martha of course, who, I only discovered later, HATES preserved lemon. It is very easy to make ... the only thing I would question on the recipe is if you really need an hour and a half... I think an hour would probably be sufficient. Here's the recipe in full Chicken, olive and preserved lemon tagine Serves 4-6 Ingredients 
1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5kg), preferably free-range or organic, skin-on, jointed 
into 4 (get your butcher 
to do this for you or you could just u

I remember seeing this on Saturday kitchen and wanting to cook it. I forgot to. I have now come across the recipe again, so this is a reminder to myself to try it. If anyone else does let me know how it works out. Ingredients For the salad 600g/14oz baby tomatoes, cut in half horizontally 4 tbsp olive oil salt and freshly ground black pepper 200g/7oz ciabatta, torn into small pieces 1 large banana shallot, finely chopped 2 tbsp red wine vinegar 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed 175g/6oz w piquillo peppers, chopped 2 handfuls basil, leaves only For the tuna 4 x 200g/7oz tuna steaks 1 lemon, zest only 1 garlic clove, grated 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Method For the salad, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 1. Place the tomatoes onto a baking tray, cut-side facing upwards. Drizzle over one tablespoon of the olive oil and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the tomatoes to the oven and cook for one hour, or until softened an

I have just had a couple of implants .. that's dental implants, I haven't had my moobs adjusted. Whilst there are many upsides to this, the downside is that in this first stage I am not allowed to drink for two weeks and I also have to eat 'soft food' for a while. This led me to making these old family favourite lamb burgers with secret hidden veg. The addition of the carrot and or courgette not only gets some veg into a burger it also adds taste and keeps them beautifully moist. I have chosen an Indian-ish vibe with the spicing and accompaniments but it could just as easily be Greek-y or Turkish-ish. The cooking time depends on the thickness of the burger, your interpretation of 'nicely browned' and whether you like your burgers well done or are happy with a bit of pink ... personally we are a bit of a pink family. Ingredients For the burgers 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 large garlic cloves bunch of fresh coriander, stalks and leaves finely grated carrot and

I cooked this recipe from The River Cafe Classic Cookbook at the Pricey's house when we were in LA seeing Joe earlier this year. We had it with some amazing Fiorentina steaks ... and a few flagons of delicious red wine! It takes a bit of trial and error to get it right ... the key thing is to get the depth of potatoes in the pan thin enough to really brown nicely but thick enough that they don't burn to a crisp and still have a bit of fluffiness to them. When you do get it right though you will find that everybody both young and old will love this recipe and hoover up every last morsel of it. ingredients 1.5kg waxy potatoes 1 medium red onion peeled 6 garlic clove, peeled and kept whole 4 sprigs fresh rosemary 6 sprigs fresh sage 120ml dry white wine 100ml ex virgin olive oil sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed method Pre heat oven to 200c peel potatoes and slice into very fine slices (5mm) use a mandoline if you can. Put them in cold water

It struck me that I normally write about a dish rather than a meal. However sometimes it's the combination of things that really works, not just the individual recipes. Last Sunday was one of those occasions when it all just seemed to come together. It also did so with very little fuss We had our good friends David and Cathy over with their 'adopted' son Krishna and we just had Martha out of our brood. We started with little crostini: a couple of dips from Skye Gyngell, a Jamie Oliver courgette spread 'Zucchini in padella' and some torn buffalo mozarella and baby tomatoes drizzled with olive oil. To Start Skye's mezze dips btw this recipe makes tons ... you could easily halve it and still have loads left over Roasted spice mix All of the recipes use this blend of strong, vibrant flavours. 1-2 cinnamon sticks 50g/2oz coriander seeds 50g/2oz cumin seeds 50g/2oz fennel seeds 50g/2oz mustard seeds 50g/2oz fenugreek seeds 5 cardamom pods 2-3 star anise (or cloves) Pl