The Family Cook Book

We have now had these pears a couple of times. On Saturday we did the whole dish for Grandma Betty’s birthday and it went down very well. Firstly it’s great to be able to use seasonal British pears, secondly, as with everything we have cooked from this book this is very easy to do and a great dish to prepare ahead of time if you are cooking for a bit of a crowd. I should declare now that I didn't cook the meringues (or indeed the pears) my own personal meringue girl Mrs. Cook did so and did so beautifully. Recipe for 6 people Ingredients 8 medium free-range egg whites – at room temperature 650g caster sugar 250ml white wine 6 firm pears – comice are perfect pinch of saffron 200ml whipping cream Method Preheat the oven to 130°C/Gas 1/2 and line two baking sheets with baking parchment paper. Tip the egg whites into a large clean mixing bowl (not plastic). Beat them with an electric hand-whisk on medium speed until the mixture resembles a fluffy cl

It was my Mums birthday on Saturday .... in fact it was her 85th birthday so we threw a surprise lunch for a selection of family and friends both young and old. It was a lovely occasion, I wanted to cook something special but fairly traditional and easy to prepare for ten. I turned to Raymond Blanc's 'Kitchen Secrets' ... it’s not a book I use that much but on the basis of these recipes maybe I should. Both the lamb and the potatoes turned out really well and were gratifyingly easy to prepare. We served it with some tenderstem broccoli, chantenay carrots and salsa verde. We had beetroot marinated salmon to start and poached pears to finish. Raymond Blanc's slow roasted shoulder of lamb This dish epitomises good home cooking. Shoulder is one of the cheaper cuts of lamb, yet here it is transformed into a wholesome meal – the long, slow cooking rendering the meat tender, juicy and incredibly tasty. Maman Blanc never used st