The Family Cook Book

One of our trips out for dinner whilst in Puglia was to the very lovely Masseria Garrappa . The owner could not have been nicer and the whole ambience and style of the place was absolutely delightful. If you're near Fasano I recommend a trip. We had very nice food and delicious wines. It was such a lovely change for somebody to say to me 'This is a lovely red wine but I hope you don't mind it is €30' (£23.60 to be precise!) 

we have just come back from a short holiday near Fasano in Puglia. We went with our dear friends Joel and Nushi and had a wonderful time. We ate out well but one of the great joys of the trip was the quality of the produce in the supermarket ... in particular on the fish counter which was quite simply spectacular.   The picture above was a particularly nice dinner of Orata (bream) mazzancolle (Shrimps) zucchini (courgettes) and patate (obvious). We roasted the potatoes and zucchini in the oven with some garlic, olive oil and dried oregano we found at the villa and then we barbecued the fish and dressed it with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. We sat outside under the vine covered pergola and washed it down with some local wines -  a Primitivo (or two!) and a fiano .... bloody delicious!

The weather has turned and the Big Green Egg is back in use. I'm quite proud of these recent results Pizza .. pretty damn crispy I think you'll agree and single rib of beef Tom Kerridge style .... look at that crispy fat. Heart attack alert!!

I saw this recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi on Saturday kitchen. As a lover of, the very unattractive but delicious to eat, celeriac, I had to give it a try.I made the celeriac and horseradish dressing but had it with roast beef but I bet the dish as a whole is also fabulous. The celeriac is an absolute walk in the park to make and is delicious. The centre is beautifully soft and the outside a bit sticky and 'gnarly' as Jamie would say. Ingredients For the baked celeriac with smoked trout 1 medium  celeriac , skin scrubbed but left on, cut in half lengthways 2 tbsp  olive oil 10g/¼oz  thyme  sprigs 80g/2¾oz  crème fraîche 20g/¾oz fresh  horseradish , peeled and finely grated (use  horseradish  cream as an alternative) 150g/5½oz  smoked trout  or salmon, sliced into 3cm/1¼in strips 2 tsp  lemon juice 2 tsps flaky sea salt and  black pepper For the salsa ·        20g/¾oz small  capers  (or regular  capers , chopped) ·        1 tbsp finely chopped  p