The Family Cook Book

This makes a very simple but delicious pre-dinner snack. It's from the ever reliable Jamie's Italy. To make it really easy I usually make crostini by getting a decent loaf of Ciabatta slicing it fairly thinly, drizzle with olive oil and then roast on a flat tray in a high oven for about 10 mins (keep checking!) Ingredients 1/2 a bulb of fennel 1/2 a yellow pepper seeds removed 1 red pepper halved seeds removed 1/2 a courgette halved lengthways and seeds removed 1 teaspoon dried oregano a handful of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped olive oil sea salt and freshly ground black pepper juice of half a lemon red wine vinegar method pre heat oven to 220deg C Chop fennel and peppers into 1 inch chunks and slice the courgette. Toss the vegetables with the oregano, mint and a good glug of olive oil and season with sat and pepper,then place on a roasting tray and place in the oven for about half an hour or until nicely golden. Remove and allow to cool, then pulse in a food processor ...

Sometimes life can be crap. These flapjacks do not have life changing properties but one of Mrs C's collection of little tins filled to the brim, sent to the right person, at the right time can just put a bit of a smile on their face. Ingredients 175g (6oz) butter 115g (5oz) unrefined brown caster sugar 15ml (1tbsp) runny honey 250g (9oz) rolled oats 6 ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped handful pumpkin seeds Method Preheat the oven to 180°C, (350°F, gas mark 4). Place the butter and sugar in a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey, oats, apricots and seeds. Press the mixture into a cake tray (bun tray? You know what I mean the ones with 6/12 separate indentations) Let sit for 15 – 20 mins - the waiting is Mrs Cooks little secret weapon Bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown around the edges..... Keep checking so they don’t burn. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out.

I made this yesterday. The recipe comes from Skye Gyngell's 'My Favourite ingredients'... I think that's the name of it. It was just Lisa, my Mum and I as Martha was out in the cold rowing. We had an 800gm piece of pork so I halved the recipe and knocked about 30 mins off of the cooking time. The crackling could have been crispier but the meat was not in the slightest bit fatty and absolutely melt in the mouth gorgeous. The combo of garlic puree and broccoli made a really delicious complement. We had enough to save Martha a piece of pork as it is her absolute favourite thing in the world to eat and she would have gone mad if we hadn't! I will definitely do this one again, maybe when Martha is not out on the river. Serves 6-8 Ingredients 2kg pork belly, with skin on and ribs intact 50ml olive oil Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1tbsp fennel seeds 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks 4 celery sticks, cut into chunks 2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped ...

I promised I would put this Alice waters recipe (if you can call it a recipe, it's more of an assembly than a recipe) on the blog. Ingredients 70gms pitted black olives 1 clove Garlic 4 Anchovy fillets (preferably salt-packed anchovies that you have washed and drained. If not use tinned, drain off the oil and pat them dry but don't tell Alice!) 1 tablespoon Capers (drained well) extra virgin olive oil a little chopped fresh thyme leaves Directions There are no measures for this, it's about tasting, and trusting what you like. Chop the olives coarsely by hand. Chop the garlic very finely, or pound to a puree in a pestle and mortar and add to the olives. Chop the anchovies and add to the mixture. Chop the capers. Add some to the mix,now the thyme then taste. Do you need more of anything? Add some, taste again. Do you need to balance out the flavour with garlic or anchovies? After all it's your tapenade. When you are satisfied, add a squeeze of lemon juice and taste. A...

This is the first outing of one of my culinary Xmas presents. You can never go wrong with Rose and Ruth although you might argue that now having five books from them is verging on overload, slightly obsessional even. Anyway here is a sunday night experimentation with this Sicilian classic ... the interesting twist is the slight cooking of the celery before adding to the mix Caponata There are as many ways to make caponata as there are cooks in Sicily. The basis of caponata is the popular aubergine, and the dish evolves according to what other vegetables you wish to include. All caponatas have wine vinegar as part of the seasoning and most include capers, olives and pine nuts. This recipe has celery as its other strong flavour, which makes a light, refreshing version. Serves 6 1 large round, pale aubergine, about 12cm in diameter, or 2 medium round, pale aubergines Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 whole heads of celery, with leaves 1 large red onion, peeled 2 ripe plum tomatoe...

I almost forgot to mention how good Jamie's stuffing recipe was this year. We loved his Xmas programmes despite the ridiculousness of some of it. Why, because there were some banging recipes in there Bruvva! I particularly liked his stuffing, so here it is. ingredients • 2 large onions, peeled and quartered • 50g stale bread • 200g vac-packed chestnuts • 1kg shoulder of pork, the best quality you can afford, trimmed and diced (We actually used Waitroses best minced pork) • a bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked • 3 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, the best quality you can afford, roughly chopped • freshly ground white pepper • sea salt • 1 fresh whole nutmeg, for grating • 1 lemon • 1 orange or clementine method Making your own minced pork like I’ve done here really turns your stuffing into something special. It will give you amazing flavour and texture, and it’s wicked to be able to see everything you’ve got in there. Usually I’d sweat the onions off first (ED. I did sweat mine off)...

I 'cooked' this dish for our new years eve dinner. Whilst you have to pay a kings ransom for this much fillet of beef from Mr Dale (or any other good butcher)it really is worth it. Obviously this is a dish for carnivores but don't let its raw-ness put you off, it really is delicious and this spin on it using beetroot and horseradish gives it a seasonal and british twist. Make sure that the beetroot is really cooked as this will bring out the sweetness of this fabulous vegetable ... to test if its done just stick a sharp knife in to the biggest one, if it's done it will slide out easily. Don't worry if you have any left over as it is absolutely delicious the next day, either on its own or in some ciabatta. (Alternative: Jamie does a version where he substitutes Cress for the rocket, Rosemary for the thyme and adds a little shaved parmesan at the end) Ingredients * 700gms beetroot (10 - 12 'balls') * olive oil * 10 tablespoons balsamic vinegar ...