General intro
If you follow this lot you should end up with about three weeks’ worth of very edible recipes/menus for three course meals. Some of the starters might need to be repeated though soup comes in multiple flavours... Go for shop bought pizza, quiche, sausages etc. to fill in the days when you’re desperate and hey, presto, you have a month of happily fed people and a cook who isn’t exhausted!
I love cooking to entertain friends when I have time to concentrate. Like most people, I dislike ‘everyday’ cooking, where a meal has to be put on the table regardless of the more interesting things that might be going on elsewhere. So these recipes and hints were developed for entertaining, but of course they can be used and adapted for the everyday stuff. That’s what I’ve done. I have an entire bookcase (floor to ceiling variety) of cookery books. I tend to rely on a tried and trusted few though the rest are a kind of eye candy and can offer inspiration! Most of my reliable recipes started life in these books but have been refined by experience. My husband likes eating and is a chemist by training. He is therefore more than capable of working out how to deal with ingredients and produce the required results. A few of the recipes were designed by him.
My cookery ‘gods’ are Jamie Oliver and Nigel Slater - plus Nigella Lawson to a lesser extent. I don’t go for Delia - she’s too serious. When I have some spare time I might do some reviews of the cookery books that have changed my life.
I am perfectly capable of deciding to serve a bought pizza or quiche with a bought salad. However, I rarely buy ‘readymade’ dishes and prefer to work out how to produce the same or better myself. It doesn’t usually take much longer to start from scratch than to thaw and heat a supermarket concoction and the results will be superior. This is not as true of pizzas or quiches as preparing the base is a lengthy process if you are hungry. I am happy to make my own shortcrust pastry if time permits but prefer to buy ready made puff/filo pastry to keep in the freezer. And although I have an icecream maker, I tend to buy icecream and use the ‘gadget’ for sorbets. I use my bread machine when I remember to buy the ingredients, I stopped using my yoghurt maker because I prefer some bought (plain) varieties, and I only make jam or any other preserves in tiny quantities in the microwave. I am more than happy to go out to a restaurant (especially one that might inspire new dishes) and I appreciate takeaways after long journeys or very tiring days. There, now you know how little I resemble a true cook! But I love to see guests enjoying a carefully thought out meal and am happy to introduce other people to some of the secrets, which aren’t really secrets at all but are hard to find anywhere! Some of my friends have expressed an interest in the way I produce what they seem to see as complicated meals. Mostly female friends. The men just eat or, in one or two cases, ask for the recipes.
Most cooking, other than the really high powered stuff which is best left to professional chefs, is a question of knowing what to serve, knowing how long it takes to prepare and cook, being organised, and assembling everything correctly. It’s easy - honestly! And there’s an element of bluff. Really simple food, attractively presented, by a host or hostess who doesn’t look flustered, cons guests into believing in magic...
There are four sub-sections to this guide:
1) Basic tips
2) Basic recipes (in three parts - soup and starters, main courses and desserts)
3) Basic equipment
4) Basic stored items
I will probably have to update this from time to time because I will have forgotten something completely essential or one of you will ask about something... Meanwhile, that’s all!!