Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many

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In the kitchen, a small pile of cookery books (pulled from laden shelves), with a pad and a pencil for notes, awaited my mother’s interest. Divide into two, wrapping one half tightly in greaseproof paper for use another day, storing in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3-4 months.

Jeremy Lee: ‘I want to encourage people to go into the Jeremy Lee: ‘I want to encourage people to go into the

But none of them had the questions that I needed to ask to get my prospects to persuade themselves in a step by step sequence rooted in human psychology. Alongside contemporaries such as Fergus Henderson, of St John, Lee takes as much credit as anyone for the extraordinary flourishing in our national cuisine over the past few decades. It’s roughly based on Julia Child and Jane Grigson’s food writing” he says, “the thoroughness of the former with the arbitrariness of the latter. Take a 50g portion of the pastry and roll it out thinly on a lightly floured surface into a 12-13cm disc.

Different recipes were tried for the filling but the frangipanes we loved best were those with little or no flour, so different to those more cake-like in texture, made with almonds already ground. They opened eyes to the French and Italian regions, beyond capital cities, where markets reflected the seasons and good ingredients cooked simply were the greatest prize. I can map the course of the year through the fruits that grace an almond tart, from the first forced pink rhubarb of January to the damsons, medlars, quinces and sloes of autumn – a succession of fruit advancing with the seasons. If the almonds are unpeeled it is not such a chore to steep them in boiling water to loosen the skins to facilitate peeling. Bake for 6-7 minutes on one side, then flip and bake for a further 3-4 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.

Sardines on toast, grilled pork chop, apple tarts – simple

His dedicated pursuit of fresh local foods, in particular for vegetables, fruit and herbs is legendary and in his book he includes details of his favourite suppliers, even inspiring readers with space or a garden to grow some of his chosen plants.Extracts from COOKING: SIMPLY AND WELL, FOR ONE OR MANY, reproduced with the permission of 4th Estate. Place the tart on a wire rack over a tray to catch any butter that may fall from the tart while baking.