Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many

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Jeremy turned Quo Vadis into a must-visit restaurant, with everyone from foodies to celebrities wanting to experience the clean, simple, flavourful food that celebrated the seasons. Over the years he has developed close relationships with suppliers, meaning he has access to the very best produce. ‘Keeping an eye on your supply chain is a full-time job, so we tend to look to a very good greengrocer who knows where to get things like the best lemons from Sicily,’ he explains. ‘But closer to home it’s easier to talk to people – we know we want crabs from Dorset, smoked herring from the east coast and razor clams from Orkney. The fishermen are great and a focus on vegetables is the next huge revolution in cooking. Foraging is great but oh boy do you need to know your stuff, and I think if you’re going to charge a spectacular amount of money for a leaf on the plate you better make sure it’s brilliant.’ After working for a few years in a Scottish country house hotel, Jeremy made the move down to London and landed a job at one of the most exciting restaurants of the 1980s. ‘Terence Conran was starting to take his restaurant business very seriously and had the brilliant idea to choose Simon Hopkinson as his head chef and partner at Bibendum, a restaurant on Fulham Road housed inside the old Michelin UK headquarters,’ explains Jeremy. ‘Cooking with Simon was a revelation; at the time, everyone was beginning to understand produce and we saw the birth of British cooking. After that I got to cook with Alistair Little, who worked in a very different style in a very different kitchen. He’s been a great friend ever since.’ A beautifully written instant classic that is every bit as exuberant and delicious as the man himself!' Nigella Lawson Lightly oil and season the skin side of the sardines, then lay them in the onion pan, skin side down, and cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes, until the flesh turns pale. Flip and cook for no more than 1 minute on the other side.

It's not going to be a destination restaurant, just a bloody good pub” - Tom Kerridge on The Butcher's Tap Chelsea Something changed in the nation’s appetites after the second world war, both for food and what was written about it. Elizabeth David’s first book, Mediterranean Food, published in 1950, switched the nation on to simple, good cooking from warmer climates. War and rationing were grim memories; writers in this period wanted sunshine and cheer, not the clipped tones of Mrs Beeton or Constance Spry. And what revelations! 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. If you grew up in a remote part of the country, as I did, outside Dundee, those books were almighty. A whole new generation of restaurants was opening, run and staffed by folk who devoured cookery books like thrillersFounded in 1926, Quo Vadis is named after the Latin phrase Quo vadis? (where are you going?) and has cemented itself as one of Soho’s most beloved culinary institutions. It has had various owners over the years – including a partnership between Marco Pierre White and Damien Hirst from 1996-2007 – but the restaurant is now in the hands of Sam and Eddie Hart, who are behind the immensely successful Barrafina. These bakes were all so good. When thinking of 12 puddings for Christmas, I tried to think of all the great classics that many people might enjoy. At the outset of the festive season, Mum would plunder the bookshelves for all her favourite recipes, and the pile of books by Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Claudia Roden and many more remained, throughout December, by the stool Mum always sat upon at the counter in the kitchen. The list of books I consult now are pretty similar, and I’ve called on them all to compile this list. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and line a baking tray with parchment. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut the pastry into 16 6cm-wide squares. The Cooking World is a team of professionals passionate about the world of food from diverse areas.

Lay a triangle of chocolate just inside one of the corners of the pastry square. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little cream. Fold the pastry in half diagonally over the chocolate, making a triangular turnover. Repeat with the remaining squares and arrange the turnovers on the prepared baking tray at least 3cm apart. Mayan gold and yukon gold potatoes cook a treat in this recipe, king edwards work very well, and good results were also enjoyed with baking and roasting potatoes. The recipes in Cooking are arranged by favorite ingredients and occasions and include an introduction emphasizing the importance of the quality and provenance of ingredients. From plum compote with ricotta and hazelnuts to perfect anchovy dressing, this stunning collection of recipes is a love song to simple dishes crafted with the finest ingredients. To make the rough puff pastry, sift the flour on to a wide surface or into a large bowl. Add the cold butter and salt, then, using your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly add the water, about 50ml at a time, working deftly until all the water has been added. The dough will not be even but shape it into a rough ball, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 130C fan/gas mark 2. Spoon the marmalade over the bottom of the tart case. Heap the frangipane in little clods over the marmalade. Strew the chocolate over the frangipane. This September, much to the cheer of his legion of fans, Lee is publishing his first cookbook, titled Cooking. Simply and well, for one or many. It may have taken a 40-year career and a pandemic to produce but soon everyone will be able to see what goes in to his subtle and delicious plates of food. Lee was born in Dundee and credits his mother and father with providing a table ‘laden with good things’. ‘They really made it their business to make sure every day was an adventure of some sort,’ he says, ‘and that we would eat well, always.’ Perhaps paradoxically, restaurants didn’t feature much: ‘Mum and Dad thought there were much more interesting things to do with their money than shell out for restaurants that they hated. That wasn’t their thing: they wanted their family around a table.’ Born in Orkney, this estimable woman wrote beautifully on the lore and cooking of Scotland. Had these books not been written, much might not have seen the light of day, such as cabbie claw, a soup of cod cooked in horseradish and parsley, and served with an egg sauce. Try The Scots Kitchen or The Scots Cellar for barley broth, hotch potch (mutton stew with vegetables) and nettle soup. You will be so immersed in reading Good Things in England that it will be bedtime before you even think to put the kettle on. Recipes were gleaned from all over Britain and made practical. I like the salmagundi, an amazing salad incorporating fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, and was a favourite in the Renaissance court. Her soups made with spinach and celery are great, too.