Copyright

Thorsons

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First published by Thorsons 2017

FIRST EDITION

© Elly Curshen 2017

Photography © Martin Poole except where indicated otherwise.

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers

Elly Curshen asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Food styling: Marina Filippelli

Props styling: Jo Harris

Hair and make-up: Frances Done

All recipes are based on fan-assisted oven temperatures. If you are using a conventional oven, raise the temperature 20°C higher than stated in recipes.

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Source ISBN: ISBN 9780008219512

Ebook Edition © April 2017 ISBN: 9780008219529

Version: 2017-05-24

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Storecupboard and Staples

1: Freeze for Ease

Lentil, tomato and coconut dhal

Mean feat no-meat meatballs

Tuscan-style cannellini bean stew

Black beans – refried if you like

Mushroom, lentil and walnut ragù

2: Building Blocks

10-minute flatbreads

Labneh

Bread pudding

Marinated peppers

Satay dressing

Poached salmon

Green harissa

Roasted butternut squash

Roasted spiced plums

3: Menus

Baby shower brunch for a crowd with breast-feeding mums who could eat a horse

Lunch for six when sandwiches just won’t do

Dinner for four when you want to show off a bit but not stress

Kitchen table dinner for four, thinking of Jerez

Romantic dinner for two when you’re just sussing each other out

Dinner for two when you need to eat now and there’s no time for prep

Weekend brunch for four people with slightly sore heads

Family lunch for six – eat your greens or there’s no pud

List of searchable terms

Acknowledgements

List of Recipes

About the Publisher

Introduction

Let’s Eat! celebrates simple, delicious food. The sort of food I cook day in, day out. Food that brings me joy. It’s nutritious (along with some stuff that can barely make claims on the nutrition front but makes me happy). It’s centred on vegetables, pulses, grains and dairy with small amounts of fish and seafood. It’s inspired by world cooking and the seasons.

This is also, on the whole, quick food, I hate washing up with a passion so I’ve tried to use as little equipment as possible. I don’t have a stand mixer or a microwave or a giant flashy food processor so none of these recipes will require you to have them either. You’ll rarely need to put the oven on either – most of these recipes are cooked on the hob. A knife, a chopping board, a mixing bowl, one big saucepan, one small saucepan, a frying pan and a baking tray – that’s pretty much it.

It’s modern food for the way I live and I hope it fits into your lives too. My two best mates have kids now and spending time with them, cooking together and getting an insight into how this has affected the way they cook, has taught me so much. I think there are lots of recipes here that will be useful if you, too, have the demands of a young family.

My approach to food has been consistent for as long as I can remember – from when I first started cooking as a kid. Deliciousness and joy are my driving force. Texture and flavour, my main concerns. Ease and satisfaction, my aims. None of this has changed, so, add to this useful methods of planning and creating dishes I’ve picked up along the way, and the result is here … Let’s Eat!

I am much more adept at making dinner quickly without sacrificing deliciousness – by far the most important factor in any meal.

I’m sitting at my kitchen table in Bristol and the last few months have been full of cooking, recipe development, eating, writing, washing up and endless trips to the greengrocer. My thoughts have been dominated by applying the learning from my first book, Fast Days & Feast Days, and all my readers’ feedback and making this the best, most useful book possible. Let’s Eat! is the next step for anyone who has enjoyed Fast Days & Feast Days, but this book will also stand alone for those of you who didn’t buy it. (What the hell? – sort that out right away.)

Although you won’t find any recipes labelled as ‘fast day’ dishes in this book, if you are following the 5:2, you can use the skills you learnt from my first book to calculate the calorie counts, if you want to* The recipes in the first chapter of this book, with all the various serving suggestions provided, are particularly well suited to this, meaning you can cook for yourself and others at the same time and use a calorie-counted component as part of a bigger meal for all.

I want to show you how a little advance prep can mean dinner on the table really quickly and easily, any day of the week.

This has been one of the best bits of feedback from Fast Days & Feast Days; following the 5:2 but being able to eat the same food as others is key to keeping the diet up. Who wants to sit and eat a sad ‘diet dinner’, entirely different from your family or housemates?

While doing the 5:2, I recalibrated my ideas about what it meant to really feel full or hungry. I curbed my tendency to mindlessly eat and got a grip of what a sensible portion size was. I also became much more experienced in finding ways to make dishes more interesting, textured and exciting. My garnish game was strong. Crucially, too, I’d discovered the benefits of batch cooking. I’d started using my freezer for more than ice and peas. I’d sorted out my dry stores and was much more adept at making dinner quickly without sacrificing deliciousness – by far the most important factor in any meal. I’d become an expert in using up bits and pieces after the fast days had created an abundance of half-used packets and produce. Now, I want to show you how a little advance prep can mean dinner on the table really quickly and easily, any day of the week.

*A ‘fast day’, for those who don’t know, is the ‘2’ bit of the 5:2 way of eating – two days a week when you restrict your calorie intake to 500 calories.

How to use Let’s Eat!

The first chapter of this book contains five freezable batch-cook recipes. Each is accompanied by four recipes to serve up each base in imaginative and wholly different ways, so you’re not eating the same thing over and over again.

The second gives you nine building-block recipes, each forming the main component for three delicious dishes – make the base once, serve it three ways, The third and final chapter is full of quick and easy menus – whole curated sets of recipes for all sorts of occasions. It’s all covered, from romantic dinners for two to brunch parties and family weeknight dinners. Elements from the previous chapters combined with new recipes and also some bought-in bits. Cook from them as intended, as set menus, or pick and choose individual dishes as you like.

I want to show you some ideas for cookery building blocks that you can then build on in your own way. Lots of inspiration and creative combinations that I hope will get you trying new things, mixing it up and feeling confident to take things in a new direction. These are recipes to make your life easier. Food to be proud of – whether there’s anyone else there to see it or not! Let’s go. Let’s eat.

These are recipes to make your life easier. Food to be proud of – whether there’s anyone there to see it or not!

Storecupboard and Staples

There’ll be very little in this book that you won’t find easily in your local shops or a supermarket.

Apart from fresh produce, the following items are all the things you need to cook the recipes in this book. If there’s anything you have trouble sourcing in your neighbourhood, I can’t recommend souschef.co.uk highly enough. They won the Observer Food Monthly award for Best Independent Retailer. You’ll see why. A treasure trove of the world’s delights, just a click away.

Storecupboard basics

Oil

I use olive oil for nearly everything – a cheaper one for cooking and fruity, strongly flavoured, top-quality extra-virgin ones for dressings. I keep a cheap vegetable/ sunflower oil in stock for deep-frying (straining, cooling and reusing it a couple of times) and love having other interesting things like argan oil or smoked olive oil on hand for using on salads and to dress vegetables while still warm. My (organic, virgin) coconut oil generally lives in my bathroom, where it makes an excellent face cleanser and moisturiser; it only makes occasional forays into my kitchen.

Vinegars

I love the wide variety of vinegars available and they all have their uses. I have shedloads nearby at all times, but the ones I use most frequently are sherry, balsamic, white wine, red wine, apple cider and rice wine.

Other condiments

Mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, hot sauce, honey, American-style mustard (like French’s), English mustard powder, pomegranate molasses, Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard.

Spices and dried herbs

Bay leaves, cloves, cardamom pods, chilli flakes, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, garam masala, mustard seeds, pul biber (Turkish mild chilli flakes, AKA Aleppo pepper), smoked paprika, star anise, dried thyme, ground cumin, whole nutmeg, vanilla pods, ground cinnamon, Chinese five-spice, turmeric, mixed spice, curry powder, allspice berries, cayenne pepper, chipotle chilli flakes, celery salt, dried oregano.

Nuts and seeds

Blanched almonds, cashew nuts, ground almonds, hazelnuts, nigella seeds, peanuts, pine nuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.

Salt and pepper

Black peppercorns in a mill, Maldon sea salt flakes, smoked salt, vanilla salt, pink peppercorns.

Rice and dried pulses

Black beans, red lentils, green lentils, brown rice (short grain is my favourite).

Pasta

If I could only choose two, I’d pick linguine and rigatoni. Hopefully I’ll never be called upon to make such a huge decision.

Tins

Coconut milk, tinned tomatoes (chopped, cherry and whole plum), cannellini beans, sweetcorn, chickpeas.

Jars

Pickled jalapeños, passata, pickled turnips, preserved lemons, roasted peppers, capers, olives, chermoula, anchovy fillets. They can live happily on the shelf until opened, then move to the fridge.

Asian ingredients

Miso, udon, thin rice and soba noodles, soy sauce (I use Kikkoman), Sriracha chilli sauce, rice paper wrappers, sesame oil.

Middle Eastern ingredients

Orange blossom water, tahini, sumac, dried rose petals, dried barberries.

Breadcrumbs

I always use fresh breadcrumbs, never the toasted shop-bought kind. Whenever I buy bread I slice it at home, freeze it and then blitz the crusts in a food processor and pop in a freezer bag. Whenever a recipe calls for breadcrumbs, use these.

Other random bits

Vegetable bouillon powder (stock), plain and self-raising flour, caster sugar, both dark and light soft brown sugars, tomato purée, freekeh, giant couscous, sultanas, marmalade, cornflour, dark chocolate, peanut butter, baking powder, porridge oats, instant polenta, cocoa powder, maple syrup, golden syrup, coconut flakes, desiccated coconut, panko breadcrumbs.

Fresh staples

Milk

I always buy organic. It is better in so many ways: for you, the cows, the farmers and the planet (look at organicmilk.co.uk for loads of interesting info), and it only costs a few pence more a pint than non-organic milk. I truly believe it also tastes so much more delicious.

Butter

Butter is something where it really pays to buy the best you can afford. It tastes so much better.

Yoghurt

I use thick Greek-style yoghurt most often and regular natural yoghurt sometimes too. Buy both organic wherever possible.

Eggs

My most used ingredient and I make sure I never run out. Always free-range, organic if you can. Happy chickens lay much nicer eggs. Remember that if you want to poach eggs, they need to be super, super fresh. As they age, the white breaks down inside the shell and you’ll find it very difficult to make a neat poached egg.

Bread

Long-life sliced bread makes me feel terrible. Proper, real bread (preferably sourdough) makes me feel happy. Simple as that. I buy a loaf, slice it up and stick it straight in the freezer. No bread ever gets wasted and I toast it straight from frozen. I have been known to buy bread while I’m away on a trip and carry it home in my handbag, slices emerging from my freezer for weeks to come, reminding me of my time away. What better holiday memento is there than one you can eat?

Salad leaves

Buy whole lettuces rather than bags of mixed leaves and wash them as soon as you get them home. Follow these instructions (as we do at The Pear Café) and your lettuce will last at least 4 days … Buying whole lettuces rather than prepped leaves will save you money, too. We use oakleaf and little gem lettuce at my café, but the same technique works for any lettuce. Fill your sink with ice-cold water. Cut the base off the lettuce, cut out the hardest section of core with the tip of your knife and separate the leaves. Plunge the leaves into the cold water and swish them around with your hand. Transfer to a large bowl, drain the sink and refill with Ice-cold water. Rinse the leaves a second time. Take a double handful of leaves and shake them as dry as you can over the sink. Move into a salad spinner and spin really well, pouring away the water every few seconds. The leaves must be totally dry before you continue. Lay a few sheets of kitchen paper inside the largest zip-lock bags you can find. Keeping the leaves whole (cut edges will turn brown quickly), fill the zip-lock bags up to the top, but don’t overfill them. Gently lay the bags flat In the bottom of your fridge (or the crisper drawer) and avoid putting anything on top. Change the kitchen paper every day if it looks wet.

Fresh vegetables and fruit

I’m incredibly lucky when it comes to shopping for food in my Bristol neighbourhood. I’m spoilt for choice and have a number of greengrocers within walking distance. I prefer shopping for veg at my local shops rather than in a supermarket for a number of reasons. Supporting local businesses is essential to me but the biggest draw is the selection of produce available. My favourite local grocer’s has a brilliant selection and everything is sold loose, so I can buy exactly what I need. Whether it’s a single chilli or a lone lemon – supermarkets tend to package things designed for families and that’s not how all of us live. If I buy just what I need, I avoid waste and unnecessary expense.

Tofu: lots of people are a bit scared of where to start. What do you look for on the packet? How do you prepare it? What – even – is it?

A beginner’s guide to tofu

I use tofu regularly. As I don’t eat meat, my protein sources come from elsewhere (mainly lots of pulses, dairy, eggs and tofu), and I’ve been using various kinds of tofu for years.

Tofu has been around in Asia for over a thousand years, but it’s still finding its way into Western kitchens and lots of people are a bit scared of where to start. What do you look for on the packet? How do you prepare it? What. Even. Is it?

The last question is simple to answer. Tofu is just like cheese but is made with soya beans rather than milk. Fresh soya milk is curdled, the curds and whey are separated, and the curds are then pressed into blocks. How firm the tofu is will depend on how much water is pressed out, The blocks are sometimes then smoked, which will make them firmer, as well as obviously giving them a smoky flavour!

Firm

(I like the Organic Smoked Tofu from Dragonfly, which is handmade in Devon.) This is the type you need for the nuggets. You’ll find it in the chiller cabinet in a cardboard box, inside which there’s a shrink-wrapped block of tofu with a bit of liquid. Cut open the pack and pour away the water. Sandwich the tofu between a few layers of kitchen roll or a clean tea towel and gently press down for about 20 seconds to get rid of the excess moisture. If you’re using it for a stir fry, it won’t crisp up until you’ve got it really dry, so change the paper a few times and press for longer. For the nuggets recipe, you don’t need to worry so much as the moisture is actually essential for puffing up the crispy shell.

Smoked and marinated

This sort of tofu is what I call ‘beginner’s tofu’ and you can’t go wrong. It also comes in a shrink-wrapped packet but is not at all wet. It can be eaten hot or cold, doesn’t need pressing and it has a stronger flavour than plain tofu (so more interesting for those who consider tofu a wobbly, bland blob). I’ve used this type with the lentil dahl. (I like the Taifun brand, the one with almonds and sesame seeds.)

This chapter contains 25 recipes – five different freezable base recipes, each with four different ways to serve them.

These ways to serve aren’t just ‘serving suggestions’ but proper, full recipes that incorporate the base recipe as a main element. The idea is that you can make big batches of the base but avoid eating the same thing over and over again. The bases are all ‘wet’ things that freeze well and then defrost and reheat quickly and easily. Some of the ways to use them are casual and perhaps best suited to a weeknight dinner or a speedy lunch when you’re just cooking for yourself. Others are smarter and would certainly be up to scratch if you have guests. They’re all simple, easy and nothing takes very long. You’ve invested the time in batch-cooking the base, so the ‘serving suggestions’ are designed to be quick and stress-free.

If you’ve got a big enough pot and enough freezer space, you can, of course, double or even triple these recipes. Just don’t forget to alter your cooking times accordingly.

So, equip yourself with plenty of plastic tubs and a permanent marker to label everything, stick the radio on, grab a drink and let’s cook!

Lentil, tomato and coconut dhal

As a soup with roasted peppers and toasted cashews

With a 6-minute egg and toasted breadcrumbs

With wilted greens, lemon and yoghurt

With seared tofu, avocado, pickles and seeds

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