Home Cooking

Home cooking is not about recreating fancy restaurant meals — although that is obviously great fun too — it’s more a way of life. It’s about food that anyone can achieve for friends and family, and taking great pleasure in the preparation as much as in the sharing, and of course the eating! The value of cooking at home goes beyond merely having control over your ingredients (though this is profoundly important for health, wellbeing, and your wallet …), it’s also about gathering your loved ones together to share and enjoy the most fundamental part of life; it’s about teaching your children how to appreciate a home-cooked meal and showing them how much fun cooking can be; it’s about slowing down the busy pace of your life when you can, but also knowing that when there isn’t much time you can still put a loving meal on the table, made by you.

Home cooking is also about the joy of learning old skills and kitchen crafts such as making home-made sweets. It’s about feeling proud as a parent when making by hand your child’s very first foods. It’s about the wonderful kitchen smells and sounds and flavours that you just can’t get any other way.

In this book, you’ll not only find recipes for many occasions from breakfasts to dinners, you’ll also find trusted kitchen tips, such as home freezing, which not only saves time, but money too. You’ll also find hints on menu planning and how to encourage healthy eating habits.

I hope you and your loved ones enjoy every meal together, that you eat well, that you take a moment to appreciate one another’s company around the table, and above all, have fun cooking at home!

p.s. The oven temperatures in this book are for a conventional oven, but if I am using a fan oven, then I usually reduce the temperature by 10 per cent.

Making your own yoghurt is very satisfying as well as being a good way to encourage children to eat it, as they can add their own flavours. It is crucial to use sugar-free yoghurt for the recipe to work. It is also important that the milk and yoghurt mixture stays in a warm, draught-free place like an airing cupboard or beside an Aga or radiator. Pouring into a flask will also help if you have one.Remember to keep 1 teaspoon of the yoghurt back to make the next batch!

1 litre (1¾ pints) whole milk

25g (1oz) skimmed milk powder

1 tsp natural probiotic yoghurt

1 Pour the milk into a large, heavy-based or cast-iron saucepan on a gentle heat. As the milk is beginning to warm up, add the milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Heat the milk until it reads 90°C (194°F) on a cooking thermometer (if judging by eye, the milk will be sweet smelling and just coming to the boil — steaming heavily and frothing around the edges).

2 Remove from the heat and leave to stand for about 15 minutes to cool until it reads 40°C (104°F) on the thermometer (or the milk has stopped steaming and feels just tepid when you dip your finger in and leave it there for a few seconds).

3 Stir in the yoghurt and cover with a double layer of foil. Wrap with a tea towel and leave in a warm place (or in a flask) until the mixture thickens, which will take 4–5 hours. Remove the towel, transfer to a bowl, cover and place in the fridge to cool overnight.

Apple and sweet geranium yoghurt: Cook 600g (1⅓lb) (about 2) peeled, cored and roughly chopped cooking apples with 50g (2oz) caster or granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon of water and 2 sweet geranium (or mint) leaves for 6–8 minutes until soft. Leave to cool completely and remove the leaves before stirring into the set yoghurt.

Raspberry yoghurt: Make a raspberry coulis (see page 337) and stir into or drizzle over the yoghurt to serve.

Orange curd yoghurt: Ripple a spoonful of orange curd (see page 336) through the yoghurt.

Natural yoghurt with fresh fruits: Serve the yoghurt with one of the fresh fruit salads on page 14.

Natural yoghurt with poached fruits: Serve the yoghurt with some poached fruits (dried or fresh, see pages 44 and 212) or chop them up and stir them into the yoghurt.

My dad always used to make us eat porridge before going to school, and now I appreciate why. Oats are a great slow-release carbohydrate and so porridge makes a good, hearty breakfast. It can be slightly sinful, depending on what you serve it with, but if you choose healthy toppings it’s a lot more healthy and nutritious than many breakfast cereals.

100g (3½oz) porridge oats

Pinch of salt (optional)

225ml (8fl oz) milk (optional)

1 Place the oats in a medium saucepan, add a pinch of salt (if you wish) and pour over 500ml (18fl oz) water, or a mixture of water and milk.

2 Cook on a low—medium heat, stirring regularly, for 7–10 minutes or until the oats are tender and the porridge creamy and thick. (Feel free to add more liquid if you prefer a thinner consistency.)