Friday, May 04, 2012

SUPPER WITH ROSIE


Most of us have recipes, given to us by friends or handed down from generation to generation, that make up our culinary comfort zone.  In Supper with Rosie, Rosie shows us how to make them really our own. She brings together dishes taught her by her mother and friends and picked up on her travels, and shows us how to experiment with food and to have fun while doing so. Her recipes blend old-fashioned principles of frugal cooking – using seasonal and store cupboard ingredients – with a multicultural influence to bring you accessible dishes full of flavour. 

Chapters include: Weeknights In – everyday, inexpensive suppers for 2–3 people; Feasts of Plenty – impressive meals for larger numbers; A Bowl of Comfort – dishes for when you need cheering up; and The Sunday Cook-off – recipes for when you have time to indulge in the pleasure of cooking from preserving, to baking a luxurious cake.

About the author:
Rosie Lovell runs Rosie’s Deli Café in Brixton market, London, as well as organising monthly supper clubs. She writes a blog for Selfridges and her recipes have featured in Observer Food Monthly and Grazia. Her first book, Spooning with Rosie, was published in 2009.

Publisher - Kyle Cathie - $45.00
This is a gem of a book. The first recipe I made from it was a great hit and I have now made it three times; the publishers have kindly given me permission to reproduce it here. You can have it as a vegetarian dish or not, ( I have made it both ways), and you can use canned lentils (as I did) if you don't have dried ones on hand. Absolutely delicious, as is the book!

Puy Lentils with Goat’s Cheese

Grown in the Le Puy region of France, these lentils are considered one of the best pulses. Peppery, with a firm shape, they are ordinarily served in France with deep
meats – confits of duck, goose and pork. The lentils are clean and cut the fattiness of the meats. I was brought up on pulses and they really are the best way to have a simple, tasty, one-pot supper. Creamy, earthy, savoury and yet delicately sweet, I have started serving my lentils with a roundel of goat’s cheese because it adds a comforting,
creamy, extra tang and packs an even more French punch.

Serves 2
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely diced
2 celery sticks, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 bay leaf
200g dried Puy lentils
120g cherry tomatoes
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
Maldon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
a handful of fresh curly parsley, finely
chopped
200g goat’s cheese, such as Bûche
de Chèvre

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over a moderate heat.
Add the onion, carrots and celery and allow to sweat for
5–10 minutes until the vegetables are starting to soften. Add
the garlic and bay leaf and keep stirring for a further 5 minutes
until the onion is translucent. Add the lentils and 1 litre water
and bring to the boil. Put on a lid and simmer gently for
20 minutes until most of the water has been absorbed. Throw
in the tomatoes, strip the leaves off the thyme and add them to
the pan. Continue to cook for a further 10 minutes with the
lid on. Only when the lentils are completely cooked can you
season them. (If you season too soon the salt will prevent the
pulses from softening.) Taste to check the dish is well seasoned,
and then spoon the lentils into serving bowls. To serve, sprinkle
with some chopped parsley and crumble over the goat’s cheese.
Accompany with some bread to mop up all the juices.

If you are in need of some meat, fry off a few rashers of chopped bacon or
a small saucisson and add it to the lentils at the last minute.

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