At a meeting of family Chefs….

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

These recipes have been crafted through generations of our families, on many continents and across alien seas. This is a record of those we still remember through the living members of our extended family and those we picked up going a long way round the earth. Enjoy as we say in our country, while we are dancing around the poetic cooking fires that we build in our houses.

Caprese dreams and salad

A second cousin once escaped the fence between their country and not their country. Despite their doctorate in cultural linguistics, our cousin ended up happily working in a small restaurant in Florence. He would start everyday with “death to communism” and then end it with “capitalism is heading toward destruction.” While he went on to better things, he shared the Caprese salad with the family. It was a big deal in the 1970’s when most food was made of gelatin and light brown colored. Shortly before our cousin went to work in a government lab and no one saw him for a decade – he explained the background of the Caprese.

Viva la repubblica italiana e le polpette di melanzane e i piccoli espressi.

The Caprese salad originated on the Italian Island of Capri and the three colors in the salad represent the Italian Flag. I guess Italians are lucky their flag shares no colors with the German one.

What a great song.

Ingredients

• the best Mozzarella you can not afford
• Basil leaves [fresh as a daisy and soft]
• The best tomatoes you can find
• The best olive oil you can [buy that not in the local meagre dire supermarket]

variation time

Method

• Slice the Mozzarella and the tomatoes
• layer cheese, tomato and basil in a repeating triplet in a slight curve
• a few drops of olive oil and a cheeky grind of black pepper
• chill slightly

It’s perfect. you are welcome to try one of the many variations. dont serve it to anyone I know.

oustanding

Beans beans the magical fruit the more you eat the more putin toots.

Beans are legumes, grace to the bacterial symbiotes in their roots, they are rich in protein and just the kind of food we should be eating more of. There are many bean varieties but chickpeas and kidney are shelf buddies with Molasses Face beans, Mortage lifter beans, Mung beans. Plus, dried beans last a mighty long time so if you can still boil water as we suffocate in in the post aipocalypse / climate strangle / yet more stupid old bolsheviks and gangsters starting wars/apathy/idiocracy you will get to eat. That is if you evade the hordes of gun toting animals that were once patriots. Focussing on the notion of living in the moment, ride the bean, ride the bean.

Ingredients

• Four tins of cannellini beans
• 1-2 L of strong stock
• 1 finely sliced medium onion
• a teaspoon of dried thyme
• 1 finely chopped potato
• i halved and sliced peeled carrot
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 8-10 crushed cloves of garlic
• ½ tsp MSG

method

1. Gently fry the onion, carrot and potatoes in olive oil with a little butter
2. stir in the flour
3. add the thyme and 2 bay leaves
4. pour in the stock and MSG
5. add in the beans and let simmer for 15 to 30 min
6. Season

You may serve as is or puree.

Tartiflette or a gratin or raclette redux

Tartiflette is a french baked cheese and vegetable dish. It is as fat free as the deep fried fondue sticks served to the french version of Elvis, or the deep fried banana and peanut butter gems to the man who owned graceland. It is not as delicious as those, but it does raise a significant bar over a broc and cheese bake.

Ingredients

• One peeled and quatered onion
• 10 decent quality quartered potatoes
• 3-4 medium sliced carrots
• 3 bay leaves
• Milk
• 10 slices of Raclette cheese
• 1 glass white wine [optional]
• 75g unsalted butter
• 75g flour
• Handful of fine grated parmesan/padano

Method

1. place all the vegtables and bay leaf into a stock pot, bring to a boil
2. cook until the potatoes are firm but cooked
3. Drain the vegetables, keep the stock. Add 1 tsp salt
4. Melt the butter and mix in the flour until it is a bubbling roux. No burning.
5. Let the roux rest for 20-30 min
6. Heat oven to 190˚C
7. Heat the roux, stir in 1 cup reserved stock while stirring
8. when smooth, stir in a ½ cup then ½ cup until smooth and thick
9. stir in a ½ cup milk until smooth and thick
10. Stir in stock until relatively thick and smooth: season
11. Add a decent amount of black pepper
12. Put the vegetables in a layer on a baking dish
13. Pour on the sauce until close to the top of the vegetables
14. lay the raclette on the top to make a single layer
15. bake until the top is brown and bubbling
16. Eat
17. Drink the wine

Groovy gorgonzola

Tomato smothered onions, smothered by tomato soup

What are the hallowed merits of combining the divine tomato with the onion. We found this recipe slipped into an old family cookbook, folded in half and stained with cooks thumbs and grease. As it should be. It is a happy soup to slide past a Sunday afternoon as the sun warms the terrace. All isn’t right in the world, but this is a bowl of sunshine

A classic

Ingredients

• 12-14 washed and sliced/chopped fresh decent sized ripe tomatoes, even just over ripe
• 3-4 thinly sliced medium onions
• 2-3L of strong stock
• 8 crushed cloves of garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ tsp MSG
• tomato puree to taste
• 1 peeled sliced and chopped potato

Method

1. gently fry the onions in olive oil and a little butter until very soft – brown them a little
2. add the stock, bay leaf and MSG
3. Bring to a decent boil
4. add the tomatoes and cook for 20 min on medium high
5. reduce to a simmer and add a little water and tomato puree
6. As soon as the tomatoes are well cooked, add all the garlic and reduce the heat to very low
7. cook for 15 min
8. Season
9. Serve and smile

Onions onions onions

Onions come from india, and usually need other vegetable friends to make a meal. This is a meal for when all you have is onions, onions. onions

Look at all those lovely onions fighting Nazis with words.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• butter 1 tbsp
• 6-8 large onions sliced thin
• 3 tbsp strong red wine
• 3 tbsp decent single cask bouorbon
• 4 cups stock of choice
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• rustic toasted bread cut into 1 cm pieces
• grated gryuere / emmental ½ cup

Method

1. fry the onions in the oil and butter on low heat until they soften [20 min]
2. raise he the heat until the onions caramelize/brown
3. deglaze the onions with wine and reduce by half
4. add the stock, bay leaf and thyme and simmer. the stock should cover the onions by about a cm.
5. add the bourbon
6. simmer for 5 min
7. taste and season
8. ladle into bowls, drop in the toasted bread and add cheese on top
9. grill or melt the cheese with a blowtorch
10. Season pepper

Spinach and rice soup is very very nice

this is soup for those who want to be on a low fat diet. I wouldn’t be on one even if I ate myself. Biochemistry and diet conspire to lock some in a fat suit. If you want a soup to suit, try this one, it’s a peach. Honestly.

sink me.

Ingredients

• Large chopped onion
• 2 medium cubed skinned potatoes
• 8 garlic cloves in their skins
• 1 bag of frozen chopped spinach
• 2L strong stock
• ½ cup white rice

Method

1. gently fry the onion in olive oil in a stock pot
2. add the stock and bring to a simmering boil
3. add the potatoes
4. add the garlic
5. add the spinach
6. bring to a decent but not operatic boil
7. simmer
8. add the rice
9. simmer for 20-30 min
10. collect the garlic and squeeze out the garlic
11. throw away the skins and add back the garlic
12. add ½ tsp MSG and season
13. eat hot with sliced baguette

how’s your coco – coconut and lentil soup

Soup is always an oasis – in this case an oasis of coconut and lentils. Don’t expect to find this one on a saharan trip, just enjoy finding it on the dinner table.

Ingredients

• chopped medium yellow onion
• cubed peeled medium potato
• 1 cup of stock
• 1 small tin of tomato puree
• 1 ½ cups of red lentils
• 1 zaffir lime leaf
• 2 tins of unsweetened coconut cream
• 8 crushed peeled garlic cloves

Method

1. heat vegetable oil in a stock pot
2. fry the onion and potato gently in the oil
3. add a pinch of turmeric
4. add the stock, bring to a boil
5. add the lentils and cook for 15 min
6. add the lime leaf
7. stir in the tomato puree
8. add the coconut cream
9. Simmer for 30 min, add ½ tsp of MSG
10. mix in the garlic
11. simmer for 5 min
12. season
13. serve hot

The sandwich to make one humble

I make no excuses not to say that this came into the family from an old cookbook, from a cook who was sublime. Washed beneath the rising tide of the celebritization of cooking. if one looks enough he is still down there. His cooking is simple genius. This is an homage. The sandwich of sandwiches.

supernatural sandwiches.

Ingredients

• thin sliced white sandwich loaf
• mayonnaise [bottled or home made]
• unsalted butter
• a round glass, whose rim is almost wide enough to span the bread from crust to crust
• paper thin sliced peeled cucumber, tomato, onion, radish
• high quality tinned tuna, or thin cut boiled ham , or peanut butter, or anchovies
• finely chopped parsley, chives, basil

Method

1. use the glass and press out a round of bread by rubbing on the chopping board.
2. trim off any lingering crust
3. Collect 8-10.
4. make several
5. The classic assembly is:
   • spread a thin complete layer of mayonnaise on one side of 2 rounds
   • cover the bottom round with paper thin onion slices
   • close and press the halves together
   • spread mayonnaise along the edge of the sandwich
   • roll the sandwich in chopped chives
   • slice in two and plate
6. there as many variations as there are chefs
   • Mayonnaise, Tomato and a mix of chopped basil and parsley
   • Avocado, Mayonnaise and red wine vinegar picked sliced shallots
   • Mashed roquefort, butter and [optionally] walnut flakes
   • Peanut butter, thin layer of smashed anchovy
   • Mashed gorgonzola, butter and a sage/ parley mix
   • cucumber mayonnaise and parsley
   • and the rest is your music

Aubergine rolled from old to bold(er)

Aybergines were a misunderstood fruity vegetable where we grew up.

An african origin translated into an asian staple. Solanum esculentem, born of the sun. Once avoided by cooks in blighty, as foreign as serbian grocer in a nudist colony in jakarta.

• 

this is a recipe we have had in the family for more than thirty years. It predates smartphones, search engines and more. Life was simpler back then.

Ingredients

• 3 medium aubergines – as long as a chef’s knife
• 1 glass decent white wine
• 1 onion very finely chopped
• olive oil
• 8 peeled garlic cloves
• 1 large Tin of crushed high quality tomatoes [don’t skimp]
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 block [500g] of mozzarella
• 1 wedge of decent gorgonzola – does not have to be dolce
• a frozen cleaned bunch of sage
• an oil brush

Method

1. sauce the onion very gently in the olive oil, add a little salt until they are soft
2. add the tomatoes, the bay leaf and stir
3. simmer but do not allow it to dry to be too liquid, stir
4. In the simmer time, slice off the skin in a 3mm single slice down both sides of the eggplants
5. heat the oven to 180˚C
6. slice off the top leaves and stem
7. slice the aubergines into 5 mm slices vertically and count them
8. oil a couple of baking sheets [non stick aluminum paper]
9. place the slices on the balking sheets
10. paint them with olive oil, flip, paint and flip
11. bake them for 30-45 min until soft and pliable but not mush or rigid.
12. remove from oven and also to cool at the bench top
13. raise oven to 190˚C
14. reduce the heat on the sauce to low, add the wine and stir in crushed garlic.
15. slice the mozzarella into thin sticks- the same number as aubergine slices
16. Assemble: pour 1 cup of the sauce into a lined baking dish and spread it into a thin layer on the bottom
17. take 1 aubergine slice and put a mozzarella piece at the round end
18. add a few small pieces of gorgonzola just after the mozzarella
19. add a frozen sage leaf [with vein / stalk cut out] just beneath the gorgonzola
20. roll the aubergine slice from the top down into a ..roll
21. put the roll, with the loose end down, into the baking tray
22. repeat with all the other eggplant slices
23. pour the rest of the sauce to coat all the rolls
24. if there is spare mozzarella, place it on the top
25. season with pepper
26. bake until the dish bubbles, wait 5 min and remove it
27. let it rest for 10 min
28. serve 1 roll at a time with a little French salad

beat that

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the mushroom soup i see in my dreams

How many recipes did you ever dream about. I mean after cooking and eating them. This is one of those.

Ingredients

• 1000 g/ 5 cups of washed, mushrooms 2.5 mm sliced. Get the best mushrooms you can.
• 1 bunch of celery
• 1 yellow onion chopped finely
• a handful of dried porcini or shitake mushrooms
• 1L to 2L stock, origin at your discretion plus a bay leaf and a few peppercorns
• 8 cloves of garlic
• a small handful of arborio rice
• ½ cup of heavy cream

Method

• melt 2 tbsp unsalted butter in 30 mL olive oil
• gently fry the onion in the butter and oil until soft, in a large stock pot. 10 min
• bring the stock to a boil with 3-4 sticks of celery, half the dried mushrooms, the arborio rice and bay leaf
• add the mushrooms to the onions add a pinch of salt
• gently mix and fry until they soften.
• Add 1L strained stock to cover the mushrooms, along with the dried mushrooms and the mushrooms in the sieve
• heat on very low for 20 min
• stir in the cream
• mix, taste and season.
• wait 15 min, stirring gently
• put the crushed peeled garlic in the soup or back in the fridge. ha ha. cook joke. make the soup twice and try one with or without garlic.