Buch lesen: «Lorraine Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food»

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Introduction

Canapés + cocktails

Quick-cook canapé crostini

Crispy, crunchy chicken strips with honey mustard dip

Pancetta & Parmesan puffs

Crunchy black pepper halloumi dip sticks with harissa hummus

Naughty, naughty nachos

Skinny dipping

Lemoncello jello shots

Watermelon jello shots

Strawberry & mint mojitos

Lovely limoncello

Starters, snacks + soups

Vegetarian mushroom & port ‘faux gras’ with tarragon & chestnuts

Pizza expressed three ways

Aussie sweetcorn breakfast fritters with avocado & rocket salad & sweet chilli jam

Simple salmon ceviche with tortilla chips

Gingerbread pancakes with Parma ham & maple syrup

Roasted new patatas & chorizo bravas with aïoli

Potato & leek vichyssoise with crispy bacon & chives

Thai chicken soup with coconut milk & ginger

Hot-and-sour king prawn soup

Red pepper, tomato & basil gazpacho with salt & pepper croutons

Broccoli & blue cheese soup with chive mascarpone & warm garlic bread

French onion & sage soup with big fat Gruyère & mustard croutons

Salads

Mango, feta & avocado salad with fresh lime juice

Wild Waldorf salad with toasted walnuts & Granny Smiths

Courgette ‘pappardelle’ with asparagus, avocado salad & rocket

Thai beef salad with roasted peanuts & chilli dressing

Prawn Caesar salad with olive oil croutons & pomegranates

Mackerel salad with horseradish crème fraîche

Nifty Niçoise salad with hot-smoked trout & sundried tomatoes

The Union cobb

Chicken + duck mains

Whole roast perky peri peri chicken

Really simple Sri Lankan chicken curry with coconut milk & cashew nut rice

Baked jerk chicken with pineapple salsa, coconut rice & beans

Sticky Asian BBQ chicken wings with sweetcorn rice & red cabbage slaw

My take on chicken tikka masala with fluffy basmati rice

Tandoori chicken wraps with cucumber raita & mango salsa

Scrumptious spicy chicken fajitas with guacamole, salsa & sour cream

Chicken cacciatore with harissa, bacon & rosemary

Chicken, apple & cider casserole with fennel seed roasted veg

Five-spice roasted duck breasts with cherry & Shiraz sauce & sesame noodles

Beef, lamb + pork mains

Good old-fashioned burger with rocket, red onions (plus all the trimmings) & garlicky potato wedges

Rich rump steak ‘sort-of-stew’ with port, porcini & herby dumplings

Rosemary roast cottage pie with a crispy rosti topping

Thai red beef curry with jasmine rice

The mighty moussaka

Maple and balsamic-glazed lamb chops with mint, toasted almonds & feta cous cous

Lozza’s lamb biryani

Slow-roast, fast-prep leg of lamb with Aussie Chardonnay, rosemary, sage & bay

Sweet & sour pork balls with crunchy peanut rice

Tasty tarragon pork steaks with creamy mustard mushroom sauce & spring onion champ

Pan-fried pork chops with a watercress, peach & Stilton salad & a lemon ginger dressing

Dad’s penne all’arrabbiata with crispy pancetta & basil

Fish + shellfish mains

Tapenade-crusted cod on a bed of crunchy ciabatta, tomato & basil

Blackened Cajun cod burgers with aïoli & paprika baked potato wedges

Buttered fish with roasted ginger butternut squash & pancetta petits pois

Moroccan pesto fish with caramelised onions & haricot beans served with minty pine nut cous cous

Pan-fried sea bass with basil & pine nut sweet veggie sauce & rosemary sautéed potatoes

Prawn linguine with chorizo & Cabernet tomato sauce

Tin foil Thai trout with red pepper noodles

Hot-smoked trout kedgeree with spring onions & basil

Seared tuna steaks with cannellini beans, feta & mint

Warm salmon & lentils with chorizo, asparagus & a balsamic dressing

Salmon saltimbocca with gremolata potatoes & crispy sage leaves

Filo salmon en croute with basil & curly kale pesto & pesto potatoes

Honey soy-glazed salmon with sesame & ginger noodles & stir-fried bok choy

Vegetarian mains

Goat’s cheese, toasted hazelnut & honey quesadillas with rocket salad

Butternut & sweet potato lasagne with sage, toasted pine nuts & nutmeg

Greek spinach, feta & pine nut pie with dill & crunchy filo

Spicy bean burgers with corn cous cous & coriander lime crème fraîche

Sweet potato tortilla with jalapeños & dill

Pan-fried mascarpone gnocchi with dreamy basil pesto

Cakes + puds

Little warm Bramley apple pies or ‘chaussons aux pommes’

Rum punch roast pears, figs & peaches with toasted hazelnuts & vanilla crème fraîche

Neat-and-tidy Eton mess with blackberries & stem ginger whipped cream

Homemade meringues

Chocolate mousse with raspberries

Strawberry & cream mini cakes with chocolate drizzle strawberries

Pear, almond & amaretto tart with stem ginger mascarpone cream

Doorstop vanilla cheesecake

Dulce & banana cake

Simply coffee, vanilla & walnut cake

Lemon & lime poppy seed drizzle cake

Let them eat cake, cake

Crouching tiger, hidden zebra cake

Bread + pastry

Aussie olive damper bread (soda bread’s antipodean cousin)

Crackle-top bread

Twister bread

Net bread (roti jala)

Puff pastry

Sweet rich brown sugar pastry

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Tasty treats

Little jammy tarts

Peanut butter squares

Vanilla hazelnut & brown sugar shortbread

Blueberry & oat muffins

Maple, pecan & cranberry granola

Port-preserved cherries with cinnamon & orange

White chocolate-dipped cherries

White chocolate lollipops with dried cranberries

Shameless shortcut cookies-and-cream lollipops

Homemade vanilla custard (crème anglaise)

Mango chutney

Salted caramel toffee sauce

Zesty apple sauce with cinnamon & ginger

Homemade vanilla extract

List of Recipes

Acknowledgements

Copyright

About the Publisher

Introduction

Staring at the blank page with my deadline looming, no words seemed to be coming. A relaxed, unpressurised atmosphere is usually when a flurry of inspiration hits, but it wasn’t until I was on a plane ride back from sunny, siliconed Los Angeles with a glass of Californian Chardonnay on my tiny table that the words began to flow.

I thought back to my first book, Baking Made Easy, a self-explanatory title packed with recipes that, in my own words, covered ‘anything cooked in the oven’. The broad definition allowed me artistic licence to develop meals and dishes both sweet and savoury. Exotic tarts and traditional cakes featured alongside night-time nibbles and Parisian patisserie. With my next book and series, Home Cooking Made Easy, came food with a more homely note: comforting casseroles and lasagnes, beauteous breads and simple puddings and desserts.

It felt, for the meantime anyway, that I’d had a significant part of my cooking repertoire covered and that this time I wanted to try something a little bit different, something that would hopefully prove even more useful for the (sadly) ever-decreasing time in which we have to prepare and cook food. I don’t know how often I have come home from a day whizzing around like the Energizer Bunny on the rampage to a family awaiting some culinary delight. I also don’t know how many times I have hung my head in shame and uttered the words, ‘Oh. Yes. Dinner,’ and then made the short trip to the local supermarket to try to buy from the near-empty shelves and then cobble something together for dinner.

I am not at all embarrassed to say that on many occasions I have returned home to the waiting party laden with food that just needs a simple peeling back of the plastic and a slight turn of the oven dial, usually to 180°C. These ready-meals serve a purpose and I am thankful that they exist, but I wondered what if a book existed that was jam-packed full of dishes that were quick, simple, nutritious and above all super-tasty? I wrote this book for the many, many people out there who, like me and my family, face the same daily dilemma of ‘What on earth is for dinner?’

Thanks to the brilliant medium of Twitter, countless readers have told me that the important thing for the evening meal is that it is easy and quick to cook, using ingredients that don’t require a space shuttle flight to the outer reaches of the solar system to source. The main ingredients people seem to favour are chicken (breasts, not so much the thigh or the leg), lamb chops, pork chops, minced beef or lamb, and fish. So I’ve included an enormous range of dishes featuring these, along with other tasty fare such as duck and vegetarian grub. I don’t know if it is the Brit in me, but with my meal I like to eat some kind of a veg and/or a carb, but not any ordinary side dish – something a bit different that will leave (even with the quickest of meals) a lasting sensory memory on my tongue and in my mind.

Dishes such as the Italian Cacciatore get a gentle lift with the help of the mildly spiced harissa, a red chilli paste from North Africa. A simple Salmon en Croute is transformed by the use of papery filo in which to envelop it, and the accompanying potatoes are gently crushed with a pesto made from basil and curly kale. A Lamb Biryani, cooked in one pot and ready to eat in 25 minutes, is delicately spiced with the very-easy-to-find garam masala, cumin and chilli powder.

My current favourite are Lemoncello Jello Shots — lemon wedges scraped clean of their flesh and filled with a citrusy alcoholic (or not, if you so choose) jelly — that are so simple to make and yet so attention-getting when served, and of course super-yumbelicious to eat.

The goal of this book was to create something people would revisit time and time again. A cookbook that would be on that kitchen counter several times a week, for busy people who love good food and want to make something quick and easy, with tasty and accessible ingredients, to impress family and friends. And I wanted to provide an entire meal: main dish and side. So often when you know what you want to cook, it is challenging to figure out what to have with it. With this book, I have served up dishes with an accompaniment or two, making mealtimes much easier to plan. I also tried to make it as simple as possible so that everything is served up together, with a time plan for each recipe so you can sail through the instructions and end up with a delicious dish in super-fast time. I have put my heart and soul into this book and hope it helps you to serve up fast, fresh and delicious meals every day.

Lorraine

A few handy tips on the recipes

+ All preparation and cooking times are an estimate so check and taste things as they cook.

+ Always wash rice thoroughly before use.

+ I find it best to have all the ingredients and equipment out ready before you start cooking, so everything is easy to get when you need it.

+ These recipes have all been tested a minimum of four times, and they have been written so that everything is ready at the same time. So if you follow the method to the letter you will have quick and tasty meals ready in flash.

+ Some recipes have a start to finish time so you know roughly how long it will take from the moment you start cooking to when you finish.

+ Other recipes are split between preparation time and cooking/baking time. So the prep time is the hands on time and the rest of the time whilst the dish is in the oven is free time!

+ Some recipes are super-fast and others have an element to them which is faster than the usual way of prepping or cooking the dish.

+ The equipment list is not exhaustive but a guide to the main pieces of kitchen equipment you will need to prepare the dish. Everyday smaller utensils required are not included in the list.

+ If you have any cooking questions, please do Tweet me @lorrainepascale. I receive lots of Tweets and cannot guarantee to answer to every one, but I will do my best!

Canapés + cocktails

‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.’ Plato

I would love to profess that friends drop by unexpectedly, so I have to rustle something up quickly for an impromptu feast, but the reality is that never really happens. What does tend to happen is that, in true Lorraine Pascale style, I am always rushing around, slightly disorganised and with the clock ticking away, having known for weeks that some people are coming round and always leaving it to the very last minute to get everything together! These simple canapés (and of course cocktails) are the perfect solution to this modern-day madness of rush, rush, rush. So easy to prepare and super-tasty too, with that ever-important ‘wow’ factor on the plate.

Canapés + cocktails

Quick-cook canapé crostini

Crispy, crunchy chicken strips with honey mustard dip

Pancetta & Parmesan puffs

Crunchy black pepper halloumi dip sticks with harissa hummus

Naughty, naughty nachos

Skinny dipping

Lemoncello jello shots

Watermelon jello shots

Strawberry & mint mojitos

Lovely limoncello