Pascale - Everyday easy

Staring at the blank page with my deadline looming, no words seemed to be coming. A relaxed, unpressurized atmosphere is usually when a flurry of inspiration hits, but it wasnt until I was on a plane ride home 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 license to develop meals and dishes both sweet and savory. Exotic tarts and traditional cakes featured alongside nighttime nibbles and Parisian patisserie. With my next book, Home Cooking Made Easy, came food with a more homey note: comforting casseroles and lasagnes, beauteous breads and simple desserts.

It felt, for the meantime anyway, that Id 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 dont 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 dont 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 350F. These ready-meals serve a purpose and I am thankful that they exist, but I wondered about a book that was jam-packed full of dishes that were quick, simple, nutritious and above all supertasty. 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 dont require a space shuttle flight to the outer reaches of the solar system to source. The main ingredients people seem to favor are chicken (breasts, not so much the thigh or the leg), lamb chops, pork chops, ground beef or lamb, and fish. So Ive included an enormous range of dishes featuring these, along with other tasty fare such as duck and vegetarian grub. I dont 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 dishsomething 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 phyllo 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 favorite is Lemoncello Jell-O Shotslemon wedges scraped clean of their flesh and filled with a citrusy alcoholic (or not, if you so choose) jellywhich is so simple to make and yet so attention-getting when served, and of course superyumbelicious 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 superfast 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.

+ All preparation and cooking times are estimates, 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 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 while the dish is in the oven is free time!

+ Some recipes are superfast and others have an element to them that 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 every one, but I will do my best!

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 disorganized 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 canaps (and of course cocktails) are the perfect solution to this modern-day madness of rush, rush, rush. So easy to prepare and supertasty too, with that ever-important wow factor on the plate.

These really easy canaps have saved the day, not only when (in the very rare event) people drop by my house unannounced, but also when I fancy a quick snack in the evening. It is great to get creative with these: see what is in your cupboard and fridge, throw some ingredients together and experiment! I have used the oven to crisp up the crostini, but they can be put in the toaster or under the broiler to get the same effect. If you crisp them up first, they wont need as much time to cook.