Ripley - What’s for Dinner?: Easy and delicious recipes for everyday cooking

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Pre-order the ebook here Contents Published by HarperCollinsPublishers
7785 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB www.harpercollins.co.uk Text Fay Ripley 2012
Photography David Munns 2012 Fay Ripley asserts her moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Source ISBN: 9780007445325 Ebook Edition MARCH 2012 ISBN: 9780007445332 Version: 20131219 For the children my children may one day cook for. WHATS FOR DINNER There are only a few things in my life that make me properly happy.

It has to be said that a new handbag can lift my spirits for a week or so, as can a session on my teeth whitening home kit. Obviously my children bring the usual surges of love that, in between nit combing and turning nagging into an Olympic sport, provide me with that warm glow of wellbeing. Not to mention a loving husband who appears not to have noticed that his wife has stopped wearing sexy undies and now wears a pinny. All this and the odd walk on a fresh autumn morning can indeed take the credit for some of my happiness. However, the glue that sticks it all together, that turns a moment spent smiling into a memory for life is... food .

Food makes us happy. It brings people together for celebrations, comfort, reunions, new beginnings and happy endings. I have marked all my big moments with a cake; from the loss of my first tooth to the crashing of my first car. When I left home at 17, a warming stew was the dish I comforted myself with and a passion fruit pavlova is how I wowed my husband. From the moment we wake up, there is the chance to treat ourselves to many delicious mouthfuls that mean each and every day has its brilliant bits. Now that I have realised the true potential of each meal, I get table rage.

Its like road rage, but not because an old bloke has just cut me up but because a young bloke has just served me a half-frozen chicken Kiev. A wasted meal is a wasted memory and that turns food into fuel, making it just fodder to fill a gap. Look, I know very well how easy it is to get into a food rut. As a multi-tasking working mum, I slipped into a pattern of feeding the family because I had to. There was no joy left. Id lost the love, and more to the point I no longer enjoyed making meals or eating them.

I was held back so often by recipes that were too long, too complicated and too full of ingredients Id never used and had no idea where to buy. In essence, my confidence was zapped by exotic spices and rare vegetables. In this cookbook Im passing on 100 no-fuss recipes from my kitchen to yours that make it easy to cook tasty, simple food that everyone will enjoy you included. Ive stuck to ingredients you can actually buy and store cupboard dishes you will use time and time again. At home I try and do a bit of the slicing, marinating, grating etc. beforehand so that when I rush in from work or play I can whip up a delicious meal in minutes.

Follow the time tips for short cuts and quick cheats. Feel free to chop and change ingredients depending on how fussy your family and friends are. Lists are good, they work. Live off the left-overs. Try my house rule: if youve cooked for people then the people do the washing up, and if it was top-notch tucker then that makes you a super hero. I have organised the recipes into days of the week, but of course they will all work any day you fancy.

The Cornershop chapter includes dishes that I have knocked up over the last few years using my local store, Georges. George, whose real name is Niko, is Turkish and stocks a pretty varied range of groceries, but as not everyone has a George/Niko on the corner, Ive kept it simple. Hopefully you can pick up the bits and pieces you need on your own street without too much stress. In fact, stress, or food stress, is the very thing Id like my cookbook to eliminate from your day. A big part of my motivation when Im cooking up a storm is showing off. So look out for my easy roasts that will double up for lunch and dinner parties, there are lots of recipes that look posher than they really are and never underestimate how good you will feel when their plates are clean and you havent even broken into a sweat.

I hope this book will give the timid cook confidence and the confident cook a quick solution. I have been bubbling and boiling away for over two years to bring you recipes that my whole family, from the shortest to the tallest, has given the thumbs up to. I want this book to surprise you, because you are going to surprise yourself. Lets get back in the kitchen, around the table and make some memories so you can get excited again when you hear a little voice in your head ask that daily question, Whats for Dinner?. Perfect Pea & Bacon Soup Life brings many surprises. Some of my most memorable include a clapped-out Citron 2CV wrapped in a big red ribbon on my 21st birthday, meeting my daughter for the first time (I was sure she was a fella) and the slow realisation that Im never going to fit back into my wedding dress.

But there has been nothing more surprising to me than how much my kids love this healthy, creamy, delicious green soup...who knew? For 46 Prep time 10 minutes Cook time 20 minutes Freezable (soup only) All You Need Is... 1 onion, peeled and chopped 180g smoked streaky bacon, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed 1 litre vegetable stock 1kg frozen petits pois 30g fresh mint leaves Crunchy Crotons 1 French stick 3 tbsp olive oil All You Do Is... Preheat the oven to 160C (fan), 180C, gas mark 4. In a large heavy- based saucepan fry the onion and bacon in the oil, then when they are cooked through chuck in the garlic and fry for 1 minute. Now pour in your stock and petits pois. Bring to the boil, then cover, turn down the heat and simmer for 1520 minutes.

Meanwhile, tear the loaf into bite-sized pieces, then chuck in a bowl and pour over the olive oil. Get your hands in and really coat the bread. Throw the chunks into a roasting tin and bake for 15 minutes till golden. Whizz two-thirds of the soup mixture in a blender with the mint. Do this in two batches to prevent a pea tsunami. Sieve it back into the pan, working it hard with a wooden spoon to get all that liquid out, then discard the pulp.

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