Berry - Mary Berry Everyday

CONTENTS

ABOUT THE BOOK

Add a little Mary magic to your cooking with 120 brand-new recipes from the inspiring new BBC series.

Delicious family suppers, tempting food for sharing and plenty of sweet treats, all made with everyday ingredients and a clever twist.

Featuring Marys no-nonsense tips and techniques, each chapter ensures perfect results and a satisfying finished product. In addition, Everyday includes helpful sections on planning ahead, a handy recipe finder and information on freezing and cooking times for each dish.

With her trademark no-fuss guidance, the nations best loved cook will show you a recipe for every day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Berry is the nations favourite baker and author of over 70 books, including the bestselling Mary Berry Cooks, Mary Berrys Absolute Favourites, Mary Berrys Foolproof Cooking and Mary Berrys Baking Bible. She was the much-loved judge on the BBCs The Great British Bake Off and has been teaching the nation to cook for over four decades.

Cordon Bleu trained in Paris, Mary began her career as a magazine cookery editor before publishing her first cookery book in 1966. Mary is also an AGA expert and taught AGA masterclasses for many years from her home with Lucy Young.

In 2009 Mary was awarded the highly coveted Guild of Food Writers Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2012 she was made a CBE in the Queens Birthday Honours list.

INTRODUCTION

Cooking every day for yourself and the family means preparing dishes that are both straightforward and enjoyable to make. The inspiration behind this new collection of recipes that Ive put together is just that: dishes made using everyday ingredients, for easy preparation and cooking, but often with a simple twist to give interest and variety.

Organising meals and preparing food can be quite a balancing act: with all the demands of a busy life, you need to be able to cook without thinking to some extent, yet you dont want to get stuck in a rut, producing the same dishes day in day out. You need fresh ideas but nothing so unusual that it means spending a great deal of time and effort in the kitchen. This new collection of recipes is all about making everyday dishes that little bit different but with the minimum of fuss. Food does not have to be complicated to taste and look great, so Ive tried to ensure that each ingredient list is as short as possible and that it uses familiar ingredients rather than anything too obscure or tricky to source. Just using familiar ingredients in a different way can make a weekday meal a bit more special or give added oomph to a dish for a special occasion and still be healthy.

So many more ingredients are available these days, compared with when I first started cooking, that it is not difficult making adaptations to your cooking. New ingredients soon cease to be faddish and become familiar. It wasnt so long ago that bulgar wheat was an unusual ingredient, for instance, but now thats regarded as a staple, and quinoa is fast becoming one too. Youll see that Ive used a mixture of both grains in two delicious, super-healthy salads the Herbed Quinoa and Bulgar Wheat Salad with Lemon and Pomegranate .

Asian-inspired recipes can be the best ones to turn to when time is short. Stir-fry dishes are tailor-made for the busy cook: as well as being very healthy for you, with all those lightly cooked vegetables, they are full of lovely fresh flavour and varied texture. Ive included a few of them in this collection, such as the Chicken Stir-fry with Teriyaki Sauce for a tasty alternative to risotto.

Speedy dishes are all-important, but everyday cooking is also about giving pleasure to others, your family and friends, and Ive included some old favourites here, from cottage pie and beef stew to Chicken Dijon and Lamb Fricassee with Pearl Barley (see pages is effectively two dishes in one: fish pie and cauliflower cheese. A combination of two comforting classics, it is bound to go down well.

And for finishing off a meal, what gives greater pleasure than a delicious pud? Puddings and desserts may not be something you produce every day, but they can provide a much-needed touch of indulgence, from a simple rice pudding or crumble (see ) with its lovely contrasts in colour and texture.

When it comes to saving time, why not let your oven do the work for you? A long cooking time in a recipe shouldnt put you off making it as it means that, once youve popped the dish in the oven, you can then forget about it for a while and spend your time doing other things. In the meantime, the oven works its magic to blend flavours together and wonderfully improve them. My Chilli con Carne , with its delicious layers of lasagne, bchamel sauce and aubergine one of my favourite dishes for preparing ahead, and adding pasta to the aubergine classic makes it a great family bake.

Entertaining guests is more about cooking once in a while than every day, but with a bit of forward planning, it can be worked into your daily routine without too much hassle. Many of the starters and sharing dishes included in this book can be knocked up in minutes yet look impressive too such as the vibrant Beetroot Houmous .

To help you get the best out of each recipe and build up a repertoire of helpful tricks and techniques, Ive included a wealth of tips, at least one to accompany each recipe. For this new collection, Ive also provided a recipe finder (see ). In addition, each recipe includes preparation or cooking times, so you can see at a glance how best to fit it into your day. In the section that follows this introduction, Ive also laid out a few general tips on planning your meals as important, in my view, as the ingredients you select and some guidelines about choosing ingredients to ensure the best results from your cooking.

Having everything to hand is so helpful, too. This is where your store cupboard and freezer come into their own, as youll see in the sections ) much better than any takeaway!

I do hope you enjoy the recipes Ive brought together here as much as Ive enjoyed developing them. And I hope, by trying them, that you will feel encouraged to liven up your own cooking and experiment with different techniques, giving you the confidence you need to step out of your comfort zone, expand your repertoire and create dishes that will become your own family favourites, making everyday meals into something extra special.

Mary Berry

EVERYDAY COOKING

For me, the first and crucial step in making everyday cooking easier is to put more time and effort into forward planning and preparation. Youll find that it pays dividends by making you into a better and more confident cook too. Im a firm believer in preparing ahead: the more organised and efficient you can be as a cook, the more likely it is that the finished dish will look and taste delicious. If you have a clear idea of the finished dish before you start cooking, ensure you have the correct ingredients to hand and set aside enough time to cook, you are almost guaranteed to create something special.

The second step to better cooking is all about flavour and presentation. Learn to trust your judgement this does take time and practice but it can only improve with experience and by exploring new dishes. Flavour, texture, colour and seasoning are the four most important factors in any dish. Always taste your dishes before serving and adjust the seasoning accordingly.