Hayden - Stirring slowly: recipes to restore and revive

Whatever your day looks like there is a recipe here that is just right.

Whether it is a quick and comforting noodle bowl or a hearty slow-cooked pie, this book celebrates foods power to restore, revive and rejuvenate.

But it isnt just about the food on your plate: its about how it gets there. Stirring Slowly celebrates time spent in the kitchen. Wile away a happy hour stirring a creamy black dhal, or give your undivided focus to flipping caramelised apple, ricotta and hazelnut pancakes because cooking nourishes you inside and out.

Georgina is a cook, food writer and stylist from North London.

Growing up above her grandparents Greek Cypriot taverna in Tufnell Park, she developed a love of cooking from the recipes passed down to her. At university she studied Fine Art after which her passion for food landed her a job as a food writer and stylist on various food magazines. She went on to join Jamie Olivers food team where she has worked for ten years. She writes, develops and styles for magazine features, books, television projects and campaigns.

Georginas work is inspired by her visual eye and her love of travel. Be it sourcing props at flea markets, travelling the world for street-food, or cycling round London with her camera in tow, she documents her food adventures on her blog. Stirring Slowly is her first book.

To Peter and Archimedes.
My boys, my all.
and this is the wonder thats keeping the stars apart
I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)
E. E. CUMMINGS

Welcome, lovely people, to Stirring Slowly . It is my absolute pleasure to write the foreword to this beautiful book and to introduce you to a gorgeous, vivacious Greek Cypriot girl the wonderful Georgie Hayden. She is a bundle of joy and she cooks fantastically well, with diligence, restraint and good taste.

Most importantly, she writes super-solid recipes that you know are going to deliver every time.

I have the authority to say this because Georgie has worked with me for more than ten years now, and I can still remember the day this avalanche of energy first came bounding through the front door of our office, ready and raring to go. And I have to say, a decade later, just standing next to her makes you feel good about pretty much everything in life, which hopefully gives you an indication of just how much joy youre going to get from these recipes.

What Georgie has achieved in this book, and what is truly unique, is that shes got right to the heart of what makes cooking so profoundly important its ability to help us destress and re-energise, to heal and calm, and as Georgie says on the cover, to restore and revive. She has tapped into this beautifully in both her introduction to the book, and also in the words that set the tone of each chapter and introduce you to her recipes.

Not many people focus on this side of cooking, and the incredible power food has to help us through a bad day or to help us celebrate a good day. Yet both of these things are so important. Going out and choosing your ingredients with love and care, putting them together with a positive frame of mind, and with a sense of excitement, knowing youre going to tuck into a gorgeous bowl of home-cooked grub, or even better, share it with the people you love you cant beat that. Its about all the wonderful processes of cooking peeling, tearing, drizzling, kneading, whisking, blending and, of course, stirring.

Georgie I love you like a sister (and Jools wants to marry you!). Im so proud of what youve achieved in this brilliant book. Im impressed and charmed by its beauty and inspired by the incredible words and recipes that fill its pages. I cant wait to get a copy on my kitchen shelf.

My earliest memories revolve around food.

Thats not a total surprise given I spent the first year of my life and then most weekends after that living above my grandparents restaurant in Tufnell Park. It was a classic family-run Greek Cypriot taverna, always noisy, always busy, and it was the heart of our family for many years. As kids, my sister and I would sit and pod peas, fill the salt and pepper shakers and occasionally cause chaos while my grandparents scurried around in the kitchen it was always the most fun place to be. But my food memories go right back to when I was very little and Im surprised by how vivid they are. I can remember being taken in my buggy by my mum and sister to the smelly shop. The smelly shop was the most wonderful Italian deli, around the corner from the restaurant. It was filled with hanging salamis and cured meats, and every Saturday wed make a pilgrimage. It had a multicoloured plastic strip curtain at the entrance, and when you walked in the smells were intoxicating focaccia, olive oil, Parmesan, Parma ham it was smelly, but in a good way. We loved it: it meant salami and honey sandwiches for lunch.

Growing up Greek Cypriot, family always came first. Three generations of my family would sit round the table together at least once a week. And in between wed find any excuse for a get-together, be it big events like Greek Easter or just a proper barbecue. Whatever the occasion, there was and still is always food to match. On Sundays its a roast or, if the weather is good, souvla. Poorly? Avgolemono soup, olive-oil-soaked cotton wool in your ear and zivania (a potent Cypriot spirit) on your chest. Birthdays equal cakes; celebrations equal feasts; and if someone is unwell or unable to look after themselves, there is Tupperware filled with comforting meals for days.

With food at the centre of my childhood, perhaps it was inevitable I would end up working with it. As a teenager I started a farmers market stall in north London selling platters of salads, homemade breads and painstakingly decorated cakes. Shortly after, I went to university to study Fine Art (I wanted to practise my obsession with styling on more than the cakes) and to this day I love sketching and photography. But when it came to choosing a career, food drew me back in. It wasnt a difficult decision for me the kitchen has always felt like the most exciting place to be. And I still get to indulge my creative side, particularly now that the way food is visually presented gets more and more thought.

For the last ten years Ive been incredibly lucky to work as part of Jamie Olivers food team. There I develop, write and style recipes for books, magazine features, television and campaigns. Devising recipes is the highlight of my job and I get a real kick out of trying new things, understanding ingredients and figuring out dishes. But no less important along the way I have learnt about how and why people cook. Researching food traditions, learning about other food cultures, and simply observing what recipes strike a particular chord with readers all give me such a buzz.

So, while it goes without saying that how a dish tastes and even how it looks are important, I have realised over the years that these are only part of the picture. What truly brings food to life is the making, the eating, the sharing. Our restaurant days epitomised this; and, to this day, my yiayias dishes have the same qualities. They may be rustic but that is, without a doubt, my favourite type of meal. Theyre made with love, they taste incredible and they feel like a symbol of family togetherness.