Pete Evans - Cook with Love

Contents

My greatest hits

Selecting the recipes to include here from the thousands Ive written was tough but also pretty cool; re-reading the recipes from my previous books and looking through the beautiful pictures was like taking a walk down memory lane. It gave me a chance to reflect on my twenty-plus-years as a chef and appreciate the incredible journey that cooking has taken me on, the inspirational people it has introduced me to, and the adventures Ive had because of it.

When I started my cooking career I was young, hungry for respect and eager to prove that I could run my own kitchens. I worked hard and had the good fortune to find myself executive chef for the successful restaurant group Hugos. I designed menus for the restaurants, cooked elegant food at high-profile events, and got to travel and learn more about food from other countries. Eventually, as my children got a bit older, I began spending less time in commercial kitchens and more time cooking at home for my family and friends. Some of the fancy, technical dishes gave way to simpler, family-style food. I focused on cooking the best produce as possible simply, so the flavours could speak for themselves. Cooking has become much more about health and nutrition, and that in itself has taken me on another journey.

This is reflected throughout the books Ive had published. Ive had so much fun making them with the publishers, photographers, editors and stylists Ive worked with over the years. Fish was a celebration of the variety and versatility of Aussie and Kiwi seafood. My Grill was all about using flames, whether from a campfire or a barbecue, to create really memorable meals. My Table and My Party gave me a chance to share a lot of the things I had learned about entertaining, like how to throw a great themed party or how to make incredible canaps. In My Kitchen I brought things back to the home, and focused on family-friendly meals. And then Pizza, the most recent of my books, was my take on the pizza recipes Id been collecting and creating over my many years in the restaurant business.

And so I like to think of this book as my greatest hits, a snapshot of my years in the kitchen to date. Each recipe is here for a reason: either because I still cook it all the time, a special person shared it with me, or someone once told me its the best thing theyve ever tasted. I hope you will enjoy the range of styles, techniques and ingredients to choose from all brought together in one cookbook.

Once you know how to cook, you can adapt your style to any situation, whether its lunch for your mum or dinner over a campfire. Thats what this book is all about. There is a time and a place for everything, fancy and simple. Ive always loved seafood, so theres a chapter dedicated to seafood, including everything from an elegant tuna tartare to a whole curried side of salmon. There are delicate little canaps for entertaining as well as serious dishes for those nights when you want to make a real impression in Showing Off. And, because most of us are looking for great things to cook in our day-to-day lives, there are also plenty of family-friendly recipes such as my slow-roasted pork or pot-roasted chicken that I guarantee will have people, young and old, coming back for seconds (maybe even thirds).

Ive always said that if even one of my recipes becomes a part of someones cooking repertoire, Im a happy man. Thats as true now as its always been. I hope you enjoy.

Cook with love and laughter,

Pete

start the day

A lot of health experts will say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I couldnt agree more. I cant imagine getting through a morning without some good food in my system Id be a zombie! What I eat for breakfast these days depends on what the weather is like, how much time Ive got, and who Im cooking for. is a beautiful thing to cook on a weekend away. Its spicy, hearty and an exciting change from the usual toast and cereal routine. If you tend to skip breakfast, I hope this chapter convinces you that youre seriously missing out.

bircher muesli

I dont know about you, but I love to start the day with something good in my system. For me, breakfast is the time to do the right thing by my body and there are few things better for you than Bircher muesli. It was named for the Swiss doctor, Maximilian Bircher-Benner, who created it back in the early 1900s. The recipe has stood the test of time, and the thing I love most about it is that you can vary the ingredients to suit your own tastes and the seasonality of the fruit. If you are following a gluten-free diet, you can make a version of this using mixed nuts and seeds and some coconut flakes in place of the oats.

SERVES 4

200 g (7 oz/2 cups) rolled (porridge) oats

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) milk

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) apple juice

juice of 1 lemon

2 apples, coarsely grated

1 banana, chopped

125 g (4 oz/1 cup) mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts

4 dried apricots or dried figs

3 tablespoons honey

125 g (4 oz/ cup) plain yoghurt

8 mint leaves

Combine the oats, milk, apple juice and lemon juice in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Mix the grated apple through the oat mixture, then divide among four bowls. Add the banana, berries, walnuts and dried apricots. Drizzle with the honey and yoghurt and top with mint leaves.

asparagus with poached egg, nut brown butter & truffled pecorino

This very impressive breakfast looks fantastic, but takes very little time to put together. It also makes a great dinner if youve invited a vegetarian over and find yourself in a panic about what to cook them. The great thing about this dish is that when you break open the poached egg, the yolk spills out and mingles with the nut brown butter sauce. Fresh shavings of the best parmesan or truffled pecorino are a must for this, and the addition of some truffle oil or shaved truffle will help lift it to another dimension.

SERVES 4

2 bunches of asparagus

4 free-range eggs

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

a squeeze of lemon juice

crumbled truffled pecorino cheese or parmesan shavings (optional)

Boil the asparagus in salted water until just tender, then drain. Poach the eggs in just simmering water with the white wine vinegar added. Heat the butter in a frying pan until it starts to turn brown. Add the garlic, parsley, asparagus, lemon juice and some salt and pepper.

Arrange the asparagus on plates and top with the poached eggs. Drizzle some of the sauce around the plates and over the eggs, then top with the pecorino or parmesan shavings.