Kirby - Cook with Kids

Id like to dedicate this book to my beautiful family. Tabitha, Jasper and Imani and my lovely wife Amber, who can rattle a pan in her own right.

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Absolute Press, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Absolute Press

Scarborough House

29 James Street West

Bath BA1 2BT

Phone 44 (0) 1225 316013

Fax 44 (0) 1225 445836

E-mail

Website www.absolutepress.co.uk

This electronic edition published in 2015 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Text Rob Kirby

Foreword Heston Blumenthal

Photography Lara Holmes

Publisher Jon Croft

Commissioning Editor Meg Avent

Art Direction Matt Inwood

Design Claire Siggery

Photographer Lara Holmes

Food Stylist Rob Kirby

Editor Joanna Wood

Portrait of Jos Luis Lopez di Zubiria

ISBN 9781906650582
e-ISBN 9781408186169

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

The rights of Rob Kirby to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A note about the text

This book was set using Sabon and Univers. Sabon was designed by Jan Tschichold in 1964. The roman design is based on type by Claude Garamond, whereas the italic design is based on types by Robert Granjon. Univers is a clear legible sans-serif font designed to be used in longer stretches of text. It was created in 1954 by Adrian Frutiger for the French type foundry, Deberny & Peignot.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square, London

WC1B 3DP

www.bloomsbury.com

ABSOLUTE PRESS and the A. logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com. Here you will find extracts, author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our newsletters.

FOREWORD BY HESTON BLUMENTHAL

COOKING IS ONE OF THOSE DECEPTIVELY ORDINARY, EVERYDAY THINGS THAT CAN PULL A FAMILY TOGETHER IN OUR FRAGMENTED SOCIETY, BUT ITS A RARE COOKBOOK THAT CAN SUCCESSFULLY COMBINE RECIPES THAT WILL APPEAL TO BOTH KIDS AND THEIR PARENTS.

Ive known Rob as a chef at the top of his game for several years now and one of the best things about him is his instinctive understanding that food infused with a good dollop of fun in its making is the key to stimulating anybodys interest in cooking and eating good food. Thats particularly true of youngsters.

Cook with Kids is bright, breezy, sophisticated and full of great recipes that will get you, your kids and the rest of the family in the kitchen making food together. Better than computer games and telly, any day!

HESTON BLUMENTHAL, BRAY, JULY 2011

INTRODUCTION

This book is about cooking with kids and it got me thinking not only about the Childrens Hospital School at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (without whom this book wouldnt exist), but also about my own childhood; and how food played such a huge part in that.

I grew up in the 1970s in north-west Greater London, in a big Victorian house in Northwood with my Mum, Dad and big sister. My grandparents lived upstairs. It was always a busy, happy home. It was a great house with a lovely garden; an acre of land on which my grandfather and dad grew fruit and vegetables to their hearts content. It sounds strange, given we were in the city suburbs, but we lived off the land. We had greenhouses full of tomatoes, cucumbers, even grapes, nectarines and beautiful succulent peaches. Fair play, Id say, in the 1970s.

Sadly, the grown-ups in my family also had a love of flowers. I didnt. And I have recollections of utter boredom on countless Saturdays at horticultural shows. It was always the fruit and veg I loved (anything you can eat has always interested me!), so youd always find me in my grandmothers kitchen watching her deal with the annual abundance of soft fruit from the garden.

She would transform the fruit into small pots of fresh jam after making a bubbling cauldron of sweet stickiness that wafted a fruity perfume throughout the house. To this day, whenever we cook jam at home the smell takes me back 40 years in an instant.

Both my sister, Lis, and I spent a lot of time with our grandparents. Wed perch at their dining table, tasting pot roasts, stews, cakes and stewed fruit. As a child I took all of this for granted but I now know these experiences directed and shaped my love and passion for real food and, more importantly, subconsciously formed my conviction that involving children in the great art of cooking at an early age is fundamental in pulling families together.

In our fast changing technological world its difficult to get a work life balance right, but I believe it is of paramount importance that we still keep cooking at home. I once caught our two girls lounging in bed together on a Saturday morning, conversing and chatting through their laptops rather than talking to each other thats scary! Lets not get mugged by technology. We need to share experiences to reinforce family bonds and friendship get hold of some flour, sugar, butter and pastry cutters and bake together: and have fun!

Food in the UK has changed so much over the 30-odd years I have been a professional chef. During my career Ive cooked both in the UK and abroad in leading international hotels, fine dining restaurants and private corporate dining rooms, for all kinds of people. For high powered businessmen, the Royal Family, the Lord Mayor of London, visiting heads of state. Amazing experiences, one and all. Whod have thought a lippy little kid from Northwood would have ended up doing that?

When I left school as a teenager in the 1980s, I was firmly directed into catering because in those days if you werent academically minded, careers officers shoved you towards the hospitality business. Now, in 2011, chefs have celebrity status! Ive even got to go to university, kind of, thanks to an honorary fellowship from University of West London. I have to pinch myself sometimes to remember the long hours and discipline of the 1980s kitchens. I wouldnt have changed anything (well not much), but for a boy who left school with no great exam results, its amazing having a few posh letters to add after the old name.

I am also extremely proud to be a member of the Academy of Culinary Arts (AoC), an association of leading chefs and restaurateurs who are at the top of their game. It does an amazing job in raising awareness of food, both in and beyond my industry and, very importantly, educating and inspiring young people about what they eat. As part of their AoC membership, chefs are asked to link up with local schools under the Chefs Adopt a School national charity and collectively we reach over 21,000 children every year in schools across the country.