Dark Side of the Spoon: The Rock Cookbook

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One of the trio’s favourite recipes in their book takes inspiration from Don Van Vliet, the American musician of the 1960s and ‘70s known as Captain Beefheart. Beef pies are common, but what would a beef tart be like? Their personal take on gnocchi, complemented by olive oil, garlic and extra chilli, is a spicey testament to the value of trying out new things. Slip Gnocchi Slice the remaining tomatoes into strips with a sharp knife, as thinly as possible, and lay these over the beef. I see a recipe as an inspiration,” he says, “not a religious text.” Using his instincts, he learns along the way for future reference. “I have a couple of notebooks, and I’ll write down what’s been working and what doesn’t.” Beef Patty Smith Put the potato in the empty saucepan and mash, then pass the mash through a sieve into a large mixing bowl to ensure a fine potato mash.

This isn’t an issue with the writing, but the book is fairly small and isn’t spiralbound. This makes actually working with the recipes difficult if you’re using a physical copy of the book.

Dust a clean work surface with the rest of the flour and lay out the puff pastry, then cut it into quarters. Place the pastry pieces on the baking sheets, leaving space between each piece.

For a brief period I looked elsewhere, believing that my enthusiasm for cooking under Slater’s direction would transfer easily. I was hosting dinners more and more, and increasingly dealing with diets that were gluten-free or dairy-free or meat-free or otherwise limited on account of breast-feeding. It might make sense, I thought, to try a cookbook written by someone who did not favor so very much cream, bacon, and butter. For those of us with more modest talents in the kitchen – and for students who have moved out and are just beginning to learn the ropes – trying to make meals we’ve never eaten before with little idea what the end result will taste like can seem daunting, especially if hosting friends. Breaking away from instructions by swapping ingredients – perhaps as simple as oregano instead of coriander – or altering methods, even more so. Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan over a high heat,add the garlic and the chilliflakes and fry for 2–3 minutes. Often you buy gnocchi pre-made, but I thought it’d be a good chance to make it from scratch,” says Ralph. “I googled various different recipes, and I was thinking, is that going to work like that, and might it be nicer if it was done like this?”

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Each recipe comes with a volume dial difficulty rating (which goes up to 11) - how loud can you go? Boil for about 3 minutes – when ready, the gnocchi will float to the surface. Drain the gnocchi in a colander. Remove from the heat andadd the gnocchi, stirring to ensure the gnocchi is coated in the sauce, then tip them into a serving bowl. Drizzle over the remaining contents of the frying pan. Transfer the mince from the pan to a sieve and leave to drain over the sink for 10 minutes. This is important as it prevents the pastry from going mushy later. Behind Slater’s carefully considered instructions are references to a very real life, one that is shaped by struggle and adjustment and that requires self-maintenance. Photograph by Lynda Higgs.