Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many

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It’s “just cooking”, she says, to be approached in “the same way as making a bowl of pasta or roasting a chicken”. Riaz Phillips is a rising star in the food-writing world, and this book blazes a trail for Caribbean food – Jamaican food in particular. I love telly and think often of Michael Smith, Claudia Roden and Madhur Jaffrey who presented cooking with such ease, charm and style. There are two private dining rooms, seating six to twelve or twelve to thirty-two guests, and a sizeable bar serving cocktails, Champagne, wine and ales.

Different recipes were tried for the filling but the frangipanes we loved best were those with little or no flour, so different to those more cake-like in texture, made with almonds already ground. While the pork chop is cooking, grind the garlic, lemon zest, thyme and rosemary with the fennel and celery seeds in a pestle and mortar and set aside. Anyone who has seen him chatting to diners at the tables in Quo Vadis knows what a warm, friendly personality he has.

Here are some dishes I have enjoyed from French Provincial Cooking, Summer Cooking and An Omelette and a Glass of Wine: grillade des marinières du Rhône, tarte aux pommes à la Normande, and St Emilion au chocolat. We barely touched on puddings, and I can say no more as the scraps of paper covered in thoughts once again litter desk and floor at home. Should the spirit be willing, making mincemeat is a lovely job done early on in December – you could even make a large batch, and keep any leftovers for next year. To the recipes themselves, and in typical Lee style they are laid in a logical yet higgledy-piggledy fashion. The Mediterranean bistro will offer hearty ‘home cooking’ and interiors inspired by Francine Weisweiller’s Jean Cocteau-clad Villa Santo Sospir on the Côte d’Azur.

Middle Eastern batata harra couldn’t be easier – you roast a pan of cubed potatoes until crisp, make a dressing of slow-cooked onion and garlic, spices, fresh coriander and lemon juice, and mix to serve.Elizabeth David’s first book, Mediterranean Food, published in 1950, switched the nation on to simple, good cooking from warmer climates. Now a book illustrated with a couple of ink drawings and the occasional frontispiece may well seem challenging beside a lavishly photographed volume. But closer to home it’s easier to talk to people – we know we want crabs from Dorset, smoked herring from the east coast and razor clams from Orkney. Quo Vadis’ location, combined with Jeremy’s incredibly popular cuisine, means the restaurant has become a favourite for celebrities, theatre-goers and many of London’s tourists. Whether you’re a cheese fancier, vegan-curious, accomplished baker in need of a challenge, or just after recipes that will breathe new life into your repertoire, there’s a cookbook for you.

Books on baking continue to woo cookbook lovers, too – two books from blogger and baker Jane Dunn ( Jane’s Patisserie: Celebrate! We all shared a love of travel, good food and great writing – Elizabeth David was our high priestess.Lee hastens to add that at least it didn’t take 20 years to put together, like Alan Davidson’s Oxford Companion to Food. As walls were being pulled down and boundaries blurred and as the classics lost their grip, restaurateurs started speaking of menus inspired by Elizabeth David. When Jeremy Lee received the very first copy of his new cookbook from his publishers, he immediately threw it in a drawer, then cycled from his home in east London to get on with his day at Soho’s Quo Vadis, where he is chef-patron.