Home-cooking without fuss, `bonne bouffe (good, unpretentious cookery)....'
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`The recipes in the book are some of the most popular from `The Havelock Tavern`, in London's Brook Green - the type of place anyone can eat, drink and feel at home in.
A good, honest pub with, above all, delicious food. It's not particularly sophisticated but then our kitchen is pretty small, which limits what we can do.
Indeed, this is why I think our food is suitable for the home-cook - our kitchen is no bigger than yours!....
Since I started cooking professionally, I have reached the conclusion that eating out - and eating in - is nothing to do with the price of the ingredients, it's the way they are treated that counts. In other words, whether it is a piece of foie gras or a cabbage, both require the same care and attention.
I also began to realise that cooking with a degree of thriftiness can be highly pleasurable: not only are the cheaper cuts usually the most flavoursome but also being careful with ingredients can sometimes lead to moments of inspired creativity.......I will always find a way of using up something one way or another.
If this sounds rather worthy - try it, it's rather satisfying making something out of nothing!'
160 shiny, high quality pages, split over 2 main sections:-
(1) HERE COMES THE SUN
Light Bites & Salads
Grills
Curries
Summer Desserts
(2) IN FROM THE COLD
Soups
Starters & Lunch Dishes
Stews & Other Hearty Fare
Winter Puddings
plus:-
Foreword by Simon Hopkinson
An Introduction
Author's Notes, Tips and General Advice
Side Dishes & Basic Recipes
Recommended Suppliers
Index
The main two chapters open with seasonal text.
Each recipe has some introductory text, some related to The Havelock, directly, e.g.:-
`We know a bit about tarts here at The Havelock....we have served one on our lunch menu every day for the past ten years, usually vegetarian.........' heads up the recipe for the very first entry - `Sweet Onion and Parmesan Tart'.
Others have more general, unassuming text:-
`Most people love a prawn sandwich..........' before the most delicious recipe for `Open Sandwich of Prawns, Curried Mayonnaise and Baby Gem'.
Each recipe is clearly written with the number of servings, list of ingredients required and a clear method.
The book is interspersed with black and white photography, some `on-location' and there are a number of full page colour plates of specific completed dishes.
The Side Dishes & Basic Recipes include old favourites e.g.- `CHIPS` -`We are famous at The Havelock for our chips. A good chip should be lightly golden and crunchy on the outside and fluffy within. There are many good chip-making potatoes but best of all is the `Maris Piper`, lovingly known in the trade as the `chipper's friend'.
A taste of the other recipes within:-
Chicken and Parma Ham Terrine
Grilled Scallops with Spiced Red Lentils
Lamb, Fig and Mint Tagine
Broad Bean, Asparagus, Feta and Spiced Couscous Salad
Hot-and-Sour Pork Curry with Raita (Vindaloo)
Honeycomb Crisp Ice Cream with Warm Chocolate Sauce
Spiced Sweet Potato and Chickpea Soup
Spring Onion, Potato and Taleggio Risotto
Chicken and Bacon Pie
Butternut & Goat's Cheese Lasagne
Molasses-Glazed Gammon
Norfolk Apple and Treacle Tart
Blood Orange and Mint Jelly
Crab, Tomato and Saffron Tart - `a wonderfully luxurious dish that is perfect for a picnic accompanied by a cold glass of Sancerre' -
enough said!
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the secrets form the legendary Havelock
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are now out.
I must have been to this gastropub 100 times, and never tired of the variety and freshness of the food.
Now ,whilst its being renovated, this book has come out at just the right time. Jonny Haughton's explanations and recipes are easy to follow, and bring back fond memories of happy evenings spent there.
For the real Havelock effect there should be some cut out "punters" to put in your own kitchen, so you cant get a table!
A brilliant book, and good that its not yet another "ego-chef-TV-spinoff" publication, that seems to saturate the market.
But it was Jamie Olivers favourite pub, so some taste there.
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cooking without fuss
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I wouldn't hesitate to recomend this book to anyone who has the slightest interest in cooking, either for themselves or for their friends. This collection of well thought-out recipes not only helps the cook to produce fantastic results but also goes some way to explaining how those results can be acheived again and again. It's informative without being dry and the photographs are beautiful too. And what a collection of mouth-watering recipes! This is food you want to eat and it explains clearly how you can prepare it and, as the title would suggest, without fuss.
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