Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many

Product Information

To serve, gently press down around the edge of the custard, then run a sharp knife around it. Put a deep plate on top of the mould, and in one fluid motion, swiftly flip the creme caramel. Wait for the plop, shaking a little if necessary before lifting the mould. Lee made his bones under Simon Hopkinson and Alastair Little, among the architects of the renaissance in modern British cooking. Alongside contemporaries such as Fergus Henderson, of St John, Lee takes as much credit as anyone for the extraordinary flourishing in our national cuisine over the past few decades. Place on the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Lift the lid and remove the foil. Press the cake down lightly with the bottom of a frying pan, then cook for a further 30 minutes, until the edges of the cake have coloured deep gold.

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. Make the pastry the night before you need the tart, or, alternatively, up to a week before and freeze it. A visit to the supermarket for golden sugared almonds and candied mint leaves is always worthwhile to jolly along a Christmas pie. You will need a 23cm-round tart tin.

Try this recipe from the book

Heat a griddle or frying pan over a high heat. Lay the spring onions on the hot pan to blister, turning after 3-4 minutes to blister the other side. We follow with little chocolate turnovers and a creme caramel – a soothing, cooling custardy respite from all the cakes and pies. Look out for more yuletide recipes over the weekend. 1 Mincemeat meringue tart (main photo) After working for a few years in a Scottish country house hotel, Jeremy made the move down to London and landed a job at one of the most exciting restaurants of the 1980s. ‘Terence Conran was starting to take his restaurant business very seriously and had the brilliant idea to choose Simon Hopkinson as his head chef and partner at Bibendum, a restaurant on Fulham Road housed inside the old Michelin UK headquarters,’ explains Jeremy. ‘Cooking with Simon was a revelation; at the time, everyone was beginning to understand produce and we saw the birth of British cooking. After that I got to cook with Alistair Little, who worked in a very different style in a very different kitchen. He’s been a great friend ever since.’

Lay a triangle of chocolate just inside one of the corners of the pastry square. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little cream. Fold the pastry in half diagonally over the chocolate, making a triangular turnover. Repeat with the remaining squares and arrange the turnovers on the prepared baking tray at least 3cm apart.Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Have ready a ceramic or metal mould, roughly 28cm wide, 5cm deep.

What are your three favourite recipes in the book or recipes that best represent your style of cooking for readers who might be new to your food?

Other recipes you might like

verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Lightly flour the surface and roll the ball into a rectangle, about 40cm x 20cm. Fold this in three and turn 90 degrees. Roll into the same sized rectangle again and fold in three. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Repeat this two more times, turning each folded rectangle 90 degrees. Chill the pastry for an hour, or overnight, or freeze for future use. The book is arranged with a chef’s eye for ingredients, and favourite things to eat throughout the seasons, rather than in courses or meals. A chapter on blood oranges sits between Biscuits and Breadcrumbs, while Impromptu Dinners provides meals (such as a perfect pork chop and pan juices) that can be made for one or scaled up; and there are simple, joyous meals to feed a crowd (little meatballs, or fennel and lemon spaghetti). 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. The book, Cooking: Simply And Well, For One or Many, was the result of many years of work, on and off, and he wasn’t quite ready to face its reality.

Cooking has quite rightly been described by ESQUIRE magazine as ‘cookbook of the year’ and also ‘long awaited’ which is equally true. What took you so long!It’s been a great adventure, but I underestimated entirely what it would take,” he admits. The pressures of writing daily menus and working in a busy kitchen meant that structuring a whole book seemed overwhelming. Lee hastens to add that at least it didn’t take 20 years to put together, like Alan Davidson’s Oxford Companion to Food. From the Davids, the Grigsons and the Childs, another generation of women food writers blossomed, restoring an interest in regional cooking to an English-speaking readership. Alice Waters championed the local, seasonal movement in California and influenced future generations of American cooks, and many more besides around the globe. Arabella Boxer, who was an early champion of British and seasonal cooking, helped tear up the rigours of publishing with her extraordinary two-volume set of First Slice Your Cookbook, then, A Second Slice. Caroline Conran’s beautiful editing of four seminal chefs, Michel Guérard, Roger Vergé and Jean and Pierre Troisgros, finally loosened the tired grip of France’s haute cuisine. Lindsey Bareham’s books have a glorious approach, championing the potato, the onion, soup or tomatoes in a clear authoritative voice full of wit, charm and warmth. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry large enough to line a 25cm x 2.5cm tart case with a removable bottom. Pop this into the fridge until required.