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Crackle-top bread
Twister bread
Net bread (roti jala)
Puff pastry
Sweet rich brown sugar pastry
Sweet shortcrust pastry
Tasty treats
Little jammy tarts
Peanut butter squares
Vanilla hazelnut & brown sugar shortbread
Blueberry & oat muffins
Maple, pecan & cranberry granola
Port-preserved cherries with cinnamon & orange
White chocolate-dipped cherries
White chocolate lollipops with dried cranberries
Shameless shortcut cookies-and-cream lollipops
Homemade vanilla custard (crème anglaise)
Mango chutney
Salted caramel toffee sauce
Zesty apple sauce with cinnamon & ginger
Homemade vanilla extract
List of Recipes
Acknowledgements
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction (#u2999e817-b95b-57ac-8f9e-bb5757a5ba36)
Staring at the blank page with my deadline looming, no words seemed to be coming. A relaxed, unpressurised atmosphere is usually when a flurry of inspiration hits, but it wasn’t until I was on a plane ride back from sunny, siliconed Los Angeles with a glass of Californian Chardonnay on my tiny table that the words began to flow.
I thought back to my first book, Baking Made Easy, a self-explanatory title packed with recipes that, in my own words, covered ‘anything cooked in the oven’. The broad definition allowed me artistic licence to develop meals and dishes both sweet and savoury. Exotic tarts and traditional cakes featured alongside night-time nibbles and Parisian patisserie. With my next book and series, Home Cooking Made Easy, came food with a more homely note: comforting casseroles and lasagnes, beauteous breads and simple puddings and desserts.
It felt, for the meantime anyway, that I’d had a significant part of my cooking repertoire covered and that this time I wanted to try something a little bit different, something that would hopefully prove even more useful for the (sadly) ever-decreasing time in which we have to prepare and cook food. I don’t know how often I have come home from a day whizzing around like the Energizer Bunny on the rampage to a family awaiting some culinary delight. I also don’t know how many times I have hung my head in shame and uttered the words, ‘Oh. Yes. Dinner,’ and then made the short trip to the local supermarket to try to buy from the near-empty shelves and then cobble something together for dinner.
I am not at all embarrassed to say that on many occasions I have returned home to the waiting party laden with food that just needs a simple peeling back of the plastic and a slight turn of the oven dial, usually to 180°C. These ready-meals serve a purpose and I am thankful that they exist, but I wondered what if a book existed that was jam-packed full of dishes that were quick, simple, nutritious and above all super-tasty? I wrote this book for the many, many people out there who, like me and my family, face the same daily dilemma of ‘What on earth is for dinner?’
Thanks to the brilliant medium of Twitter, countless readers have told me that the important thing for the evening meal is that it is easy and quick to cook, using ingredients that don’t require a space shuttle flight to the outer reaches of the solar system to source. The main ingredients people seem to favour are chicken (breasts, not so much the thigh or the leg), lamb chops, pork chops, minced beef or lamb, and fish. So I’ve included an enormous range of dishes featuring these, along with other tasty fare such as duck and vegetarian grub. I don’t know if it is the Brit in me, but with my meal I like to eat some kind of a veg and/or a carb, but not any ordinary side dish – something a bit different that will leave (even with the quickest of meals) a lasting sensory memory on my tongue and in my mind.
Dishes such as the Italian Cacciatore get a gentle lift with the help of the mildly spiced harissa, a red chilli paste from North Africa. A simple Salmon en Croute is transformed by the use of papery filo in which to envelop it, and the accompanying potatoes are gently crushed with a pesto made from basil and curly kale. A Lamb Biryani, cooked in one pot and ready to eat in 25 minutes, is delicately spiced with the very-easy-to-find garam masala, cumin and chilli powder.
My current favourite are Lemoncello Jello Shots — lemon wedges scraped clean of their flesh and filled with a citrusy alcoholic (or not, if you so choose) jelly — that are so simple to make and yet so attention-getting when served, and of course super-yumbelicious to eat.
The goal of this book was to create something people would revisit time and time again. A cookbook that would be on that kitchen counter several times a week, for busy people who love good food and want to make something quick and easy, with tasty and accessible ingredients, to impress family and friends. And I wanted to provide an entire meal: main dish and side. So often when you know what you want to cook, it is challenging to figure out what to have with it. With this book, I have served up dishes with an accompaniment or two, making mealtimes much easier to plan. I also tried to make it as simple as possible so that everything is served up together, with a time plan for each recipe so you can sail through the instructions and end up with a delicious dish in super-fast time. I have put my heart and soul into this book and hope it helps you to serve up fast, fresh and delicious meals every day.
Lorraine
A few handy tips on the recipes
+ All preparation and cooking times are an estimate so check and taste things as they cook.
+ Always wash rice thoroughly before use.
+ I find it best to have all the ingredients and equipment out ready before you start cooking, so everything is easy to get when you need it.
+ These recipes have all been tested a minimum of four times, and they have been written so that everything is ready at the same time. So if you follow the method to the letter you will have quick and tasty meals ready in flash.
+ Some recipes have a start to finish time so you know roughly how long it will take from the moment you start cooking to when you finish.
+ Other recipes are split between preparation time and cooking/baking time. So the prep time is the hands on time and the rest of the time whilst the dish is in the oven is free time!
+ Some recipes are super-fast and others have an element to them which is faster than the usual way of prepping or cooking the dish.
+ The equipment list is not exhaustive but a guide to the main pieces of kitchen equipment you will need to prepare the dish. Everyday smaller utensils required are not included in the list.
+ If you have any cooking questions, please do Tweet me @lorrainepascale. I receive lots of Tweets and cannot guarantee to answer to every one, but I will do my best!
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Canapés + cocktails (#u2999e817-b95b-57ac-8f9e-bb5757a5ba36)
‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.’ Plato
I would love to profess that friends drop by unexpectedly, so I have to rustle something up quickly for an impromptu feast, but the reality is that never really happens. What does tend to happen is that, in true Lorraine Pascale style, I am always rushing around, slightly disorganised and with the clock ticking away, having known for weeks that some people are coming round and always leaving it to the very last minute to get everything together! These simple canapés (and of course cocktails) are the perfect solution to this modern-day madness of rush, rush, rush. So easy to prepare and super-tasty too, with that ever-important ‘wow’ factor on the plate.
Canapés + cocktails
Quick-cook canapé crostini (#u6b1f5f65-fa76-5177-9dd8-1ebc20285f32)
Crispy, crunchy chicken strips with honey mustard dip (#u1797d819-2cdd-5a74-a0c1-7e80e87e8c26)
Pancetta & Parmesan puffs (#u170fb27c-c953-503f-8fa6-f8dde1e3aa85)
Crunchy black pepper halloumi dip sticks with harissa hummus (#u4d7dfeed-2d05-56ab-bd1f-7ce716e5d31d)
Naughty, naughty nachos (#u373cbb8c-3b13-5031-ae31-fec38dbd0ba2)
Skinny dipping (#u6c33d10d-e700-5242-8429-c30623532764)
Lemoncello jello shots (#ub3aa129e-1e1b-5459-bcc1-a91ec2e6fb85)
Watermelon jello shots (#ub4ad3ed3-6c42-5700-a598-a64c57bc9498)
Strawberry & mint mojitos (#ucbb7e511-f7f4-5da5-a363-47088efe94e6)
Lovely limoncello (#u9d6f52e0-752e-54c9-989b-411db795dac1)
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Quick-cook canapé crostini (#u2999e817-b95b-57ac-8f9e-bb5757a5ba36)
These really easy canapés have saved the day, not only when (in the very rare event) people drop by my house unannounced, but also when I fancy a quick snack of an evening. It is great to get creative with these: see what is in your cupboard and fridge, throw some ingredients together and experiment! I have used the oven to crisp up the crostini, but they can be put in the toaster or under the grill to get the same effect. If you crisp them up first, they won’t need as much time to cook.
Time from start to finish: 20 minutes
Makes: 24
Equipment: Large baking sheet, 3 small bowls
Crostini bases
1 French baguette
Extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
Tomato, basil & mint
2 large ripe tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Small handful of fresh basil and mint leaves
Pinch of sugar (optional)
White bean, prosciutto & rocket
100g tinned cannellini beans
2 slices of prosciutto
Small handful of wild rocket
Goat’s cheese, figs & mint with balsamic drizzle
100g soft goat’s cheese
2 fresh figs
Small handful of small fresh mint leaves
Drizzle of balsamic vinegar
1 squidge of honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
+ Preheat the oven to 190°C, (fan 170°C), 375°F, Gas Mark 5.
+ Trim the ends off the baguette and cut it into 24 diagonal slices, about 2cm thick. Place on a large baking sheet, drizzle with oil and bake for 7–8 minutes.
+ In the meantime, prepare the toppings.
+ For the tomato one, roughly chop the tomatoes and place in a small bowl. Drizzle a little oil over, rip up the basil and mint leaves and add them along with salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Toss everything together.
+ Then, for the white bean topping, put the cannellini beans in a small bowl, add a good drizzle of oil, season with salt and pepper and then mash roughly with a fork. Cut the slices of prosciutto in half.
+ Finally, for the goat’s cheese crostini, mash the goat’s cheese with a fork in a small bowl and season, then cut the figs into eighths.
+ Remove the crostini from the oven. They should be just crisp. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the cut edge all over their tops.
+ Now, to assemble, simply spoon the tomato mixture onto eight of the crostini. Arrange the rocket on eight more, dollop the crushed beans on top, then lightly scrunch up the prosciutto and arrange on top of each one. Finally, spread the goat’s cheese over the remaining eight crostini, arrange a couple of pieces of fig on top of each, scatter the mint leaves over and drizzle with a little balsamic and honey.
+ Arrange the crostini on a large serving platter or cake stand and serve.
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Crispy, crunchy chicken strips with honey mustard dip (#u2999e817-b95b-57ac-8f9e-bb5757a5ba36)
Being a tactile person at heart, eating food with my fingers is pure luxury for me. I have a favourite surf-and-turf restaurant I frequent with the family and I regularly order their crispy chicken tenders for a starter. The piquant honey mustard dip has me getting right on in there with a spoon and eating up every last morsel.
Time from start to finish: 25 minutes
Serves: 4
