Home Made: Good, honest food made easy. Tana Ramsay

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      Like my mother, I have this idea that there are some things that only I can do for my children, and if you ask my friends and family about this they’ll tell you that I like to do everything myself. Unlike my mother, I have no desire to make my own butter, bread, or even wine, but I do feel passionately about providing the family with healthy, nutritious and home-cooked food. Before I had children, good soulful home-cooked food was something that I reminisced about; certain smells and dishes have always reminded me of places and people in my life and spark happy memories of growing up with my family and of my mother’s amazing cooking, but now I see it as an essential part of creating a sense of home for my own family.

      

      Because my weekdays are usually spent juggling work and ferrying the children between school and post-school activities, I find that the best way of ensuring these meals are on the table every night is to plan them in advance. Getting ahead a few days at a time means that I always know what I’m going to be cooking and don’t have to think about it as the children spill through the door, tired, hungry and expectantly sniffing for the comforting smells from the kitchen that will reassure them their dinner is on its way. Sometimes this planning might only go as far as knowing that I’m going to cook chicken one night and fish or pasta another, and then it’s a case of raiding the cupboard or the fridge and perhaps using up what’s in there to go with it. But that’s often enough to make life easier, and I love being able to pull out various ingredients to produce something quick and delicious from a few odds and ends. Of course, I’ve cooked all the recipes in this book at some time or another, but if I’m honest, the majority were created just by experimenting with what ingredients I had at the time.

      

      So that’s why this new collection of recipes is based around my favourite core ingredients: chicken and duck, beef, fish and seafood, lamb, pork, vegetables, potatoes, fruit and chocolate, and also essential dishes such as soups, pizza and pasta. My aim is to give you inspiration for those times when you stand staring into the fridge wondering what to do with the chicken thighs, pork, or salmon fillet that you want to cook tonight, and to give you a few new options for easy ways to pep up essential basic ingredients with just a few extra ones. Good honest home cooking doesn’t need to be complicated; even putting the simplest meal on the table should warm the heart and restore the soul, just because it gives you the opportunity to sit down together as a family.

      

      My attitude to cooking – and to family life in general – is quite relaxed and not precious, and I suppose I’m more of a ‘chuck it all in the pan’ kind of cook. This is probably because, on busy weeknights when the family are all returning home at different hours, I don’t have time to mess around with complicated dishes and getting everything just so. If I do follow a recipe, I use it as the skeleton of a dish, and I’ll happily substitute one vegetable for another that I have in the fridge that needs using up, for instance, or use something that looked particularly appealing when I was out shopping. So when following any recipe, mine included, my advice would be to not get hung up on quantities – if there are three mushrooms left in the bag more than the recipe calls for, chuck them in too, or if the recipe demands two celery sticks and you have only one, don’t rush down to the supermarket to buy it. Getting a meal on the table for the family after a long day at work or doing other things can be stressful enough, so why make it more complicated than it needs to be?

      

      So if, like me, you think about your meals in advance and like to have meat or chicken a couple of times a week, or pasta once, or keep desserts only for the weekend, then I hope this book will help you to make a few decisions on what you’re going to cook. The chapters here are divided up by the ingredients I cook with most at home and reflect how I plan the meals for my lot. Whether you’re cooking a revitalizing supper for a horde of hungry schoolchildren, a lovely, homely meal for the frazzled family winding down on a Friday night, a lazy weekend lunch for friends and extended family, or a cosy meal à deux after the kids have gone to bed, I hope you can find something here that suits your needs, keeps your family happy at the end of a day, and that the look on their faces as they tuck in will remind you just how good home cooking can be.

       Simply SOUPS

      Where would we be without soups? I love them for their sheer all-roundness; they’re possibly the ultimate comfort food – winter or summer. A hearty warming bowl of soup is always gratefully received after a cold wet couple of hours running around a sports pitch (or, for us, standing on the sidelines!), or after an energetic swimming lesson that leaves the children starving and in need of heat and sustenance. Equally, a refreshing, chilled gazpacho on a hot summer’s day can perfectly bridge the gap between the food and fluids you need to keep going – satisfying a light appetite and quenching your thirst.

      

      My kids have eaten soup from an early age because it was always something they could tackle by themselves – which meant one less battle with toddlers trying to exert their independence! Even now soup is one of their favourite meals for supper or lunch, especially eaten from a mug, which they love to wrap their fingers around on a cold day, with warm good bread to dunk in the soup as they eat. Even the heartiest soup makes a great light supper late at night when you don’t want anything too heavy before you go to sleep.

      

      Some of these recipes need an hour or so to cook through, which makes them ideal evening meals that can be part- or fully-prepared earlier in the day. If I’m at home and not rushing out somewhere, I’ll often prepare food in the morning so that when everyone returns home dinner is either bubbling away on the stove, or can be reheated quickly to feed them instantly. Most of these soups, especially the gazpacho, can also even benefit from being prepared the night before – either while the children are eating their dinner or made, with a glass of wine in your hand, once they’ve gone to bed …

Comforting chicken soup

      A perfect pick-me-up.

      

      1 chicken weighing about 1.25kg/2³/₄lb

      1 stick of celery, sliced

      1 carrot, peeled and halved

      2 leeks, white parts only, cleaned, trimmed and chopped

      2 medium onions, peeled and chopped

      1 bay leaf

      6 peppercorns

      1 sprig of tarragon

      50g/2oz butter

      2 tbsp plain flour

      100ml/3¹/₂fl oz whipping cream

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