We are on a quest to find a name for Tom’s book. We’ve been trying to come up with a name but we just can’t crack it, so we thought we’d ask for some help. The winner can enjoy a meal for two at our award winning restaurant Poco Bristol or at the next Forgotten Feast banquet in London. See the book brief below.
Please put your suggestion in the comments box below.
Think positive. It’s about fresh, exciting, seasonal ingredients, sourced locally and yummy recipes.
Some ideas to start you off.
Eat ALL…
Every last morsel…
Root to fruit…
Let the games commence!
Here is the preface to the book for inspiration.
Eat ALL simple seasonal cookery using what you have
Inspiration
Use this book for inspiration. Go to the market and pick the freshest, ripest vegetable off the shelf or simply look into your fridge for that ripe and ready tomato or big bunch of radishes you so dutifully bought for their vibrant colours and crisp offerings and know there’s an inspiring recipe waiting for you.
Each chapter is made up of eight Hero ingredients that are readily available in our markets. Each ingredient is represented first by a simple yet favourite recipe of mine that you can make using a few ingredients from your larder. If you have time to go to the market or happen to have other seasonal ingredients available, you can also pick from three world-inspired seasonal recipes that use the already prepared Hero ingredient. At the bottom of each recipe my ‘Cook’s Notes’ give clear tips and inspiration for turning leftovers from these recipes into another delicious meal and how they should be stored to keep them at their best.
Seasonal
When cooking with seasonal ingredients you can’t help but eat better quality food. Fruits and vegetables that are picked at their peak not only taste better but also inherently use less resources to grow and are often transported much shorter distances to your table. The flavour and texture of a rich, juicy tomato in summer is almost completely incomparable to an imported winter tomato, yet they will both fetch a similar price. By using the twenty plus seasonal ingredients in this book as a shopping list for the appropriate months, you will effortlessly improve the quality of your food while simultaneously decreasing the resources needed to produce that food. Buying seasonal produce from your local shops will also help support your local community and farmers.
Supermarkets ignore the seasons, giving us a generic list of ingredients available all year round. This puts massive pressure on our resources and needlessly neglects the bounty of ingredients that we have on our doorstep. With a select choice of the best ingredients you will naturally become a more creative cook and with these simple recipes I promise you will have incredibly delicious meals.
Cooking with the seasons is exciting. Each month rewards us with a new ingredient as it ripens. Summer offers us a huge variety of delicious berries, soft fruits, beans and mediterranean vegetables. As Autumn nears our fields bulge with an abundant variety of fruit and vegetables to forage, pot, jar and can for the cold months ahead. Even winter has a wealth of fresh ingredients from roots and tubers to fresh curly kales. To complete the cycle as the sun begins to shine Spring brings us delicacies of asparagus, radish and rhubarb to wake up our taste buds after a long comforting winter.
I firmly believe that most people really do care about where their food comes from, whether they’re concerned about the excessive use of chemicals, animal welfare, food-miles and waste, taste and quality, or all of the above.
This cookbook is for inspiration and a guide to use what you have. Rather than going to the shops with a long list buy what’s ripe and delicious and looks the most appealing. If you can’t see your ingredient in the contents then flip to the back and use the index to guide you to the perfect recipe. Have fun and experiment.
Enjoy