Rosie Lovell - Spooning with Rosie

Roasted Salmon & Fennel Pâté & Puff Pastry Pie

Chicken Pieces Two Ways, Potato Gratin, Carrot & Celeriac

Hot Chips & Tips

Rice Cubes, Tofu with Mangetouts, Mango, Cucumber & Mint Salad, Sweetcorn & Carrot Fritters

Apricot-stuffed Belly of Pork, Spring Cabbage with Caraway Seeds, Spinach in White Sauce

Indian Stuffed Squid, Jeera Rice, Turmeric Cabbage

Ice Cream with Chocolate & Honey Sauce

Yoghurt, Saffron & Cinnamon Sorbet

Carrageen with Nutmeg, Cream & Maple Syrup

Poached Pumpkin with Crème Fraîche

Barbara Fitzgerald’s Clafoutis

Marmalade Queen of Puddings

Rice Pudding, Indian-style

Sweet Little Coconut Cakes

JAMMING SUPPERS

Pulpo on Toast

Sardine Pâté on Baguette

Smoked Mackerel Pâté on Toast

Baguette with Boquerones

Pan con Tomate

Fontal & Grated Braeburn on Toast

Bruschetta with Cucumber, Basil & Chilli

Bruschetta with Spinach & Sultanas

Crispy Chicken Pieces, Polenta & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Squid Ink Spaghetti with Prawns, Chilli & Bacon & Roasted Fennel Salad

Fillet of Pork with Mustard & Honey Sauce, Lemon Smashed New Potatoes

A Little Roasted Chicken with Lemons & Penne, Tzatziki-style

Smoked Mackerel & Chard Bake with a Crunchy Top

Smoked Haddock & Watercress Risotto with Griddled Courgettes

Moules Marinière with Spaghettini

Pumpkin & Gorgonzola Lasagne

Herby Homemade Pasta Sheets with a Perfect Yellow Tomato Salad

Homely Saffron Chicken

Pearl Barley Risotto with Tomato & Ricotta

My Lasagne, with Chestnut, Pancetta & Cabbage

Super Easy Mushroom & Chicken Korma with Raita

Coconut & Cardamom Custard

Biddy’s Microwave Steamed Pudding

Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Cups

Sweet Yellow Lentil Dhal

Baked Amaretti & Goat’s Cheesecake

Really Easy Brandy & Almond Tiramisù

Golden Brown Tarte Tatin

Mallika’s Baked Yoghurts Two Ways

SOULFUL GRUB

Stav B’s Pumpkin & Red Lentil Soup

Raf’s Lettuce Soup

Gascon Soup made with Wild Mushrooms, Tomatoes & Sherry Vinegar

Onion & Butter Bean Soup

Courgette, Chickpea & Mint Soup

Spiced Carrot Soup

Beetroot & Pear Soup

Warming Orecchiette with Sausage & Sage

Raf Daddy’s Groundnut Curry

Polenta & Vegetable Bake for Dani

Ebi Chilli Men for Tom & Olly

Doctor Helen’s Signature Butternut Squash Pasta with Chilli Flakes & Chorizo

Korean Beef Salad

Broccoli & Cauliflower Cheese

Simplest Red Spaghetti with Thyme, Straight From Urbisaglia

Alice’s Cottage Pie

Sweet Laksa with Udon Noodles

Cabbage & Sausage Hotpot

Penne with Creamy Tomato & Tuna

Lamb & Aubergine Pilaf

Tuscan Bean Stew with Riso Pasta

BALMY BITES

Pea & Mint Dip

Aubergine & Salami Stacks

Pat’s Green Beans with Goat’s Cheese

White Alubias with Anchovies & Herbs

Sonar Lentil Salad

Herby Spare Ribs, Porchetta-style

Moroccan Salsa

Dom’s Marital Potato Salad

Mum’s Lemon Garden Vegetables

Summer of Love Salad

Nutty Brown Rice & Bean Salad

Mr Dan’s Bulgar Wheat Salad

Radicchio & Pancetta Salad

Gillie’s Chicory & Orange Salad with Two Different Dressings

Rosemary-roasted Sweet Potatoes

Fruit Brûlée

Apple Purée with Syllabub

Orange Blossom Custards

Semolina & Syrup Cakes

Far Out Eton Mess

Rhubarb & Whiskey Fool

Essentials

COFFEE, TEA OR ME?

Drop Scones, Mum’s Way

Yoghurt Cake

Simplest Orange & Almond Cake

Edna’s Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookies

Classic Cricket Tea: Victoria Sponge with Strawberries & Cream

My Spiced Apple Cake with Buckwheat

Orange Shortbread

Baby Banana Cakes

Doctor Helen’s Mascarpone Mojito Cheesecake

Honey Flapjacks

My Favourite Places to Eat, Drink & Shop

Index

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

Another late night in Soho at the New Evaristo Club. Now, as usual, my alarm is pounding at me, calling me to the deli. Showered and squeezed into trusty jeans, I dash out of the door of my damp 1930s flat. Round on the main road I pass Simon, one of the more amenable local down-and-outs. ‘All right, Ma’am.’ He’ll be in later for his hot chocolate with five sugars. I nip into the Portuguese deli to pick up fresh rocket for the shop, and then into the Iraqi supermarket to buy free-range eggs for the scrambling rush later. Electric Avenue is particularly alive at this time of the morning, with sex workers, red snappers, pig’s tails and pulsing beats coming from every crevice. The fishmongers holler at me and, laden with my shopping, I nod my good-mornings to market traders and road sweeps.

Arriving at the deli, I fling the door wide open, turn the fans on and get The View playing, to beat out my tired head. Pastry out of the fridge for rolling, cakes onto the stands, tables and chairs outside, oven on, flick lights. The daily cheese and bread deliveries arrive – Sardinian Pecorino, Taleggio, Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire, Hereford Hop, sourdough, rye, ciabatta – just as I’m making myself a double-shot cappuccino to drink in the last bit of peace on my doorstep.

Brixtonians rush past on their way to the tube, with cheery waves. My moment is broken by the first telephone call of the morning – Alice. ‘What shall I cook for my date tonight?’ (She’s excited, so I’m thinking risotto with black pudding and ice cream drowned in espresso.) By this point I’m juggling, squeezing lemons for the daily batch of houmous with the phone wedged between my shoulder and cheek. My first early customers, the loyal Bharat and superwoman Kylie Morris, arrive, armed with newspapers and requesting their morning soya lattes.

As I steam their milk, I’m mulling over what salad to make this morning. Vietnamese carrot and peanuts, nutty brown rice with seeds, or couscous with mint and feta? And as they eat their toast with mackerel pâté, I’m wondering what will soothe my weariness tonight. Baked polenta, beans on toast or boquerones? Mum is calling. Have I got time to pick up the phone before the next customers descend? ‘Oh darling, you’ll never guess what we had for supper last night…’ Asparagus from her garden. The day is truly in swing now. I’m navigating cooking, serving breakfasts and all the usual flurry of telephone calls, Daddy’s usual herbal tea and the ordering, when I drop my ciabatta…a curly-haired boy has just ambled in…And how shall I woo you with my wares?

Foods for the first wave of a hangover, or just to start the day with a bang, when you need some morning loving or have a dawn appetite. These breakfast recipes hail from the deli, my travels and a frugal upbringing. Favourite morning foods. Starting the day with an egg is surely one of life’s best treats. But sometimes we crave something more wholesome, to kick-start the morning and give sustained energy, like porridge or muesli. I often make a vat of muesli, which keeps me going for a few months and is a good economy drive when I’m a bit stumped for cash.

It all rather depends on who you’re with and how you’re feeling, and what’s actually in the fridge: hangovers usually demand fried foods like Rupert’s eggy bread, but friends for breakfast could prompt some steaming sweet muffins. My mum says breakfast is the best meal of the day, which it certainly is at her big oak table, with her homemade yoghurt, popovers, marmalade and bread and fragrant coffees.

Each country has its own take on breakfast too, often revolving around the glorious egg. I never tire of the magical egg. Egg-fried noodles on the Khao San Road in Bangkok, eggs Benedict in London, oeufs en cocotte in France. An omelette is one of my favourite ways to use up leftover vegetables.