Rose Prince - The New English Table - 200 Recipes from the Queen of Thrifty, Inventive Cooking

Copyright

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2008

Text copyright © Rose Prince 2008

Photographs copyright © Laura Hynd 2008

The right of Rose Prince to be identified as the author of this work and the right of Laura Hynd to be identified as the photographer of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007250943

Ebook Edition © JULY 2017 ISBN: 9780007522736

Version: 2017-08-08

From the reviews of The New English Table :

‘The cook book of the season is The New English Table by Rose Prince, a food writer peerless for her knowledge, passion and practicality. The inventiveness of this bulging culinary treasury is balanced by reassurance.’

Independent

‘Rose manages to turn traditional and unfamiliar ingredients into something special – but without the angst. We love how she recycles leftovers in ingenious ways to make really good food go further. Even nervous cooks will be won over!’

SHE

‘Quintessentially English and pretty, this collection is set to expand your knowledge of new ingredients and ways to use them.’

Sainsbury’s Magazine

‘The emphasis here is on food that tastes fantastic but doesn’t cost the earth – good news in these belt-tightening times.’

Good Housekeeping

‘A proper kitchen book, made to spend time on the kitchen table. A book that chimes with the ‘new austerity’ ethos of buying wisely and making it last.’

Time Out

‘If ever a book was perfectly timed, this is it. Just as we’ve begun to value good-quality food, along comes the promise of a recession. In this heavyweight food bible featuring 200 recipes, Rose Prince explores affordable and easy-to-cook food, and proves that good eating doesn’t have to cost the earth.’

Woman & Home

‘A beacon of talent and intelligence, Prince has generated a devoted and appreciative following … writing in a tone that is all her own, her recipes are moral, healthy, economical and (in case this sounds too uplifting for words) extremely tasty.’

Independent on Sunday

‘What is new about the recipes is the way [Rose Prince] takes traditional English foods and uses them with a twist … this book is the antidote to officious nutritionists and State nannies. It’s a call to treat food with love and reverence rather than guilt.’

Country Life

‘No one bears Mrs Beeton’s mantle better.’

The Economist

‘Making the most of British ingredients has always been at the heart of food writer Rose Prince’s recipes.’

BBC Olive

Dedication

In memory of

Mary Goloubeff Kapnist and her white farmhouse

Epigraph

A man dies and is buried, and all his words and actions areforgotten, but the food he has eaten lives after him in the soundor rotten bones of his children.

George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise

Dedication

Epigraph

Introduction

List for All Recipes

Apples

Asparagus

Bacon

Barley

Beans

Beef

Blackcurrants

Broccoli

Buckwheat

Buffalo Milk

Cauliflower

Glorious Rehash – a New Generation of Leftovers

Celery

Cheese

Chestnuts

Chicken

Chickpeas

Chicory

Cobnuts

Cocoa

Courgettes

Crab

Crayfish

Cucumber

Damsons

Eggs

Elderflower

Faggots

Figs

Goose

Gooseberries

The Local Table

Grouse

Gurnard

Haddock

Ham and Gammon

Honey

John Dory

Lamb and Mutton

Langoustines

Lemons

Lentils

Mackerel

Megrim Soles

Mushrooms

Oats

Olive Oil

The Lost Kitchen

Ox Tongue

Oysters

Partridges

Peas

Pheasant

Pistachio Nuts

Pomegranates

Pork

Potatoes

Prawns and Shrimps

Quince

Rabbit

Radishes

Rice – Short Grain

Rice – Long Grain

Roots

Roses

Runner Beans

Sardines

Sausages

Scallops

Squash and Pumpkin

Sweetbreads

Tea

Tomatoes

Trotters and Knuckles

Rhythms of Dinner and a Time to Eat Soup

Turkey

Veal

Watercress

Wheat

Wild Salmon

Woodpigeon

Bibliography and Sources

Index

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Publisher

Introduction

My one table is two tables. Mostly it is an everyday table, a busy junction where plates arrive and leave, sometimes in a hurry, sometimes late. But they leave empty, I hope. Food for every day might be an economical bean and herb soup; juicy threads of braised ham hock beside a pile of buttery potato, or something good rehashed from something left over. But every now and then we sit at the ‘other’ table, for a weekend lunch or dinner, supper with others or a seasonal feast. Then we eat dishes cooked with ingredients that are more luxurious and precious: a whole baked Cornish fish, or roast game birds; a dish of new-season asparagus and pea shoots; a creamy pudding piled with summer berries and decorated with flowers.

It is a rhythm of eating that I enjoy. I have been good, so I can be bad; some meals are tempered, so others can be rich. It rejuvenates the old concept of ‘fast and feast’ and has become quite natural. But oscillating between those dishes of leftovers, cheap cuts and humble raw materials on the one hand and richer meals based on more valuable ingredients on the other is not just a feel-good diet; it forms part of a solution to a wider predicament.

There is a strong bond between good human health and the health of the environment. What you choose to eat has both an intrinsic and an ecological impact. If, in place of eating fillets of chicken, you decide to cook a whole chicken, eat the meat, then make an ambrosial broth from the bones to use in a creamy soup scented with tarragon, you can afford to buy a traditionally reared bird that has been fed on natural forage. Feeding chickens grass rather than cereals not only saves considerable quantities of fossil fuel (used in fertiliser and processing) but also benefits you: grass-fed livestock have a higher proportion of essential fatty acids in their meat, which are good for heart health and help guard against becoming overweight. There is also the diversity factor in this equation. As well as reducing uneconomic waste, recycling food left over from other meals encourages the use of many more appetising ingredients, such as herbs, salad vegetables and pulses. Growing a greater variety of crops and so eating a more diverse diet is again a plus for both people and planet. The meals on our table form part of a cycle that can, collectively, make a positive difference.