Anna Jones - A Modern Way to Cook - Over 150 quick, smart and flavour-packed recipes for every day

GOOD KNIVES AND A GOOD KNIFE SHARPENER The main barrier to cooking quickly is being a slow chopper – how good you are at chopping is directly related to how good and sharp your knives are. I use four main knives in the kitchen: a small chef’s knife (about 12cm), a small serrated paring knife (for tomatoes and fruit), a larger chef’s knife (about 21cm) for sturdy vegetables such as pumpkin or squash and a good serrated bread knife. I also have a sharpening stone to keep them nice and sharp. My favourite knives are Kin knives which aren’t the cheapest but, equally, you can find knives that are much more expensive. They stay nice and sharp and last a lifetime. I like Opinel for small serrated paring knives, which are very affordable.

HIGH-SPEED BLENDER I use my blender every day for smoothies, soups, nut butters and hummus. The king of blenders is the Vitamix, which has a super high-speed motor and will make nuts into butter in a matter of seconds. They are very expensive though, so I am not going to suggest you all run out and buy one, but they are a great investment if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Alternatively, most electrical brands make good sturdy blenders at varying prices – go for the best you can afford.

FOOD PROCESSOR It may seem overkill to have a food processor and a blender but they really do different jobs. A blender will liquidise things whereas a food processor will chop and crush things and, if you buy one with some attachments, they can grate and slice too, as well as mixing up icings and cake batters. If I can encourage you to buy one thing for your kitchen it would be a food processor. I have had my Magimix for the last 12 years and it’s still going strong. Magimix are great as they have a good range of attachments and are really sturdy, but other brands such as KitchenAid make good ones too. Again you get what you pay for here; I would suggest investing as much as you can afford.

HAND BLENDER If you can’t get your hands on a blender or a food processor, or your kitchen is too small for big pieces of equipment, then a decent hand blender will stand in for most things. You will need a bit more elbow grease and probably patience but it will do the job. I use my hand blender for making dressings and quick pestos and for blending soups, and I find it really useful. Hand blenders come pretty cheap and I use a basic £10 one which has been with me for years.

KITCHEN SCISSORS A good sharp pair of kitchen scissors are always at hand in my kitchen for opening packets and doing little jobs. If you aren’t the fastest at chopping with a knife, then chopping small things like herbs or spring onions can be done pretty quickly with a pair of scissors.

COCONUT OIL I use coconut oil, which has a mild flavour and a higher smoking point than many other oils, so less nutrients are damaged when it’s heated. I recommend coconut oil in many of the recipes in this book. If it’s not for you though, you can generally use a plain olive oil in its place.

EXTRA VIRGIN GHEE I use ghee (clarified butter) in place of butter. It’s basically butter without the whey and full of nutrients such as vitamins A, D, E and K. It has a high smoking point, keeps for months and tastes amazing.

OLIVE OIL I keep two types in my kitchen. One plain for gentle frying and a flavour-packed extra virgin for dressing and finishing – this NEVER sees the heat as it has a low smoking point and creates harmful free radicals if heated too high.

EGGS The eggs I use throughout the recipes are medium eggs and I always use free range and organic eggs. If you are vegan in most of the baking in this book eggs can be replaced with 1 tablespoon of chia seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons of water, it should be set aside until it forms a gel.

SALT I use British flaked sea salt – my favourite is Halen Môn from Anglesey which has a Protected Designation of Origin status so you know it’s water from Wales (not imported salt re-diluted).

SWEET STUFF I keep several natural sweeteners on hand. It is important to remember that while higher in nutrients than regular sugar all of these are sugars so should be used sparingly. Natural sweeteners do tend to be more expensive so you may want to go for one at a time. I keep these on rotation in my house: maple syrup, honey, agave, coconut sugar, coconut nectar.

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