FRESH PRODUCE
Basic dairy produce such as eggs – always free range – milk, cream and yogurt should, of course, be kept in the fridge, along with soft and hard cheeses, including a block of fresh Parmesan for grating as required. Fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, salad leaves, carrots and cabbage keep well in the fridge, too. Other basic standbys are onions, garlic, potatoes, oranges and lemons, which I keep in a cool, dark cupboard, and bread, which goes into a bread crock, with a back-up supply in the freezer.
EQUIPMENT
The right equipment makes all the difference to the ease with which you can cook fast food. A little time spent removing clutter, re-thinking your needs, and streamlining and reorganizing kitchen surfaces and cupboards can save hours of your time over the weeks and months.
It’s essential to invest in efficient kitchen tools. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment: the most important thing is a really good, sharp knife, and for that you do get what you pay for. Personally I like a classic Sabatier knife with a medium-length (11cm/41/2 inch) blade. A good, solid chopping board is essential, too, the bigger the better. The other small tools I find indispensable are a swivel potato peeler with a long handle that is really comfortable to hold, and a citrus zester, which is a curiously useful gadget. A garlic press is more bother than it is worth, in my opinion – you can do the job much more quickly and effectively with a knife and a board.
A food processor isn’t essential, and many of the recipes in this book can be made without one, but it does open up many more possibilities – lovely creamy soups, quick pâtés and dips, for instance. As with so many things, if you’re buying one it pays to get a larger version than you think you’ll need; go for something simple in design which doesn’t try to do too many jobs. Try to make a space for it on your work surface so that it’s always there at the ready. An electric hand whisk is also a surprisingly useful and labour-saving piece of equipment, and fairly inexpensive to buy. For years I put off buying one, and when eventually I did I couldn’t believe how useful it was and wondered why I hadn’t bought one earlier.
A microwave oven isn’t essential by any means, and apart from a microwave version of risotto none of the recipes in this book depend on one. I find a pressure cooker more useful than a microwave because I love making soups and it cooks them very quickly. Some people are wary of pressure cookers because of all their hissing, but once you know what you are doing it can be invaluable.
Finally, a large saucepan with a steamer on top is helpful if you’re cooking with limited hob space, because you can have one item cooking in the pan and a vegetable or something else steaming in the top. I have a stainless-steel steamer that I use a lot in this way.
There’s a huge range of delicious breads around now, and it’s fun to try different types. In this section I’ve included some of my favourites – not just breads and rolls but also more unusual products such as poppadums and tortillas, as well as croissants, bagels, panettone and brioche. Plenty of other interesting baked goods are worth experimenting with, and they all make an ideal basis for fast food. For a long time bread was unfairly dismissed as 'stodge', but now it is recognized as a healthy food which contributes valuable minerals and vitamins, as well as protein and energy, to our diet.
These Italian toasts are really very similar: crostini are delicate rounds of light, crisp bread whereas bruschetta is made from coarse country bread and rubbed with garlic to flavour it. They can be served plain to accompany soup, salads or dips, or topped with all kinds of delicious things to make canapés, quick snacks or light meals. If you are making a meal of them they are good served with some salad. You can use either a small or large baguette for crostini, depending on how big you want the rounds to be, and since one baguette yields about 50 slices, you only need a small piece to make a snack or meal for two people.
BASIC RECIPE
4 slices from a large baguette or 8 slices from a small one, cut 6mm / 1/4 inch thick, for crostini
2 slices from a country-style loaf for bruschetta
olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in half, for bruschetta
SERVES 2
TOPPINGS
All these toppings make enough for 8 small or 4 large crostini, or 2 bruschetta. Serve the crostini or bruschetta as soon as possible after adding the toppings.
— 1 —
CHERRY TOMATOES, FETA AND THYME
6–8 cherry tomatoes crostini or bruschetta (see above)
50g / 2oz feta cheese
sprigs of thyme
freshly ground black pepper
— 2 —
BLACK OLIVE PATE, RED PEPPER AND CAPERS
1 red pepper
black olive pâté
crostini or bruschetta (see above)
2–3 tsp capers
a few leaves of flat-leaf parsley