British chef Rick Stein’s latest book idea came to him as he was recovering from open heart surgery — the memory of a simple fish dish he had the night before the operation spurring on the idea that simple can be divine.
"I thought I might just call the book Simple Suppers to suggest not only very straightforward cooking but also informality."
The idea brought back memories of the suppers he ate as a child. Things like his dad’s clear chicken soup which he made on a Sunday night with stock from the lunchtime roast chicken.
"I thought I’d collect a selection of impromptu suppers like a simple summery chicken soup, but I’d also include some rather smart but still simple dishes, like the saltimbocca my mother used to make at my parents’ flat."
His aim was ideally no dish should take more than an hour of anyone’s time to make, to keep the number of ingredients down as far as possible, and to never let a recipe go more than a page.
"I wanted the ingredients, generally with very few exceptions, to be available from any supermarket, and for the recipes to rely as much as possible on what you might already have in your fridge, freezer and store cupboard."
But to do this, people need to be organised, first by having the right ingredients in their pantry and fridge and second to have some basic ideas that change a simple idea into something extraordinary, like the bananas with toffee sauce and ice cream in the book.
He really enjoyed the challenge of finding ways to save time when cooking the recipes, for example by making really quick sauces.
Stein, who has four restaurants in Padstow, Cornwall, and a cookery school and pub in St Merryn, says he has even overcome his earlier preference for using dried beans, soaking and then cooking them in favour of tinned varieties.
"I’ve found that I really can’t tell the difference. I often use frozen fruit instead of fresh, frozen spinach, shop-bought custard and stock and bottled mayonnaise and ready-made garam masala."
He does admit it has been a challenge to change his attitude to using prepared ingredients in his cooking given he has spent a lifetime making everything from scratch.
"The reality is, though, that over the last 20 years what you can buy ready-made has utterly changed in terms of quality and range. What has also changed in that time is the extraordinary belief that we are all terribly busy, so busy the dishes we cook have to be quick and simple."
So he starts his book with a chapter called "Fast Suppers" designed to be cooked in less than 30 minutes. He believes these recipes are quicker and better than calling for a takeaway or going to pick something up after a long, hard day.
Other chapters include suppers for one and two, suppers for friends and one-pot suppers.
THE BOOK
Rick Stein’s Simple Suppers, BBC Books, RRP $65.
One-pot meatballs with tomato sauce and orzo
I tried making these meatballs with minced pork but they were too dry, so I think they are much better made with good-quality sausage meat, by which I mean at least 90% pork. A lot of the brands of tomato passata with flavourings are not to my taste, so I look for one that is just tomato, garlic, onion and celery.
Serves 4
400g premium pork sausages, skins removed and discarded
¾ tsp fennel seeds, coarsely ground
¼ tsp chilli flakes
4 Tbsp olive oil
250g orzo
3 garlic cloves, chopped
60ml white wine
400ml passata (unflavoured)
1 rosemary sprig
Salt and black pepper
To serve
Parmesan, grated
Basil leaves, torn
Mix the sausage meat, fennel seeds and chilli flakes in a bowl and shape into balls about the size of cherry tomatoes.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a shallow casserole dish or a large pan with a lid and fry the meatballs until lightly browned all over. Transfer them to a plate and set aside.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, add the orzo and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and fry for a minute, then pour in the wine and bring to the boil. Add the passata and 650ml of water, season and bring to the boil again.
Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the meatballs and rosemary, season with salt and pepper, then cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for a final couple of minutes until the pasta is done and the sauce is thickened.
Serve with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and torn basil leaves.
Green rice with garlic, parsley and mussel arroz verde
I love these Spanish paella-type dishes. There’s a similar, but slightly more complicated and expensive version of this recipe in my book Long Weekends. I remember filming it at a restaurant on the beach in Cadiz. I chose the arroz verde, but the crew went for seafood paella coloured with the extremely bright yellow of fake saffron. The camera pulled away from my demure green and white bowl to reveal everybody else wearing sunglasses while eating.
Serves 4–5
Ingredients
60ml olive oil
60g shallots, finely chopped
12 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 litre chicken stock
100g flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped
1½ tsp salt
400g short-grain paella rice (or if not available arborio rice)
500g raw mussels, scrubbed
Juice of ½ lemon
To serve
Aioli (I like the Chovi brand available in UK supermarkets or make your own)
Method
Heat the olive oil in a shallow flameproof casserole dish over a medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic, then fry gently for 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the stock, parsley and salt and bring to the boil.
Sprinkle in the rice, stir once, then leave to simmer vigorously over a medium-high heat for 6 minutes. Put the mussels on top and shake the pan briefly so that they sink into the rice slightly. Lower the heat and leave to simmer gently for another 12 minutes.
At the end of this time, almost all the liquid should be absorbed, the mussels opened and the rice will be pitted with small holes. Squeeze over the lemon juice and serve with aioli.
Spaghetti with courgettes, rosemary and mascarpone
This is one of those Italian pasta recipes that’s so simple you can’t believe how wonderful it tastes when you check the ingredients. I can’t think of any basic food where the expression "less is more" fits better than pasta. It’s a source of some irritation to me that some people in the UK still think that the ratio of sauce to pasta should be at least 50/50 if not 70/30. Am I alone in finding a mound of tomato sauce with a few strings of spaghetti a profoundly depressing sight?
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 tbsp olive oil
600g courgettes, grated
1 garlic clove, chopped
Zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
¼ tsp chilli flakes
90g mascarpone
50g Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, grated
400g spaghetti
Salt and black pepper
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the grated courgettes, garlic, lemon zest, rosemary and chilli flakes.
Cook gently over a medium-low heat for 20–25 minutes until the courgettes are very soft. Stir in the mascarpone and two-thirds of the cheese, then taste and season with salt and plenty of pepper.
Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain, add the pasta to the courgette sauce and stir to combine. Serve topped with the remaining grated cheese and ground black pepper.
