Sophie Thompson, My Family Kitchen.

                           My signed copy of Sophie Thompsons' cookbook: My Family Kitchen

Firstly, I'd like you to read a previous post (Sophie Thompson Celebrity Master chef 2014. Scroll down the recipes on the right of my page and click on Creamed Sweetcorn.)

Acclaimed actress, Sophie Thompson has always been a lover of cooking and was the winner of celebrity Master Chef 2014. She has recently published a cookbook and a signed copy was acquired for me by a friend who recently spent an evening with Sophie at The Sussex Produce Company. Sadly I wasn't able to attend as I was in Spain and was bitterly disappointed to miss the opportunity of meeting Sophie. My friend assures me that I'll love the book, full of homely recipes and lovely anecdotal and chatty stories, I can't wait to read it!

Now, many of you will know that I have a bit of a bugbear where 'celebrity' cookbooks are concerned and I've written several posts regarding the, dare I say, deceptive nature of the contents of some of them. Interestingly, I have just read a fantastic article by recipe tester and food editor, Debora Robertson.

Robertson writes: 'Recipe books don't spring flawlessly on to the page. A cookbook (Robertson has worked on recipes for all kinds of people, from models to Michelin-starred chefs) usually involves a group of people garnering ideas, some merely a thought, a simple combination of ingredients to be worked into something you might want for your tea. Then the recipes go through many stages of editing and testing before landing on the page, looking their 'simple' and 'foolproof' best. Some of the chefs are really involved, others make the biggest contribution to their recipes by just reading them.'

Robertson says: 'The job of translating a chef's ideas, to make them suitable for your home kitchen in Doncaster or Totnes, the one with the temperamental oven, can be complex. Chefs often live in a rarefied world. One book I worked on, ostensibly for quick-and-easy weeknight dinners, included a recipe for a terrine which required half a pig's head.'

The article goes into more detail and is really illuminating, it adds weight to my argument that dearest Jamie Oliver et al, aren't realistically conjuring up delicious, foolproof meals in 30 minutes with barely a dirty saucepan in sight!

This all leads back to the premise of Donna's Pink Kitchen. I know so many people who, like myself, have a library of cookbooks but fail to execute the recipes as they appear on the glossy page. My step by step (unprofessional) photos are, I hope, helpful. My recipes are literally food that is being put on the table for dinner, a bit hit and miss sometimes I'll grant you, but very honest recipes.

I imagine that Sophie Thompson has kept her cookbook very real and I shall certainly be trying her recipes and sharing them with you soon.

This next recipe falls into my cheats category. I love Dauphinoise potatoes, a very decadent dish but rather time consuming, all that potato slicing with a mandolin and simmering the potatoes in cream and garlic before transferring into the oven......

This is simply a case of boiling some small potatoes, putting them in a dish (whilst the potatoes are still warm, the skin peels away very easily, however, I tend to leave the skin on) combining some cream cheese and milk and popping in the oven and hey presto, a delicious side dish!

Cheats Dauphinoise

Recipe
1kg of small potatoes
300g garlic and herb cream cheese (I used boursin)
100ml milk
Gouda or Cheddar cheese to grate on top
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5
Boil potatoes for 5-10 minutes until tender but not too soft

Drain potatoes, then when cooled, slice and place in an ovenproof dish

                           You don't have to be fussy or precise about slicing the potatoes

Combine cream cheese and milk in a blender

Pour over potatoes

Season with salt and pepper and top with grated cheese

Pop in the oven for 30 minutes

Remove from oven, the Dauphinoise should be caramelised on top with a rich melting interior.

Dauphinoise is a delicious side dish with meat, however, I often serve it with baked beans and sweetcorn which is a tasty combination and a very economical dish.

'Cookbooks are almost a substitution for a lost sense of culture. People want some other life than the one they're living, so they buy a cookbook with pictures and imagine themselves as part of that life.'
- Mark Miller

Love Donna xxxxxxx