Yesterday a rather large parcel arrived for me from my dear friend Carron which contained all sorts of lovely pressies, one of them being the long awaited cookbook by Sophie Thompson: My Family Cookbook (Carron bought this after attending an evening with Sophie at The Sussex Produce Company, an event I regrettably missed and due to a couple of cancelled get-togethers, I hadn't been able to lay my hands on this book, until now.)
I've written previously about Sophie, an acclaimed actress who stole my heart when she took part in Celebrity MasterChef and went on to deservedly win it, needless to say, when I heard she had written a recipe book, I was beside myself with excitement.
I've chuntered on in the past about 'celebrity chefs' and their ostensibly foolproof cookbooks, which we're all drawn to having seen their latest series, only to find we can't quite as effortlessly produce stuffed sea bream or soufflés in our own kitchens and amidst the aftermath of dirty pots, burnt pans and chaos we find ourselves wondering where we went wrong?
Last night I hurried up to bed with My Family Kitchen and read it cover to cover.....I loved it! What comes across first and foremost is that Sophie is an everyday cook, her meals aren't the design of a specialist team, they weren't made in a gleaming studio but in real kitchens. Recipes that have (as the title suggests) been passed down (often on scraps of paper) by family and friends are recognisable and achievable, this is proper grub, the stuff we all eat but have probably forgotten how to cook (or sadly, succumbed to the processed ready-made versions.) Spare ribs, meatballs, stuffed mushrooms, lasagne, chocolate pots, flapjacks, cinnamon toast......What's not to like?
I still own my mother's one and only cookbook: The Good Housekeeping Cookery Compendium along with scraps of paper where she jotted down recipes. But it seems this passing down from mother to daughter (or son) has virtually disappeared, instead we now own lots of glossy cookbooks, containing recipes we're never going to cook.
It was due to the fact that whilst working in education, where many of my colleagues couldn't (or simply didn't want to) cook, that I started this blog, I thought I could share a few simple recipes for novice cooks to follow. Funnily enough Sophie heads one of her recipes with this: 'I think in a recipe book it's probably wise to avoid talking about religion, politics and education' (obviously said in a humorous way.) Of course my readers will know that what started out as a recipe blog has become more of an online diary where everything from religion, politics and education to the banalities of my daily life get thrown in.
Anyway, Sophie's book is the one cookbook you need to own (it'll get you off the hook from reading all my nonsense when all you really want to know is how to make an omelette!) Endearingly, Sophie introduces herself as: 'I'm just a turn who's been on a cookery show, so the idea of me piping up about food, let alone writing a cookbook, seems faintly absurd. That said, I'm chuffed as an extremely chuffed thing to have got this opportunity to share this bundle of some of my favourite recipes with you.'
That alone will give you a sense of Sophie's personality, her cookbook is fun and inspiring, it's not a book you get fed up with midway through because you can't identify with the recipes or lists of unrecognisable ingredients. What I love most are the inventive tips such as swilling out empty jars of jam into gravy (I do that Soph!) Or cheese on toast with marmalade over the top (I did a post on a childhood favourite of mine, cheese and jam on toast) and her 'Ma's devilled cheese' which uses up the 'curious' ends of cheese languishing in your fridge.
This book was written not by a 'celebrity' but by a wife and mother, an entertainer of family and friends and as Sophie says: 'Cooking has always been about sharing and spending time with pals and family, luring them in with tasty morsels so they'd want to stay all day.'
If you haven't yet chosen your Christmas presents (unlikely) I'd definitely recommend you put this top of your list, and maybe in years to come you'll pass it on to your son or daughter.
'Any food I can eat with my hands gets the thumbs up as far as I'm concerned. The chop is a classic. You simply HAVE to pick them up and have a good old gnaw. Not necessarily a first date choice, but definitely a third date.'
- Sophie Thompson.
Love Donna xxxxxxxx
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