I was lucky enough to study in England and live alongside some wonderfully representative citizens of this great country. It was thanks to exceptional cooks like Mrs Deborah Barfield that I came to genuinely appreciate the particular pleasures of British cuisine. I even discovered the joy of cooking while in England.
To fund my studies, I worked as an afternoon nanny in a lovely area of London. One day, the mother lent me a cookbook by Nigel Slater, saying: “You’ll see — it’s always delicious. Nigel doesn’t talk to you in grams but in sensations.” She was absolutely right. British cooking, at its best, is honest, comforting and full of character — from the perfectly crispy roast potato to a sublime Victoria sponge, a proper fish and chips or a gloriously golden shepherd’s pie.
Selles-sur-Cher is a soft, ash-coated goat cheese from the Loire Valley, its tender paste and mild tang making it perfect for stirring into a silky courgette velouté for a soup… Soupe Tourangelle carries the gentle character of the Touraine region in France’s Loire Valley — a comforting, creamy soup of potato and leek that makes for a perfect antidote to… A specialty of Lyon, Saucisson Brioché wraps a whole poaching sausage in soft, buttery brioche dough and bakes it until golden — an impressive centrepiece that slices into beautiful rounds…. Sardines have an unfair reputation for being strongly flavoured, but grilled fresh and simply, as they are on the Arcachon Bay on France’s Atlantic coast, they are a true summer… Slow-roasted pork marinated in garlic, citrus and warming spices is a fixture of Caribbean family celebrations, the meat turning fall-apart tender after hours in the oven. Ingredients 1.5 kg pork… A specialty of Lyon, quenelles are light, airy dumplings made from a choux-like batter, traditionally flavoured with fish (often pike) or simply plain, and poached before being finished in the… This gentle soup pays tribute to the sweet onions of the Val de Saône, once a staple crop of the region and the star of countless 19th-century farmhouse kitchens, simmered… Named after the town of Pithiviers, this striking pastry consists of two rounds of puff pastry enclosing a rich almond cream, with a distinctive spiral pattern scored into the golden… Patranque comes from the Cantal region of Auvergne, a resourceful peasant dish designed to use up stale bread by melting it together with Cantal cheese into a rich, savoury skillet… This classic Corsican omelette pairs fresh brocciu cheese with fragrant mint — the softness of the cheese and the brightness of the herb make for a wonderfully light and quick…
