Alex Mackay’s Cookbook for EVERYBODY EVERYDAY

Alex Mackay believes that cooking is an adventure and that good food should be for everyone. You don’t have to spend a fortune on hard-to-come-by ingredients, or have an encyclopaedic knowledge of cooking methods to eat well and healthily. Alex knows that most of us shop in the supermarket and work from nine to five. The trick is to know a few basic recipes inside-out and to reinvent them so they never grow tired.

Everybody Everyday is divided into three parts: basic main ingredients, essentials for the fridge and slow-cooked dishes. Every part is a selection of ‘hero’ recipes, each followed by six delicious variations. So, once you know how to bake salmon fillets, it’s a short step to baked salmon with fennel, olives warm balsamic and tomato dressing or five other options. Homemade basil pesto can become mozzarella and pesto meatballs with roast garlic, tomato and peppers; beef rump with pesto, grainy mustard, beetroot and pak-choi; no sweat pesto risotto with sautéed vegetables and sunblush tomatoes; spinach, crème fraiche, penne, parmesan and pesto bake; lamb shoulder chops with fried new potatoes, cherry tomatoes, olives and pesto; braised sea bass fillets with beans, peas and pesto

With 126 adaptable recipes, this really is a book for everybody who wants to cook delicious food everyday – be they young, old, single, part of a large family, new to cooking or an old hand. 

Alex Mackay worked as a chef at Michelin-starred restaurants in France, Italy and the UK. Having run Raymond Blanc’s cookery school and founded the internationally acclaimed Baou d’Infer cookery school in Provence, he now teaches alongside Delia Smith. His first book Cooking in Provence was a winner at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Alex lives near Oxford with his wife and two sons.

Alex will be in New Zealand next week and there are public events in Auckland and Wellington, giving budding home chefs an opportunity to learn about how to cook wonderful meals everyday.

Auckland readers can meet Alex at Cook the Books as he will be a guest speaker in-store on Monday 9 July. You can RSVP for this free event at Cook the Books 139 Richmond Road at this link here: http://bit.ly/LjJt16

In Wellington, Alex will be demonstrating recipes at Moore Wilsons from 10am on Thursday 12 July. Tickets are available now from Tory St Fresh Coffee Counter, and include a complimentary coffee at the event. More information to be found here: http://bit.ly/LJZSyJ 

PUBLISHED:  1 July 2012

Bloomsbury- Hardcover

NZRRP:  $49.99


I have made one recipe from this new book and the publishers have kindly agreed to let me reproduce it here.
Next I have my eye on Richly Braised lentils, and then one of the six belly pork recipes - probably Roast belly pork with vegetables and noodles.


Pork chop with crunchy crumbs & cauliflower

I looked at my cauliflower and said, ‘Show me what you can do, petal.’ She showed me salad and purée so delicious that they enjoy equal billing with the pork. Parsley crumbs add another layer, their taste made rich by the brown butter. This nutty butter links the pork to the cauliflower purée, which I learnt to make with Jean Bardet in Tours. He served it as an amuse gueule with raspberry purée, a pretty shocking combination in the early 90s.

The soft, sweet cauliflower purée is ideal for kids. For younger kids, slice the pork thinly. Leave the shallot out of the salad, serve the kids, then add the shallot to yours. Chop the parsley very finely. Good to purée or chop and freeze for babies and toddlers.

SERVES 2

Sides (pages 320–43)

None needed. For bulk, plain grains or bread

Prep ahead Puree and salad, up to an hour ahead

Prep/cooking 35–40 mins

Active time 25–30 mins

400g cauliflower, with its small leaves

45g butter

120ml milk

2 tsp red wine vinegar

4 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced

6 tbsp sliced flat-leaf parsley

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 pork chops, about 200g each, skin cut off, leaving a 5mm–1cm layer of fat

6 tbsp coarse, crisp

breadcrumbs (either homemade, see page 21, or shop-bought)

2 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt, curry powder and freshly ground black pepper

1.            Preheat your oven to 50°C/lowest Gas. Put a plate with a rack on it in the oven to rest the pork on. Put a bowl next to the cooker to drain the fat into. Boil your kettle. Put a colander in your sink.

2.            Start with the puree. Fill a medium-sized saucepan with water from your kettle. Add salt. Bring to the boil. Chop 300g of the cauliflower, including all the stalk, into 3cm pieces. Add to the boiling water. Cover and bring back to the boil. Take the lid off. Boil for 8 minutes or until very soft. Drain in your colander. Add 20g of the butter to the pan and cook over a medium heat until pale brown; don’t let it burn. Return the cauliflower to the pan. Add the milk and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat. Using a blender, puree the mixture for 3–4 minutes until very smooth. Scoop into a bowl. Season.

3.            While the cauliflower boils, make the dressing and salad. Get a medium bowl. Cut the remaining 100g cauliflower florets into 5mm slices. Put them into the bowl with the small leaves. Add the wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, shallot and 2 tbsp of the parsley. Toss together. Season to taste.

4.            Get a medium-sized frying pan. Add the vegetable oil and get it really hot. Season the chops with salt and curry powder. Use tongs to hold the chops fat side down in the pan and fry for 30 seconds. Lay the chops on one side. Fry for 2–3 minutes over a medium-high heat. Turn. Fry for 2–3 minutes on the other side. Lower the heat to medium. Drain the fat. Add the remaining 25g butter, cut into 6 pieces. Fry for 1 minute on each side; don’t let the butter burn. Rest the chops on the rack in the oven for 3–5 minutes, turning the oven off and leaving the door slightly ajar.

5.            Add the breadcrumbs to the frying pan. Stir and scrape until they absorb all of the pan juices. Put the pan back on a medium heat and toast the crumbs for 30 seconds until golden. Stir in the remaining 4 tbsp of parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Take the pan off the heat.

6.            Heat the cauliflower puree in your microwave or in a pan for 1–2 minutes. Brush the chops with their resting juices, then the mustard. Coat them with the breadcrumbs. Serve with the cauliflower puree and salad.