1000 Recipe Cookbook

Introduction

Whatever type of food you are passionate about, whether you need to plan menus for feeding a large family, three courses for an elegant dinner party or a romantic meal for two, this selection of 1000 fabulous recipes is sure to inspire you for each and every occasion.

Many of the recipes included in the book are considered classics, and they have become so partly because they have proven so popular over the years. Often when we go to a restaurant, we instinctively order those dishes that we know we have enjoyed time and again. But likely as not, going out to a restaurant to treat yourself to these favourites is not something you can either afford or want to do every day. So this book contains dozens of these classic recipes for you to make and enjoy at home.

The 1000 recipes featured here offer you a veritable treasure trove of dishes from which to choose, representing cuisines from all around the world. You will find traditional British, French, Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Caribbean, Moroccan, Indian, Chinese, Thai and Japanese recipes, to name but a few. All the essentials are there: roast beef and Yorkshire pudding from Britain, coq au vin from France, paella and gazpacho from Spain, lasagne and spaghetti bolognese from Italy, chicken chow mein from China and chicken korma from India.

But you will also find hundreds of more unusual recipes. They might be innovative variations on a familiar dish, such as turkey and spinach Lasagna; use ingredients that you have not used before, such as quail's eggs, guinea fowl or okra; or may offer a really surprising combination of ingredients, such as cod with mango.

Virtually every cooking method ever invented is utilized in these 1000 recipes. There are the ones we use every day, such as grilling, frying and baking, but you will find also poaching, braising and stewing. Even those techniques traditionally regarded as a bit trickier, such as those required to make pastries, soufflés and mousses, have been made straightforward and accessible by the simple and easy-to-follow recipe instructions, and the majority of recipes in the book require minimal preparation.

Nowadays more and more of us are concerned about eating a healthy and balanced diet, and for this reason we have included a wide range of specifically lower-calorie recipes throughout all the chapters in the book.

The recipes as a whole have been organized into 17 chapters to help you find exactly what you are looking for. The Soups chapter will impress you with the range and variety of recipes. There are hearty soups such as minestrone and Scotch broth, which, when served with warm crusty bread, can be a main meal in their own right. There are chilled soups perfect for a summer afternoon, and numerous others using meat, fish and vegetable ingredients that make ideal starters for dinner parties.

The Starters and Canapés chapter offers everything from salads, tarts and breads to fritters and pâtés, offering a range of options for meat eaters, fish lovers and vegetarians alike. The Salads chapter that follows shows that a salad is a lot more than just a bunch of green leaves! Here you will find light, refreshing salads, salads that make ideal accompaniments to main courses, or even salads that are substantial enough to form a complete meal.

The two chapters on Eggs and Cheese and Pasta, Grains and Pulses demonstrate the variety of taste sensations that can be achieved using these apparently simple ingredients. And of course, eggs, cheese, pasta and rice are used in recipes in other chapters as well. Savoury Pies and Tarts are given a chapter all to themselves so that you can feel confident working with pastry, to make pies, flans and quiches. The recipes chosen in these chapters offer you great versatility, as many can be used as either starters or main courses, depending on your needs.

There are no fewer than five chapters devoted to main courses, and the first of these offers you mouth-watering stews and casseroles. Casseroles are enjoying a great resurgence in popularity as we rediscover the virtues of slow cooking and of cooking a complete meal in one pot. They require minimal preparation and you simply cook them in the oven or on the hob. Perfect for family and everyday meals, some are also sophisticated enough to serve at dinner parties or more formal occasions.

More often than not meat is the choice for any main course, whether intended for a weekday dinner or special occasion. When planning a dinner menu, you need to choose the right meat to complement the other courses and the wine, if any, you intend to serve. All the beef recipes are therefore grouped together, as are all the pork recipes, lamb recipes and so on. There are also some tasty recipes to make with venison and other game meat if you are feeling more adventurous.

The Chicken and Other Poultry chapter offers numerous imaginative ways to serve chicken – it is such a versatile meat which can be combined with any number of other ingredients. 'Poultry' does not simply mean chicken, however, as all the recipes using turkey, duck, poussin, guinea fowl and goose testify.

There are more types of fish than there are meat and poultry put together, so the chapter on Fish and Seafood will open your eyes to this great diversity and help you to expand your recipe repertoire. Similarly the Vegetables and Vegetarian chapter will surprise you with the huge range of delicious meals that are nourishing enough to appeal to the taste buds of even the most die-hard meat lover, while delighting all your vegetarian guests.

Dessert is often the course of a meal to which people look forward most. To help you plan your menus, we have dedicated three chapters to this finale: Hot Desserts and Puddings, Cold Desserts and Fruit Desserts. Choose from substantial hot sponge puddings, refreshing ice creams, sorbets, rich and creamy mousses and succulent fruit tarts and jellies. And not to forget all those other times when you want a snack or treat, we've included a chapter dedicated to biscuits and other sweet nibbles.

To supplement all the other recipes in the book, the last chapter offers you recipes for dips which can be served with crudités at parties; basic stocks and sauces, which you will find useful for all sorts of soups, casseroles and main courses; and dressings to accompany the salads.

Whatever the occasion and the taste preferences of your family and guests, you are bound to find recipes here to set your taste buds alight and your mouth watering for many years to come.

Soups

Soups are wonderfully versatile and can be made to appeal to a wide range of tastes and occasions. Vegetables, meat, poultry and seafood – all are used as ingredients for both light and heartier soups, which can be served either as starters or as meals in their own right. This chapter contains chilled soups such as vichysoisse and the Spanish classic gazpacho, traditional soups such as French onion and mulligatawny, and more unusual offerings such as Red Onion and Beetroot, and Curried Carrot and Apple.

Almond soup

serves 4

ingredients

225g/8oz blanched almonds, minced

3 egg yolks, hard-boiled

1.2 litres/2pt chicken stock

25g/1oz butter, softened

25g/1oz plain flour

125ml/4fl oz single cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Using a mortar and pestle, reduce the almonds to a paste with the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of the stock. Set aside.

• Make a beurre manié by working the butter and flour together into a smooth paste using a fork. Bring the remaining stock to a simmer in a heavy saucepan. Add the beurre manié in small knobs, whisking vigorously after each addition until completely dissolved. Whisk in the almond paste until smooth, then cook gently for 30 minutes.

• Strain the soup through a sieve into a clean pan. Add the cream, and season with salt and pepper. Reheat gently and serve.

Jerusalem artichoke soup

serves 4

ingredients

1 onion, sliced

50g/2oz butter

700g/11/2lb Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced

600ml/1pt milk

salt and ground white pepper

• In a heavy saucepan over a low heat, gently sweat the onion in the butter until soft and translucent.

• Add the artichokes to the onion. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring a few times.

• Add 600ml/1pint water and the milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer slowly – do not boil or the milk may curdle.

• Purée the soup using a blender or food processor. Taste and add more seasoning if needed. Reheat gently and serve.

Chilled avocado soup

serves 4

ingredients

2 ripe avocados

600ml/1pt chicken stock

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

salt

2 tablespoons sour cream, to serve

• Peel and stone the avocado. Blend or process the flesh into a purée. Add the remaining ingredients, except the sour cream, and blend until smooth. Allow to chill for a few hours before serving.

• To serve, add the sour cream, stir through and serve the soup chilled.

Bacon & split pea soup

serves 4

ingredients

50g/2oz dried split peas

25g/1oz butter

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 onion, thinly sliced

175g/6oz long-grain rice

2 tablespoons tomato purée

1.2 litres/2pt vegetable stock

175g/6oz carrots, diced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

4 tablespoons single cream

100g/4oz streaky bacon rashers

salt and ground black pepper

• Cover the split peas with plenty of cold water, cover loosely and leave to soak for at least 12 hours.

• Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over a medium heat, add the garlic and onion, and cook for 2–3 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the rice, drained soaked split peas and tomato purée, and cook for a further 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sticking. Add the stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20–25 minutes until the rice and peas are tender. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

• Blend three-quarters of the soup in a blender or food processor to form a smooth purée. Pour into the remaining soup in the saucepan. Add the carrots and cook for a further 10–12 minutes until the carrots are tender.

• Stir in the parsley and single cream. Keep warm.

• Finely chop the bacon and put in a frying pan over a gentle heat. Sauté until the bacon is crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Sprinkle over the soup, and season well with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Borscht

serves 6

ingredients

900g/2lb large raw beetroot

225g/8oz onion, diced

225g/8oz leeks, sliced

2 celery sticks, chopped

50g/2oz butter

600ml/1pt chicken stock

1 bay leaf

150ml/5fl oz soured cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Boil the beetroot whole in salted water for 15 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Peel and cut into 2.5cm/1in chunks.

• In a frying pan, gently sweat the onion, leek and celery in the butter until softened. Add the beetroot, stock and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, skim the surface, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

• Discard the bay leaf, and purée the soup in a blender or food processor. Return to a clean pan, season and bring back to the simmer. Remove from the heat, stir in the sour cream and serve.

Boston bean soup

serves 4

ingredients

850g/13/4lb canned cooked pinto beans, drained

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 celery stick, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

450ml/3/4pt beef stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Put the beans, tomatoes, celery, onion, bay leaf and stock in a medium saucepan. Cover the pan, and bring the mixture to the boil over a medium-high heat.

• Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are quite soft. Leave the soup to sit, uncovered, for a further 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

• Pureé half the soup in a blender or food processor. Mix into the remaining soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.

Carrot & coriander soup

serves 6

ingredients

175g/6oz onion, diced

50g/2oz butter

500g/1lb 2oz carrots, sliced

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1.2 litres/2pt vegetable stock

2 teaspoons caster sugar

150ml/5fl oz whipping cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• In a heavy saucepan, gently sweat the onion in the butter until soft and translucent. Add the carrots to the pan, and cook, stirring from time to time, for a further 5 minutes.

• Add the garlic and stock. Season with salt and pepper and the sugar. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

• Pour the contents of the pan into a blender or food processor, and blitz to a purée. Pour back into a clean pan, and add the cream and coriander. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then heat the soup through gently, stirring. Serve hot.

Catalan soup

serves 6

ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

900g/2lb beef mince

2 carrots, chopped

2 onions, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

25g/1oz plain flour

1.2 litres/2pt hot vegetable stock

• Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish over a medium heat. Sauté the beef until it is just cooked, then remove and keep to one side. Sauté the carrots, onions and tomatoes in the same pan for a few minutes, stirring continuously to prevent sticking.

• Blend in the flour using a wooden spoon, and cook for a few more minutes. Return the cooked mince to the casserole.

• Cover the mixture with the hot stock, and simmer the soup gently for about 45 minutes. Serve hot.

Cauliflower & walnut soup

serves 4

ingredients

1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets

1 onion, roughly chopped

450ml/3/4pt vegetable stock

450ml/3/4pt milk

25g/1oz walnut pieces

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Put the cauliflower, onion and stock in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until soft.

• Add the milk and walnuts, and stir through. Purée in a blender or food processor until smooth.

• Return the soup to the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then bring to the boil – be careful not to scorch. Serve hot.

Celery & Stilton soup

serves 4

ingredients

4 celery sticks, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

50g/2oz butter

45g/11/2oz plain flour

1/2 glass white wine

900ml/11/2pt chicken stock

300ml/10fl oz milk

225g/8oz crumbled Stilton cheese

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• In a heavy saucepan over a low heat, gently sweat the celery and onion in butter until soft. Add the flour and remove from the heat.

• Pour in the wine and stock, stirring continuously. Return to the heat and slowly bring to the boil, stirring until the mixture thickens. Simmer for 25 minutes.

• Add the milk, simmer for a further 2 minutes and remove from the heat. Whisk in the Stilton.

• Purée the soup in a blender or food processor, then push through a sieve into a clean pan. Season with salt and pepper.

• Reheat gently and serve.

Chicken soup