Fast & Fresh by Louise Pickford

This is Louise Pickford's fourth book for Ryland Peters & Small and in Fast & Fresh, she has set out to deliver you recipes that take a fraction of time to prepare, yet have plenty of punch. She has put these recipes in competition with the time it takes to order and collect a takeaway. There is no time for daydreaming: some can be ready in minutes while others might take half an hour. Her aim is to give you a quick yet delicious fix.

As with all cooks, she cannot urge you enough to buy your ingredients seasonally. What makes Louise special is her ability to bring together different flavours that are well balanced yet complement each other. She is a firm believer in homemade flavoured oils, the very things that can make all the difference. So read on.

If you buy garlic oil, it is worth making your own and Louise's formula is simple. Peel the cloves of a whole head of garlic and put in a saucepan with bay leaves and 600 ml of fine extra virgin olive oil. Heat gently for fifteen minutes until the garlic has softened, making sure you don't let it brown. Cool and remove garlic and mash. Return it to the oil and then keep in the fridge, remembering to get it out an hour before you want to use it.

We particularly like pea shoot salad with wasabi mayonnaise. Pea shoots are the tendrils and baby leaves of mange tout, which you can often find in Chinese and South-east Asian markets but failing that watercress works well. Try her wasabi mayonnaise with other things too, such as crudités. It's simple enough to make: just mix one tablespoon of wasabi paste with two tablespoons of rice vinegar and stir into 300 ml mayonnaise.

Prawns with chilli oil is a good stand by dish. You can use precooked prawns. Serve with her delicious pistachio and mint pesto to take the fire out of the chilli. At breakfast, you can simply make Louise's version of pain au chocolat. Roll out some puff pastry, cut into squares. Put a square or two of good quality white chocolate, dust with mixed spice and fold the pastry over to make a triangle, sealing it. Brush with egg yolk and cook in a hot oven for ten to fifteen minutes until golden. This is so easy and so delicious that you will wonder why you haven't done it before.

Recipes in Fast & Fresh cover all meals from starters to fruity and indulgent puddings and some drinks for good measure. Your local takeaway never looked so far away.

Publication details:
144 pp. Photography by Peter Cassidy. £16.99
Published by Ryland Peters & Small
ISBN 1841724033
2003

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