February 24, 2021

Cook, Eat, Repeat by Nigella Lawson

I love a good cookbook and I love a good story, and the two come together in Cook, Eat, Repeat by Nigella Lawson. Like her previous books, the cookbook contains really good (and well tested) recipes. I think she has a gift for writing and storytelling, and this book is no exception to her talents, and she makes talking about a simple recipe seem much more important that feeding people. Her chapter What is a Recipe? is a wonderful read.

A recipe can be many things: a practical document; a piece of social history; an anthropological record; a family legacy; an autobiographical statement; even a literary exercise. You don’t have to take your pick: the glory of food is that, beyond sustenance, it comprises a little of everything – aesthetics and manual labour, thrown in.

Book Contents

The book has 6 main sections with recipes revolving around them: A is For Anchovy; Pleasures; A Loving Defense of Brown Food; Rhubarb; Much Depends on Dinner; and Christmas Comforts. The Make-Ahead, Store and Freeze Notes has storage notes for the recipes in the book. An excellent reading and cooking book.

Lawson’s recipes are long and full of detail and I love the process of how she cooks. Below is the recipe for Anchovy Elixir, one of my favorites from the book, with the procedure truncated.

Anchovy Elixir

Print Recipe

Ingredients

4 ounces salt-packed anchovies
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

Instructions

Soak the anchovies in water to cover for 5 minutes, drainthe water, and then repeat. After the second soaking for 5 minutes, rinse eachanchovy individually cleaning each one and removing the tails.
Place all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until themixture is smooth and uniform.
Serve with crudite or fresh crusty bread, or use as a sauce for grilled or pan seared meats.