Product Description

TV's most popular chef, Gordon Ramsay, bridges the gap between his famous chef's table (situated in the white heat of his restaurant kitchen) and his table at home with Tana and their young family. His latest cookbook is packed with simple, seasonal, modern British recipes. Gordon lives life in the fast lane, travelling the world to foster his many hugely successful business enterprises and to film his highly acclaimed TV series. But, despite the commitments of a busy work life, he has always believed that families should sit around their tables to eat together as much as possible. His latest cookbook gathers together over 100 inspiring and well-constructed recipes which everyone will enjoy cooking for their friends and family, including Chorizo, broad bean and mint couscous, Scallop brochettes with coriander and chilli butter, Smoked salmon and horseradish cream tarts and Toffee and chocolate steamed pudding. The recipes embody Gordon's strongly held opinion that we should support local producers and farmers' markets, that we should cook with seasonal fresh ingredients which haven't travelled miles to reach our plates and that we should celebrate the wealth of regional dishes available to us from Cornish crab soup to Bakewell tarts. Gordon shares the dishes that he loves to cook (and eat) when he's off duty. With chapters covering Hot and Cold Soups; Pasta and Grains; Fish and Shellfish; Meat and Poultry; Pies and Tarts; Vegetables and Salads; Puddings and Ices and Coffee and Chocolate, each recipe is introduced with an insight into why he has chosen it and includes tips on how to re-create it perfectly. With emphasis on simplicity for stunning results, the majority of the recipes are short and easy to cook. This beautiful book has been created by one of Britain's top designers, in tandem with an amazing young photographer. While food is king in this book, sprinkled as it is with candid photos of Gordon and the family, Cooking for Friends allows you to share his love of life and the good things in it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2765 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-15
• Released on: 2008-09-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 269 pages

Review
'beautifully illustrated.' --Sunday Tribune

Review
'an engaging read.'

From the Author
As a chef, I work at a thousand miles an hour, but when I'm at home, I want to slow down. I leave my chef's jacket at work, and I walk into a domestic setting, where everything is completely different. At home, our kitchen is family run, and it's a relaxed place. A lot of people see cooking as a chore, but we bring an element of fun into it.

I can't sit at home with my feet up, reading the newspaper. But having said that, I am beginning to learn about being calm. Everyone always imagines that it must be hectic in the Ramsays' kitchen, but it's not. We turn cooking into serious fun. To an extent, everything we do is spontaneous. I don't have rules and regulations at home, but what I do have is a very hands-on family. It's not me standing there, cooking away and everyone watching.

I'm always excited around food. There are so many opportunities to prepare and eat good food in the home if you have the patience and determination. Once you've got good at making amazing fresh pasta, you will want to make ravioli. Once you've mastered the perfect ravioli, you will want to get more intricate with the filling. A domestic kitchen is a far superior place to what it was ten years ago. And we're competitive as a nation. We want to outdo our neighbours. We know and understand the importance of eating well, so mix that with our natural peacock tendency to be the one who hosts the best dinner parties, and you are on the path to a whole new dimension in your life at home.

But don't get overconfident and miss the point when preparing a dinner party. Lighten up, have a glass of wine. Have your guests in the kitchen with you, and instead of showing off to them, involve them. Delegate the starter and the dessert while you tend to the main course. What can be difficult for me when going to dinner parties is when people hang on your every forkful. The food has been prepared in order to be enjoyed. It should be relaxing, not there to take you into a stress zone.

Customer Reviews

A different tempo from Gordon Ramsay
as he leaves his chef's jacket at work!

From the front cover flap:-

'Away from the high-octane energy of the professional kitchen, Gordon's home is a relaxed family affair, where cooking s fun and everyone gets involved in preparing food for family and friends. The food Gordon cooks here embodies his strongly held views: use in-season, fresh ingredients at their peak; support local producers and farmers' markets whenever we can; and celebrate our food culture and its many influences.....
...'Cooking for Friends' is full of Gordon's best-loved versions of classic British dishes.....and contains more than 100 of his favourite recipes, which he loves to cook and eat with friends and family - uncomplicated recipes but with Gordon's remarkable feeling for flavour and his technical know-how.'

From the introduction:-

'As a chef, I work at a thousand miles an hour, but when I'm at home, I want to slow down. I leave my chef's jacket at work, and I walk into a domestic setting, where everything is completely different. At home, our kitchen is family-run, and it's a relaxed place. A lot of people see cooking as a chore, but we bring an element of fun into it..........'

269 high quality matt pages split over 9 chapters:-

Hot and cold soups
Pasta and grains
Fish and shellfish
Meat and poultry
Pies and tarts
Vegetables and salads
Puddings and ices
Chocolate and coffee
Basics

sandwiched between a 9-page introduction and a full index, which is enhanced with finished-dish illustrations shown in italics.

Each chapter opens with some relevant notes and a list of the recipes contained within, for quick reference.
Each recipe is clearly laid out with a bold title and relevant text, along wiith the method, the number of servings and the list of ingredients. The page numbers are on the edge of the right hand page, which aids quick flicking!
The book is interspersed with illustrations of the finished dishes, although these are rather fewer than expected, in my opinion.....(hence my four star rating)...... along with on-location shots of GR, his family and friends.

My favourite pud is no particular secret, and, as I share Gordon's passion for the caramelized apple flavour and texture in an Apple Tarte Tatin..... his recipe for 'Caramelized Apple Pie', from page 207, really hits the spot:-

'I love the flavour of caramelized apples in a tarte tatin, and this is a way of bringing that flavour into a classic apple pie.
Also, because the apples are pre-cooked, they won't shrink during baking and create air pockets inside the pie.
I like to serve the pie while it's still warm with either a little pouring cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.'

A delicious twist which makes the finished product taste divine, and following on from G's 'Lamb Shank Cassoulet` served with sautéed savoy cabbage and chunks of malted grain bread....simply SUPER to share, after an October stroll in the woods with all our friends!
Which... of course....is what this book is all about!

A taste of other recipes within:-

Asparagus velouté
Conger eel bisque
Crayfish chowder
Farfalle with bacon, peas and sage
Grilled vegetable lasagne
Gordon's posh kedgeree (video feature above)
Wild mushroom barley risotto
Fish curry with lime and coconut rice
Grilled herrings with harissa
Fisherman's stew
Poached rabbit legs with gremolata
Pork fillet stroganoff
Home-made bangers
Classic mixed grill
Angus beef olives
Sweet potato and duck rösti with fried duck eggs
Honey roast ham
Shepherd's pie with Branston pickle
Cornish chicken pie
Fish pie with oysters and scallops
Roast winter vegetables
Spicy cauliflower stir-fry
Mixed mushroom salad
Pickled onions
Autumn fruit salad with thyme and ginger
Custard tart
Lemon meringue pie
Chocolate swirl cheesecake
Chocolate and coffee pots
Dark chocolate marquise

All in all, a 'homely'-type book, which is clear from the GR notes throughout, e.g.:-

From 'Pasta and grains`:-

'At home, we don't just stick to rice and spaghetti. Tana has begun to feed the kids a vegetarian meal once a week, which means being creative in combining pulses, grains and pasta with a variety of vegetables.
The kids love it when she experiments.
When the weather is cold we use a lot of barley, adding it to soups, stews, and winter salads. Barley can even take the place of rice in risotto.
The excellent barley risotto here has featured many a time on our restaurant menus............'

Easy to follow
Gordon Ramsay is a GREAT chef - but sometimes his recipes can be too complex for the enthusiastic amateur like myself.
However, this book is just right - in that the recipes are excellent and there is some great stuff in here but, most importantly, the recipes are well written and easy to follow.
I think this is perfect for those who want to cook quality dishes for dinner parties but not spend several days in the kitchen preparing for it!!
Highly recommended.

No more books Gordon!
Just how can a chef find time to run so many restaurants, appear on so much tv, contribute on a regular basis to magazines and write so many books every year? This book is proof that he has an army of people doing quite a lot of the work for him - look at the credits and you will see that somebody else has come up with the recipes. If somebody has their name over the door of a restaurant you expect them to be in the kitchen. If somebody has their name on a book cover you would expect them to have written it. Otherwise, you feel cheated, don't you? The book itself is not designed particularly well and is not easy to use. The recipes do not inspire and there aren't the insights and unique tips you would expect from such a lauded chef. Give it a miss.