It was a present, I swear on my favorite copy of Elizabeth David’s French Provincial cooking, I didn’t break the promise I made to myself to enjoy the cookbooks I already have and stop punishing the buckling shelf by making new acquisitions. It was my birthday present from my brother and Kate along with a pair of stripy socks (wearing stripy socks nearly always makes me feel better).
No place like home is the first book by the renowned chef (most notably at Kensington Palace for 20 years and now at his superlative new restaurant Le Cafè Anglais) and food writer Rowley Leigh. But as the title suggests this is not a ‘cheffy’ book but one in which RL returns to his own home kitchen and writes passionately celebrating the joy of simple, seasonal eating at home with family and good friends.
We know RL is a stunning chef but through this book he now reveals himself to be an utterly likable, very human, natural cook and cookbook writer. His food is honest and utterly inviting and in extremely good taste. His writing communicates, it is elegant, witty and wise. The recipes are seasonally arranged and range from the familiar classics, roast chicken, mashed potato, braised ham, cod with parsley sauce, summer pudding, lemon tart, tart tatin or simply an apple and cheese to the more unusual, chilled avocado and almond soup, sea kale with blood orange hollandaise, oyster and onion tart, roasted grouse.
The book is beautifully….really really beautifully illustrated by Lucinda Rogers.
