Soups, Starters and Snacks

This first chapter contains a wide variety of dishes, several of which could even be served as main courses for lunch or supper. Many of the soups, for instance, are quite filling and, eaten with some chunky bread, would make good and satisfying meals on their own.

Perhaps the first thing you’ll notice about my recipes is that the titles are very basic and simple. This continues throughout the book because far too often, I think, recipes are described as if they were a book. My Chicken Liver Parfait would probably read elsewhere as ‘A mousse of light chicken livers spiked with garlic and brandy, bound with cream, on crisp bread with wilted green leaves and a compote of grapes, apples and onions.’ If I read that, my imagination would probably run riot, visualising a towering dish with every item perfectly placed and looking as if a food Meccano set was used to build it! The reality might be a little disappointing.