Author’s note

Good cooking starts with good shopping. Buy the best quality you can afford, and let your menu be guided by what looks best. Farmers’ markets are a great source of fresh, seasonal foods.

Stores of dried or canned foods are useful accompaniments to fresh ingredients, to add flavour or provide a shortcut. Beans and grains, spices and a few dried herbs, dried mushrooms, anchovies and olives, mustard, oils and vinegars, tinned tomatoes, soy and chilli sauce, chocolate, nuts and dried fruits are among my essentials.