Darina Allen: Here are my favourite recipes from my brother's new book (2024)

Rory is a natural teacher and everyone loves the way he takes the mystery out of cooking and gently nudges us all to be a little adventurous. This book answers two frequently asked questions: How do I to put a nicely balanced meal together; and and what do I serve with what?

Almost all the meals in Cook Well Eat Well are three courses. Rory sometimes suggests vegetables or a salad to serve with the meal, some of the recipes can be used over multiple seasons with a simple tweak of an ingredient to suit the time of the year you are cooking in. Rory’s starting point is always the freshest local food in season; he reminds us that it’ll be at its best and least expensive then and much easier to transform into something yummy, delicious and properly nourishing.

Rory has the added talent of being able to effortlessly make each and every plate look beautiful. Cook Well Eat Well is published by Gill Books; here are a few recipes to whet your appetite.

Beetroot and Autumn Raspberries with Honey, Mint and Labneh

Beetroot and raspberries taste very good together and the labneh adds the savoury note. Labneh, a simple drippedyogurtcheese, is very easy to make, though you do need to start the process the previous day or at least early in the morning if you are serving it for dinner. There are many uses for labneh, and once you make it for the first time you will probably wonder why you never made it before. Search out full-fat thick organicyogurtfor a rich and creamy result.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 medium beetroots, about 250g in total with tail and 3cm of stalk attached
• Sea salt and freshly ground
• Black pepper
• Pinch of caster sugar
• 24 fresh raspberries
• 20 small fresh mint leaves

Labneh

• 500g full-fat naturalyogurt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Dressing

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon honey

Method:

To make the labneh, take a double thickness square of clean muslin or a fine linen glass cloth and place it over a sieve sitting over a bowl.

Add theyogurtand olive oil and tie the four corners of the muslin to make a knot. Secure the knot with some string. You now need to hang the tied muslin bag by the string over the bowl to allow the whey in theyogurtto drip off for at least 8 hours, leaving you with a soft cheese. I hang the bag from a cup hook attached to a shelf and that works perfectly. If that all sounds too complicated, justsitthe muslin bag in a sieve over a deep bowl and that also will do the job quite successfully. When the whey has all dripped out, simply remove the muslin and chill the cheese, covered, until you are ready to serve it. It will keep in the fridge for three or four days.

Rinse the beetroots under a cold running tap, being careful not to break off the little tail. Place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a pinch of salt and sugar to the water. Bring to a simmer, cover and continue to simmer until the skin rubs off the beetroots easily when pushed. This can take anywhere from 30 minutes for fresh new season beetroots to 2 hours for older beets, so it is impossible to give an absolute time. The cooked beets should be very tender all the way through.

Peel off the skin and any remaining stalk and cut off the tail. The beets can be prepared up to this point hours ahead or even the previous day.

To make the dressing, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, honey and some salt and pepper together. Taste and correct the seasoning.

To assemble the salad, slice the beetroots very thinly (I use a mandolin for this) and divide between four serving plates (the salad can also be assembled family style on a large flat platter and brought to the table). Cut some of the raspberries in half lengthways and some in cross-section slices and scatter over the beetroots. Whisk the dressing well and spoon some of it on. Place a dessertspoon of labneh in the centre of each plate. Scatter on the mint leaves and a final drizzle of dressing and serve.

Taken from Rory O’ Connell’s Cook Well Eat Well published by Gill Books

Parsnip Soup with Harissa

I always buy my root vegetables unwashed — in other words, with some of thesoilthey grew in still attached. They have a great deal more flavour than ones that have had their protective coat of earth scrubbed off and also keep much better and for longer than the cleaned ones.

Serves 6–8

Ingredients:

• For the soup
• 25g butter
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 500g parsnips, peeled and diced
• 100g potato, peeled and diced
• 100g white onion, peeled and diced
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
• sea salt and freshly ground
• black pepper
• 750ml homemade chicken stock
• splash of cream (optional)
• 2 tablespoons harissa, see recipe
• best-quality extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• For the Harissa; makes 1 small jar
• 6 medium hot red chillies, such as cayenne, jalapeno or Serrano
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed to a paste
• 1½ tablespoons tomato puree
• 3 teaspoons cumin seeds, roasted and ground
• 3 teaspoons coriander seeds, roasted and ground
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar or lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of caster sugar

Method:

Melt the butter and olive oil in a medium saucepan set over a medium heat until the butter foams. Add the prepared parsnips, potato, onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables and seasoning in the fat until well coated, then cover with a piece of parchment or greaseproof paper. Pop the lid on the saucepan and cook on avery gentle heat

to sweat the vegetables. If the heat is too high the vegetables may stick to the bottom of the saucepan and burn. Cook for 15–20 minutes, until some of the vegetables are beginning to soften at the edges and collapse.

Add the stock and bring to a simmer again butdon’tboil

,as some of the stock may evaporate and the soup will be too thick. Cover with the lid and continue to cook on that gentle heat until the vegetables are completely tender. This will take about 15 minutes.

Purée the soup to a silky-smooth consistency. Taste and correct the seasoning. At thispointI sometimes add a little more stock or a splash of cream to correct the consistency and the flavour.

Serve in hot bowls with a teaspoon of harissa and a drizzle of your best extra virgin olive oil on each serving.

For theHarrisa:

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Place thechilieson a small roasting tray and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. The skins will be blackening and blistering and coming away from the flesh. Place the roasted chillies in a bowl, seal tightly with cling film and allow to cool. When cool, peel off the skins and slit the chillies to remove the seeds. You just want the roasted flesh of the chilli for the harissa.

Place the chillies in a food processor or use a pestle and mortar. Add the garlic, tomato puree and ground spices and process to a smooth-ish purée. Gradually add the oil and vinegar. Add the chopped coriander leaves and season to taste, adding a tiny pinch of sugar if you feel the flavour needs a lift. The taste should be strong, hot and pungent.

Stored in a covered container such as a jam jar in the fridge, the harissa will keep perfectly for several months.

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Taken from Rory O’ Connell’s Cook Well Eat Well published by Gill Books

St Tola Goats’ Cheese

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 30g raisins
• 2 tablespoons Pedro Ximénez
• (PX) sherry
• 4 slices of St Tola goats’ cheese ash log (approx. 100g)
• 16–20 small rocket leaves
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• squeezeof lemon juice
• sea salt and freshly cracked
• black pepper

Method:

Place the raisins in a small saucepan and pour over the sherry. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer to a small container andleave to soak for 6 hours or overnight

The raisins will soak up some of the sherry and the remaining sherry will become syrupy.

Place a slice of cheese on each serving plate. Scatter the rocket leaves around the cheese, making sure that the beautiful black line of ash on the outside of the cheese is visible in its entirety. Drizzle the olive oil over the leaves and a little over the cheese, then squeeze a little lemon juice to follow the olive oil.

Carefully divide the sherry-soaked raisins and syrupy juices between the plates and finish each serving with a small twist of black pepper and a few grains of sea salt.

Taken from Rory O’ Connell’s Cook Well Eat Well published by Gill Books

Winter Chocolate Apple Pudding

This is a variation of the classic apple betty, which is a simple pudding that I love. This combination of bitter cooking apple, chocolate and the flavours of Christmas mincemeat is also charming. This is an ideal vehicle for using up last year’smincemeat.

The pudding needs to be served warm on hot plates with cold softly whipped cream on the side.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1kg Bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into large chunks
• 30g butter
• 2 tablespoons water
• For the crumb layer
• 150g mincemeat
• 125g soft white breadcrumbs
• 75g light soft brown sugar
• 50g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
• 75g butter
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• To serve
• chilled softly whipped cream
• Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Method:

Put the apples in a pan and toss with the butter and water over a gentle heat. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the apples start to soften and are collapsing just a little at the edges but still generally keeping their shape. Tip them into a 1.5-litre baking dish.

Mix together the mincemeat, breadcrumbs, sugar and chocolate and cover the apples loosely with this topping. Melt the butter and golden syrup together in a small saucepan and pour it over the crumbs, making certain to soak them all.

Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, until theappleis soft and the crumbs are golden and crisp. Allow to cool slightly, then serve in heated bowls with chilled softly whipped cream.

Taken from Rory O’ Connell’s Cook Well Eat Well published by Gill Books