The Commonsense Cook

Book excerpt: Colin Fassnidge knows good food. As a celebrated chef and popular television personality, he has built his reputation on delicious food and his distinctive no-nonsense advice for home cooks. When it comes to cooking at home, Colin believes it comes down to commonsense. Master the basics - a simple omelette, a failsafe pizza base, a green sauce that goes with everything, the perfect roast - and you have the foundations for countless meals. Embrace cheaper cuts of meat, minimise waste wherever possible, have a good stock of pantry staples and, whatever you do, don't throw out those delicious parmesan rinds! Turn leftovers into things of beauty. Create a simple yet show-stopping whole roasted cauliflower and turn the leftovers into a miso-based soup. A beef cheek pie filling doubles as a delicious pasta sauce when tossed through orecchiette. Choose your own ice-cream adventure with the perfect base for many flavours. This is real family food made easy. Recipes include: Simple Sweetcorn and Bacon Fritters; Greens and Ricotta Turnovers; Roast Potatoes with Rosemary Vinegar; Super-crispy Tempura-style Fish with Mushy Peas; Salt-crusted Chicken; Milk-poached Pork Neck with Soft, Cheesy Polenta; Shepherd's Pie with Crushed Kipfler Crust; Irish Stew in Oz; Rhubarb Jam Doughnuts; Chocolate-Orange Mousse with Homemade Honeycomb. This is a specially formatted fixed-layout ebook that retains the look and feel of the print book.