Photo by Tara Fisher and Patricia Niven
The star of this week’s CookbookCorner is more than just a compilation of gorgeous recipes: it’s a moving collection of precious food memories that testify to the enduring impact of what we eat — the taste, the smell, the profound sense of being taken care of — on our emotional life and well-being. It would be a lovely book just as it is, but it has deeper significance: brought out to support Magic Breakfast, a sadly and shamefully vital charity, 100 per cent of the proceeds will go towards making sure as many children as possible don’t go to school on an empty stomach. I was honoured to be asked to contribute a recipe, and I know that you lovelies will want to support this important cause, too. And you can do this simply enough by buying the book, whether for yourself, as a Christmas present — or, indeed, both!
All the recipes in this anthology spoke deeply to me, but let me just give you a delicious shortlist: the wonderful Nieves Barragán Mohacho’s Huevos Rotos, a dish from Northern Spain of potatoes, onions, Iberico ham and eggs; Ping Coombes’s Hakka Noodles from Malaysia; Clerkenwell Boy’s Cheese and Marmite Babka; Stanley Tucci’s Potato Croquettes; Anita Cheung’s Cantonese Healing Chicken Soup; Rosie Sykes’s Kiwi Egg and Bacon Pie; Ken Hom’s Comforting Rice with Chinese Sausage; Yotam Ottolenghi’s Hope Poppel, a Berlin-originating bake of eggs, potatoes and frankfurters bound in a cheesy cream; Sabrina Ghayour’s Minced Beef and Onion Crispy Pancakes; José Pizarro’s Churros; Nigel Slater’s Pear and Ginger Cake; Anna del Conte’s Lemon Granita; Richard Bertinet’s Far Breton, “an ancient Breton dish, like a cross between crème caramel, crème brûlée, flan and creamy custard, dotted with rum-soaked prunes”; and Felicity Spector’s Rhubarb Cobbler with Custard. And yes, I know it’s a rather long shortlist, but it’s a testament to the loveliness of this book that I just can’t whittle it down more. The recipe I’m delighted to be sharing with you today is from Henry Harris, chef at one of my favourite London restaurants, Bouchon Racine, and is his Chicken Liver Pâté, which I couldn’t help choosing as, apart from its deliciousness, it reminds me so forcefully of the very chicken liver pâté my mother always used to make.
These Delicious Things by Jane Hodson, Lucas Hollweg & Clerkenwell Boy is a charity cookbook publishing in support of Magic Breakfast, and is available now from Pavilion Books, HarperCollins (£25).
