CHEF and cookery book writer Claire Thomson thinks we're all a bit stuck. "We're all cooking the same thing day in, day out," she says, while roasting courgettes and crumbling feta over half-moons of avocado and hand-crumpled tortilla chips. After all, why stick with a same-old iceberg lettuce and tomato salad, when you can have spiced courgettes and tangy cheese? Why not get unstuck from your usual culinary habits?
This is the essence of the Bristol-based food writer's latest cookbook, New Kitchen Basics. In it, she aims to free us of our mindlessly relied-upon staples, and zhuzh them up without increasing the difficulty, and without asking you to track down out of the norm ingredients.
She calls the recipe collection – which is split into 10 core components, each focusing on a different ingredient; lemons, chocolate, cheese, mince, for example – "a manifesto on contemporary eating that isn't too esoteric, or too difficult to achieve".
And so, there are dishes like asparagus carbonara, meatball pho, Stilton and fig wholemeal scones and tomato fritters. Interesting takes on ingredients you're sure to have in the house.
"This book is an attempt to replicate the same feeling you might have of needing dinner fast and wanting to fall back on the dishes you know well, but giving you a new arsenal of recipes," explains Thomson, who you may know as the capable pair of hands behind the popular blog and Instagram account 5 O'Clock Apron, which sees the mum-of-three sharing the speedy suppers and mid-week dinners she makes her family.
But the idea is not to intimidate you with her own abilities to feed hundreds of children of a Wednesday night with no fuss, but to show you that it can be done – chef or not.
"I know that I have this knowledge because I am a chef," she admits. "I know how to make a stock and a risotto from the stock, but it's knowledge that's easily pushed out."
She's adamant it's possible to get a decent, home-cooked dinner on the table in 20 minutes, regardless of your kitchen skill level.
"It's just food, at the end of the day. I cook every day, it's just part of the natural rhythm of life, the kitchen is where I'm happiest," she says, explaining that the food world often does, but really shouldn't, feel unattainable.
"If you pare back to using good quality ingredients and cook them with the knowledge of how they perform, food's really easy," Thomson adds, noting that seasonal vegetables, pulses, grains, rice and pasta are all affordable for the majority of families, too. "These are all really cheap, if not cheaper than higher priced big chunks of protein and cheese."
Thomson has been cooking since adolescence, when she'd make "quite ambitious" dishes, at the expense of masses of washing up. Her mum would come back from work to "lots and lots of dirty pans – my sauce would go lumpy and then I'd sieve it again!" (Yes, she really was the kind of teen who'd sieve her bechamel sauce before slopping it in lasagne...).
Inspired by food writers like Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, and Simon Hopkinson, she studied journalism with a view to go into food writing, but got side-tracked by cheffing (to be fair, she did get there in the end).
"I loved being in kitchens in my 20s and early 30s. I really loved the machismo and dynamo, the pace. I'm quite competitive – the later and longer the shifts, the better," she recalls.
"My mum was like, 'What are you doing? You've got a degree and you're working with all these boys in sweaty kitchens!' But I loved it. And then of course, [I had] babies, and the two don't really match."
She says her experiences of kitchen culture and cheffy attitudes has been overwhelmingly positive; it's just that parenthood and late-night restaurant service aren't all that compatible.
Zimbabwe-born Thomson genuinely trusts that you "don't need some flash kitchen with a big great island in the middle to make good food".
It's simply a matter of approaching dinner with confidence: "Know your way around flavours and what goes with what. I just want people to be able to cook like I can."
The key, she says, is having what you need in the cupboards (she wrote at length about this in her last book, The Art Of The Larder) and having a plan. After all, if you've got arborio rice in the pantry, and some peas and chicken stock in the freezer, you can be eating risotto within 17 minutes.
"As a chef, you wouldn't even consider going into service without your mis-en-place ready, and that's set me in real good stead for motherhood," says Thomson. "You've just got to be organised."
Not convinced? "People can check up on me on Instagram, if they don't think I cook it all!" says Thomson. "I am there doing it in a real-time zone, among the normal mayhem of family life."
:: New Kitchen Basics by Claire Thomson, photography by Sam Folan, is published by Quadrille, priced £25. Below are three recipes from the book for you to try.
SPICED PERSIAN CHICKEN SKEWERS
(Serves 4)
1/2 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
100g Greek yogurt
2 pinches of saffron strands
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 nutmeg, grated
3 green cardamom pods, seeds finely ground
Pinch of chilli flakes, or to taste
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1tsp salt, plus extra to season
About 800g skinless boneless chicken (thighs are best) cut into 4cm dice
1tsp sumac, or a good squeeze of lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
In a food processor or blender, blend the onion with the yogurt, saffron, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, chilli, garlic and salt to create a marinade. Put the diced chicken in a large mixing bowl, add the marinade and give it a good stir to ensure all of the chicken is well coated. Cover and refrigerate for two to four hours to marinate.
Preheat the grill to medium-high and line a baking sheet with foil. Thread the chicken onto skewers and cook under the hot grill for about 10 minutes, turning the skewers midway to ensure the chicken cooks evenly, until cooked through and lightly charred all over. Remove from the grill and onto a serving plate, sprinkling with sumac or lemon juice.
SPICED ROASTED COURGETTE WITH LIME, AVOCADO AND BROKEN TORTILLA
(Serves 4)
4 courgettes, diced
Vegetable or olive oil
1-2tsp hot smoked paprika or chipotle chilli flakes
1tsp ground cumin
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
80-100g tortilla chips, broken up
2 avocados, flesh cut into bite-size pieces
100g feta cheese, crumbled
Small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
1-2 green chillies, finely sliced (optional; remove the seeds to reduce heat, if you like)
1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Preheat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/425F/Gas 7 and line two baking sheets with baking paper. Put the courgette in a bowl with a good measure of oil, half the paprika or chipotle and half the cumin. Season with salt and pepper, and mix until well coated. Spread evenly in a single layer on one of the prepared baking sheets and roast for about 10 minutes. Distribute the garlic in among the courgette and continue cooking for a further five minutes, until the courgettes are golden in places and tender throughout.
Mix a good measure of oil in a small bowl with the remaining spices. Spread the broken tortillas on the second baking sheet, pour over the spiced oil and turn through to coat evenly. Bake in the oven for about five to eight minutes, until toasted. Remove from the oven.
Scatter half the toasted tortillas over a large serving dish. Top with the cooked courgette and the avocado, then distribute the feta, coriander, remaining tortillas, and the sliced chilli (if using). Serve with the wedges of lime to squeeze at the table.
DARK CHOCOLATE, PISTACHIO AND DRIED CHERRY TORTE
(Serves 8)
130g light brown soft sugar, plus 2tbsp for sprinkling
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground cardamon
100g plain flour
Pinch of salt
50g cold unsalted butter, diced
1tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
120ml sour cream, plus extra to serve
1/2tsp baking powder
1 egg
80g dark chocolate, finely chopped, or use the same weight of dark chocolate buttons
40g shelled pistachios or chopped almonds
40g dried cherries
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/350°F/Gas 4. Line a 24cm round cake tin with baking paper. Combine the sugar, spices and flour with the pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter using your fingertips, until you have a sandy texture. (Alternatively, you can do this bit in a food processor, pulsing until you have the right texture.) Tip half the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in the cocoa. Transfer the mixture to the prepared cake tin and press down slightly to form an even base.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, baking powder and egg. Add this to the remaining our mixture, then stir in the chocolate, pistachios and dried cherries, and pour the whole lot over the pressed base. Sprinkle the mixture with the two tablespoons of sugar.
Bake for 40 minutes, until golden on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the torte to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out and slice.
