Simon Hopkinson

For Simon, cooking is about care, precision and love, and combining his professional skills with his understanding of home cooking, once again, he has created delicious recipes you will enjoy making - and eating. From the author of the number 1 best-selling book, The Good Cook, here are some more seriously good recipes.

'Simon Hopkinson is a classically trained chef with the heart of a home cook.' – Nigella Lawson'The Vegetarian Option performs the brilliant feat of being vegetarian without being vegetarian. Without an ounce of quorn or the merest sight of a nut cutlet, every recipe illuminates, and there is nothing you would not want to eat.' – Rowley LeighNow more than ever, people are turning to vegetarian food. But how to know when to really eat a tomato, or the best way to get flavour from a gifted marrow? Simon Hopkinson's classic, simple recipes will solve any dilemma, accompanied by beautiful essays on subjects from the joy of bay leaves to the enlivening zippiness of a lemon.The key to Simon Hopkinson's cooking is using seasonal ingredients and good-quality produce. With recipes for everything from a quick supper to the perfect cocktail and accompanying snack, The Vegetarian Option is not written exclusively for vegetarians, but as a fresh source of inspiration for all genuine food lovers.

Published as the companion volume to the BBC Television show of the same name, The Good Cook is a collection of 100 of legendary chef Simon Hopkinson's favorite recipes, drawn from his childhood, his restaurant career, and his most memorable meals. A good cook, for Simon, is someone who cares as much about eating as cooking. A good recipe becomes a great dish when the cook has thought about the ingredients and treated them well. These ingredients do not have to be expensive. Simon's genius lies in his belief that a cheap cut of meat, for example, cooked with care can often taste nicer than a choice one prepared by indifferent hand. Structured around Simon's love of good ingredients and written with his trademark perfectionism and precision, this book is for anyone who loves to cook and wants to learn from one of the best.

The Good Cook is the result of over 40 years' experience and is based on Simon's belief that a good cook loves eating as much as cooking.

There is a section on apples with a perfect apple tart recipe, a section on curry recipes with Constance Spry's original Coronation chicken salad dressing and a section on duck, with recipes for Braised duck with peas and classic Roast duck and apple sauce.

‘There’s not a recipe here I don’t want to eat immediately.’ - Nigella LawsonRoast Chicken and Other Stories provides an insight into Simon Hopkinson's unique style of unpretentious cooking with 160 of his favourite recipes. Simon Hopkinson's forty favourite ingredients include everyday basics as potatoes, chicken and cod as well as more exotic foods such as asparagus and truffles. The cookbook is arranged alphabetically with a chapter on each food. Unable to hide his great love of food, Hopkinson writes about why he likes each particular ingredient, and gives sensible advice on quality, variety and good cooking principles together with the recipes. The book is aimed at home cooks and all the recipes can be prepared by anyone with basic cooking skills. From Grilled Augergine with Pesto to Roast Chicken and Homemade Ice Cream, Simon Hopkinson's food is always honest and inviting, designed to please rather than simply to impress.