This collection of recipes allows the home cook to recreate the vibrant, clean flavours of one of Britain's most distinctive chefs. Sally Clarke's food, inspired by the Californian cuisine of Chez Panisse guru Alice Waters, has long been savoured by those who have made the pilgrimiage to her restaurant in London's Kensington Church Street, or visited her shop next door, "& Clarke's", for its breads, cheeses and delicatessen: all made on the premises or selected from regional producers. Seasonal in approach, these dishes are especially selected to go together in menus such as lunches, picnics and dinners. There are also accompaniments such as breads, biscuits, marmalades and chutneys. The text includes essays by Sally on the nature of her produce, and the story of how she finds it around the country.
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Is Sally Clarke the coolest chef in London? The answer would depend on a number of factors: the austere elegance of her restaurant/bakery/food shop in South Kensington; the fact that she was among the first, if not the very first, to import the subtly hedonistic, visionary Californian style of Alice Waters; that she herself would probably never even contemplate the question; and now Sally Clarke's Book. Clarke's cooking is of disarming simplicity, everything depending (rather unfairly, the supermarket-reliant home cook might feel) on absolute freshness and quality of organically-grown ingredients. Famously, following the example of Waters at Chez Panisse, her menus offer no choices. But who would turn down "Parsley Soup with Morel Mushrooms and Creme Fraiche", or "Slow-Baked Duck Leg with Onion Marmalade, Duck-Fat Roasted Potatoes and Bitter-Leaf Salad", or "Baked Vanilla Cream with Armagnac Prunes and Ginger Florentines"? Or "Soup of Five Tomatoes and Three Beetroots"? Or "Wild Mushrooms Baked in Cream with Gorgonzola Mascarpone"? Or "Baked Beans"? (Baked beans!) This is simplicity arrived at by distillation to essentials, by stripping away the inessential. Clarke's food is seriously pleasurable. Any cook will learn a great deal from her book. The answer? Of course she is, but the question is meaningless. --Robin Davidson
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book arrived on Saturday. I have never been to Clarke's restaurant but had read about Sally Clarke in Elizabeth David's biography "Writing at the Kitchen Table". I thought I'd give it a try .. but my goodness ... my cooking has been transformed. So far I've done the fishcakes (perfect texture and taste), the pizza (magnificent), the chicken and three pepper salad (yummy) and I cheated a bit on the couscous salad but it was still absolutely great. This has nothing to do with my cooking (which is not always great) but very much to do with the perfection dictated in the recipes. I am lucky enough to live near a fantastic greengrocer who gets deliveries from Italy everyday (that helps too). But well done to Sally Clarke. I think you are quite brilliant. There is nothing rushed in this cook book, everything has been measured and savoured to perfection!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
For any English cook this book is a 'must-have'. Divided into seasonal lunch and dinner menus, Clarke teaches you how to take full advantage of local produce at its best and, crucially, cheapest. However, no products are obscure or unavailable from any green grocer, butcher, or fishmonger so don't be put off. Her recipes are intelligently but simply put together, making them easy to follow and ensuring the flavour of the food is distinct rather than muddled with too many ingredients.
Basics such as stocks, invaluable for a homemade risotto, are comprehensively explained and will ensure you never return to cubes. The creme anglaise you will produce under Clarke's instruction, a velvety, rich, vanilla-infused emulsion, is nothing short of sublime. Many of her bread recipes (and living very near her shop I can assure you I am a devotee) are shared and my home-made efforts gave me such satisfaction in making that any slight imperfection in my first loaf of Hazelnut and Raisin could easily be forgiven.
Though Clark can at times seem a little 'brisk', (her opinions on fresh versus tinned crab are very strong as are they about 'rubbery cocktail olives'), this is because SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE IS TALKING ABOUT. I have tried making the tapenade with just such olives and the result was, of course, vastly inferior to what it would have been had i used the good quality variety suggested. Clarke knows where standards of produce cannot be lowered and I recommend you heed her advice.
This is the cooking book I have used most this year and i cannot recommend it more highly. It is inspirational, highly readable, and, most importantly, ensures (if you Follow Sally's advice)that you produce accomplished food worthy - just - of Clarke's restaurant & shop itself.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I have got a LOT of cookery books, and there are only three (out of over one hundred) that I would not like to be without. One of them is "The Naked Chef", another is "Keep it Simple" by Alastair Little, but the most treasured is definitely "Sally Clarke's Book" - it is indispensable: utterly in tune with today's requirements for simple, delicious dishes based on full flavoured, uncompromising quality, this season by season guide is unsurpassable for inventiveness, common sense and inspiration. You cannot fail to be inspired and delighted by this book - it is absolutely first rate.
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