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CHAPTER 5

Recipes That Say Love (Version 1)

Getting a word in edgeways around our dining-table at mealtimes, especially on Friday night, was impossible unless you learnt to shout, make people laugh or debate passionately. With six siblings, and relatives coming out of the floorboards, we still have supper together on every Sabbath because it’s our tradition. I have at least fifteen people round my table.

Pretty much everything about my personality was formed round the dining-table. I learnt to talk really fast, like really fast, so I could get out what I needed to say before someone interrupted me. My head has always been filled with a million thoughts – and a million things to say. I guess my telly career thrives because of this so I’m very happy with this imperfection!

When you’re one of seven children, you aren’t heard if you don’t talk loudly. I learnt how to debate, how to engage in adult conversation, and I learnt about love. It was served up each evening amid the noise and the elbowing, the jokes and the occasional tears. Now, food for me is a form of love, and I serve it up to my boys every evening. I spend a lot of my life cooking. I see it as my service to my family, and all of it, absolutely all of it, expresses the love I feel for them. Friday-night dinner is the heart of our week, and has been since I was a child.

All these recipes are filled to the brim with love – the love oozes from them – and I dish it up unapologetically. I tell my boys I love them a hundred times a day, and that’s still not enough for me.

Nana’s Chicken Soup and Kneidlach

Nana always had a pot of her Jewish penicillin bubbling on the stove. Nowadays it would be described as ‘bone broth’ and sold for six pounds a pop in trendy Shoreditch, but it has been the staple of our lives. The chicken is usually a broiler bought from a kosher butcher so it has no giblets, but you can use any old chicken, though I’m told organic is best. This soup is meant to simmer from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the best flavour but two hours is fine!

Serves 4

You’ll need:

For the chicken soup

1 x 1.5kg broiler chicken or any chicken will do

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 sticks of celery, roughly chopped

2 carrots, roughly chopped

1 chicken stock cube

250g rice noodles

For the kneidlach

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons oil or chicken fat

2 tablespoons soup stock or water

1 teaspoon salt

110g matzah meal or fine ground breadcrumbs

Place the chicken and the rest of the soup ingredients in a large pot, with enough water to cover. Bring it to the boil, then lower the heat and allow it to simmer for around 2 hours, topping up the water as necessary. Remove any fat that rises to the surface and keep to one side for the kneidlach.

Meanwhile, make the kneidlach. (Or you can buy them if you’re super-busy!) In a bowl, stir together the eggs, oil or chicken fat, stock or water and salt, then add the matzah meal or breadcrumbs slowly until the mixture is thick. Cover and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes, then form into small balls.

Half an hour before serving, remove the chicken and set aside. Add the dumplings to the soup to cook for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, shred the meat from the chicken and place into serving bowls – you can return the bones to the stock pot for extra flavour. Drop in the rice noodles, and let them cook for 2 minutes.

Gently place the noodles and the cooked kneidlach into the bowls with the chicken meat, cover with hot broth and serve piping hot to appreciative diners. Amazing!

Friday-night Dinner Roast Chicken and Yellow Rice

Pretty straightforward, though Nana always made it taste amazing. It was always the centrepiece of Friday-night dinner, and reminds me of home, family and comfort. I have so many happy memories of those dinners, memories I try to recreate today at my own table.

Serves 4

You’ll need:

1 x 1.5kg whole chicken

2 tablespoons butter

1 lemon, halved

salt and pepper

For the rice

280g white long-grain rice

2 onions, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons turmeric

A pinch of saffron

1/2 teaspoon salt

600ml water

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Place the chicken into a foiled roasting tin, rub the softened butter over the chicken and season generously. Put the cut lemon inside the chicken. Bung it into the oven and roast for 80–90 minutes. Stab it with a skewer: if the juices run clear, it’s done. If not, put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes, then test again.

Half an hour before you want to serve, make the rice. Heat up the oil in a saucepan, add the chopped onion and cook for two minutes until starting to soften. Add the turmeric, saffron, salt and rice. Cover with the water and bring to a simmer for 8 minutes. Place a lid on top and turn the heat off. Leave the lid on until the rice is fully cooked and all the water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and serve with the chicken. Enjoy!

Dad’s Spicy Shepherd’s Pie

I’ll let Dad speak for himself here, as it’s his recipe after all: ‘I made this differently every time, but mostly it looks something like this. My spice mix varies according to how I feel on the day I’m making it, but I always have chilli, loads of chilli. My grandparents were Iraqi Jews who traded coffee in Burma. When the Japanese invaded they fled to Calcutta before moving to London in the 1950s. My heritage is where I get my love for spicy food, and I was always trying to share this with my children as they grew up.’

Serves at least 8, ‘because that’s how many I routinely had round my dining-table.’

You’ll need:

2 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil

500g lean lamb mince and Quorn

1–2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chilli powder or 1 fresh chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

200g frozen peas

1 tablespoon tomato purée

100ml vegetable or lamb stock

For the topping

500g sweet potatoes

600g potatoes

1 tablespoon milk

‘I used half mince and half Quorn to make it healthier, and none of the kids ever noticed.’ Heat half the oil. Fry the lamb mince and the Quorn together in the oil. Once the meat has browned, remove it from the pan and set it aside. Fry the onions in the remaining tablespoon of oil, until they are softening, about 5 minutes, then add the celery and carrot. Continue to fry for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic, chilli and cumin. Let them cook for a minute, then tip in the peas. Add the mince mixture with the tomato purée, and a little vegetable or lamb stock to moisten the mixture. Leave to cook for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the sweet potatoes and the potatoes. Add them to a big pan of boiling salted water. When they are cooked, about 15 minutes, drain and mash them with the milk.

Tip the mince and vegetable mixture into a large greased baking dish, then smooth the potato mixture over the top. Put it into the oven for 35 minutes, until the top has browned.

‘Hey presto – Spicy Shepherd’s Pie!’