Anna Jones, best-selling author, known as ‘the voice of modern vegetarian cooking’, will be demonstrating recipes from her new book ‘Easy Wins‘ – out now with 4th Estate. She’ll also be doing a book-signing session at the Book-ish stand in the Market Hall and at the Castle. Find out more about her book here, and try some sample recipes yourself.
12 flavour hits, 125 delicious recipes, 365 days of good eating. Published by 4th Estate on 14 March, £28 hardback.
ANNA JONES – award-winning author and bestselling cook – gives her golden rules for Easy Wins in the kitchen with super-simple recipes that are bursting with flavour and kind to both the planet and busy schedules. Read more:
ANNA JONES is a cook, writer, the voice of modern vegetarian cooking and the author of the bestselling One: Pot, Pan, Planet, A Modern Way to Eat, A Modern Way to Cook and The Modern Cook’s Year.
Her books are sold in ten countries and have been translated into five languages. One: Pot, Pan, Planet was a Sunday Times bestseller and The Modern Cook’s Year won the coveted Observer Food Monthly Best New Cookbook Award and The Guild of Food Writers Cookery Book Award. Her previous books have been nominated for the James Beard, Fortnum & Mason, and Andre Simon awards.
Anna believes that vegetables should be put at the centre of every table and is led by the joy of food and its ability to affect change in our daily lives. She lives in Hackney, East London, with her husband and two children. https://annajones.co.uk/
‘A peek into Anna’s kitchen cupboards—and her best-kept secrets. For when it’s 8pm, you’re starving, and you want a Tuesday night triumph. An easy, honest, delicious win.’ Yotam Ottolenghi
‘These simple ingredients shown a little bit of love and attention come together to make more than the sum of their parts. This to me is an Easy Win. A little moment of kitchen alchemy that reassures me. Recipes that are reliable sources of joy in a world that is ever-changing’. Anna Jones
Anna takes 12 hero ingredients that are guaranteed to make your food taste great, with chapters on lemons, olive oil, onions, peanut butter, mustard, tahini and more. She gives 125 all-new dishes that you will want to cook on repeat, like Double Lemon Pilaf with Buttery Almonds, Traybake Lemon Dhal, Miso Rarebit, and Cherry and Chocolate Peanut Butter Sundae.
Distilling 20 years of experience she inspires us how to layer flavour and texture. And there’s practical advice on how to season plus plenty of ideas for invaluable vegetarian swaps as well as how to reduce waste and use less energy when cooking. Her hero ingredients all last a long time, are relatively affordable and easily available. All the recipes are, as usual, choreographed and carefully thought out so that they take the least time possible. Dotted through the book are recipes from some of her friends and favourite cooks.
Easy Wins will become your go-to for the most flavourful dishes that come together quickly and prom- ise daily moments of triumph.
Sample Recipes to give you a flavour of the 125 recipes in EASY WINS (click on titles below)
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Traybake lemon dal with pickled green chillies
1 tablespoon coriander seeds 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes 2 tablespoons ghee or other cooking oil
2 unwaxed lemons
a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled
8 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2 green chillies, sliced
2 teaspoons golden caster sugar 50ml white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
a bunch of coriander (30g), chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric a cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder (or ½ teaspoon if using other chilli powders)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
300g split red lentils
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk 800ml hot vegetable stock 250g paneer or firm tofu warm rice, parathas or roti,
yoghurt and chutney to serve
Dal is a staple of our weeknight cooking. It’s the dinner I never get bored of. I have a few favourites I make on rotation: coconut, lemon and now this traybaked tomato one. This dal is made in the oven, so it’s very hands-off. The tinned tomatoes are roasted first to give a deeper hit of tomato flavour. Serve this with a pot of rice, some parathas, some salted yoghurt and chutney.
SERVES 4
Crush the tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan.
Add 1 tablespoon coriander seeds and 2 teaspoons cumin seeds to a high-sided baking tray and roast
in the oven for 2-4 minutes until fragrant, then remove and tip into a pestle and mortar and crush before returning to the tray. Drain 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes and add to the tray. Use a potato masher or the back of a large spoon/fork to crush the tomatoes to release their juice and flatten them a little, and spread them evenly over the tray.
Add the flavourings and roast
Add 2 tablespoons ghee or oil, then grate in the zest of 1 unwaxed lemon and 1 thumb of ginger and add 8 thinly sliced cloves of garlic. Toss the tomatoes in the spices and roast for 30 minutes until sticky and intensified in flavour.
Add the spices and lentils
Once the tomatoes have had their time, remove them from the oven and stir in 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, a cinnamon stick, 1 table spoon Kashmiri chilli powder and 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds. Add 300g split red lentils and pour over a 400ml tin of coconut milk and 800ml hot vegetable stock. Cover tightly with foil and return to the oven for another 40 minutes.
Add the paneer
After 40 minutes, carefully take the tray out of the oven and remove the foil. Stir the dal, then season well with sea salt. Tear 250g paneer or firm tofu over the top of the dal and squeeze over the juice of the 2 zested lemons. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the edges of the paneer are beginning to turn golden, the dal is creamy and the lentils are soft.
Finish with the chilli and serve with rice, parathas, yoghurt and chutney and the pickled chilli and coriander mixture. Will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Make the quick pickle
Put 2 sliced green chillies, 2 teaspoons golden caster sugar, 50ml white wine vinegar and a teaspoon of salt into a small bowl and mix well. Add the zest of a second unwaxed lemon. Stir through a bunch of chopped coriander, stems and all. Put in the fridge to keep cool.
Cauliflower Caponata
1kg cauliflower, broken into roughly 4cm florets
3 red onions (350g), peeled and cut into eighths
3 sticks of celery, cut into 2cm pieces
extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes roog stone-in green or black olives, stones removed
(I use a mixture of both) 3 tablespoons capers
50g raisins
½ a bunch of parsley (20g), leaves picked
warm bread, to serve
Caponata is a masterclass in balancing sweet, sour and salty. It’s most often made with aubergine, which you have to fry in lots of olive oil first, making it less of a weeknight situation. This buttery cauliflower version is all done in the oven and to me it’s just as good as the aubergine version. It has the texture of a stew and can be eaten warm as an antipasto, as is most common in Italy, or on toast or tossed through pasta.
SERVES 4
Preheat the oven and roast the cauliflower
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan. Put a cauliflower, broken into roughly 4cm florets, 3 red onions, peeled and cut into eighths, and 3 sticks of celery, cut into 2cm pieces, into a large, high-sided baking tray with r tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar and a little sea salt and pepper. Toss to coat, then roast for 25 minutes, until everything is slightly charred and starting to soften. Turn the oven down to 200°C/r80°C fan.
Add the rest
Add 2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes, breaking them in your hands as you do so, along with 100g stone-in green or black olives (stones removed), 3 tablespoons capers and 50g raisins. Give everything a good mix, mashing slightly with a fork, and return to the oven for 40 minutes, or until everything is soft and sticky.
Finish with the vinegar and oil
Once ready, and while the mix is still piping hot, add another tablespoon of vinegar, toss through a handful of parsley leaves and serve. Finish with a very generous dousing of extra virgin olive oil to bring it all together.
Cherry and chocolate peanut butter sundae
400g fresh or frozen cherries 3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon cocoa powder a big pinch of flaky sea salt
8 scoops vanilla ice cream or frozen yoghurt, about
1 x 400ml tub (vegan if needed)
There is something about a sundae. They take me back to diners as a kid, waitresses with name badges, fried things on checked paper in red plastic baskets. They feel fun. This is the quickest pudding – the peanut and chocolate sauce is so easy and requires no skill. Peanut butter, chocolate and cherry together is a favourite. Serve the sundaes in tall frosted (pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes) glasses with long sundae spoons for digging right to the bottom of the glass. Any unused chocolate sauce keeps well in the fridge and can be reheated at a moment’s notice (or eaten cold by
the spoonful).
SERVES 4
Prepare and cook the cherries
If you have 400g fresh cherries, congratulate yourself, then stone and halve them and set aside. If you are using frozen cherries, put them into a small saucepan with 1 tablespoon maple syrup and cook on a medium low heat until they are warm and soft, still with a little liquid. Remember the liquid will thicken as they cool.
Make the peanut and chocolate sauce
In a bowl, whisk together 2 table spoons smooth peanut butter with 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or 3 tablespoons if using fresh cherries), 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and a big pinch of flaky sea salt. You might need to add a little water here if your peanut butter is thick.
Make the sundaes
Get yourself 4 glasses or bowls, scoop some cherries into the bottom of each glass, then add a scoop of ice cream, the peanut chocolate sauce, more cherries, another scoop of ice cream and the rest of the cherries and chocolate sauce.
