Simon Hopkinson Cooks

A stunning new cookbook from the best-selling author of The Good Cook with recipes from his new series, Simon Hopkinson Cooks.

one of the best cooks – and chefs – this country has known

Simon Hopkinson's recipes are masterpieces of clarity and sense

A selection of menus from one of our greatest chefs and food writers

his enthusiasm shines through this book, which presents a series of beautifully balanced menus for different occasions

Born in Bury, Lancashire, Simon Hopkinson left school at 17 to begin a career as a chef. He opened his first restaurant, the Shed, near Fishguard, just before his 21st birthday. In 1983 he launched himself on the London restaurant scene, becoming chef at Hilaire in the Old Brompton Road. He swiftly found himself one of the most acclaimed young chefs in the business and his friendship with Terence Conran led to the opening of Bibendum in the restored Michelin building in 1987. 
 
He retired as a full-time chef in 1995 to concentrate more on writing. As well as Roast Chicken and Other Stories and Second Helpings of Roast Chicken, his books include Gammon &amp; Spinach, The Prawn Cocktail Years (written jointly with Lindsey Bareham), Week In, Week Out and The Vegetarian Option. The Good Cook won the Food and Drink Book of the Year in 2011 and he has also won the André Simon award, and the Glenfiddich Award three times. Simon's new tv series, Simon Hopkinson Cooks, will be broadcast on More 4 in June 2013.

Simon is a man who has dedicated his life to searching out the very best recipes. In Simon Hopkinson Cooks, he has created 12 menus offering dishes that not only taste good, but also complement each other perfectly. 
 
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.

The Good Cook

An exciting cookbook to accompany Simon Hopkinson's first TV series. His new series, Simon Hopkinson Cooks is on More 4 now.

How to make “outstanding dishes good enough for a restaurant but from the comfort of your own home”.  He makes the ordinary extraordinary with no need for a song and a dance.

Trends, for him, come and go, whereas a good pie, stew or roast is for life.

No-nonsense is the key to The Good Cook. It returns the pie, the tart, the cutlet, the leftover, the pot roast and the toasted snack to the centre of the British eating experience

The book is, in true   Simon Hopkinson style, precise without ever being fussy.

The Good Cook reminds   me of a cashmere jumper. Its origins are humble, it feels ever so slightly   decadent, but ultimately it is enormously comforting.

Born in Bury, Lancashire, Simon Hopkinson left school at 17 to begin a career as a chef. He opened his first restaurant, the Shed, near Fishguard, just before his 21st birthday. In 1983 he launched himself on the London restaurant scene, becoming chef at Hilaire in the Old Brompton Road. He swiftly found himself one of the most acclaimed young chefs in the business and his friendship with Terence Conran led to the opening of Bibendum in the restored Michelin building in 1987. He retired as a full-time chef in 1995 to concentrate more on writing. As well as Roast Chicken and Other Stories and Second Helpings of Roast Chicken, his books include Gammon &amp; Spinach, The Prawn Cocktail Years (written jointly with Lindsey Bareham), Week In, Week Out and The Vegetarian Option. His critically acclaimed cookery writing has won him the André Simon award, and the Glenfiddich Award three times. Simon's new tv series, Simon Hopkinson Cooks, will be broadcast on More 4 in Spring 2013.

Simon Hopkinson loves food and he knows how to cook it. 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. 
 
How the ingredients you choose and the way you cook them will turn a good recipe into a great dish. That a cheap cut of meat cooked with care can taste as nice as a choice cut prepared by indifferent hands. 
 
Structured around Simon's passion for good ingredients (Anchovy and Aubergine, Cheese and Wine, Smoked and Salted Fish, Ham, Bacon and A Little Pig) and written with Simon's trademark perfectionism and precision, this is a cookbook that you will cherish for life.

Second Helpings of Roast Chicken

The sequel to the phenomenally successful Roast Chicken and Other Stories, voted the most useful cookbook of all time by Waitrose Food Illustrated

A brilliant book: straightforward, readable and full of good things

Clear, unpretentious vision...Hopkinson is the best

An extremely useful book...you could certainly cook from it with reliably good results forever

Brilliant, easy to use, always entertaining

Simon Hopkinson is a genius...an instinctive gift for knowing what goes with what and what works

A tasty read for wannabe wizards in the kitchen

an essential addition to any recipe collection

a must read for anyone who loves food... a fresh favourite, you 
have to buy it

a range of mouth watering dishes...Hopkinson has a way with making the 
simplist recipe irresistible

Born in Bury, Lancashire, Simon Hopkinson left school at 17 to begin a career as a chef. He opened his first restaurant, the Shed, near Fishguard, just before his 21st birthday. In 1983 he launched himself on the London restaurant scene, becoming chef at Hilaire in the Old Brompton Road. He swiftly found himself one of the most acclaimed young chefs in the business and his friendship with Terence Conran led to the opening of Bibendum in the restored Michelin building in 1987. He retired as a full-time chef in 1995 to concentrate more on writing. As well as Roast Chicken and Other Stories his books include Gammon &amp; Spinach (1998) and The Prawn Cocktail Years (1999) and he also writes a column in the Independent. His critically acclaimed cookery writing has won him the André Simon award, and the Glenfiddich Award three times.

Second Helpings of Roast Chicken takes forty-seven of Simon Hopkinson's favourite ingredients as a starting point. 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 are also recipes for Pear and ginger sponge, 'a good' Waldorf salad, Armenian lamb pilaf, Baked whole plaice with lemon butter sauce and what is, quite simply, the best Bloody Mary. 
 
Roast Chicken and Other Stories was voted the most useful cookbook of all time by Waitrose Food Illustrated and also won the Andre Simon and Glenfiddich awards. Second Helpings of Roast Chicken will provide new inspiration the many fans of Simon Hopkinson's sensible, practical, creative approach to cooking and love of good food, prepared to please rather than simply impress.

Roast Chicken and Other Stories

Now available in paperbook format, Roast Chicken and Other Stories is the winner of the prestigious Andre Simon Food Book of the Year award 1994, Glenfiddich award 1995 and the Waitrose Food Illustrated award in 2005

Retro, yet somehow timeless, it is a delightful, engaging read

If you love to cook, this will become a sauce-splattered favourite - and it contains the recipes for the finest, simplest chocolate tart known to man.

Simon Hopkinson has an amazing ability to write recipes for the home cook that are accessible, practical and exciting

Born in Bury, Lancashire, Simon Hopkinson left school at 17 to begin a career as a chef. He opened his first restaurant, the Shed, near Fishguard, just before his 21st birthday. In 1983 he launched himself on the London restaurant scene, becoming chef at Hilaire in the Old Brompton Road. He swiftly found himself one of the most acclaimed young chefs in the business and his friendship with Terence Conran led to the opening of Bibendum in the restored Michelin building in 1987. He retired as a full-time chef in 1995 to concentrate more on writing. As well as Roast Chicken and Other Stories and Second Helpings of Roast Chicken his books include Gammon &amp; Spinach (1998) and The Prawn Cocktail Years (1999) and he also writes a column in the Independent. His critically acclaimed cookery writing has won him the André Simon award, and the Glenfiddich Award three times.

‘There’s not a recipe here I don’t want to eat immediately.’ - Nigella Lawson 
 
Roast 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.

Lindsey Bareham

Simon Hopkinson

While Lindsey Bareham was helping Simon Hopkinson put together his best-selling book, Roast Chicken and Other Stories, the two of them began to reminisce about hotel and restaurant dishes they had grown up with and always loved; those Cinderellas of the kitchen that we abandoned in our quest for the wilder shores of gastronomy. Classics such as Duck a l'Orange, Weiner Schnitzel, Moussaka, Garlic Mushrooms and, of course, Prawn Cocktail, have all been slung out like old lovers but when made with fine, fresh ingredients and prepared with care and a genuine love of good eating, these former favourites should grace the most discerning of tables. 
 
The Prawn Cocktail Years sets out to rehabilitate the food we once loved and found exciting. In so doing, the authors take us on a cook's tour of the legendary post-war hotels and gentlemen's clubs with their Mulligatawny and Shepherd's Pie, to the bistros of Swinging London where Paté Maison and sizzling Escargots excited the braver palate. Then there were the first Italian trattorias where Saltimbocca and Oranges in Caramel were the order of the day and the 'Continental' restaurants with their exotic offerings of Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Kiev and Rhum Baba. Recipes for all these old favourites have been brought back to life as well as those classics that were once described as the Great British Meal - Prawn Cocktail, Steak Garni with Chips and Black Forest Gateau. Cooked as they should be, this much derided and often ridiculed dinner is still something very special indeed. The prawn cocktail years are staging a comeback . . .

Simon Hopkinson

Books by Simon Hopkinson

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