The Plonker Club

Fast Food – Recipes from the F Word by Gordon Ramsay, Here is the Amazon review

`Taking its inspiration from Channel 4′s popular F Word series, `FAST FOOD’ includes over 100 delicious recipes that are SUPER-FAST and EASY TO PREPARE’.

`When I launched my Sunday Lunch campaign last year, `lack of time’, was the excuse most people gave for not cooking. Sadly, ready meals and take-aways have become the staple for many of us……
My campaign this time around is to re-define the concept of fast food and prove that anyone can prepare speedy meals in less time than it takes to get a pizza delivered……

Many of the dishes can be prepared and cooked in 15 minutes (none take longer than half an hour) and `the menus’ take 30-45 minutes from start to finish…..

Great fast food depends on using top quality ingredients. Finding a good butcher, fishmonger and farmers’ market or greengrocer is the key.’

255 high quality matt pages split over 15 chapters:-

Light & healthy
A taste of Morocco
Country cooking
Viva Italia!
Fast fish and chips
Outdoor eating
Mexican flavours
Easy for a crowd
Tapas spread
Cheap & cheerful
Summer special
Indian spice
Thai feast
Speedy Sunday lunch
Fast drinks party

plus an introduction, `Store-cupboard Essentials’, a ‘Basics’ section and a concise index.
At the front of the book is the added bonus of a quick reference `Recipe List’.

Each recipe is clearly laid out with a title and number of servings, a list of ingredients and the method.
The majority have a photograph (s) and often a helpful note, e.g.:-

`Roasted Nectarines with Amaretti Cream’
`This works equally well with peaches – just make sure you use ripe, firm, juicy fruit.
Immature nectarines or peaches would simply disappoint.’

A taste of the recipes within:-

Leek, Potato and Smoked Haddock Soup
Grilled Aubergine with Tahini Dressing
Spiced Pan-Roasted Apples and Pears
Easy Tiramisu
Roasted Vegetable Panini
Baked Egg Florentine
Peppered Lamb Steaks
Fresh Lemonade
Beef Fajitas with Soured Cream and Guacamole
Penne, Runner Beans & Goat’s Cheese
Mussels in an Aromatic & Coconut Broth
Easy Lobster Thermidor
Easy Vegetable Curry
Sticky Lemon Chicken
Caramelised Banana Split
Venison with Sweet & Sour Peppers
Prawn Pilau
Yam Pak Salad
Pain Perdu with Raspberries and Ricotta
Mango Fool
Chocolate Fondant
Blueberry & Pomegranate Fizz

Double-page spreads reveal `tips’, such as `Fast Ways to Cook Meat, `Quick Flavour Hits’ or ‘My Favourite Time-saving Tools’ and throughout the book are handy notes or observations, e.g. :-

`Curry Salt – Mix 1 tsp curry powder to 2 tsp sea salt and use to add an extra kick to fish, shellfish, chicken and pork.
We often sprinkle a little curry salt onto fresh scallops in the restaurants.’

`I appreciate the need to take shortcuts, but some convenience foods are strictly off-limits – including awful-tasting stock cubes and almost all ready-made sauces in jars.
A few basics are really worth the time and effort you spend making them.
A good example is mayonnaise. No commercial variety can ever compare to homemade mayonnaise, both in terms of flavour and consistency……’

`There is nothing like sharing an al fresco meal with family & friends, either on a picnic blanket or just out in the back garden.’

David Driscoll
Chief Plonker at The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite

www.theplonkerclub.com

Product Description from Amazon.com
Gordon Ramsay’s no-holds-barred television persona has garnered widespread attention both stateside and abroad, but his food continues to be his greatest achievement. His passion for fresh ingredients is fully apparent in this collection of fifty classic Ramsay recipes. Describing both the restaurant methods for preparation, along with a down-to-earth guide to recreating the dishes at home, this beautifully photographed book showcases Ramsay’s immense talent. Including Gordon’s signature Lobster Ravioli, Corn Reared Beef Fillet with Marrow Crust, Ginger Mousse and a Bitter Chocolate Cylinder with Coffee Granite, this cookbook is both a valuable cook’s resource and an arresting look at a man who has been dubbed “the best chef of his generation.”

About the Author
GORDON RAMSAY is Britain’s most successful and most talked-about chef. His superb cooking has earned him two Michelin stars at his celebrated eponymous London restaurant in Chelsea. His other Michelin-starred restaurants include Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, Gordon Ramsay at Petrus at The Berkeley Hotel and Maze. In Autumn, 2006 he opened his first restaurant in the US—Gordon Ramsay at The London, in New York. His empire also includes restaurants in Dubai and Tokyo. Now a celebrated TV presenter his award-winning TV series include The F Word, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen (in the UK, US, and Canada). His bestselling books Chef for All Seasons, Just Desserts, Gordon Ramsay’s Secrets, Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy , and Sunday Lunch , have sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide.

David Driscoll
Chief Plonker at The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite

www.theplonkerclub.com

From Amazon.co.uk

as he leaves his chef’s jacket at work!

From the front cover flap:-

‘Away from the high-octane energy of the professional kitchen, Gordon’s home is a relaxed family affair, where cooking s fun and everyone gets involved in preparing food for family and friends. The food Gordon cooks here embodies his strongly held views: use in-season, fresh ingredients at their peak; support local producers and farmers’ markets whenever we can; and celebrate our food culture and its many influences…..
…’Cooking for Friends’ is full of Gordon’s best-loved versions of classic British dishes…..and contains more than 100 of his favourite recipes, which he loves to cook and eat with friends and family – uncomplicated recipes but with Gordon’s remarkable feeling for flavour and his technical know-how.’

From the introduction:-

‘As a chef, I work at a thousand miles an hour, but when I’m at home, I want to slow down. I leave my chef’s jacket at work, and I walk into a domestic setting, where everything is completely different. At home, our kitchen is family-run, and it’s a relaxed place. A lot of people see cooking as a chore, but we bring an element of fun into it……….’

269 high quality matt pages split over 9 chapters:-

Hot and cold soups
Pasta and grains
Fish and shellfish
Meat and poultry
Pies and tarts
Vegetables and salads
Puddings and ices
Chocolate and coffee
Basics

sandwiched between a 9-page introduction and a full index, which is enhanced with finished-dish illustrations shown in italics.

Each chapter opens with some relevant notes and a list of the recipes contained within, for quick reference.
Each recipe is clearly laid out with a bold title and relevant text, along wiith the method, the number of servings and the list of ingredients. The page numbers are on the edge of the right hand page, which aids quick flicking!
The book is interspersed with illustrations of the finished dishes, although these are rather fewer than expected, in my opinion…..(hence my four star rating)…… along with on-location shots of GR, his family and friends.

My favourite pud is no particular secret, and, as I share Gordon’s passion for the caramelized apple flavour and texture in an Apple Tarte Tatin….. his recipe for ‘Caramelized Apple Pie’, from page 207, really hits the spot:-

‘I love the flavour of caramelized apples in a tarte tatin, and this is a way of bringing that flavour into a classic apple pie.
Also, because the apples are pre-cooked, they won’t shrink during baking and create air pockets inside the pie.
I like to serve the pie while it’s still warm with either a little pouring cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.’

A delicious twist which makes the finished product taste divine, and following on from G’s ‘Lamb Shank Cassoulet` served with sautéed savoy cabbage and chunks of malted grain bread….simply SUPER to share, after an October stroll in the woods with all our friends!
Which… of course….is what this book is all about!

A taste of other recipes within:-

Asparagus velouté
Conger eel bisque
Crayfish chowder
Farfalle with bacon, peas and sage
Grilled vegetable lasagne
Gordon’s posh kedgeree (video feature above)
Wild mushroom barley risotto
Fish curry with lime and coconut rice
Grilled herrings with harissa
Fisherman’s stew
Poached rabbit legs with gremolata
Pork fillet stroganoff
Home-made bangers
Classic mixed grill
Angus beef olives
Sweet potato and duck rösti with fried duck eggs
Honey roast ham
Shepherd’s pie with Branston pickle
Cornish chicken pie
Fish pie with oysters and scallops
Roast winter vegetables
Spicy cauliflower stir-fry
Mixed mushroom salad
Pickled onions
Autumn fruit salad with thyme and ginger
Custard tart
Lemon meringue pie
Chocolate swirl cheesecake
Chocolate and coffee pots
Dark chocolate marquise

All in all, a ‘homely’-type book, which is clear from the GR notes throughout, e.g.:-

From ‘Pasta and grains`:-

‘At home, we don’t just stick to rice and spaghetti. Tana has begun to feed the kids a vegetarian meal once a week, which means being creative in combining pulses, grains and pasta with a variety of vegetables.
The kids love it when she experiments.
When the weather is cold we use a lot of barley, adding it to soups, stews, and winter salads. Barley can even take the place of rice in risotto.
The excellent barley risotto here has featured many a time on our restaurant menus…………’

David Driscoll
Chief Plonker at The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite

www.theplonkerclub.com

Throughout November and December, it was only our friends form the UK that could take up this amazing offer of seven one hour cooking lessons with Gordon Ramsay – courtesy of Channel 4 in the UK. Now, many others are taking up the call to get back into the Kitchen via the Channel 4 Website (and the odd proxy server) or by other means.

Although the rest of use don’t have to feel the pace and pressure of live television, the cooking lessons (and preliminary lessons in preparation) really are excellent. This series is something I would be happy to pay good money for and I only hope my local foodie channel pick up this series. I really don’t think anything is lost by not having this screening live – so here is a teaser – to show you exactly what was offered each week – seven three course dinners, twenty one dishes plus lots of Gordon Ramsay intensity, passion and entertainment!

Enjoy

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

I somehow came across the Gordon Ramsay’s live cookalong series from Channel 4 on the web and it is briiliant!

It’s the same Gordon Ramsay energy and sense of humour, jammed into a live show, along with some great pre-recorded bits and a little mischief. Gordon wants to get all of Britain cooking so he has seven episodes where you make a starter, main and desert in under an hour. There is a little preparation involved and you need to have all ingredients on hand first, but all of the videos are available to make sure that you are fully prepared. Youtube also has some great clips of people trying to cook along to each episode.

Gordon Ramsay also goes ‘undercover’ to test drive some of the celebrity cooking courses with mixed results – a hilarious break in the frantic cooking schedule where Gordon gets full make-up , prosthetics and acting lessons to best fool his victims.

In all, it is a great show and some fantastic recipes if you can find it online somewhere! Something any true Gordon ramsay fan will love! Check out the great ad that was released on the internet (this is from the shows official youtube account – not ripped off illegally!)

Enjoy

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com