A Long and Messy Business

Description

'I get fed up with the number of cookbooks that promise quick and easy meals, those that promise a three-course dinner that can be knocked up in thirty minutes. Most cooking, and certainly most enjoyable cooking, takes a little longer. I can knock something up in a hurry if I have to - there are plenty of quick and easy recipes in this book - but that ability was a long time in the acquisition, and I still prefer to take my time, in order to do it better than I did it last time.' These recipes and essays, first published in the Financial Times, are a distillation of Rowley Leigh's forty years as both a professional chef and a home cook. They detail with precision and wit how to cook and enjoy both unusual and familiar ingredients through the seasons. With Leigh's succinct wine recommendations and over 120 recipes, this is a book to get messy with overuse in the kitchen and to pore over in an armchair with a glass of the author's beloved Riesling close to hand.

Rowley Leigh was born in Manchester in 1950 and fell into cooking `almost by accident in 1977. Working with the Roux brothers at Le Gavroche in 1979, he took over their Le Poulbot restaurant as head chef in 1984 and won The Times' `Restaurant of the Year award in 1986. He has won three Glenfiddich awards for his work in the Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph and the Financial Times. His first book, No Place Like Home, was published in 2001. He left Kensington Place in order to open Le Cafe Anglais in 2007 and is now a consultant for the Soho House group, overseeing the opening of their Cafe Monico brasserie in April 2016.

Rowley Leigh is one of Britain's most celebrated and influential chefs, and has won three Glenfiddich awards for his food writing. These 120 straightforward recipes allow everyone to eat Rowley's classical, elegant food; a signature style he has spent over forty years perfecting. Rowley will be appearing at Hay Festival, and is available for events in the run-up to publication. Widespread review and feature coverage is expected. For fans of Nigel Slater and Simon Hopkinson, as well as recipe books such as Oliver Rowe's Food for All Seasons, Skye Gyngell's A Year in My Kitchen, Claire Lattin and Tom Hill's Ducksoup Cookbook and The River Cafe Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers. The book features photographs by Andy Sewell, whose book The Heath won the International Photobook Award in 2012, and whose work can be found in important collections across the world.