Mmm...No2...Cookbook

My kitchen is still full of cookery books. More than ever before! There seem to be an increase in those dedicated to chocolate, and a couple of vegetarian ones. Celebrities abound, including Nigella and my current favourite Felicity Cloake. There's even a well-thumbed and extremely messy copy of Mmm...No1...Cookbook, the imaginatively titled forerunner to this book. That was published eight years ago, and times change. I realised that the Italian chicken that I cook today is quite different to that in the first cookbook, and so I have updated it for this edition. My youngest son is still the fussiest eater in the world, though he will occasionally have slivers of the chip shop fish after scraping off the batter. My eldest son, Ole, eats everything, particularly chilli and chocolate digestive biscuits, whilst my daughter is still vegetarian! My granddaughter grazes on most things, and the quick chocolate brownies are great for allowing her to get involved in both the cooking and consumption!Now, whilst the feel of a 300 page cookery book might initially fill me with excitement at the prospect of new ideas and new ingredients, it is not too long before I realise that, for everyday cooking, I am only ever going to use one or two, and even the one or two are generally adapted to the tastes of my own family as well as the convenience of the ingredients. So, I decided that I would put all of my favourite recipes in one place, on the Kindle, an item that is likely to be treated with a lot more care than a newspaper cutting. I know that there are no pictures to go with the dishes, but I already know what the finished meal should look like. Another advantage of Mmm...No2...Cookbook on Kindle is that it provides a handy method of taking a list of ingredients to the shops!In 2019 there was a dramatic incident in my home town of Whaley Bridge that received global news coverage (I followed the emerging crisis from a hotel in Kiev at the time) when the dam holding back the Toddbrook reservoir threatened to collapse. I volunteered for cooking duty and you will find my "Dam Chilli" recipe within these pages.Anyone expecting gourmet cookery should look elsewhere. This book contains what I consider to be everyday family recipes. One or two of the cakes are perhaps for special occasions, and you probably would not want to go through the grinding process for perfect burgers too often, but in general these recipes are simple, reasonably quick, nutritious (well, some of them!), and can be adjusted according to taste or the availability of ingredients. Many can be used as a blueprint from which you can adapt them as your own. That is usually my starting point anyway! I realise that not everyone will be thrilled by every recipe in this book, but it works well for my family and friends, and it may well do for yours too.