Nigel’s fourth cookbook, Simplifood: Amazing food, simply prepared is now widely available online after publishing glitches are finally resolved.

In my introduction, I wrote – “Simplifood: Amazing food, simply prepared offers exactly what the title promises, with about 250 recipes diligently researched and tested over many years of cooking by the author and presented in his easy-to-follow style that both beginners and experienced cooks will find very straight forward. Recipes are illustrated with fresh out of the oven photos by the author.”

The liner notes say: “For more than a decade, author, tv host and self-taught cook Nigel Napier-Andrews has regaled readers with the stories behind the recipes he publishes. In his fourth cookbook, he strips away the chaff and simply presents his all-time favourite dishes, sorted by the standard progression of a meal—such as starters, soups, salads, pasta, mains, fish, baking, puddings and more—so that all the recipes are easy to find.”

Although the eBook was launched in December last year, it was only available with a limited online presence. Some gremlin in the coding prevented wider distribution. This has now been solved and the book is finally available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu Publishing and Kobo. Problems still exist with Apple, but for now I’m ignoring that!

The book really does have everything from soup to nuts. Some of my favourite soups are here, such as a winter warming pease pottage from the very north of England to an unusual avocado soup from the Andes, as well as crowd pleasers like my roasted tomato soup, which I make almost every week at home. In fact there are no recipes for nuts, but you will find some walnuts in my astonishing carrot cake and sliced almonds serving as a crust on yummy baked fish dishes.

During a well-lived life I’ve travelled extensively–though not as much as I would like–and discovered some interesting dishes (illustrated here): an onion tarte Tatin from France, which is absolutely stupendous and a weird way with poached eggs in a rich tomato and basil sauce which I first tasted in Libya, of all places, and known in Israel as shakshuka. There’s much more and although I swore this would be my last cookbook, recipes are starting to collect on little index cards in my new kitchen in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Let’s see what happens over the next year.

While in England this week, I’ve been able to visit our friend Tessa Bramley – England’s first female Michelin star chef – at her lovely restaurant in Derbyshire. The Old Vicarage has survived the pandemic and is open for dinner again. On my last visit we had perhaps the best meal I’ve ever tasted.

This time we sat in the lounge and enjoyed a friendly cup of her excellent house coffee with home-made scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam, plus home-made chocolate and cherry cake. She and my beloved have been lifelong friends and it was sad that this was perhaps the last time they will meet. We have called this trip to England our ‘Farewell Daffodil Tour,’ as I wrote in my last article. Along the lanes around The Old Vicarage, hordes of golden daffodils nod their heads in the breeze.

“Tessa is not just a good cook, she is in a state of complete union with her garden, and with the fields and woodlands that surround her home and provision her restaurant,” writes Kit Chapman in Great British Chefs. Tessa’s sommelier son now expertly runs the restaurant and estate. He comes in from the orchard while we sup, to tell us how pruning is coming on. Tessa maintains control in the kitchen, where her chef of 29 years cooks under her command. She has given me many tips over the years and I hope they are reflected in my latest cookbook. Tessa’s offerings are in a league of their own. Mine are just simple food, simply made. They are all presented with joy and a love of cooking.

Please click on any of the links above or below to get an eBook copy of my cookbook – it’s well priced at only 9.99 in any currency. Enjoy!

Simplifood: Amazing food, simply prepared is now available as an eBook well priced at 9.99 in any currency. Click on Amazon for Kindle devices, Barnes and Noble for Nook devices, Kobo for Kobo eReaders, and Lulu Publishing for any other formats, including Apple iPad.

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This is Nigel’s 370th blog on Gentleman’s Portion. The SEARCH function at the top works really well if you want to look back and see some of his previous stories, or check under CATEGORIES.

Nigel adds: “If you’ve read all my blogs since August 2012, you will have read over 370,000 of my well-chosen words. Thank you!’