Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course (Hardback)

A lifetime's worth of expertise from the world's fines­t chef.

“I want to teach you how to cook good food at home by stripping awayall the hard graft and complexity to show how anyone can produce mouth-wateringrecipes. Put simply, I'm going to show you how to cook yourself into a bettercook.” GORDON RAMSAY

Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course is about giving home cooks thedesire, confidence and inspiration to hit the stoves and get cooking. Theultimate reference bible, it's a lifetime's worth of expertise from theworld's finest chef distilled into a beautiful book.

Gordon will share all sorts of useful tricks and tips from his years as aprofessional chef – from ways to save time and money, to how to presentsimple food so it looks like you've spent hours on it – making this the onlycookery course you'll ever need.

Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course includes over 100 modern recipesthat are simple and accessible but have an edge – classics such asslow-cooked lamb shanks, and pork belly with garlic, bay and fennel; suppers fortwo, from Thai tuna fishcakes to open lasagne; noodle dishes to die for andsuper easy salads, packed with flavour and perfect when you're cooking fora crowd.

Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course is the definitive cooking lessonfrom the ultimate chef.

SAMPLE RECIPE

Slow-cooked aubergine (pictured left)
(Serves 4–6 as a starter)
This vegetable stew is such a simple combination of ingredients, but theyundergo this amazing transformation during cooking to become more than the sumof their parts. A dish that just gets better and better the longer you allowthe flavours to mingle.

Olive oil, for frying
2 aubergines, trimmed and cut into 3cm chunks
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 red onion, peeled and diced
1×400g tin butter beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses (see page 205)
1×400g tin chopped tomatoes
Pinch of caster sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve
1 loaf of crusty white bread, e.g. sourdough or pain de campagne
Small bunch of mint, leaves roughly chopped
100g feta cheese, crumbled

Heat a heavy-based casserole dish over a high heat. Add a glug of oil and frythe aubergine for 3–4 minutes until coloured on all sides. Add the garlic andonion and fry for another 5 minutes until the onion is tender.

Stir in the butter beans and pomegranate molasses with a generous pinch ofsalt and grinding of pepper. Add the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to the boil, thenlower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 40–45 minutes until the aubergine istender and collapsed and the stew reduced and flavoursome. (If you find themixture is drying out too much, add a couple of tablespoons of water.)

To serve, slice the bread and toast on each side until golden. Stir the mintthrough the aubergine, spoon onto the slices of toast and scatter over thecrumbled feta. Serve warm.

How to salt aubergines

Although it’s not essential to salt aubergine before you fry it, doing sodraws out the moisture and makes it absorb less oil. Simply chop or dice theaubergine as required, place in a colander and sprinkle with about one teaspoonof salt. Leave for 30 minutes, then rinse well, pat dry on kitchen paper andcook as you wish.

About the Author

Gordon set up his first restaurant in 1998 which quickly received the mostprestigious accolade in the culinary world – three Michelin stars. One ofonly four chefs in the UK to maintain three stars, Gordon was awarded an OBE in2006 for services to the industry. Gordon lives with his wife and four childrenin South London.