Book review: Simply Raymond: Recipes from Home, by Raymond Blanc

Raymond Blanc’s beaming smile adorned a cookery book for the very first time back in 1988 with the publication of Recipes from Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons. Thirty-three years later, Blanc is still smiling on the cover of his 13th book, still running the two-Michelin-starred Le Manoir in Oxfordshire, and still cooking chicken with morels and Jura wine sauce from his native Franche-Comté, a version of which appears in both his first and latest book.

There is a comforting familiarity about much of this collection, inspired by both the rustic country cooking of Blanc’s late mother and the simple recipes in Édouard de Pomiane’s classic 1930 book Cooking in Ten Minutes. Reading a recipe for beef braised in red wine, a fricassée of wild mushrooms or celeriac rémoulade is like meeting an old friend.

But the book is also full of twists and surprises, such as flourless crêpes made only with over-ripe bananas, eggs and salt; mayonnaise made with chickpea water; and flatbreads that are simply equal quantities of flour and yogurt.

The book may have a noticeably French accent, with recipes for moules Provençal, tartiflette and pear almondine, but Blanc’s love of global cuisine comes through in dishes such as tuna ceviche, Japanese-style; slow-roasted shoulder of lamb with harissa; and the northeast Indian dish of kadai (mixed vegetables in spicy gravy), a recipe contributed by Shailesh Kumar, a chef from the Brasserie Blanc restaurant group.

Blanc’s passion for vegetables comes across loud and clear in Simply Raymond, with a series of short essays entitled ‘My Love For’, which covers everything from courgettes to tomatoes and aubergines to apples (Blanc has planted an orchard of 2,500 trees at Le Manoir that includes 151 apple varieties). Recipes for a vibrant vegetable escabeche and an earthy roast celeriac fondant tatin are among the best in the book.

Straightforward and accessible, the recipes in Simply Raymond will provide much inspiration for everything from staff food to set lunches and quick and easy after-service meals at home. That’s enough to put a smile on any chef’s face.

Simply Raymond: Recipes from Home, by Raymond Blanc (Headline Home, £25)