AUTHORS’ NOTE

There are a few items that we regard as essentials when cooking. For this reason, we advise you to always have good-quality olive oil, canola oil, salt, white and black pepper, and clean water on hand. As you build up your confidence in the kitchen, you will intuitively grasp how much olive oil is needed to sauté a certain amount of food, or how much salt and pepper brings out the best in your dish. Don’t get too worked up over the finer details; we’d much rather encourage a relaxed and fun atmosphere in the kitchen.

Flour, unless otherwise specified, is always plain wheat cake flour.

We prefer to use a Silpat^® or silicone baking mat to baking paper, as it makes life much easier, and would highly recommend the investment. However, well-greased baking paper will do the job.

When cream is used, it is fresh single cream unless otherwise specified. Milk is always full cream, again, unless otherwise specified.

When we mention measurements for herbs, don’t compress them into your measuring spoons and cups, simply scoop them in gently – we’ve already accounted for the fact that the leaves are not densely packed.

When it comes to plating, we would like you to be inspired by our instructions and photography, but don’t let this limit you! As you become more confident, we hope that you’ll experiment with the plating and make it your own.

For any spices or seasonings requiring ‘a pinch’, be generous, pinching your middle finger, index finger and thumb together to gather the spice or seasoning. As a famous chef once told us, ‘You have to pinch like you’re pinching somebody’s bottom!’