COOK FOR SOUL EB

Lucy Lord

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780008530839
• eBook ISBN: 9780008521158
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Culinary Arts

The second delicious cookbook from bestselling author, Lucy Lord, with over 80 fresh, fun, and creative recipes to feed your soul

Good food feeds the soul, great cooking shares the love.

From Sunday Times bestselling author, Lucy Lord, Cook for the Soul is bursting with fresh, flavourful, and creative dishes to help you rediscover a love for cooking.

Food can lift your mood, deliver new experiences, and help you connect with family and friends away from the pressures of daily life. Lucy's philosophy is all about finding those moments – whether you have 20 minutes or two hours to spare – to pause, regroup, and share the joy delicious homecooked dishes, amazing ingredients, and good times.

So, dig into this beautiful book and discover that happiness really is homemade.

With chapters including:
Breakfasts & Brunches
Light, Fresh & Flourish
Quick & Simple
Slow, Nourishing & Comforting
Centre-stage Side Dishes
Any Excuse to Bake
Drinks

ANY EXCUSE TO BAKE

‘Happiness comes from experiences, but fulfilment comes from giving.’

I’ve always had a sweet tooth, so my favourite recipes to create and share are baked goods. I have very fond early memories of my sister and I having second servings and then finding that extra ‘stomach’ after a full Sunday roast to fit in my ultimate dessert: sticky toffee pudding and ice cream.

Cakes, traybakes and cookies were the first things I started experimenting with when I was learning to cook, and any celebration was an excuse to bake and practise new recipes, flavours or techniques.

As we move through life and become increasingly exposed to social media, our behaviour around food can start to be influenced as it often encourages dichotomous thinking: ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ foods, or the concept of ‘treat’ or ‘cheat’ foods, making it hard to enjoy eating or even creating delicious recipes without feelings of guilt. But the motto: ‘everything in moderation, including moderation’ is one that I love to live by. One of the best things that I did for my mental health was to choose the full-fat, full-sugar versions of foods that I loved; choosing real ice cream rather than the low-calorie alternatives that might leave me full – but not satiated. These are also marketed to us as one tub being one serving, often more deeply ingraining any negative eating behaviours. This mentality can lead us to continue to feel guilty and subsequently further restrict or remove the foods that brought true satisfaction. Give me one scoop of good-quality, full-fat ice cream over a tub of low-calorie, air-whipped alternative any day.

Knowing this, it brings me so much joy to bring you recipes packed with full-fat love. I really think that when we make the effort to make recipes from scratch, knowing what goes into them, spending time carefully mixing, measuring and baking them, the appreciation (and taste) we get from them is ten times that we’d get if we quickly picked something off the shelf. I’m a big fan of taking the time to sit down to eat as an opportunity to slow down and really enjoy and savour my food and the people around me. Life isn’t perfect and of course that’s not always possible – but what better way to pause the day than with a slab of cake and a hot coffee?

Cheesy garlic tear-and-share bread

SERVES 8

HANDS-ON

15 MINS

HANDS-OFF

2 HRS 15 MINS+

SUITABLE FOR V

Put this in the middle of the table and it’s every man and woman for themselves! Baked with two types of cheese, each buttery, gooey ball is stuffed with mozzarella, layered in Parmesan and wrapped in a herby, garlicky, buttery layer. Golden and crisp on the outside and baked in a Bundt tin, it looks stunning and leaves a circle in the centre – perfect for dips. Bread recipes take a bit more time from start to finish but this is really simple to create (most of the recipe time is allowing the dough to rise).

280ml tepid water

1 tbsp honey

7g fast-action dried yeast

450g strong white bread flour

60ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing

1 tsp salt

220g mozzarella (32 mini mozzarella pearls)

80g Parmesan cheese, grated

Flaky sea salt, to serve

FOR THE HERBY BUTTER

120g butter

2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped (or use 1 tsp garlic powder)

2 tsp dried Italian herb seasoning

1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

1. 1. Mix the tepid water and honey together in a jug and then sprinkle the yeast over the water. Leave for 5 minutes until it’s foamy.
2. 2. Put the flour, olive oil and salt into a large bowl and mix together, then pour in the yeast mixture and use a spoon to bring everything together into a dough.
3. 3. Use your hands to knead for 10–12 minutes (or use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 8 minutes) until the dough is smooth and elastic. It should feel soft but shouldn’t stick to your hands, so add a few extra tablespoons of flour if the dough is too wet.
4. 4. Lightly grease a large clean bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. Meanwhile, generously oil a 25cm Bundt tin.
5. 5. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and add the garlic and herbs. Let it simmer for a few minutes and then remove from the heat and set aside.
6. 6. When the dough has risen, remove the cling film and punch the dough firmly once to release any air bubbles. Cut the dough in half, then in half again and continue dividing the dough until you have 32 balls. Wrap each piece of dough around a mozzarella pearl, pinching to seal.
7. 7. Dip each dough ball into the herby butter and place in the prepared Bundt tin. Build up layers of balls, sprinkling grated Parmesan over each layer and finally over the top. Keep any extra herby butter to one side.
8. 8. Let the dough rise again in the Bundt tin for 45 minutes
9. 9. Preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan and bake for 25–30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before tipping upside down on to a serving plate to release the bread. Pour over the remaining herby butter (gently warm over a low heat if needed), sprinkle with flak...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Note to Readers
• Contents
• Introduction
• Breakfasts & Brunches
• Light, Fresh & Flourish
• Quick & Simple
• Slow, Nourishing & Comforting
• Centre-Stage Side Dishes
• Any Excuse To Bake
• Drinks
• List of searchable terms
• Acknowledgements
• About the Publisher