'I get fed up with the number of cookbooks that promise quick and easy meals, those that promise a three-course dinner that can be knocked up in thirty minutes. Most cooking, and certainly most enjoyable cooking, takes a little longer. I can knock something up in a hurry if I have to there are plenty of quick and easy recipes in this book but that ability was a long time in the acquisition, and I still prefer to take my time, in order to do it better than I did it last time.' These recipes and essays, first published in the Financial Times, are a distillation of Rowley Leigh s forty years as both a professional chef and a home cook. They detail with precision and wit how to cook and enjoy both unusual and familiar ingredients through the seasons. With Leigh s succinct wine recommendations and over 120 recipes, this is a book to get messy with overuse in the kitchen and to pore over in an armchair with a glass of the author s beloved Riesling close to hand.