All in the family: You can imagine the executives of Gordon Ramsay Ltd sitting around a table, discussing how they would milk the cash cow this year. "Why not a book by your good wife, old boy?" they might have said - and, presto!, Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen was born.
Tana (below, with her husband and family) is the mother of four Ramsay children, so the book is free of four-letter words - apart from a few basics such as "stew" and "food" - and is geared to the needs of a young family instead.
Its publication is perfectly timed to coincide with the return to school and every household's fervent desire to get it right this year. Nothing like fresh starts and new beginnings.
Thus there are healthy suggestions for weekday breakfasts on the run and plenty of fresh alternatives for lunch boxes, post-school suppers, post-homework rewards and children's party fare. There is a very good chapter on stews and cassoulets to make in advance, plus ways of
adapting children's fare for adults, such as two leek and bacon pies: one with wine, one without.
There's nothing earth-shattering here, but it might help to feed your very best intentions. Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen, by Tana Ramsay, is published by HarperCollins and costs £20 in the UK. Patsey Murphy