Few chefs have made the journey Raymond Blanc has undertaken in recent years. Once the veritable hotshot of English cooking, Blanc was one of the first modern culinary superstars (I well remember the launch of his first book in Dublin, when the throng of people at the bookshop was more appropriate to the presence of a pop star than a chef) and along with a successful media career, he ran the muchlauded Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, in Oxfordshire, which has recently expanded and which now features a cookery school.
This seems like a standard, successful career trajectory - the smart chef who runs a good place, makes plenty of money and gets famous along the way.
But something else has been going on with Raymond Blanc. Some years back, in the midst of the melee of success, he suffered a mild stroke. The next time he appeared back in print, it was with a book - Blanc Mange - which was intricately concerned with the mechanics of cooking, and which accompanied a BBC Educational television series.
Now, he is back with another book - Blanc Vite - a text which effectively turns the starred-chefs' book concept on its head.
For here, collaborating with the doctor and nutritionist Jean Munro, Blanc has again taken a theme - the issue of food and health - and explored it via a culinary journey.
The food in the book is the antithesis of the standard chef's book, which basically aims to demonstrate the marvellous things which the chef can do. Here, however, Blanc thoroughly demystifies the concept of cheffy talent, aiming to create food which showcases good, fresh, wholesome ingredients in a simple way. It is that rare thing: a chef's book for the domestic cook.
Blanc doesn't shy away from complication when it is needed, of course, and there are some lavish ingredients used - including foie gras, whenever it takes his fancy. But for the most part this is food which is wise, easy and quick to prepare, and best of all it covers all aspects of eating, from breakfasts and snacks to more formal dishes.
And Blanc doesn't beat us about the head with the idea of good health and nutrition. He basically and simply says; take good, preferably organic food, cook it logically, drink some red wine, relax and enjoy it, and the whole experience will be good for you.
It's an obvious message - it's particularly appropriate to January when we are prone to reflect upon our daily practices, and unfortunately it is one which is all too easy to forget in the swirl of daily living. So here are a few typical Blanc recipes from this considerate book. Nothing radical, nothing which requires you to abstain from good things, and nothing complex to cook.
We start with a smart pancake idea, which can be used for both sweet and savoury purposes - chick pea flour can be sourced at good ethnic or wholefood shops. Blanc teams them with kippers, and with pineapple and blueberries in a dessert, as well as the figs and honey we feature below.
Chick Pea Pancakes
Makes about 6-8 x 10cm pancakes 1 egg
175 ml milk
2 teaspoons honey
Olive oil
80 g fine chickpea flour
Pinch of salt
Beat the egg together with the milk, honey and three tablespoons of the olive oil.
Sieve the chickpea flour into another bowl with the salt, and gradually mix in the egg mixture until it is totally smooth. Strain through a fine sieve. Leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
To make the pancakes you can either do individual ones in a small, non-stick skillet or pan, or smaller versions by pouring small spoonfuls of the mixture into a large pan, four or five at a time.
Brush the pan with some olive oil and heat. Pour in a small ladleful of the batter and rotate the pan to make a thin pancake. Fry for 30-40 seconds, then turn over with a spatula and fry the other side for the same length of time.
The pancakes may be prepared in advance and reheated. Serve with Dried Figs in Honey (see below).
Dried Figs in Honey
150g dried figs, halved
4 teaspoons liquid honey
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons water
Juice of half a lemon
Melt the honey with the olive oil, water and lemon juice, add the figs and cover. Cook over a gentle heat for five minutes until the figs have plumped up. Serve hot.
One of the areas in which our resolve not to eat bad food tends to fall down most often is with snacks. One of Blanc's solutions is these very smart, very easy pitta pizzas, made with one half of a wholemeal pitta pouch. This is also good youngster's food.
Pitta Pizza with Mascarpone, Spinach and Mushroom
1 large wholemeal pitta bread, cut in two across the centre.
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
100g spinach, leaves picked, washed and shredded
100g button mushrooms, washed and sliced
100g mascarpone cheese
1 small bunch of fresh parsley, leaves picked and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chunky tomato sauce (see below)
To make the tomato sauce:
Heat 50ml olive oil in a saucepan, add one small onion, peeled and finely chopped and sweat for three or four minutes until transparent. Add 400g tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped. Cover and simmer for four to five minutes. Add two garlic cloves, crushed and boil, uncovered for two to three minutes, stirring from time to time. Liquidise the sauce, then push through a fine sieve. Cool and then whisk in 50mls extra virgin olive oil.
This sauce can be made well ahead of time and the remainder stored in the fridge for making more pitta pizzas.
To make the pitta pizza:
Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/gas 6.
Warm the olive oil, and add the garlic, spinach and mushrooms. Saute over a high heat for two minutes without colouring, then decant into a colander and allow to cool. Once cooled, stir in the mascarpone and chopped parsley and season well.
Spread the tomato sauce across the pitta bread, then top with the spinach mixture, bake for 15 minutes, and serve.
And here is a tart which is, in fact, quite luxurious, with a simple and easy polenta crust. The crust can be a little tricky to flop into the pie dish, so you might like to make it on a stainless steel baking tray and then slide it into place.
Onion and Cep Tart with a Polenta Crust Serves 6:
The Polenta Crust
150g polenta 300 ml water
Salt
The Filling
2 large onions, peeled and finely sliced
25g butter
50g dried ceps, soaked in 150ml warm water for one hour
250g mascarpone cheese 1 whole, large, free-range egg and 1 egg yolk
8 fresh sage leaves or 2 fresh sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped (optional)
Preheat the oven to 160180 C/325 350F/gas 3-4.
To make the polenta crust:
Bring the water to the boil and slowly pour over the polenta and salt. Cook, stirring constantly over a medium heat, for five minutes. Remove from the heat and with the aid of a little more dry polenta, form into a ball.
Roll out as you would pastry, using polenta instead of flour to dust the work surface. Line a 20 x 2-2.5cm tart ring with it. Don't worry if it breaks up a little as you can push the pieces together to tidy it up. Prick the base, then bake it in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 160 C/325 F/gas 3.
The filling: Sweat the onion in the butter without colouring for five minutes.
Strain the ceps, keeping their liquor. Rinse the ceps gently and chop them coarsely. Add them to the onion and sweat for a further two minutes. Strain the cep juice on to this, and allow it to reduce completely. Transfer this mixture from the pan to a bowl and allow to cool.
Once cooled, mix in the mascarpone, the egg, egg yolk and sage or rosemary if using. Spoon this mixture into the tart case, smooth it with a palette knife and cook for 20 minutes in the oven. Once cooked the tart should just tremble in the centre.
Serve in wedges hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Raymond Blanc's Blanc Vite is published by Headline, price £30 in UK