Photographs by Tom Mcgovern
Above: Best-selling novelist Jane Green is also a passionate cook
New York Times best-selling writer Jane Green whipped up something completely different from her “chick lit” block-busters—but every bit as delicious. This time she serves up Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends, and it’s out just in time to save your homemade holiday meal. Below, she offers a family-pleasing recipe as a taste of what to expect in the book.
LEARNING TO COOK
“I learned in my mother’s kitchen, perched on a stool and helping out as she cooked, graduating to studying recipes as a teenager, and finally, a few years ago, doing the Part One of a professional chef’s training at the International Culinary Center (formerly the French Culinary Institute) in New York. To go back to being a student again at this age, when I have children and a whole other life, was an enormous privilege—it was exhilarating and huge fun.”
FAVORITE DISHES
“I’m a big fan of comfort food, so anything that can be slow-cooked in one pot is always going to be a win. I make braised lamb shanks and short ribs quite regularly, and an English Victorian breakfast dish called kedgeree, which is curried rice, salmon and eggs, that we all adore.”
MOST-LOVED ROOM
“I love the kitchen, because it truly is the heart of the home and where everything happens, but I recently redid my office and now it’s the most incredibly serene retreat—it’s where I steal away to escape the noise and bustle of the kitchen!”
FRUIT-AND-MINT STUFFED SHOULDER OF LAMB
SERVES 4
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup prunes, chopped
1/8 cup dried figs, chopped
1/8 cup dates, chopped
Handful of mint leaves, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt and pepper
1 3/4 pounds shoulder of lamb
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Heat oil, sauté onion until soft. Add garlic, almonds, pine nuts and fruit, cook for two more minutes. Add mint, lime juice and seasonings, and mix well.
3. Cut a pocket in lamb and stuff; wrap tightly in foil, place in roasting tray and cook for 40 minutes.
4. Open foil, increase temperature to 400 degrees and cook for 15 minutes.