Lucy Boyd, head gardener for Michelin-starred café Petersham Nurseries and trained chef understands ingredients, and knows how to turn them into extraordinary food. Quality ingredients – in season, simply cooked and perfectly prepared – are at the heart of Lucy’s cooking. This beautiful debut collection of irresistible ingredient-inspired recipes is full of Lucy’s passion and knowledge of produce. Following a serendipitous apprenticeship into cookery as the daughter of Rose Gray, founder of the River Café, Lucy went from planning and cooking dishes alongside Rose for both the family and customers, to lovingly creating the much-lauded kitchen garden at Petersham, providing vegetables and salads for the cafe and for Petersham’s owners Francesco and Gael Boglione. Her myriad cooking and gardening experiences has guided Lucy throughout her 8-year partnership with award-winning chef Skye Gyngell as well as nurturing a fascination for Italian vegetables and salads, herbs and edible flowers, a fascination which continues to heavily influence her cooking. This cookery book, complete with stunning, fresh photography and Lucy’s poignant memories describing a recipe’s origins is essential for anyone with a passion for good food. From Summer Girolles, Veal Loin and Rocket to Cicoria, Mozzarella, Tomatoes with Marinated Salted Anchovies, Lucy’s food effortlessly combines quality and simplicity, making this the perfect gift for foodies everywhere.
