Every time I pick up a pan I am drawing on what I inherited – cooking is nothing if not about temperament and habit – but there are some special dishes which I either ate as a child, or which come from the family kitchen that have a special significance and which I want to keep alive and pass on. Italian Sausages with Lentils Soft-Boiled Eggs with Asparagus Soldiers Whitebait Liptauer Granny Lawson’s Lunch Dish My Grandmother’s Ginger-Jam Bread and Butter Pudding Custard Chocolate-Chestnut Refrigerator Cake ITALIAN SAUSAGES WITH LENTILS My mother used English sausages mostly, and those flat, sludgy lentils (Puy lentils weren’t so easily available then) but this is at its best made with highly flavoured Italian sausages (I love the ones tagged ‘Genovese’, deep with garlic and basil) and either French Puy lentils or the similar Italian ones from Umbria. This isn’t about fancifying a downhome dish: it’s about doing what feels right and responding to what’s available; in short, it’s about cooking.
