A new take on Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking

Brownie

Linda McCartney’s book “Home Cooking” was the very first cookbook I ever bought ‒ back in 1992. Twenty-seven years later, I have re-discovered this book in my bookshelf. But while most of the recipes are still great today, the pictures in the book and the layout do not do them justice any more. So I decided to cook and photograph as many recipes as possible from this book, and to include gluten-free and vegan versions wherever possible. Read more about my idea to start cooking Linda’s recipes. Have fun browsing Linda’s recipes below, search by tag or have a look at some of my own recipes. You can also browse my photos.

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Linda's recipes

Butter Icing

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 156

A recipe for a soft icing that can be flavoured with different ingredients, such as chocolate, lemon or coffee.
Great as chocolate butter icing on the Cocoa Cake (p. 158).

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Cocoa Cake

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 158

A lovely moist chocolate cake with divine chocolate-flavoured icing (see p. 156)! A recipe to dream about and definitely worth having at hand to pull out of the drawer when friends come around for a relaxed afternoon and chat. A favourite!!
This cake uses amazingly little butter/ margarine and just one egg and still turns out springy and moist. The comparatively low amount of calories in the cake gives a good excuse to put some butter icing on top 🙂

I have made a gluten-free variation of this cake; it can be found here.

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Lemon Rice Salad

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 75

A cold salad with rice, onion, parsley and lemon juice.

This salad is a great way to use up left-over rice. It is great with a BBQ or with a quice and green salad and has a light and refreshing taste.

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Mushroom Risotto

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 113

A quick and tasty Mushroom Risotto.

My husband made this risotto and was pleasantly surprised because in contrast to the risotto recipe we normally follow (a recipe from Jamie Oliver’s book “The Naked Chef”) it does not require you to stir it during all of the cooking time. Still, it tasts very good and gives you time to prepare a salad or lay the table instead of watching the rice cook. Good quick alternative with a lot of flavour.

Another lesson learned: If you put the butter in the microwave to melt, be careful not to set it too high- oterhwise you will have a vulcano in the microwave. My husband knows this now…

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Cream of Celery

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 136

A creamy sauce with chunks of celery.

One thing I discovered by cooking Linda’s recipes, is that I actually like celery! In the past, celery was something I avoided and could not imagine using in my kitchen. How wrong I was! I love celery pieces in salads and like the taste of celery in soups and stews.
This recipes makes a very special sauce my daughter and I had with pasta. Quite unusual but delicious and easy to make! Just great!

For a vegan variation, substitute the cream for plant-based cream and use margarine or olive oil. Works just as well!

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Linda's recipes

Hot Dogs and Tomatoes

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 103

Vegetable frankfurters in a simple tomato sauce, spiced with caraway seeds.

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Curried eggs

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 97

Halfed eggs, filled with a creamy curry and mayo paste.

When I was growing up, curried eggs were to be found during many family dinners or lunch parties in summer as part of a buffet. And there never were enough curried eggs- they were always the first to disappear. Today, curried eggs seem to have a reputation of being “typically 80s” and have vanished from our tables. On a party with colleagues, my friend got a serving plate (an original from the 80s!) with little cups to hold curried eggs. The plate was meant as a joke and a sign of very bad taste. But I must say I envy her a bit and would love one of those plates to serve all those delicious variations of stuffed or curried eggs to be found in Linda’s book. Either, they were very fashionable when she wrote her book (80s! Coincidence??) or she liked them a lot . Or both. Either way, they taste great and when I tried them out on my family, they were the first to vanish 🙂

Other variations in “Home Cooking”: Devilled Eggs (p. 63) and Stuffed Curried Eggs (p. 68)

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Linda's recipes

Cabbage and Caraway Seed Salad

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 70

An aromatic and fresh Cabbage Salad.

In my family, one of the things we cannot agree upon is whether caraway seeds are edible or not. I like their taste, but my husband for example can not stand their taste. I find a good compromise which suits everybody is using nigella seeds instead of caraway seeds. They give a less sharp flavour but add an interesting twist.

Making this much lighter, I reduced the mayo to 2 tbs. and added 2 tbsp. of vinegar.

Vegan: use vegan mayonnaise.

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Linda's recipes

Bean Tacos

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 85

A great and quick meal with lots of flavour. I tried this with home-made refried beans (p. 141)- perfect!

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Linda's recipes

Refried Beans

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 141

A basic ingredient for many Mexican recipes and easy to make- the beans just takes a long time to soak and cook.

Variations: As always, I tried to use less fat, reducing the vegetable oil to 4 tbsp. The flavour of the Refried Beans was great, the texture creamy- no need to use more oil!
I also added two gloves of garlic together with the onions.