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

Gazpacho

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 55.

A cold soup with tomatoes, green pepper and cucumber- and garlic of course!

When I was a child, my Mum made Gazpacho once and I remember really hating it. So I was a little scared of this recipe- but got a very pleasant surprise. A refreshing soup that is delicious and contains all the goodness of a big salad. So it could really be called a salad smoothie 🙂
I must admit that I did not add the raw egg to the soup as I want to be careful with uncooked eggs. But tastewise, there is really no need for the egg, so I guess it is ok to just leave it out (and thus make this a vegan soup, too!).

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Burgers á la King

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 88.

Burger chunks in a white sauce with onion, peppers and mushrooms.

This is one of the endless variations of burger chunks that are presented in this cookbook. I got a little tired of them, but my family is asking for more. So I continue on the quest to cook my way through the whole book…

This sauce is really very tasty and meat-lovers will like this a lot. I substituted the burger chunks for cubed smoked tofu which was great as it did not crumble during the cooking time and added a lovely smokey flavour to the dish.

Vegan: Use plant-based milk for the white sauce.

Gluten-free: Use a gluten-free flour blend for the white sauce and make sure the burgers you are using are gluten-free, too. Or use smoked tofu instead.

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Linda's recipes

Delicious Watercress Soup

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 55.

A hot and creamy watercress soup with potatoes and cream.

Watercress was one of the ingredients I had not tried before starting this cooking project. And I must say I really enjoy its fresh and sharp taste when used in salads. This soup boils the watercress with the potatoes and purees both at the end of the cooking time.
Even though the soup tasted pleasant, boiling altered the taste of the watercress and made it taste almost like leeks. I would have preferred keeping some of the distinct watercress taste- maybe by adding it at the last minute before blending and then serving immediately? Will try this out.

Vegan: Use plant-based milk and cream and mit the egg yolks (or add 100-200g of silken tofu before you blend the soup).

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Spanish Omelette

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 123.

A simple omelette, filled with cooked tomatoe, peppers and celery.

A great quick lunch that still contains a lot of vegetables and is full of flavour. If you have the time, let the veg simmer for 20-30 minutes to allow the flavour of the tomato sauce and the peppers to develop.
This recipe is a little unclear in the description: You need to use a SECOND frying pan to cook the eggs- this is not stated clearly.

Vegan: Use a vegan egg replacer, e.g. from Orgran. Or make a vegan pancake batter and fill the pancake with the tomato and veg sauce.

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Teriyaki

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 128.

A great marinade for burger chunks or pieces of firm tofu.
I made vegetable kebabs and used some tofu cubes marinated in this teriyaki sauce in beetween the veg- great!

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New Potato Salad

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p.76.

A plain and fuss-free potato salad with majonnaise, celery and pickle. When served chilled this potato salad is a nice addition to any picknick or barbecue in the summer.

Vegan: Use vegan majonnaise and plant-based yoghurt.

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Favourites Linda's recipes

Coconut Custard

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 160

A lovely recipe for custard topped with coconut meringue.

My family just loves when I try out the sweet deserts from Linda’s book and this was just one of the surprises. The recipe is simple enough: Make some custard, top it with beaten egg whites, icing sugar and desicated coconut and bake in the over for 20 minutes. The result looks very impressive and would be great for a special family dinner.

When making the Coconut Custard, the custard started bubbling and spilled into the oven- next time I would make sure to put it on a baking tray to avoid cleaning the whole oven. Also, the custard was REALLY hot after baking, so it is best to leave it to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

To avoid having to “destroy” the lovely coconut topping when serving, use four individual ramekins.

Vegan: This recipe works well with soya milk and soya cream. For the meringue, use vegan eggwhite replacement or aqua faba (the liquid drained from tinned chickpeas)- works just as well as egg whites.

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Linda's recipes

Sour Cream and Beetroot

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 142

Hot cooked beetroot in a mustard and sour cream sauce with onion and herbs.

As I had already planned to try out the Harvard Beets (p. 137), I decided to give this recipe a go at the same time. This way I only needed to cook beetroot once and then made small quantities of both dishes. I did like the Sour Cream and Beetroot better than the Harvard Beets as the taste was more interesing and the sauce smoother and not starchy. Unluckily, half of my family do not like beetroot at all, so my daughter and I ended up eating all of this dish- but we would certainly love to have this again soon!

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Spinach Cheese Dumplings

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 124

Flour-based dumplings with cottage cheese and fresh spinach- a really tasty and unusual dish that works well with gluten-free flour.

When I tried this out with self-raising gluten-free flour, the mixture was quite soft (maybe take 3 eggs instead of 4 next time?) and I was a little worried that the dumplings might fall apart when cooking. I did cover the dumplings with a little flower and luckily they stayed in shape. Delicious!

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Linda's recipes

Harvard Beets

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 137

Cooked beetroot in a cornflour and cider vinegar sauce, served with melted butter.

I found that with this recipe, the sour and starchy sauce was too dominant and I did not like the sweetness of the sauce either- so this is one of the recipes I am not too fond of. If you like to try this out, I would recommend using either no sugar at all or just very little. You can also half the amount of cider vinegar used.

Vegan: Substitute the butter with olive oil or vegan butter.