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

Wild Rice and Peas

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 133

A mixture of wild and white rice, cooked in vegetable stock, with petits pois.

A quick and easy rice dish with ingredients usually at hand. It is full of flavours but subtle enough to be eaten with a main course.
I used frozen peas and added them when the rice had finished cooking and just warmed them through.

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Linda's recipes

Spicy Eggs

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

Oven-baked scrambled eggs on a bed of fried peppers and mushrooms, topped with cheese.

A very surprising but delicious dish that is easy to prepare. I thought that it could do with more of the pepper and mushroom mixture and would recommend to double quantities here.

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Linda's recipes

Mushroom and Rice

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 112

This is a more basic variation of the “Rice in Tasty Vegetable Stock” on p. 118. It is great served with a main course and is a more interesting side dish than just rice- the mushrooms add a lovely umami flavour.

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Favourites Linda's recipes

Watercress and Lettuce Salad

From: Linda McCartney’s Home cooking, p. 78

A fresh salad with sharp watercress and lettuce, with a mustard vinaigrette.

I had never actually tried watercress and it has been on my mental shopping list since I started my “cook all of Linda’s recipes project”. Yesterday, I visited a huge farmer’s market in central Hamburg with my daughter and found- watercress! I loved its sharpness and crunch and will certainly keep it on my mental shopping list 🙂

I thought that the onion and garlic were too dominant in the dressing and I would recommend using a very simple vinaigrette with mustard, olive oil and white wine vinegar for this salad.

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Linda's recipes

Strawberry Mousse

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 166

Pureéd strawberries with lots of cream and sugar.

I did try this recipe but used a lot less icing sugar (we found that 50g is sweet enough) and only half the cream. I decided to layer the strawberry pureé with the whipped cream and some ginger biscuits in champagne flutes and to top them with half a fresh strawberry. A beautiful dessert and the taste of early summer!

Vegan: Use a plant-based whipping cream.

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Linda's recipes

Tomatoes Stuffed With Cottage Cheese

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 77

As the name already says, this is a recipe for stuffed tomatoes with a filling of cottage cheese, mayo and basil.

I found this recipe far too heavy with all the cottage cheese and mayo and would definitely prefer a lighter version with less dairy. How about using some cooked rice, plant-based yoghurt and blue cheese?

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Linda's recipes

Rice in Tasty Vegetable Stock

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 118

This is a recipe for a vegan risotto with mushrooms. Reliable, easy to make and very tasty. Great to accompany a salad or main course.

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Linda's recipes

Beefless Pie

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

A traditional beef pie without the beef 🙂 TVP gives a beefy texture and all meat-eaters around the table loved the pie.

I thought that the recipe relies to heavily on TVP and I was worried that there might not be enough taste in the filling. So I added half a bulb of fennel, 3 sticks celery and one carrot (all finely chopped) to the filling. I also used a glug of red wine for the sauté and flavoured the filling with a dash of Worshestershire Sauce. This gave a wonderful taste and also more filling to be enjoyed.

Vegan: Make sure your pie-crust ist vegan.

Gluten-Free: Use a gluten-free pie crust (e.g. my recipe for shortcrust pastry).

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Linda's recipes

Spinach Pie

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

A spinach and sour-cream filled pie, topped with cheddar.

For this pie, I chose to use frozen spinach as this was what was at hand. I also had some leftover blue cheese which was great in the filling. I used 100g of blue cheese and 100g of sour cream and did not add any cheddar. A pie full of flavour and in a lovely deep green. Great hot or cold.

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Linda's recipes

Avocado and Green Chilli Soup

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 51

A creamy cold soup made of avocado and milk, flavooured with sherry.

This is a very special and smooth soup that is great for summer parties. I would recommend using fresh chillies instead of tinned. The sherry I used had a slightly bitter taste, which I did not like in the soup. Maybe I have to try with a better sherry next time or omit it.