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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Favourites Linda's recipes

Moussaka

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 109

A lovely Greek oven-bake with aubergines, TVP mince sauce, topped with white sauce and cheese.

I made this dish when my parents, sister, brother and sister-in-law came to visit. It was just perfect and all of us enjoyed it so much that despite of making a lot, we hardly had any leftovers. The tomato and TVP mince sauce was full of flavour and simmering the TVP mince with red wine gave it an almost meat-like taste. My father was so surprised that it was vegetarian!

Another great advantage of this recipe is that you can prepare all ingredients in advance and layer them in the oven-dish, ready to bake. Store in the fridge until you want to bake it and just pop in the oven. You then have plenty of time to prepare a salad and boil some potatoes or pasta (tagliatelle are great here!) and to chat with your guest 🙂

We had this with a green salad and some potatoes from my cousin’s farm where we helped with harvesting last autumn.
A perfect meal!!

Serves 3-4.

Variations: I find it unnecessary to peel the aubergines and would recommend slicing them as they are. This gives a bit more texture and flavour and keeps the vitamins in as well.
Adding 1/2 tin (or more) of chopped tomatoes to the mince sauce adds a lovely tomato touch to the sauce and makes sure there is enough of this delicious sauce for everybody 🙂

Gluten-Free: Use Gluten-free flour (rice flour worked fine here) and gluten-free breadcrumbs.

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Eggs Florentine

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

A spinach oven-bake, topped with poached eggs and a creamy cheese sauce.

I was surprised to find this recipe in Linda’s book as it is very similar to a dish my Mum would cook when we were kids. And we loved it! Since moving out from home, I have not eaten or cooked Eggs Florentine (at home it went under the name of “Spinach Bake”). And I had nearly forgotten about it. So when I discovered the dish in the book, it was clear that I had to try out this recipe when my parents come to visit.
And it was a success: My Dad was pleased when he discovered that there was a poached egg hidden under the cheesy sauce 🙂 and Mum asked if I remember that she would make a very similar dish when we were little.
A great recipe!

Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free flour.

Shortcut: You can use frozen spinach leaves instead of fresh spinach. It will save you a lot of time (and fresh spinach is not always available) and tastes nearly as good. You will need to drain off some of the liquid after defrosting the spinach.

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Lemon Bread Cake

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 162

A great, lemony cake, topped with lemon icing. Makes one small cake.

As my parents and siblings were staying, I made this cake and the Spice Cake (p. 165) to have with a cup of tea in the afternoon. They all loved the Lemon Bread Cake, thought I would say I preferred the Spice Cake with its dried fruit.
As my son is allergic to nuts, I omitted the nuts- I think it is at least as good without as with nuts.

For my gluten-free version I replaced the flour with 50g corn flour, 40g potato flour, 80g rice flour and 3 tsp potato fiber. The gluten-free cake tasted great when fresh but turned dryish on the second day. Better to slice and freeze any leftovers and defrost in the microwave before eating.

Variations: I did not have any vegetable suet and used 70g coconut oil instead, which worked fine. I reduced the sugar to 140g, and only used 50g of icing sugar. For my gluten-free version, using less milk ( around 80ml) seemed to be enough.

The cake was ready after 20 minutes of baking and retained a lovely moisture.

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Spice Cake

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 165

An easy cake with mixed dried fruit, pecans and a hint of spices.

I turned this recipe into a gluten-free recipe, substituting the self-raising flour for 100g rice flour, 100g potato flour, 85g corn flour, 3 tsp potato fiber, and 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder. The cake was lovely when fresh and great with a cup of tea. It did turn quite dry on the second day, so it would be better to slice and freeze any leftover cake and defrost in the microwave just before you want to eat it. Always good to have some cake in the freezer for emergencies!

Variations: Use sour cream or (plant-based) yoghurt instead of single cream.

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Tapioca Cream

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

A lovely old-fashioned dessert.

Another surprise was finding this recipe in Linda’s book. My grandmother would make tapioca cream, using much more milk to give it a soup-like constistency. She called it “Pünktchensuppe” (“Spotty Soup”) because the tapioca pearls would look like a lot of dots in the soup. We asked her to make this soup for us in the evenings as a light dinner or as a dessert- a memory very closely connected to my Gran.

Linda’s recipe works fine, even though I would prefer omitting the uncooked egg. If you add more milk and keep stirring the tapioca, it will turn more creamy and you do not need any whisked egg whites. For a richer dessert, try whipping some cream and folding it in the cooled tapioca.

This Tapioca Cream is great served warm or cold. While Linda suggests serving it with a dollop of jam (which is great), we had this with some “rote Grütze”, a kind of red fruit sauce typical for northern Germany and also Scandinavia.

Vegan: Use plant-based milk; I find that coconut drink with its sublte coconut flavour is a great addition to this Tapioca Cream. For a more neutral flavour with a hint of vanilla try Alpro Soya Original. Omit the beaten egg whites or use some whipped plant-based cream.

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Mushroom Pie

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

A two-crust pie filled with creamy mushrooms. Delicious!

After spending a week with my parents, our children and my parents arrived back in Hamburg today. It was very quiet without Oliver and Johanna, but I had so much work to do that I hardly had time to notice.
My parents are staying here until the weekend, giving me a great chance to try out some more of Linda’s recipes. I am looking forward to cooking meals for a larger group and to sharing them with my family.

Unfortunately, the Mushroom Pie was not the greatest of starts to these family meals 🙁
I experimented further with Linda’s Shortcrust Pastry (p. 149), looking for a way of making it gluten-free. This time I used oat flour, potato flour and teff flour. The dough was very easy to work and to roll out but was so soft after baking that it almost mixed with the mushroom filling. We decided to call it “mushroom stew” instead and enjoyed it nonetheless. It tasted delicious!

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Leeks Vinaigrette

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 138

Steamed leeks, served with a garlic vinaigrette.

I served this unusual combination with the Mushroom Pie (“Home Cooking, p. 112) – the sweetness of the leeks contrasted well with the acidity of the vinaigrette. A simple veg dish that tastes great and will certainly impress dinner guests.

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Mozzarela French Loaf

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 110

A crusty French bread with a filling of garlic and melted morrzarella.

When I arrived back home after a long day at work today, feeling very tired and hungry, Sebastian had made this Mozzarella French Loaf for us- it saved my life!

Gluten-Free: Sebastian used gluten-free crusty bread rolls and made 3 cuts into each roll to fill with mozzarella. Delicious!

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Lemon Coleslaw

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

A basic coleslaw recipe with lemon and oil.

I think this recipe needs some more acidity and would recommend adding some white wine vinegar. For a more interesting taste, add some spices such as chopped chillies or ginger and maybe even some fried and glazed fresh pineapple?

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Sunday Breakfast

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 126

A perfect breakfast for a lazy Sunday morning- serve with lots of English breakfast tea!