Spooning with Rosie

Stand aside The Naked Chef! Sassy, savvy, and with her finger firmly on the food pulse, Rosie is the fresh new face of city cooking.

Five years ago Rosie Lovell opened her deli in the heart of Brixton market. Nestled among the salted fish, yams and sounds of reggae it has become an intimate, eclectic place full of welcoming people, good music and food made with love. Everyone knows everyone at Rosie's.

Spooning With Rosie teems with favourite recipes and stories from Rosie's life: meals cooked for her family and friends, in the deli and at home. Culinary inspiration comes from the people closest to her, from food encountered on travels, and importantly from her fellow shopkeepers and their wares that jostle for space outside her deli: the piles of peppers and plum tomatoes; the Borlotti beans stacked up outside the Portuguese store; the reams of ackee in the window of the Jamaican shop next door.

With her own unique feisty élan, Rosie shows how to experiment with food and to have fun while doing it. Recipes are never absolute, but something to be perfected and adapted with time. Similarly, methods are never complicated - just thrifty, good food perfect for the occasion. Food that depends on who you are with, how you are feeling, and what's in the fridge.

There are recipes for the dawn chorus: food for the first wave of a hangover, or just to start the day with a bang. Recipes for simple dinner parties, made full of care, but easy to throw together mid-week, from warm roasted chicken with lemons accompanied by penne tzatziki style, to daddy's Jamaican ackee and salt fish with fried plantain and coconut coleslaw. There are also individual dishes of soulful grub to comfort and soothe; dishes for clandestine last-minute dates to fall in love over; recipes for casual summer get-togethers and elaborate feasts to feed flocks of hungry friends.

Feisty and fresh, Spooning With Rosie, is a book about friends, a vibrant local community and the joy of good food shared together.