Fewer Than Five, Always Recognisable — A grocery list a grandmother would approve of
Clean label is supermarket marketing reduced to a kitchen principle: cook things whose ingredient list could be read by a grandmother. The grandmother test is more useful than most diet labels.
I. Roasted Whole Chicken
Chicken, salt, butter, herbs.
II. Slow-Cooked Lentils
Lentils, onion, garlic, olive oil, salt.
III. Brown Rice with Steamed Vegetables
Brown rice, broccoli, sesame oil, soy sauce.
IV. Apple-and-Oat Crumble
Apples, oats, butter, sugar.
V. Yoghurt-Honey Granola Bowl
Yoghurt, honey, oats, walnuts.
VI. Roast Carrots with Tahini
Carrots, tahini, lemon, salt.
VII. Beans on Sourdough
Beans, tomato, sourdough, olive oil.
VIII. Fish in Parchment
White fish, lemon, olive oil, herbs.
IX. Sweet-Potato Wedges
Sweet potato, olive oil, paprika, salt.
X. Cucumber-Tomato-Feta Salad
Cucumber, tomato, feta, olive oil.
XI. Beef and Onions
Beef, onions, garlic, salt.
XII. Lemon-Garlic Spaghetti
Pasta, lemon, garlic, olive oil.
XIII. Pan-Fried Tofu
Tofu, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic.
XIV. Banana-Walnut Loaf
Banana, flour, butter, walnut.
XV. Egg-and-Cheese Toast
Bread, egg, cheese, butter.
∞. Where to go next
If this collection found something useful, the place to keep going is the full A-Z catalogue or one of the cuisine pages. New essays appear weekly on the essays index.