Monica's Kitchen

Monica Galetti shows how to serve up great-tasting food at home, every day, easily and effortlessly. Her food is lively, interesting and contemporary, reflecting the many and varied influences on her cooking, from her Samoan and New Zealand upbringing to her travels in Europe and Asia, and her experience in a high-end London restaurant. Easily accessible, good-quality ingredients, simple techniques and enticing flavour combinations are the characteristics of her cooking.

To Monica, cooking at home must be fun, easy and relaxed, whatever the occasion. Here she presents her favourite recipes in chapters that reflect different meal situations. ‘From work to the table’ offers exciting weekday meal solutions that are nutritious, quick and adaptable, such as Honey and soy glazed duck breast with pak choi. ‘A leisurely weekend’ features recipes that give you time to relax away from the kitchen: undemanding slow-cooked food, easy-to-prepare special lunches and suppers, and delectable, prepare-ahead desserts. ‘A time for friends’ enables you to host an impressive dinner for friends without stress or fuss, while ‘Something different’ is the chapter to turn to when you want to serve something totally unexpected, such as Blue cheese pannacotta or Honeycomb lollipops.

Every recipe is beautifully photographed in Monica’s home kitchen. Essentially this is a book for those who have limited time to cook, but who enjoy great food, and are constantly looking for fresh inspiration in the kitchen.

About the Author

One of the best-known female chefs in London, Monica Galetti was born in Samoa and raised in New Zealand. After qualifying as a chef she came to London to work for Michel Roux Jr. at Le Gavroche in 2000.

She progressed rapidly, becoming the first female sous chef at Le Gavroche and then Michel's Head Chef at Le Gavroche Tropiques in Mauritius in 2005. She has now returned to London and works at Le Gavroche on a part-time basis to facilitate her other commitments.

Over the past couple of years she has become a familiar face on television, as the inimitable presenter and judge on BBC2's popular MasterChef: The Professionals. Monica has contributed to both of the recent successful books from the series; this is her first solo cookbook.