The Kitchen Revolution by Rosie Sykes works on a premise that, if I’m honest, it isn’t really a revolution. It really is a sensible approach that probably dates back to how my parent’s parents cooked. A big roast on Sunday that forms the basis for Monday and Tuesdays meal known in the book as “Something for Nothing”, a seasonal supper on Wednesday, a store cupboard meal on Thursday with a Friday meal 2 for 1 where they make double one for Friday and one to freeze. There are also puddings. The book is organised by month and has a set of recipes for every week of the year. Hmmm, sounds familiar.

In keeping with the recipes of yesteryear approach, we started with Boiled Beef and carrots with horseradish Mash, Cabbage and Saffron Broth. This was a classic brisket dish and the brisket was really tasty when cooked. I must admit, for me, I miss the seared outside of a roast or pan-fried beef, but I think there are ways that we could introduce that, perhaps in the cooking process. However, it made the perfect starting point for Monday night’s amazing Cottage Pie. What’s not to love with cottage pie but starting with a truly delicious leftover boiled beef brisket rather than mince, combined with the carrots, Worcester sauce, stock and then a mash topping? This was a truly stunning cottage pie and will be the basis for more leftovers in the future.

Next was Smoked Haddock With Onion Skirlie With Cabbage and Bacon. Now the Onion Skirlie made use of the leftover onions from the beef, and the leftover cabbage was combined with bacon for a brilliant side dish. The Skirlie was a fantastic change to the usual carbs one might have, such as potatoes or rice. This was a bit like a savoury porridge with onions but tasted more like mashed potatoes than porridge; it was delicious.

Next up was Jacket Potatoes with Red Coleslaw. The Red Coleslaw was a delicious little number with red cabbage substituted for the more usual white. The store cupboard recipe was Catalan Style Beans and Chorizo, which we didn’t get around to making, but since it was a store cupboard recipe, we can always do that at a later date! The final recipe of the week was Pistachio Chicken Curry and rice. This was a lovely take on chicken curry, with the pistachios helping thicken the sauce. Our Friday night curries are usually heavy on the tomatoes, whereas this was creamier – and was a delicious change.

So the Kitchen revolution wasn’t entirely revolutionary in the way that perhaps Rosie had intended. Still, it did offer some revolutions for us: 1. Making your cottage pie from leftover brisket is mega, 2. Oats make a lovely change from mash, 3. Pistacios are great in curries. Next week is Pistachio heavy, too, weirdly. Pistachios must be like buses – I can’t think of having cooked with them before and then two weeks back to back.