This week was The Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain. I first heard of Anthony whilst reading the truly awesome memoir Kitchen Confidential in which he chronicles life behind the scenes in the New York restaurant scene. The book put me onto global knives, quality pans and also initiated the desire to seek out Les Halles when I next went to New York. Sadly Les Halles and Anthony are no longer with us, and the world is a little less bright without them. Les Halles was a little french bistro in a side street in Manhattan – not much to look at from the outside but a place of fab bistro food on the inside. I think the day I went there I had Choucroute Garni if memory serves. The book, like the restaurant, is (was) a gem; my go to recipe for Coq Au Vin is from this book. We cooked the Gigot de Sept Heures – yes like the name suggests – seven hour lamb. A leg with bucketloads of garlic herbs and a glass of white wine roasted low and slow in a dutch oven sealed with a dough seal. It was a good learning experience as the lamb dried out a bit. I think next time I’ll use a shoulder and maybe adjust the temperature or make gigot a cinq heures :). We accompanied the lamb with Anthony’s Gratin Dauphinois which I have to say is the best recipe for this classic potato dish that I’ve ever done. One to go back to. The final dish of the week was a lovely little tomato salad which was accompanying a Tom Kerridge Jerk Chicken recipe (incidentally this low fat Jerk Chicken recipe was off the charts easy and fabulous). The tomato salad was about as simple as it gets with tomatoes, red onion olive oil, balsamic vinegar and basil. It was truly delicious.