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Tom Parker Bowles' recipe of the week - gratin of chicory and bacon

Tom Parker Bowles is aware that he could sound like a walking contradiction.

The food writer, and son of Camilla Parker Bowles, knows that writing a book called Let's Eat Meat and then encouraging people to eat less of the stuff - but instead spend more on more ethically-produced meat - might sound counter-intuitive.

He also is conscious that with his "privileged background", it could seem grating when he implores others, from his "ivory food-writer tower", to pay more for better quality grub. But when it comes to food, he is not one to be easily deterred.

"You get older and a little bit wiser, and you realise that you don't have to eat meat every single day," reasons Parker Bowles, who lives with his wife Sara and their two young children, Lola and Freddy, and is food editor for Esquire magazine and writes a weekly food column for Mail On Sunday.

It's all smiles for Tom Parker Bowles
It's all smiles for Tom Parker Bowles

"Even if you are eating meat every day, it doesn't have to be a slab of protein in front of you. I do believe that if you eat a little less meat, it means you can afford to buy better and use more of the cuts that are cheaper.

"The point of this book, if there is any point, is eat meat, love it, worship it, but eat less of it and eat better meat," he summarises, smiling.

The book includes a meat-free chapter, as well as one which shows how to use meat as a seasoning, and is also packed with recipes where traditional cuts and offal are the stars.

Parker Bowles, who likes to support British farmers and is strong advocate for having cookery classes in schools, clearly enjoys meat, but the 39-year-old credits his childhood in the countryside for giving him no illusions about "the brutal reality of life - that pigs are killed for meat..."

When it comes to his own career, he is similarly pragmatic.

"There wasn't a moment when I decided to write about food, [it was] just greed," he says, laughing.

Tom Parker Bowles - You don't have to eat meat every single day
Tom Parker Bowles - You don't have to eat meat every single day

"Greed and being rubbish at every other job I ever did. I fell into food writing... I had been sacked from every other job, I was rubbish."

He says he generally eats less meat since having children; he and Sara split the family cooking duties at home, so spending time in the kitchen still feels like a pleasure.

And it's clear that while he is a "husband and father first", he relishes spending time perfecting his recipes.

"For me, happiness is a Saturday in the kitchen with the radio on, just cooking," he says.

"It relaxes me. I know I talk very fast and have lots of energy, but cooking actually fully relaxes me, its very cathartic."

If cooking relaxes you too, here are three recipes from Parker Bowles' new book to try at home.

Gratin of chicory and bacon from Let's Eat Meat
Gratin of chicory and bacon from Let's Eat Meat

GRATIN OF CHICORY AND BACON

(Serves 6)

50g butter

6 heads of chicory (white, red or a combination), discoloured outer leaves removed

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

50g Parmesan, finely grated

100g coarse fresh white breadcrumbs

3tbsp chopped fresh parsley

100g lean unsmoked bacon rashers, cut into 1cm pieces

300ml double cream

Lemon quarters, to serve

How to make it

Preheat the oven to fan 210C/415F/Gas 8. Generously butter a large gratin dish.

Split the chicory in two, lengthwise. Pack it into the gratin dish in a tight single layer, split side down, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Mix together the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley and bacon, and scatter evenly over the surface.

Place the dish in the oven and, after a few minutes, turn the temperature down to fan 170C/340F/Gas 5. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and trickle the cream around the sides of the gratin.

Bake for another 30 minutes or so, trickling in more cream if it didn't all fit in first time, until bubbling and golden. Serve with lemon quarters.

Let's Eat Meat: Recipes For Prime Cuts, Cheap Bits And Glorious Scraps Of Meat by Tom Parker Bowles, is published in hardback by Pavilion, priced £25. Available now

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