Leon: Family & Friends

John Vincent

Kay Plunkett-Hogge

'The only challenger to Jamie Oliver's world domination in the healthy fast-food stakes is the team behind Leon, which has built a mini-empire on the ethos that "food should taste good and do you good"'. - Stylist

The first Leon restaurant, in London's Carnaby Street, opened its doors in 2004 built on the promise of serving good fast food that does you good. Now, 43 restaurants later, Leon serves thousands of devoted fans a week. Leon Family & Friends is their fourth cookbook, created by Leon co-founder John Vincent and cookery writer and broadcaster Kay Plunkett-Hogge.

At the heart of happy family life are meals spent together - sharing flavourful, nutritious food around the kitchen table and swapping stories of the day. Many of us feel we don't have the time to cater for our families in the way that we'd like but Leon Family & Friends shows you how to make the most of the time available to feed your family and celebrates the power of food to bring people together.

It's divided into three sections: Today, including great breakfasts and brunch ideas and post-school teas, Tomorrow, for those occasions where some planning is involved - weekend lunches, birthday parties, Christmas and picnics - and finally; Yesterday, a culinary celebration of family food memories. With more than 200 recipes and ideas, there are dishes to keep everyone happy. Children will love the snacks in Crunch! Squish! Slurp! Their parents will welcome the quick suppers in After Lights Out. While no teenager should fly the nest without 10 Things to Know How to Cook Before You Leave Home. A new Leon cookbook is something to celebrate and Family & Friends is destined to become a much-used classic on the kitchen bookshelf.