Friends Around the Table: Mediterranean Recipes for Relaxed Entertaining

Friends Around the Table is the perfect collection of relaxed Mediterranean-inspired recipes, whether you are entertaining a group of friends or a special someone.

Just because you’re feeling summery and laid back doesn’t mean that your taste buds have gone on vacation. The weather shouldn’t be an excuse for throwing any old plate of food together: it should be the reason why you take extra care so the meal can be a memorable one, so try Lunch Alfresco offerings like grilled squid, chorizo and asparagus salad. Two’s Company encourages you to really push the culinary boat out. Dust off those pans, light the candles, snub yet another TV dinner and rustle up an irresistible beef fillet with pea purée and hasselback potatoes! Eating is a communal activity, so in More the Merrier you’ll find plenty of ideas for easy sharing plates and small dishes. Finally, catch up with greedy friends and sit down to a banana and chocolate cake or a plate of honey and oat Anzac cookies at Teatime.

Acland Geddes developed a passion for all things edible from a very early age, largely thanks to his mother’s homespun Italian cooking. He gave up a spectacularly unsuccessful (not to mention uninspiring) career in advertising to set up a catering service in London. After working as a chef in leading “gastropubs,” he opened his popular restaurant Megan’s on London’s fashionable King’s Road in Chelsea in 2010.