“I’ve wanted to be many things in my life. A DJ, a bed tester, a presenter, but when I fell for cooking shows, I wanted to be a TV chef. This book is about food. Nothing flashy, no expensive equipment or gizmos. It’s entirely about flavours and understanding. Food is more than just filling your stomach, it’s about stories, history, togetherness, family, comfort and mostly HOME. See what I did there?” Hasan Semay

Hasan Semay a.k.a. Big Has is a talented North-London based chef and host of YouTube’s Sunday Sessions and believes that the best way to learn about culture is through food. In his debut cookbook ‘HOME’, Has presents recipes for food that is beautiful and robust with Mediterranean influences from his Cypriot heritage, as well as from his time working in professional kitchens across London.

Think grilled butter-milk chicken thighs with chermoula, flame-licked steak and salsa verde,marinated lamb chops with salsa rossa – all countered by neat folds of glistening home-made pasta and the occasional jaw-dropping dessert.

This is real food cooked right – no tablecloths or fancy china, just friends round the BBQ – because food is a celebration of coming together. Has’ aim is to make incredible restaurant-quality food available to the masses, teaching his followers to appreciate ingredients and understand cooking not through dull step-by-steps, but by engaging more intuitively with the processes.

From how to light a BBQ to the sound pasta should make when its ready, Has documents how to prepare a variety of dishes from delicate small plates to Turkish Cypriot classics. Peppered with anecdotes about working in professional kitchens and the characters and inspiration behind his food, this is a refreshing and accessible cookbook from a uniquely bold chef.

Hasan Semay (aka Big Has) is a half Turkish Cypriot half British chef, YouTube, and Instagram sensation, as well as a self-confessed ‘proper North Londoner’. Having left school and tried his hand at odd jobs from plumbing to security, Hasan was accepted onto Jamie Oliver’s prestigious ‘Fifteen’ programme in 2011 and there discovered a true love of cooking. After successfully graduating, he spent the next 10 years in and out of professional kitchens – perfecting pasta at Palatino to grilling meats at Sardine.

His relaxed and informative approach to cooking without pretentiousness, as well as his ability to make incredible restaurant quality food available to the masses, has won him legions of fans over on his YouTube platform ‘Sunday Sessions’.

His debut cookbook Big Has HOME is a celebration of the recipes and the people that made him who he is today, covering nostalgic Turkish Cypriot classics, mouth-watering BBQ, and modern Mediterranean.

Big Has HOME on sale now published by Pavilion Books.

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