food, reviews and of course coffee
I got Jamie Oliver’s 5 Ingredients Mediterranean book for Christmas.
With over 125 utterly delicious, easy-to-follow recipes, it’s all about making everyday cooking super-exciting, with minimal fuss – all while transporting you to sunnier climes.
It has a range of lovely recipes and ideas. I liked his previous 5 ingredients book. This has a similar concept. Simple and fast recipes inspired by the Mediterranean.
To complement his new TV series, and as might be expected, there is a new book from Jamie Oliver, Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals
In his new book, Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals, Jamie proves that, by mastering a few tricks and being organized and focused in the kitchen, it is absolutely possible, and easy, to get a complete meal on the table in the same amount of time you’d normally spend making one dish! The 50 brand-new meal ideas in this book are exciting, varied and seasonal. They include main course recipes with side dishes as well as puddings and drinks, and are all meals you’ll be proud to serve your family and friends. Jamie has written the recipes in a way that will help you make the most of every single minute in the kitchen. This book is as practical as it is beautiful, showing that with a bit of preparation, the right equipment and some organization, hearty, delicious, quick meals are less than half an hour away. You’ll be amazed by what you’re able to achieve.
The foraging season is approaching, even today I saw ripe blackberries.
A great book to help you is now available, Hedgerow (River Cottage Handbook).
Hedgerows, moors, meadows and woods – these hold a veritable feast for the forager. In this hugely informative and witty handbook, John Wright reveals how to spot the free and delicious ingredients to be found in the British countryside, and then how to prepare and cook them. First John touches on the basics for the hedgerow forager, with an introduction to conservation, safety, the law, and all the equipment that you may need. Next he guides us through the tasty edible species to be found. Each one is accompanied by photographs for identification, along with their conservation status, habitat, distribution, season, taste, texture and cooking methods – not forgetting, of course, some fascinating asides and diversions about their taxonomy and history. Over 40 species are covered, including bilberries, blackberries, cloudberries, common mallow, dandelions, hedge garlic, horseradish, pignuts, nettles, sloes, sweet chestnuts, water mint and wild cherries. Then John describes the poisonous species to steer clear of, including warnings about any nasty ‘lookalikes’, along with their identifying photographs. Finally, there are 30 tempting recipes. Introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, “Hedgerow” is an indispensable household reference, and an essential book to have by your side for every trip into the countryside.
Buy Hedgerow (River Cottage Handbook)
I do quite like books by Jamie Oliver and his most recent one is rather nice.
Jamie Does… is Jamie’s personal celebration of amazing food from six very different countries. Cheap, short-haul flights and long weekend getaways have become increasingly popular and within a few short hours of the UK there are new and exciting worlds of food waiting to be discovered as Jamie finds out. Each chapter focusses on a different city or region – Marrakesh, Athens, Venice, Andalucia, Stockholm and the Midi Pyrenees region of France. Classic recipes sit alongside new dishes that Jamie learns along the way. Alongside each recipe there is a beautiful photograph of the finished dish, as well as incredible reportage shots of Jamie’s experiences in each country. Jamie says: ‘The food I’ve embraced on each trip is a mixture of what you could call the clichéd star dishes – the many tagines of Morocco, the flamboyant paellas of Spain, the comforting risottos from Italy and the zingy fresh flavours of a classic Greek salad – and the recipes that I’ve been inspired to make after walking through the markets and soaking up the vibes of each place. What you’ll find in this book is fun, optimistic, escapist food you can actually cook and enjoy in your own home.’
I got a couple of cookery books for Christmas, one of them was Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen
What do you fancy for dinner tonight? Italian? Chinese? French? With so many varieties of cuisine on offer in our globally-growing lives, Gordon Ramsay has put together an amazing book featuring his favourite recipes from around the world. Each chapter features a different country’s dishes that we love to eat, and would love to learn more about. Gordon delves into Middle Eastern, American, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, and even our own British. There are recipes for starters, mains and desserts. In addition, he explains certain techniques to go along with each type of cuisine. For example, he shows how to make Pasta, which is then transported into his recipe for Spinach, Ricotta and Pinenut Ravioli, and Curry Paste which is used for a Fragrant Green Curry with Beef. Also, each chapter begins with information on one of the best ingredients each cuisine has to offer, and five ways in which to enjoy it, like his Spanish-inspired five ways with piquillo peppers. Once again Gordon Ramsay provides an innovative range of recipes to be cooked every day, and no matter what you are in the mood for, this book has it covered. With stunning photography by Chris Terry, this is a fresh, modern addition to the ever-popular F-Word collection.
I was surprised by how “traditional” many of the recipes were, but then again maybe I eat too much world cuisine already? Nice recipes, great photographs.
I am not one to buy cookery books on impulse, but this book caught my eye in my local book shop and I decided to buy it. Like the ideas inside the book and nice pictures too.
In the BBC2 programme, “Caribbean Food Made Easy”, Levi Roots travels around the UK and the Caribbean and reveals how delicious Caribbean food can be prepared at home with easy-to-prepare, mouth-watering recipes using fresh, healthy and readily-available ingredients. The show, made by BBC Scotland, will consist of four 30-minute prime-time shows from 8-8.30 pm, including 3-4 dishes per programme. The accompanying cookbook includes 100 delicious Caribbean recipes, including all of those that appear on the TV programme.
My book choice this week is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s excellent River Cottage Meat Book.
Certainly if you are looking for a meat book which covers why you should be ethical about buying and cooking meat, then this is the book for you.
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
I do find it interesting that the US version of the book
Do we not like to see raw meat in the UK high street?
This week my book choice is NOT Delia’s How to Cheat at Cooking.
Normally I would recommend a book of recipes that I have either enjoyed reading or using to cook from.
This book is one I would not recommend.
Why?
Well can using frozen mashed potato really be called cooking?
The whole process reminds me of a 1970s cookbook I found at my mother-in-law’s which had wonderful recipes which required white sauce mix, frozen pastry cases and tinned vegetables.
That is not cooking that is food construction.
Delia’s How to Cheat at Cooking
You can get it from Amazon
My book choice this week is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s excellent River Cottage fish book.
The Spectator said:
Simply the best and most comprehensive work on the subject I have read… a well-illustrated compendium to British fish, it is a great reference book and a good read.
It’s the book which accompanies the television series.
Certainly if you are looking for a fish book which covers some non-traditional more sustainable fish then this is the book for you.
Buy the book from Amazon
This week’s book choice is Saturday Kitchen Cookbook
“Saturday Kitchen” is a popular magazine-format show broadcast live on BBC1 for 35 weeks of the year. Combining a regular band of chefs and celebrities, as well as archive material and interactive features, it achieves a perfect balance of lively on-screen atmosphere with practical content. Hosted by James Martin, the programme has a down-to-earth approach with attention to modern food trends that appeals to not-too-serious cooks. The new “Saturday Kitchen Cookbook” will move forward with the successful growth of the brand, providing a fantastic opportunity to tap into a bit of everything. With over 100 inspirational recipes from the show, it will bring together new ideas from some of the nation’s favourite chefs, cutting-edge recipes from fresh talent, a variety of different cuisine from all around the world and a wealth of tips on current food topics.
I do quite enjoy Saturday Kitchen, and some of the recipes from the series are quite good or at least inspiring.
This is a nice book with great recipes and lots of lovely photographs. Buy it from Amazon.
