Updated 24th January 2012

See the Home Pages for the latest cookbook reviews.
Previous reviews are here or on earlier pages - see links on the left.
There will be more new reviews every week, so visit often!

On the Menu

If you are regular reader, as I am sure you are, then you will know that my book reviews usually start with a review of, well, the book; but on this occasion I feel I should mention the publisher right up front.

Face Publications is a small company that specialises in chef cookbooks. This is the third of theirs I have reviewed and they are attractive and imaginative books that would do any author proud. They present books that are tactile, attractive and definitely gift quality. They have recently achieved the following successes:

Winner, ‘Best UK Chef Book’, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Paris;
Silver Medal, World’s Best Chef Book’, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Paris;
Winner, ‘Book Design’, D&AD, London;
Merit ‘Book and Editorial Design’, The Art Directors Club, New York;
Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards, Adelaide.

Now that’s not too shabby!

On the Menu is a stylish black-covered volume of 74 recipes with step-by-step instructions. It’s a chef-penned book and that author is Michelin-starred James Mackenzie, the proprietor and head chef of the Pipe and Glass Inn near Beverley, Yorkshire, which he and his wife Kate have owned since 2006.

James and Kate have transformed the 17th century inn into a destination restaurant. In their first year the Pipe and Glass Inn won the Yorkshire Life "Dining Pub of the Year" Award and in 2007 won the same publication's "Restaurant Of The Year" title. Further recognition came for the Mackenzies in 2008, being named as the "Best Newcomer" in The Northern Hospitality Awards. In January 2010 the Pipe and Glass Inn was awarded a Michelin Star. It is one of only ten pubs in the UK ever to achieve such a respected and internationally recognised status.

So the chef seems a good sort and the cover is impressive, but what of the inside of the book? The photography by Jason Lowe maintains the quality. The choice of text style, hand script and graphics makes a bold statement. But it’s the recipes that will keep you returning to this book – a sumptuous collection of real British fare that reminds us that we have so much of which to be proud in the culinary arena.

My advice is to find yourself a good butcher. James uses flavourful cuts of meat to make some of his most memorable dishes. The Beef with Suet Pudding is rustic and hearty as well as economic. I love suet pastry and puddings: these will be a revelation to a younger generation, who might well be strangers to this traditional food.

Beer-braised Oxtails with Deep-fried Oyster Fritters is old fashioned food using the classic combination of beef and oysters. In Victorian times the shellfish was the cheap and cheerful filler in beef pies, the meat being the costly element. Oxtails offer the very essence of bovine flavour and they have a melting and silky texture when well cooked.

Smoked Haddock Risotto is delicious and takes advantage of both the regular Arborio rice as well as the robust pearl barley. The fish and grains are topped with a poached duck egg, that will break to bathe the dish in yolky richness. This would make a delightful starter or main meal.

James has some marvellous desserts but to continue the British theme and to showcase Yorkshire in particular, the Rhubarb Trifle is the one to choose. Rhubarb from the north of England is famous and there were once even rhubarb trains that transported the fresh sticks to London and other cities.

Rhubarb is enjoying a well-deserved revival and this recipe presents it at its blushing best. The garnish of Parkin crumbs adds another Yorkshire twist. This is a traditional dark spice cake that is even better to eat the day after its baked. James gives the recipe and you could of course make just the Parkin as a moreish family cake when rhubarb isn’t in season.

On The Menu is outstanding. The recipes are sensible and you will indeed be driven to make them. That surely should be the test of a good cookbook. It will likely spend its life on the kitchen table. Your kids will leaf through this just as James turned the pages of his mum’s cookbooks. Your family and friends will love these dishes that are unfussy but have that ooohh-aaahh factor that is so often missing in chef-authored books. This is sure to become a prizewinner.

Cookbook review: On The Menu
Author: James Mackenzie
Published by: Face Publications
Price: £30.00
ISBN-10: 0955893038
ISBN-13: 978-0955893032

Love Food

Well, I guess there are a couple of interpretations of the title, Love Food. That could be food to make for those you love; it could be recipes for those who love to eat food. Indeed this book offers dishes that fit the bill on both counts.

Love Food is written by Tina Bester who runs a restaurant in South Africa. She evidently appreciates comfort food, retro dishes, and that her readers, however passionate about cooking, don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen just preparing breakfast. These dishes are practical and delicious.

Talking of breakfast, Creamy Oats with Fried Banana and Cinnamon Sugar has my vote for a sweet start to a cold winter day. A great recipe to make for a crowd as the sugar can be made in advance and the bananas fried while the cereal cooks.

Another good breakfast for a group is Potato and Bacon Frittatas, a savoury alternative to the above oats although if your guests are like mine they will want both. The frittatas are individual crustless potato quiches and the majority of the cooking can be done in advance. Just pour on the eggy mixture and start to bake 20 minutes before your friends are ready to eat them.

Smoorsnoek with Crusty Bread is in the Lunch chapter but this also would work as a substantial breakfast. Interesting name, and it’s a contemporary take on a popular South African staple made with snoek. OK, so it sounds like a small furry animal with a long nose living in the veldt but it is in fact a fish and those who don’t have access to it can use smoked mackerel. It’s that enticing combination of onion, fried potatoes and smoked fish. A one-pot meal with just some crusty bread on the side.

Chicken Paprika is a great recipe to stretch a single chicken to feed 8 people. It’s rich and flavourful and will make a complete meal with a little green salad. It’s a mild dish that will be a favourite with the whole family and it makes a change from just regular roast chicken. If you are in a hurry then you could use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the butcher or supermarket.

Love Food isn’t just about sensible savouries. There are some delightful desserts including the, pardon the play on words, Turkish Delight Semifreddo. This is a frozen confection that needs no ice-cream maker. It’s a delicate pink-rippled dessert that would be an attractive end to any dinner party or posh lunch. Its hint of rose flavour adds an unmistakable air of the exotic.

Love Food is a gift-quality cookbook that would make an ideal Valentine’s present for the love of your life. Or buy for yourself and make an impression with your new-found skills: the recipes are simple but there is no need to broadcast that fact. Great value for money.

Cookbook review: Love Food
Author: Tina Bester
Published by: Pavilion – Anova Books
Price: £12.00
ISBN: 978-1-86205-943-6

The Great Book of Rhubarb

Divine – Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a Heart

Perhaps we could say that this book is Divine by name and Divine by nature. The “nature” in question is that of Fairtrade chocolate.

Linda Collister, the author, has long been a supporter of fair trade and has compiled these recipes which specifically use Divine Fairtrade Chocolate. I guess you could use other brands of good quality chocolate but why not do something good for yourself and others. The Divine brand offers some of the best chocolate around and each bar you buy helps support farmers in Ghana. This isn’t a free hand-out. Those farmers work hard but get a fair price for their cocoa beans. A win-win partnership.

Divine – Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a Heart is a sumptuous volume in classy black and gold. The photography by Lisa Barber is excellent and the gold coloured text gives this book in general a very high-end feel. The pages are decorated with traditional West African Adinkra symbols which celebrate the relationship between Divine, the company, and Kuapa Kokoo, the farmers’ co-operative in Ghana.

However much you applaud the fair trade philosophy, you will buy this book for its truly delectable recipes. Well, where do I start? There are lots of traditional favourites like chocolate chip cookies but many have a bit of a twist. White Chocolate Cookies Studded with Cranberries are a treat and Lava Peanut Cookies sound downright intriguing, with Lava being an easy fudge icing added after baking. Looks like a great wet-afternoon project with the kids.

Many of the recipes are quite out of the ordinary. Balsamic and Chocolate Cake is egg- and dairy-free. Linda says this one works well with some mascarpone and ripe figs on the side. Sounds romantic, Italian and summery. Keeping to that same continental theme, Marbled Italian Cheesecake uses mascarpone instead of the usual cream cheese to give a lighter and silkier texture.

Divine not only offers us cake and cookies but ice-creams and savoury recipes as well. Bitter Orange Soufflés Glaces are quite easy to make and freeze, ready to be the grand finale of your next smart dinner for friends. Mexican Day of the Dead White Chocolate Mole doesn’t seem very cheery but it’s a delicious recipe of chicken with a tasty nutty sauce. Sounds like a strange combination but it works, trust me, and, no, this doesn’t taste like a chicken and Mars Bar casserole, the chocolate is there more for richness than flavour.

Divine – Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a Heart has a thoughtful selection of both traditional and contemporary recipes. A great Christmas gift for any chocolate lover.

Divine – Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a Heart
Author: Linda Collister
Published by: Absolute Press
Price: £14.99
ISBN 9781906650414

The Silver Spoon Cookbook New Edition

The Silver Spoon Cookbook story has lasted for 60 years and it continues with this latest and largest edition. It still has a battery of over 2000 authentic Italian recipes but now they have been joined by 400 new photographs. The thing that doesn’t change is the quality of dishes.

It has great visual impact. There is no doubt about that. I have seen Italian cars that are smaller than this book. It’s a multi-tasking volume, taking the place of steps to reach high kitchen shelves, could block a reasonable-sized doorway, and can be used to balance against any food item of around 3kg.

There are many books around that are noteworthy for their ample proportions alone. Any publisher could offer enormous volumes of The Collected Works of... But this is rather different. The Silver Spoon could be retitled The Collected Works of Many Generations of Italian Cooks. The spine is big enough to take it and the title would be appropriate.

First published in 1950 in Italian, Il Cucchiaio d’argento, this is the most popular Italian cookbook. Strangely the name is derived from the English phrase to denote wealth and plenty... to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth. In this case it is used to note the rich culinary heritage described between the covers.
 
Il Cucchiaio d’argento has been in print for over 60 years. It has been updated, improved and expanded upon and now we have the new English language edition, which will introduce still more lovers of Italian food to this veritable bible of one of Europe’s best-loved cuisines.

It’s almost useless to get into my usual routine of describing particular recipes to my dear reader. If you can think of an Italian dish then it’s here. More remarkable are the dishes that you might not know by name but which you might have eaten in homes of Italian friends. Yes, there is a whole section devoted to menus by Italian celebrity chefs, but the book is prized by Italians for its traditional Italian food. There are also a few contemporary dishes included to reflect availability of new products and the impact of travel. Beef Wellington, Goulash, Kugelhopf and even Scones are all listed, which suggests that this is a cookbook of not only Italian food but food for Italians.

If you are looking for your favourite pasta sauce it’s here. Pizza in all its forms is offered. Desserts that have long graced the trolleys in Italian restaurants throughout the world are included. But you will be missing so much of what makes Italian food so celebrated if you stick to the standards. It’s the rustic and slow-cooked meats (Brasato alla Cipolle - Braised Beef with Onions), flavourful and stylish seafood dishes (Gamberi in Salsa Dolceforte - Prawns in Strong Sweet Sauce) and delicious desserts like Torta di Ricotta E Uvetta (Ricotta and Sultana tart) which are the unsung heroes.

The Silver Spoon is a masterwork and I can understand why those in the know wax so lyrical about it. The price is more of a shock than the size of the volume. It’s amazing at only £29.95 for 1400 pages and that does not include the lengthy index. This book is still given as a wedding present by Italians to Italians. It can have no finer recommendation than that.

Cookbook review: The Silver Spoon
Published by: Phaidon
Price: £29.95
ISBN-10: 0714862452
ISBN-13: 978-0714862453

1000 Places to See Before You Die

Travel – it’s like a drug. If you have never travelled then perhaps you can’t understand why anybody would. Home is cosy, safe and you speak the language. But many of us have had the pleasure of taking a trip, and that sparks something within.

I was 11 years old when I first left my home country. A school exchange trip offered me the privilege of staying with a family in Germany. The food was different but I did love the new tastes. I was introduced to Schnitzel and even wine. Yes, in those days children could also have a little wine and no, I didn’t grow up an alcoholic – but that’s an argument that can run and run.

We toured through vine-fringed valleys and along the Rhine. We visited quaint towns and museums and discovered that there was more to the world than just our small corner. As I grew older I wanted to explore and experience and (mostly) enjoy all the wide world had to offer. 1000 Places to See Before You Die presents a bit of inspiration for future travels.

This book will be the bedtime reading of choice for any would-be traveller. Its chapters are divided into eight regions which are then subdivided geographically. Plenty of essential information about transport as well as addresses for tourist boards. You’ll likely want to take advantage of excursions, so you’ll learn about the ones most suited to your interests.

A perfectly planned trip can be ruined by just going at the wrong time. Phrases like “you should have been here last week” or “you have just missed...” or even worse “we are closed for the season”. You will want to arrive just in time for that wine festival but perhaps you’ll be glad to miss the National Tripe Festival. Weather is always a consideration: Spring in Europe is always lovely; but an inch of snow in England can call a halt to even the best travel arrangements.

There is, unsurprisingly, a large entry for London in the England section. It offers a wealth of suggestions for must-dos and the top attractions. You likely will not manage all those listed but they do offer an overview and a cultural taster of the city. Take the opportunity to travel around the country to see that Green and Pleasant Land as well as English Country Gardens.

Every country mentioned is described in tempting detail. This is perhaps the book to buy should you be planning a world tour. Certainly you will want to read some in-depth guides to cover your chosen destinations, but the beauty of 1000 Places to See Before You Die is that it highlights, well, the highlights of each country. You will doubtless find your own treasures along the way and this book is just a volume of possibilities ...and dreams.

1000 Places to See Before You Die
Author: Patricia Schultz
Published by: Workman
Price: $19.95
ISBN 978-07611-5686-4

Rosemary Shrager’s Yorkshire Breakfasts

The combination of Rosemary Shrager and breakfast is just about unbeatable. She is a lady that glows with passion for food, garnished with great good humour and generosity. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and I have been known to graze for several hours on a copious spread of morning delights.

Yorkshire is celebrated for its well-laid tables at every meal, old-fashioned baked, fried, poached and grilled goods made with the best of ingredients and served in memorable quantities. Rosemary is an author made to write about this comforting subject. One can almost hear her rich warm laugh as she talks about the recipes. She encourages the reader to cook and enjoy these treats, often if they are the healthy platters and just a little less frequently if they are those packed with calories. After all it’s not what you eat that’s the problem it’s the exercise that you don’t take that causes difficulties.

The chapters start with The Full English. Yes we all know what constitutes the classic version and it is in my opinion the king of the cooked brekkie; but there are alternatives that are worthy of the accolade ‘Full’. How’s about Homemade Baked Beans with Crispy Bacon and Sautéed Potatoes? The beans can be frozen so it’s a convenient make-ahead breakfast for those weekends when you have a houseful of hungry guests. Leave out the bacon and you have a substantial vegetarian breakfast.

If you want to feel noble then Fresh Figs with Serrano Ham might well fit the bill, with a taste of the southern climes. It’s an almost instant start to your day but a great summer breakfast both for you and your guests, who are bound to be impressed with this classy plateful. Wait till you can get those luscious dark figs for best effect.

Rosemary has a chapter entitled Indulgence and I confess I turned to this one first. These are cracking recipes for rib-sticking fare that’s a bit out of the ordinary. Perhaps I should say that they are dishes that one might ordinarily enjoy later in the day but which are wonderful for breakfast particularly if you can persuade someone else to cook them for you.

Hands up who would not love Individual Yorkshire Puddings with Golden Syrup at 8am on a Sunday. Just as I thought – no hands showing. A good Yorkshire pud is light and airy and a delicious vehicle for a drizzle of Golden Syrup. It has to be Golden Syrup and it should be the one in the green and gold tin, you know the one. Yes, calories aplenty but you have got the whole day for hiking, or at least walking around the shopping mall.

One might not think of Fish and Chips and Mushy Peas as regular breakfast fare. I would have agreed with you till I had exactly that for breakfast in a hotel in Australia in the 1970’s. It works. We often have fish on breakfast menus and there are lots of potato dishes that are common morning offerings. Put those elements together and one has fish and chips.

I usually pick a favourite recipe from the cookbooks I review but I can honestly say that I would cook, eat and enjoy all of these breakfast recipes. The majority of the dishes do double or even treble duty as they work well not only for late-night fuelling but also for lunches. A brilliant book full of early-morning inspiration.

Cookbook review: Rosemary Shrager’s Yorkshire Breakfasts
Author: Rosemary Shrager
Publisher: Great Northern
Price: £16.99
ISBN 978-1905080-96-0

Authentic Recipes from Vietnam

There are a few more Vietnamese restaurants around these days. The UK had an influx of Vietnamese refugees a couple of decades ago but those folks who chose to work in the food industry seemed mostly to open fish and chip shops rather than restaurants. Now, we do have some specialist Vietnamese restaurants and many more cafés that offer the traditional Vietnamese sandwich bánh mì and the substantial national Pho soup.

This is an ancient country with a history dating back some 4000 years. Its closest international influence has been, unsurprisingly, China, its largest and most powerful neighbour. Successive Chinese dynasties ruled Vietnam directly for most of the period from 207 BC until 938 when Vietnam gained its freedom. The independent period ended in the middle to late 19th century when Vietnam was colonised by France; and after WWII there was a bloody conflict, during which time China and the Soviet Union supported the North while the United States aided the South. The Vietnam War ended with the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

Times have been tough for Vietnam but in 1986 the Communist Party of Vietnam changed its economic policy and started reforms to allow private enterprise. Since that time Vietnam has achieved substantial economic growth and is slowly becoming a destination for culinary and cultural diversion.

Vietnamese food is considered some of the healthiest in the world, although that aforementioned sandwich (a legacy from the French occupation and stuffed with fatty paté) redresses the balance. There are different styles of cuisine reflecting availability of ingredients across the country. Northern Vietnam has a cooler climate which limits the range of local spices; the food is therefore less vibrant than that in other regions. Central Vietnam's mountains allow for the production of many more spices and the cuisine is marked by their use. The warmer weather of the South make this the ideal region for growing fruit and vegetables as well as raising animals; this area has also had more culinary influences from China, India, France and Thailand.

Such is the love of food in this land that even its celebrated leader Ho Chi Min was a cook, in both Paris and London. Authentic Recipes from Vietnam offers an accessible overview of the dishes of that country. All the ingredients can be found in Asian food stores so there is no excuse for not trying these simple and delicious recipes. Yes, there is Pho soup but much more that will likely be new to the novice Vietnamese diner.

The classic Vietnamese Deep-fried Spring Rolls are great as a make-ahead starter for any kind of Asian meal, but also to go with drinks. The filling can be changed to suit your taste or budget but a little of the more costly ingredients goes a long way. A must-try from this book.

Vietnamese Beef Hotpot will be the dish of choice for a no-cook (for you) dinner party. There will be no complaints as your guests will be doing the cooking for themselves. This is an Asian fondue, with the meat being quickly poached in an aromatic stock. The beef is then enclosed with a variety of garnishes in a rice-paper wrapper.

There are a few interesting desserts here and a favourite is Bananas and Sago Pearls in Coconut Cream. No, it’s not like the sago pudding of old school days – this recipe uses those large beads that have a unique texture. Cooked bananas develop a flavour that is, well, more banana-y than the fresh article. A mild and striking dessert.

Authentic Recipes from Vietnam is a marvellous introduction to the remarkable food of this region of South East Asia. The dishes have hints of other cultures combining to achieve something unique and delightful. Those sandwiches might be fine in an emergency, but next time you have a chance to eat Vietnamese try some cooked delights or, even better, make an authentic meal at home.

Authentic Recipes from Vietnam
Authors: Trieu Thi Choi and Marcel Isaak
Published by: Periplus
ISBN 978-0-7946-0327-4

Authentic Recipes from the Philippines

This is a unique book considering a cuisine little known in Europe. How frequently do we say “let’s go out for a Filipino”? Not often, although the dishes would indeed appeal to Europeans as well as Asians.

The Philippine archipelago is part of Southeast Asia and its location has allowed for cultural and culinary influences from Malays, Arabs, Chinese, Spaniards, Americans, Japanese and others. The Philippines consists of more than 7000 islands and occupies an area of 1,850 square kilometres, and they can boast one of the longest coastlines of any country in the world; therefore most Filipinos live on or near the coast.

Trade with Hokkien China was evident as early as the Song dynasty (1279 – 960 BC), long before the arrival of the Europeans. China introduced a number of staple foods such as soy, tofu, bean sprouts, and fish sauce. The Spanish added produce from the New World: chillies, tomatoes, corn, potatoes. Spanish and Mexican dishes such as paella were eventually adopted into Philippine cuisine.

Authentic Recipes from the Philippines will inspire any lover of good food. It has the vibrancy and culinary complexity of many Asian cuisines but with those additional elements from the West. It’s a gastronomic landscape that has evolved and grown over the centuries and it’s the richer for it. There is much that is familiar but there is still more that will intrigue and excite the reader.

There are several favourite recipes for practical and exotic meals here. Cuban-style Rice with Meat Sauce and Plantains – Arroz la Cubana – needs no special ingredients apart from the plantains, which can be found in many high-street supermarkets or Asian or West Indian stores. An attractive dish that even the kids will love. No expensive cuts of meat, just minced pork and minced beef. A considerable step up from your regular Wednesday night Spag Bol.

Chicken Adobo with Turmeric and Coconut Milk is the national dish of the Philippines. If you have enjoyed dishes from Goa or Kerala then you will appreciate this one. A simple preparation but that overnight marinade time is important. A good recipe to make in advance for a dinner party as well as a family meal. Reduce the number of chillies for the young or timid.

Some rather classy desserts from Cafe Ysabel in Manila are offered, and these would work as a finale for either an Asian or European meal. Caramel-coated Egg Nuggets – Yema – are golden balls made from egg yolks and evaporated milk, a much under-appreciated ingredient. These are said to last up to 2 weeks in the fridge but it’s unlikely you’ll have to keep them that long.

Authentic Recipes from the Philippines will be a joy to Asian food aficionados. The ingredients are for the most part familiar, and those few that are unique to the Philippines can be found at specialist Asian stores or online. A fascinating addition to any serious cookbook collection.

Authentic Recipes from the Philippines
Author: Reynaldo G. Alejandro
Published by: Periplus
Price: £15.50
ISBN-10: 079460238X
ISBN-13: 978-0794602383

Authentic Recipes from Malaysia

There are just a few Malaysian restaurants in London. I have visited most of them and they range from high-end teak-polished splendour to casual vinyl-topped practicality, but the food so far has ranged from good to outstanding.

If you like Indian dishes then you will doubtless enjoy Malaysian food. If Chinese cuisine is what you crave then Malaysian food will likely comfort you. Nyonya food was developed by the Straits Chinese and Peranakan (people of mixed Chinese/Malay ancestry) of Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysian food is influenced mainly by the Chinese larder but adds South-East Asian ingredients such as coconut milk, lemongrass, turmeric, chillies and sambal. It has hints of those other cooking traditions but it has developed as a respected culinary entity in its own right.

Authentic Recipes from Malaysia offers 62 easy-to-follow recipes that will give an overview to anyone who wants to learn more about these delicious dishes and their origins. The recipes are divided by food type: snacks, salads, rice, meat, fish, desserts, etc. There is also a glossary of ingredients and you will doubtless find all you will need in your local Asian supermarket or online.

Roti Canai is one of my favourite breads. It’s light and flaky and the ideal tool to mop up saucy curries. The professional makers of these melting breads are artists. They stretch and twirl the thin dough and fold as it’s cooking on the griddle. The authors offer a more practical method but if you have a chance to watch the pros you might feel tempted to indulge in a little airborne culinary theatre.

Seafood is found in abundance all year round in the waters surrounding Malaysia. Butter Prawns is a contemporary dish which draws on all the culinary influences of the region. The result is a rich and spicy concoction that will have the diner licking both fingers and lips. A simple and quick dish to prepare, ideal as a starter or served as nibbles with drinks.

No “authentic” Malaysian cookbook would be complete without a version of the perennial favourite, Beef Rendang. Lemongrass is the herb that gives this spicy dish its distinct aromatic charm. It’s a slow-cooked and meltingly tender beef creation that improves by being kept for a day or so. A marvellous make-ahead meal for the family or for entertaining.

Authentic Recipes from Malaysia has inspiring recipes that will delight anyone who has enjoyed flavourful and aromatic meals in Malaysian restaurants, or those who have travelled to that delightful region and want to replicate memorable dishes.

Authentic Recipes from Malaysia
Author: Wendy Hutton
Published by Periplus
ISBN-10: 0794602967
ISBN-13: 978-0794602963

Easy Chinese Recipes

To any home cook that title might sound attractive – Easy Chinese Recipes – but to a reviewer who is a passionate cook that very same title can cause worries. Is this going to be a book with its focus on convenience foods? Could it be sub-titled “Make Friends with your Microwave”? The reality is far from that.

Bee Yinn Low is the guiding light behind one of the internet’s most successful Asian food blogs. She was born in Malaysia but her Chinese heritage finds her well placed to educate the rest of us. She takes advantage of products that all Chinese cooks enjoy these days. Nothing wrong with a bottle of good quality sauce when added to delicately balanced spices and fresh ingredients. You’ll be cooking in the same way as they do all over Asia.

Bee loved cooking but she didn’t have unlimited time to spend in the kitchen so she sought out the best recipes to adapt to a modern Western life. Her recipes taste authentic but you don’t need a diploma from the culinary institute in Shanghai to accomplish them, and all the ingredients will likely be in your local supermarket, Asian emporium or the internet.

I love the dishes of Sichuan. They have a reputation for being pungent and laden with red chilli. Bee offers Sichuan Spicy Chicken – La Zi Ji – which is adapted from an original Chinese restaurant recipe from Chongqing, the capital of Sichuan. It uses 20 dried chillies and that is the toned-down version. Try the recipe with this many and then increase or decrease the spice to suit. Chilli is addictive so don’t be surprised if your tolerance mounts over time.

Chicken with Garlic Sauce has much less chilli but there is real punch from the garlic: 3 or 4 cloves, but don’t be shy with that main flavouring ingredient. This is a colourful dish that will fill your home with the most enticing aromas while it’s cooking. An economic meal but striking enough to impress dinner guests.

Fresh Mango Pudding is a popular Chinese dessert these days. It is simple to prepare and has sweetness from the fruit pulp and richness from the evaporated milk. Bee suggests a tablespoon of evaporated milk as a garnish on top of these set pots, but one could also use some slices of mango or a handful of dark berries. A delightful make-ahead dessert.

Easy Chinese Recipes is full of delicious dishes that won’t take hours to produce. There is something for every palate from the searingly spicy to the mellow and aromatic. A book for those with good taste and little time.

Asian cookbook review: Easy Chinese Recipes
Author: Bee Yinn Low
Published by Tuttle Publishing
Price: £24.00
ISBN-10: 0804841470
ISBN-13: 978-080484147-4

Modern Thai Food

Hashi – A Japanese cookery course

Indonesian Cooking – Satays, Sambals and more

It’s a surprise to me that Indonesian cuisine is not more popular, especially in Europe’s cosmopolitan cities. It has so much to recommend it. The spices are familiar and there is nothing shocking or intimidating. If you love Thai food you will enjoy Indonesian food. If Indian dishes are what you crave then Indonesian curries could be your new comfort dishes.

To say that Indonesian food is a cross between this and that would undervalue the sophistication and unique complexity of its culinary traditions. We use those examples of Thai and Indian only to indicate a spice palate but Indonesian food is its own entity with remarkable dishes offering specific flavour characteristics.

Indonesia is on the ancient spice route, and has therefore had culinary influences from not only India and Thailand but also the Middle East and China. The Spanish and Portuguese traders added New World foods and the Dutch colonisers threw in a few ideas.

Yes, sure, OK, but can I get the ingredients if I live in a field in middle England? The spices are those with which you are already familiar. There might be just a few for which you might need the services of a specialist Asian store, but the internet will also provide all your Indonesian needs.

There are a couple of dishes that you will likely have already come across: Nasi Lemak – traditional coconut rice platter, Nasi Goreng – classic fried rice. This is real accessible family cooking that is aromatic rather than overly spicy. A flavourful meal that even the kids will enjoy.

Babi Manis – caramelized pork – is a recipe with few ingredients and it’s a simple process to produce a rich and glossy dish with a hint of spice, which can be adjusted to your taste. 600g of pork loin will be enough to feed 4 people, along with some steamed rice.

My pick-of-the-book is the recipe for Sambal Cumi – Spicy Sautéed Calamari. This is a tangy preparation using tamarind as a sharp flavouring and sambal oelek for heating spice. It’s a simple recipe but the results are sophisticated enough for a dinner party.

Indonesian Cooking – Satays, Sambals and more is a colourful introduction to an overlooked cuisine. These dishes are simple to make, and they are delicious and different.

Asian cookbook review: Indonesian Cooking – Satays, Sambals and more
Author: Dina Yuen
Published by: Tuttle Publishing
Price: $16.95
ISBN-10: 0804841454
ISBN-13: 978-0804841450

Serene Gardens

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in the north-west of Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million well-fed Tuscans. The regional capital, and the main tourist draw, is Florence with its numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi, and it is also a major city for Italian fashion, considered one of the top fifty clothes capitals of the world. But Tuscany is just as much known for food as frocks.

Tuscany is the region we will likely think of with regard to Italian food and wine. OK, the south also has much to recommend it but Tuscany has the richest tapestry of ingredients on a field of stunning landscape and architecture. Its lands produce celebrated wines, such as Chianti Classico, the Brunello di Montalcino, and Rosso di Montepulciano, which is one of my favourites and much underrated.

Tuscany is strewn with vineyards but there are also olive groves which are important to the local rural economy, along with cheese and meat production. Its simple cuisine has charmed the rest of us for generations and now we take advantage of holiday homes and cookery schools to immerse ourselves still further in the delicious dishes of Tuscany.

This book is part recipe book and part inviting travelogue. 50 recipes offer an overview of classic yet often rustic fare. You’ll have no problem finding the ingredients and you won’t need to have attended one of those aforementioned cookery schools to achieve success. Nothing too costly so this will be the book into which you can dip for more interesting family meals without the need to consult a bank manager.

Each area of Tuscany is considered and some representative recipes are listed, along with striking photography of food and the landscape. Hearty savoury dishes and sweet tarts to enjoy with that local wine.

If I was driven to select just one area on which to focus then it would probably be Luca in northern Tuscany. Arista al Finicchio – pork loin with fennel – is a dish that would work for a large family Sunday lunch: it does feed six. This pork is smart enough to be on your dinner party menu, with some roast veggies on the side.

Crostata di Ricotta Garfagnina – Garfagnina ricotta tart – would be the perfect end to that porcine feast. I always warm to a recipe that allows the cook to use ready-made pastry with no guilt. This is a rich cheese tart flavoured with a little Marsala and raisins for sweetness. A simple recipe for a dessert or an afternoon treat.

Tuscany is a book that will be appreciated by those who love Italian food but who are looking for something a little different from pizza. You don’t have to be an expert cook to be able to replicate these recipes, but an enthusiastic cookbook collector will find much that is new. Tuscany will also be sought by those who love the region and want a souvenir of holidays already enjoyed and inspiration for those yet to come.

Cookbook review: Tuscany
Published by: Phaidon
Price: £24.95
ISBN-10: 071486078-6
ISBN-13: 978-071486078-7

The Heart of the Home

The author, Julie Goodwin, was Australia’s first MasterChef winner. Now I guess that will probably mean more to you than me as I don’t watch that programme – not even the UK version. Yes, I do appreciate the talent of the competing wannabe chefs, but it’s the presenters I have a problem with.

Julie has penned a family cookbook. There are plenty of those out there and many of them seem to miss the mark by presenting dishes that are just, well, too cheffy. Unless your Granny was a chef your family recipes will be reasonably simple affairs that evoke memories rather than an urge to go and buy a Sous Vide – that’s a water bath to us mortals. Julie avoids all those posing pretentions and offers us food that we could honestly make for the family.

The Heart of the Home has dishes for those with real lives. Plenty for ‘im (or ‘er) and the kids, but lots for when the in-laws are around, and others for when people you like drop by. A raft of comforting puds as well as smart desserts. There are traditional roasts and pies along with some oriental nibbles. Julie’s recipes reflect the way we eat today and more importantly the way we cook today.

‘Tis the season to be making sausage rolls and Julie offers a filling that’s a bit more flavoursome than my habitual sausagemeat. A few extra spices make a big difference but the method for forming those bites is just the same as it’s always been. An alternative to the sausage rolls might be Thai-style Fish Cakes which will give the non-meat eater something to munch for a change; or Greek Spinach Pastries for those who are not keen on fish. 

Oven-fried Chicken is practical and economic. I do confess to enjoying spicy fried chicken. Hot, comforting and moreish but I know it’s unhealthy and laden with guilt; Julie’s version is baked rather than fried, and could become your new regular Saturday night TV dinner. The results are superb with crispy coating and moist chicken.

White Christmas sounds an unlikely title for an Australian recipe but here it is. It’s neither a frozen dessert nor a dish of reindeer meat in a cream sauce. This White Christmas is a bejewelled candy of white chocolate, puffed rice, coconut and dried fruits along with marshmallows. This makes a change from the regular dark chocolate truffles and the kids can help with the mixing. This would make a lovely gift for anyone with a sweet tooth.

The Heart of the Home is a charming book with dishes you really can imagine yourself cooking. There are blank pages at the back for you to add your own latest favourite and a pocket for storing those recipes snipped from the Sunday papers. A book to keep in the kitchen and to use.

Cookbook review: The Heart of the Home
Author: Julie Goodwin
Published by: Random House Australia
Price: £24.99
ISBN 978-1-74275-009-5

The Art of French Baking

200 Soups

The Constance Spry Cookery Book

The Golden Book of Desserts

As a kid I would sit next to the radiogram (yes, there were such things and yes, I am that old), listen to Two-Way Family Favourites and leaf through my Mum’s big old cookbook. It had thousands of pictures but all of them in black and white. Every Sunday was the same and I never tired of dreaming of making and eating those dishes when I was a “big girl”.

The Golden Book of Desserts is far from that monochrome cookbook that so captured my imagination half a century ago, but it does hold the same magic and it’s a lot more colourful. It’s a book that has taken me a while to review. I linger over some volumes longer than others and this has been a page-turner of memories, and of promises to make in the near future.

In the good old days almost every meal would end with dessert but we now tend to keep them for weekends, entertaining and celebrations. There are sweets here for every occasion and season, and from the rustic to the more elaborate, and just about every recipe has a full-page colour picture to inspire you ...and hopefully your kids.

Each section starts with some step-by-step illustrations to introduce you to a particular cake, pastry or batter. For instance, there are several strudels and you’ll be able to make them all with ease after you have mastered the thin and elastic dough. This is a cookbook not just for the accomplished home chef but for the novice who will learn from the illustrated methods.

I have a few favourites from The Golden Book of Desserts. Prune, Armagnac and Mascarpone Tart is a classic but simple dessert. Strange that we Brits joke about the “healthful” qualities of prunes but put those same dried fruits in a French confection and we all insist that it’s the best thing since sliced bread (or baguette) ...or the sweet equivalent. This tart is so delicious that it’s hard to believe it’s actually doing you good.

There are frozen delights to try as well. This isn’t really cooking – just a bit of mixing and use of the freezer to produce some amazing made-ahead treats for the family or dinner guests. The Turkish Delight Ice Cream is exotic and bejewelled with delicate pink. Sophisticated.

The Golden Book of Desserts is a gift-quality volume with over 250 recipes for practical desserts to suit every taste. These are written for the domestic kitchen and many would be recognised by previous generations – everything from comforting puds to contemporary sorbets.

Cookbook review: The Golden Book of Desserts
Author: Carla Bardi, Rachel Lane
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £20.00
ISBN 978-84543-428-1

The Family Meal

Sounds like another cookbook describing methods of encouraging your kids to eat sprouts. Well, no, not this time. The Family Meal has its focus on a different style of family. Not Mum, Dad, 2.4 kids, a dog called Barry, and Grandma on Sunday. The author, Ferran Adria (where have I heard that name before?) considers the meal made by his staff for his staff to be the ‘Family Meal’.

It’s a tradition in restaurants that the cooks, chefs and kitchen orderlies eat together before service. In Indian restaurants it’s often called the ‘staff curry’ and will probably be home-style dishes that the management enjoy but don’t want to try on the Westerners (why not?). Other European restaurants could find their workers tucking into just the same as the paying diners; but there is one celebrated UK chef (no name given by this writer) who only ever gave his hard-working crew pasta with tomato sauce. No way to encourage loyalty, methinks.

Ferran Adria: oh, yes, I remember – wasn’t he the mastermind of El Bulli? Therefore this book is bound to be full of rare and exotic ingredients not normally found in our humble supermarkets? In fact it’s a surprising book in several regards. The format is unique with each section being a full menu with a timeline for easier planning. The recipes are simple and have step-by-step pictures to aid the anxious. I wasn’t expecting this level of user friendliness from such a renowned chef. He assumes you know nothing and so gently leads you through the process to a successful and delicious result. Would that all chefs considered their audience in such a thoughtful manner.

The fare here ranges from the robust and rustic to the striking and seductive, but it’s all accessible to the home cook who is unlikely to have an army of helpers and a gizmo called a marinader/poacher/steamer/fryer thingy or even a potato-peeling machine. Your kitchen will likely already be equipped with all you will need.

I am impressed with how well Ferran fed his team. A typical meal might consist of such offerings as Bread and Garlic Soup followed by Mexican-style slow-cooked Pork, and Figs with Cream and Kirsch to finish. Surely an inspired yet simple meal every day would have educated the palates of those kitchen diners, introducing them to new tastes and combinations of ingredients; and isn’t that what we want to do in our own homes?

My Pick of the Book is the menu of Chickpeas with Spinach and Egg, Glazed Teriyaki Pork Belly, Sweet Potato with Honey and Cream. A well-balanced and innovative meal made with the most economic of ingredients. That seems to reflect the general ethos of this practical cookbook.

I hadn’t expected to like this book. In truth I had assumed it would be an over-cheffy tome that would look good on the shelf and be a coffee-table talking point, but this is honestly a book to use, and the recipes within might well become your family favourites. One can ask nothing more of a proper cookbook.

Cookbook review: The Family Meal
Author: Ferran Adria
Published by: Phaidon
Price: £19.95
ISBN 978-0-7148-6239-2

The Golden Book of Cooking

Cookbooks seem to fall into one of two categories. There are those that are stunningly beautiful, and those that are full of recipes that you will want to make on a regular basis. It’s rare that one will find a cookbook that straddles both genres, but The Golden Book of Cooking does that with style.

It’s that time of year. You’ll likely be searching for that perfect gift for your nearest and perhaps dearest home cook. He/she has a shelf full of celebrity-penned (oh, really!) cookbooks and they are indeed dipped into from time to time; but how’s about a gift-quality book that offers a truly great recipe on each page? So many cookbooks suffer from the “album” syndrome: you buy it but there is only one good track. The Golden Book of Cooking is so broad-based that it’s bound to spend more time in the kitchen than on those shelves.

This is another in that attractive “Golden” series from Apple Press. They have found the knack of presenting books stuffed with delicious and flavourful dishes made from simple recipes. The secret to its popularity is the full-page picture for every recipe. That gives a bit of support to the less confident and a bit of inspiration for tonight’s dinner.

The recipes here are an eclectic bunch of traditional dishes from across the globe. Lots that will be familiar, and many new takes on old favourites. Some interesting suggestions from Australia including Downunder Meat Pies, the first recipe for such that I have come across; and the ever-popular Lamingtons – chocolate and coconut-coated sponge cakes.

Each chapter is divided by food type – Rice, Vegetables, Poultry, etc. The recipes appeal to all tastes, with spicy dishes from India and Thailand, aromatic Tagines from Morocco as well as a full complement of European and North American classics. The Golden Book of Cooking would make a very worthy one-stop cookbook for someone who is short of space and wants a single volume to cover the basics of everything and to be able to make dishes that people have actually heard of.

Massaman Curry is a favourite of mine but it’s shocking how many recipes start with “Take a jar of Massaman curry paste.” Well, for a start I have never found such a product (OK, so I have never seriously looked), and secondly, it’s far better to make one’s own fresh and flavourful pastes. The Golden Book of Cooking offers a real from-scratch recipe that is a delight. It’s a substantial meal as a one-pot dish or serve rice on the side to make that pricey meat stretch a bit further.

My pick-of-the-book is Cabbage Kimchi. This is a celebrated dish in Korea where many families still make enough of these pickled vegetables to last through the winter. It was traditionally stored in huge jars buried in the frozen soil. It’s surprisingly easy to make although it takes almost two weeks of waiting before it’s sufficiently fermented to achieve its tangy perfection.

The Golden Book of Cooking will be on many a Christmas list and with good reason. Over 250 recipes to tempt every palate. Definitely a must for any enthusiastic cook.

Cookbook review: The Golden Book of Cooking
Authors: Carla Bardi and Rachel Lane
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £20.00
ISBN 978-1-84543 4182

Little Old Lady Recipes –
comfort food and kitchen table wisdom

Into every cookbook reviewer’s life comes a publisher who says “I saw this and thought of you.” And so it was that I was the recipient of Little Old Lady Recipes. It’s a charming book written by the aforementioned sassy gals, and is evidently considered a book to be enjoyed by this Little Old Lady.

It’s a small-format book with a portrait on the cover. Think of Uncle Ben on the rice packet and you have the idea. OK, so it’s a lady here and she is white but it gives the same message: a contented soul who has spent a lifetime cooking up a storm and is happy to spread the joy.

If you have ever been to the Mid-West states of the USA then you will be able to hear the voices of these ladies. There is plenty of traditional and comforting food here, but also great good humour and no-nonsense philosophy. You know what these ladies say is right and if you disagree you will be wise to keep it to yourself.

The recipes are peppered with witty asides that add rich colour to this cookbook. “When your budget is tighter than a bad facelift...”, and “Butter comes from cows. Tell me where the heck margarine comes from, and then maybe I’ll eat it.” But the dishes offered here are typical of old-fashioned goods that would have been enjoyed down on the farm in Iowa, Illinois or Nebraska. I have friends from that neck of the woods and I recognise the personal warmth as well as the hearty food.

A recipe that might not have been found down on the farm is that for Tropical Breeze Fruit Leather. Perhaps they made apple fruit leather in a low oven overnight but the fruit for this exotic version comes from a bit further away. Mango, banana and coconut combine to make a healthy, natural snack that the kids will love. A way of getting them to eat some fruit, but don’t tell them it’s good for them!

The recipe for Turnovers is perhaps my favourite from this little gem. It’s a good one for using up leftovers. Some seasoned minced meat encased in pastry and baked make handy little pasties. Eat them hot; they are also good at room temperature but in that case add extra spice.

Little Old Lady Recipes – comfort food and kitchen table wisdom is a great stocking-filler for anybody interested in the place of food in society. It’s fascinating to hear people comment on their lives and to see how food fits into their world.

Cookbook review: Little Old Lady Recipes – comfort food and kitchen table wisdom
Author: Meg Favreau
Published by: Quirk
Price: $14.95
ISBN 978-1-59474-518-8

Rustic Italian –
simple, authentic recipes for everyday cooking

This is a chunky well-proportioned volume which does indeed focus on rustic Italian food, although good Italian food is mostly rustic anyway. All those classic dishes we crave are the kinds of things that have been commonplace in regular homes along the length of the boot of Italy for generations. If you want a smart and contemporary meal then present small portions of these same dishes on a square plate and buy a metre-long pepper mill to irritate your guests.

Yes, rustic dishes, but they have been given a bit of polish by the addition of wine pairing suggestions. Don’t just offer a bottle of cheap Chianti but rather choose a wine that will actually enhance the food. OK, so you might not be tempted to make a lampshade out of the suggested bottle, but surely it’s more important to impress with your culinary skills rather than your aptitude for handicrafts.

Domenica Marchetti is an American of Italian descent so the selection of recipes might be somewhat different from that you would likely find in a UK-biased cookbook; but that does give this book greater appeal. You’ll discover new ideas and inspiration just by looking at the index – accessible ingredients that take advantage of the changing seasons.

Antipasti are small starters or can be enjoyed as nibbles with drinks. Crostini con Piselli e Menta – toast with sweet pea puree and mint – is simple to prepare and you can use frozen peas as the base. Eat these as soon as they are ready to prevent the bread from going soggy. The Italian speck gives a savoury counterpoint to the bright green peas.

Panzanella – Tuscan bread salad with capers – is a classic. It’s an ideal summer one-plate dish and uses that not-quite-so-fresh bread, although it’s honestly worth buying or making some country bread especially for this salad. No need to be a slave to the recipe: add your own array of vegetables and a few interesting leaves and make this dish your own. A great light lunch with a glass of a crisp white wine.

Meatloaf is an international comfort food, it seems. Polpettine alla Fiorentina – Florentine meatloaf with pecorino and wine – is the Italian version of the ever-popular staple. It has what I for one consider the best proportions and combination of meats: equal parts of veal, pork and beef which, when well seasoned, tastes more like sausage than ordinary mince. Serve this with one of my favourite wines, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

Rustic Italian – simple, authentic recipes for everyday cooking is practical. We are all noticing that our shopping bills are larger than ever, but we still want to feed our families with the best we can afford, and it’s always fun to be able to entertain with meals that are attractive and delicious. There are some recipes here to impress both family and friends without taking out a mortgage.

Cookbook review: Rustic Italian – simple, authentic recipes for everyday cooking
Author: Domenica Marchetti
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £12.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-441-0

Macarons

Pierre Hermé is the fourth generation of a family of bakers from Alsace in France. He has been working and learning his trade since he was just 14 years old, when he started as a lowly apprentice. He was in Paris with the celebrated pâtissier, Gaston Lenôtre, who was to become Pierre’s greatest professional influence.

In the late 90s, he started his eponymous Paris pâtisserie and then his Tokyo branch, followed in 2000 by tea rooms in Ikspiari, the Tokyo Disney shopping area. There are now seven stores in Tokyo, six in Paris, one in London, and an online shop.

Pierre Hermé was the youngest chef ever to be named France's Pastry Chef of the Year, and is also the only one to have been invested as a Chevalier of Arts and Letters. He was awarded the legendary Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2007.

Yes, Pierre is the emperor of Macarons. They are very chic and rather pricey. They make very smart gifts as their regular shape allows for easy and stylish packaging. These delicate dainties are striking served straight from a beautiful box.

The shape is always the same and the macarons are always sandwiched with a complementary cream, but the colours can vary from a hint of pastel shade to a vibrant and in-your-face hue. These are great cookies to theme for an event or person: your friend’s favourite colour, or green with red sprinkles for Christmas.

I would be lying to you if I said that these are the simplest things to bake. There is a technique and it’s important to stick to the method and to adhere slavishly to the weights when making the shells, but once you have achieved the characteristic dome and “foot” then the world is your culinary oyster. Step-by-step picture instructions are here so you have all you need to achieve perfection.

This is the first time that Pierre Hermé recipes have been published in an English-language book. He offers all the classics that have made him so celebrated. Most of them are sweet but there are a few savouries and these can be offered as nibbles with a chilled glass of fizz.

My favourite macarons are the Fresh Mint Macarones from the Signature chapter. These have strong colour and fresh flavour. Pierre favours crème fraîche and white chocolate for many of his fillings, which gives good texture and acts as a carrier for other flavouring ingredients.

Practice with Pierre’s original recipes but then try adapting them to include your favourite flavours, or change the pairings of shells and fillings to invent something totally different. Don’t be intimidated because Macarons are très français – it’s only baking after all, so be bold and adventurous and have fun.

Cookbook review: Macarons
Author: Pierre Hermé
Published by: Grub Street
Price: 25.00
ISBN 978-1-908117-23-6

My Japanese Table

The author is Debra Samuels. Doesn’t sound very Japanese, does it? Well, perhaps not, but her credentials are impeccable as this lady has spent a decade or so living in Japan and learning to cook in home kitchens. She is ideally placed to pen a book for the European market as she appreciates which recipes translate well and which techniques will be new to the reader.

Debra has a passion for Japanese food and wants to make it accessible to all of us who are becoming more interested in this fascinating cuisine. There are lots more Japanese restaurants around (it’s a shame that they are of patchy quality) so we have had the chance to try the food for ourselves.

Unfortunately we are led to believe that Japanese food consists of sushi ...or sashimi for those who want to push the envelope. Surely that can’t be all they eat in Japan? No, indeed, my dear inquisitive gastronaut. There are plenty of hot dishes that constitute real meals and will introduce the reader to home cooking from Japan, rather than restaurant standard fare.

Debra does start off with sushi and the like, just to ease her audience into the subject, but there is a tempting rice-based alternative that can be described as the Japanese equivalent of a sandwich. Onigiri are stuffed balls of rice that make ideal picnic snacks or fillings for a Bento box – Japanese packed meals. Debra suggests Spicy Tuna Salad as the stuffing but this would work with any soft full-flavoured meat or fish.

Another Japanese staple is Sweet Soy Beef and Onion Rice Bowl. 500g of beef will provide a substantial meal for 4 people. Just a little marinating time and a bit of wok or frying pan action and you’ll have a flavoursome topping for steamed rice. It’s a family-friendly meal that will appeal to the kids. The grated apple adds a slight sweetness which is unique and delicious.

Asian desserts are always a problem but there are a few delights here that would work well for any type of Asian meal. Cool and refreshing Matcha Ice Cream has a delicate yet distinct taste and acts as a light palate cleanser after Japanese food or even an Indian meal. So easy to make if one owns an ice-cream maker. Matcha is that traditional vivid green tea of Tea Ceremony fame. It’s sold, along with other Japanese specialities, in larger Asian supermarkets.

My Japanese Table is written with the Western housewife in mind. Nothing too taxing here and this book presents recipes that will be welcomed by your family but also by your dinner party guests, who will marvel at your new menus. No need to tell them that you hardly spent any time at all on prep. Go on, be a hero.

Asian cookbook review: My Japanese Table
Author: Debra Samuels
Published by: Tuttle Publishing
Price: £27.50
ISBN 978-4-8053-1118-9

Furoshiki – The art of wrapping with fabric

This is an ancient practice that seems to be very trendy now in Europe. I first came across it when a friend arrived from Marseille. She is a lady of impeccable taste and owns a shop filled with stylish and interesting goods. I had high hopes of a classy gift and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this square of material. “Nice,” I said, with as much enthusiasm as this confused reviewer could muster. “Just what I wanted,” I lied, but thankfully help and an explanation was at hand before I contemplated saying “This would make an exemplary family heirloom.”

Furoshiki is, just as the title implies, the ancient art of wrapping with fabric. A square of material can wrap all manner of things as well as becoming, with the use of some deft knotting, a handbag or a shoulder bag.

Gone are the days when we could go to any supermarket and expect a plastic bag for free. Many people choose to take along their own fabric bag instead of adding to landfill. A medium Furoshiki bag can hold all that a regular plastic bag could, and will look considerably more exotic. All the knots needed for a shopping bag, a backpack, a bottle carrier and a book bag are illustrated, and with a little practice you will be going out with a handbag and returning with a shopping bag, with just a little re-knotting mid-outing.

Furoshiki – The art of wrapping with fabric is a unique book for those who want to be ahead of the trend. Nothing much to buy – just hem some squares of material and you have versatile bags that you can coordinate with your equally trendy (does anyone really use that word these days?) clothes.

Book review: Furoshiki – The art of wrapping with fabric
Author: Kumiko Nakayama-Geraerts
Published by: New Holland
Price: £7.99
ISBN 978-1-84773-816-5

The Saké Handbook

Veggiestan – a vegetable lover’s tour of the Middle East

Any self-respecting cookbook collector will already be familiar with the work of Sally Butcher. She charmingly penned Persia in Peckham, which was a worthy showcase for her wit and expert wordsmithery. That book had its focus on amazing Middle Eastern food of every dietary hue, set against the backdrop of Persepolis, the Aladdin’s cave of an ethnic supermarket that she runs with her family. ‘Persepolis’ sounds like a good name for a restaurant but it’s a deli and store for Middle Eastern ingredients and household goods. I have visited and have been tempted to take up smoking. “Oh, no!” I hear you cry, “Not our clean-living reviewer taking up a hitherto-untried vice?” Well, yes, I have been lured by the coloured glass and nifty pipework of a shisha. Much more stylish than a packet of Woodbines and a box of Swan Vestas.

Sally is the lady behind the counter, but she manages to find time between customers to write books reflecting her love of Middle Eastern food. She does that in a convincing fashion as she is not just an interested observer. It’s now part of her cosmopolitan culinary heritage: she cooks these foods on a daily basis for a discerning husband and extended family.

Veggiestan is a stunning cookbook but it’s also a paper version of Sally herself – it’s stylish with hints of ethnic colour; full of laugh-out-loud anecdotes and witty asides that are thoroughly engaging. Sally knows her subject and presents it as a real gastronomic page-turner. You’ll want this book even if you don’t ever intend to darken the door of a kitchen. Sally isn’t a joke-teller, she is quiet and unassuming with a whimsical smile. One can hear her voice as one reads. This is no contrived literary formula, there is a real person back there and one you wish lived next door: “I just happened to be passing and wondered what’s for dinner tonight ...?”

The food is in reality as good as it sounds. I can highly recommend the pumpkin kibbeh which are moist, tender and flavourful. Sally gives credit for the recipe for Tabouleh to the talented and celebrated Anissa Helou (these ladies should open a restaurant together), and it’s a fresh herby salad that has, to be authentic, much more parsley than one might expect. Parsley is a vibrant ingredient when used as the main event rather than an apologetic garnish.

Burgers and bacon butties have enticed many a wannabe vegetarian off the meatless wagon. There are plenty of burger vans in Veggiestan, it seems, and they tempt both carnivore and vegetarian citizens with Burghlers. These are veggie burgers that are far more flavourful and a lot healthier than the traditional laden with animal bits. You will find these will become a favourite with the whole family, and there are few meals that can boast that.

The ingredients for the dishes are, unsurprisingly, very reasonable. One can buy a big bag of fresh veggies for the price of a couple of steaks. Many people think of them as bland and uninteresting and even “yucky”. Well, that’s a word I would reserve only for Brussels sprouts, but all other vegetables can be made into delicious meals that lack nothing. One can feast on flavour and texture and colour. It is true that one eats with one’s eyes, after all.

Sally Butcher has great literary flair. Serious food writing does not have to be dry and academic. Sally is serious about her writing so that makes her, I guess, a serious food writer but the fruits, or in this case veggies, of her labours are humorous. Phrases that encourage a chuckle or two will also persuade those chucklers to actually cook some food. That’s what a good cookbook should do, isn’t it?

This is another cracker from a food writer who should be better known and much more appreciated. An ideal Christmas gift, and one of my picks of 2011.

Veggiestan – a vegetable lover’s tour of the Middle East
Author: Sally Butcher
Published by: Pavilion
Price: £25.00
ISBN 978-1-86205-884-2

Hawksmoor at Home

I am, and it’s evident to you, dear regular reader, not only a restaurant reviewer but a cookbook reviewer. I love my work and almost every book that passes across my desk (IKEA computer stand) has a recipe or two to which I will return, time after time. I can’t say the same for Hawksmoor at Home.

Now that’s got your attention. I can’t say that there are one or two recipes that I might cook from time to time: I would cook the majority of these over and over again. This is in my top 5 cookbooks reviewed for the whole year. It’s the book that, had I not already reviewed, I should have enjoyed receiving as a gift on Christmas morning, a book to leaf through and actually read. OK, so I won’t be doing a lot of that during Yuletide, but this is truly a food almanac not only of beef-based recipes but of all manner of British fare.

Many “foodies” wax lyrical about French culinary flair, vibrant Italian dishes, and Spanish tapas have never been more popular; but, in typical British fashion, we ignore our own heritage of quality ingredients cooked with care. We were the inventors of the steakhouse but we imagine that it’s the sole preserve of our cousins from across the pond. Hawksmoor continues to carry the British carnivore torch with great style, in their steakhouses and now with this eponymous book.

Steak is a treat for most of us these days so we need to know how to make the best of it. Plenty of advice here for cooking various steaks, everything from Sirloin to Chateaubriand. You will want a sauce to complement your meat, and there are several classics like béarnaise sauce and peppercorn sauce, but also some others that are worthy of garnishing your perfectly-cooked steak. Gentleman’s Relish is popular chez nous, and Hawksmoor have a recipe for those who want to try their hands at this celebrated spread. Anchovies are the key ingredient: no, it won’t make your steak taste like a kipper but it will add a particularly salty savouriness that is truly unique.

Hawksmoor seafood recipes are just as enticing. The Battered Oyster Roll has my vote for delicious succulence and it’s a take on the New Orleans po’ boy, although oysters have been popular in Britain for hundreds of years. A little different, as this version has the oysters dipped in batter rather than being crumbed. Hawksmoor do offer a hot dog but I am bound to promote the truly British oyster over an iffy sausagey thing that seems to be a staple in the US and in DIY store car parks in the UK. Granted, Hawksmoor have elevated theirs, but hot dogs are like marmite: you love them or hate them. If you are a sausage aficionado then try instead the Hawksmoor sausage mix, and (assuming you are British) swell with pride that we do bangers better than anyone.

Puds are here in profusion and they are a collection of traditional stunners. My favourite is Queen of Puddings. Sounds rather grand but it is in fact a rather humble dessert crowned with meringue. The monarch in question is Queen Victoria and the pud was first presented to her in Manchester. There is also, just to add to the confusion, a version called Manchester Pudding: the same thing sans breadcrumbs and minus the meringue topping.

Hawksmoor at Home is one of the must-haves of 2011. It’s an absorbing read with many an informative historic anecdote as well as rather good recipes. A book that will be well received by the blokey food lovers, but there is plenty here for everyone – family meals as well as dinner-party dishes.

Cookbook review: Hawksmoor at Home
Author: Huw Gott, Will Beckett and Richard Turner
Published by: Preface
Price: £25.00
ISBN 978-18480-9335-5

500 Slow Cooker Dishes

I have a slow cooker dating from the 80s. It’s a solid tub with a switch for high and low and it just doesn’t seem to wear out. The new versions have a ceramic insert that makes for easier cleaning but the principle of slow cookers has remained the same, and I guarantee that you need one. I admit that you might not think you do, but you do.

A slow cooker does just what it says: cooks slowly and using the equivalent of a light bulb’s-worth of power. That’s reassuring when the fuel costs as much as the food these days. It’s not just economy that will persuade you to invest in a slow cooker. It’s practical and a time saver. That sounds like an oxymoron. How can a slow anything save you time? Well, it enables you to cook whilst you are living your life. A few minutes’ preparation will be all the hard labour necessary to provide a family meal from some very reasonably priced ingredients.

A slow cooker will allow you to take advantage of cheaper cuts of meat as well as dried beans, pulses and robust root vegetables. You won’t be heating your kitchen – the pot is well insulated – but you will still find that delicious aromas will escape to fill your home with tantalising hints of a scrumptious forthcoming meal.

Soup is an obvious candidate for slow cooking and Corn Chowder is a simple but classy winter warmer. This book is entitled 500 Slow Cooker Dishes so there are several alternatives to that original suggested here; for example, Corn and Crab Chowder is a rich dinner party starter.

Pork with Marsala and Prunes is hearty, with sweetness from both wine and fruit. This is also ideal fare for making an impression with very little effort. Pork tenderloin is lean and doesn’t cost a fortune. A little of this flavourful dish goes a long way: 700g of meat will feed 6 people. This is best served with creamy mashed potatoes. It’s smart comfort food and prepared in advance.

Risotto is a popular dish ...when made by someone else. The traditional version requires 20 minutes of continual stirring. It’s impressive when entertaining, as your hungry audience will appreciate the time invested on their behalf. But risotto can be made with far less elbow grease by using the slow cooker. It takes 3-4 hours but there is no need to watch that pot. Just stir in some spinach during the last 15 minutes and the meal is finished.

Caramelised Onions are an essential. They are amazingly simple to prepare, and keep in the fridge for up to a month. A little butter and balsamic vinegar add richness and tang to the sweet onions that will be a worthy addition to gravy, or topping for steaks and sausages. You can add some dried herbs and fennel seeds for a little more flavour.

Pears Poached in Red Wine are very smart and cheffy but the fruit is cheap and this is a dish that can be prepared a couple of days in advance. Keep in the fridge and serve with whipped cream. Pears poached in vanilla and sweet white wine is a lighter alternative, but equally attractive.

500 Slow Cooker Dishes is another in that chunky practical series from Apple Press. It’s a book to give inspiration to any new owner of a slow cooker, and you will have favourite recipes that you will be able to adapt for this indispensible piece of kitchen equipment.

Cookbook review: 500 Slow Cooker Dishes
Author: Carol Beckerman
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £9.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-414-4

The Pressure Cooker Cookbook

Way back in the 60s pressure cookers were the latest kitchen appliance. My mum had one and would use it quite often but it had an alarming hiss and emitted a remarkable jet of steam. Aunty Jean from next door wouldn’t come into the kitchen if the pressure cooker was on the stove and even Mum would only use the thing when Dad was around. He was a night-worker so the times when both my parents were at home together were rare. In consequence that old pressure cooker never did fulfil its true potential.

Pressure cookers are a lot more stylish these days, and probably a lot safer. They are an indispensible part of any Indian kitchen, and many French homes seem to have a pressure cooker, too. It’s low-tech kit that will save time, energy and money and there isn’t much that can go wrong with it. The rubber gasket might need replacing after a few years and the safety washer should always be in good nick but the pot and lid will last for generations.

Think of this as the device that will allow you to cook slowly ...but fast. Tough but economic cuts of meat are rendered melting in a fraction of the time it would have taken in a conventional oven. Lentils and dried beans are softened in a lot less than the usual cooking time and your kitchen will not be filled with steam during the process.

The author of The Pressure Cooker Cookbook is Tori Ritchie, a name new to many in Europe but she has had a successful career as a food writer and host of a memorable TV show on kitchen design in the US. She has an evident passion for good food and an appreciation of the practicalities of modern life, with lack of both time and money being constant causes of anxiety.

Pearl barley is a grain that is under-utilised. It’s available in every supermarket and can feed a family in under 20 minutes for just a pound or two. We have always used it to bulk out stews and soups but Tori offers us a very stylish Barley Risotto with Wild Mushrooms. Well, OK, the wild mushrooms will add to the cost but it’s easy to substitute regular round mushrooms when it’s just for you and the kids. Flavourful and substantial.

Tori also has a recipe for the classic Risotto, using arborio rice with a pinch of saffron. This gives the distinctive sunny yellow colour to the dish but also a subtle aromatic flavour. The parmesan shavings are the traditional garnish but they also add that very evocative taste of Italy. Don’t be tempted to use the tubs of ready-grated parmesan: it’s seldom good quality and can ruin a fine dish.

A must-try recipe is that for Barbecue-style Brisket Sandwiches. No, my culinarily-impaired reader, it’s not the sandwiches themselves that are made in the pressure cooker, it’s the tangy meat that takes advantage of that device. The brisket is cooked in only 60 minutes, and that’s just a third of the time that this cut of meat usually takes. This recipe is a real crowd-pleaser. The moist meat is thinly sliced and piled on burger buns, and the sauce acts as the only condiment necessary. A worthy dish for any rugby match-viewing afternoon.

The Pressure Cooker Cookbook has 40 recipes that are practical and delicious, and there is all the information here to enable you to adapt your own favourites. Lots to entice meat eaters, but plenty for vegetarians.

Cookbook review: The Pressure Cooker Cookbook
Author: Tori Ritchie
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £10.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-431-1

Cake Decorating Skills

It’s just the time to start getting anxious about Christmas. All that shopping ...and all that cooking and baking. It’s a special season, when we want to make an extra effort for family and friends; our usual delicious food but with a little more care taken over presentation. Sweet things and large cakes can provide an edible canvas for our colourful and imaginative sugarpaste and icing extravaganzas.

Cake Decorating Skills offers technical know-how and inspiration for cakes for every occasion. Those aforementioned skills can be put to work on small individual dainties as well as large centrepieces. Christmas as well as birthdays, weddings and anniversaries will all be enhanced by stunning and unique cakes decorated by your very own hands. Note that I say ‘decorated’ rather than ‘made’. If you can decorate then you can create something magnificent from even a commercial base ...but buy the best cakes available: you can cut corners, but never cut quality.

Tracey Mann has penned a book that will give confidence to the novice decorator and give a few ideas to even the practised. There are always new decorating products and gadgets so those with a history of previous projects will find something new. There are techniques that will enable you to fashion swirls of icing for the ubiquitous cupcake, to mould exotic flowers, and to master every style of decoration in between.

Yes, those celebrated cupcakes are still fashionable but have you seen the price? Cake Decorating Skills offers a recipe for the basic cake as well as for the soft buttercream. There is also a nice technique for giving a flat topping of sugarpaste on which to place a sugar rose or a sugar representation of an Arsenal crest. Well, boys like cakes as well.

The Piping chapter will be the one to linger over. You will practise dots, swags and hearts, and then use those new skills to best advantage on a special birthday cake or perhaps even a wedding cake, although that won’t give you much latitude to show off Colouring that you’ll learn about in the chapter that follows.

Transfer sheets now enable even those of us with minimal artistic talent to achieve amazing results. These transparent sheets have printed designs on one side. They can be placed on a base of sugarpaste and the design, with a bit of burnishing and gentle heat, will adhere to the paste which can then be cut to shape and used as instant decoration.

The book is worth buying just for the chapter on Modelling. Teddy is my project for this weekend. He is adorable and comes with step-by-step pictures to assure success. There are also instructions on making human figures complete with clothes. The possibilities for constructing one’s own friends and family members out of sugarpaste are endless!

Cake Decorating Skills is fun. Plenty of inspiration for classic and pretty decorations, as well as those that are amusing and will be treasured by your children for at least an hour before the lion’s head is consumed. Requests for an ark of sweet animals should be expected.

Cookbook review: Cake Decorating Skills
Author: Tracey Mann
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £14.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-420-5

Tapas – Classic small dishes from Spain

It’s the modern way of enjoying a meal out. Perhaps not even a full meal, but a few small and perfect plates to graze on while sipping a glass of sherry, a full bodied red or a crisp white. Tapas is indeed more popular than ever outside Spain, its country of origin.

Tapas are rumoured to be the contemporary descendants of rounds of savoury-topped bread, that were used to cover glasses to keep dust and flies out of one’s chosen cold beverage. They have developed into the centrepieces of convivial gatherings.

Any book by Elisabeth Luard is bound to be worthwhile. She is rightly considered one of the best of the English-speaking world’s food writers. She has a lilting and almost musical way with words. She embroiders phrases that are almost poetic, often amusing and always apt.

Classic is a word that is oft used but in this case it’s an honest description of this collection of tapas. If you have enjoyed tapas in an authentic bar in Spain then you will find recipes for those familiar dishes here. Croquettes are ubiquitous simply because they are delicious, moreish and the ingredients are inexpensive. Shrimps are a smart filling and this recipe stretches the seafood to the extent that just 4 tablespoons will produce 20 or so croquettes, enough for a starter for four. The key to flavourful success is using a good, rich fish stock to make the basic sauce. The chicken version uses only 4 tablespoons of chicken meat and once again it’s important to use a strong chicken broth for best results. These are perhaps my favourite croquettes.

Small pasties are popular all over South America and Spain. Each country or region has its own filling and each one reflects the best of local ingredients. There are a variety of pastry options ranging from ready-made pastry to a rich oil pastry reminiscent of that used in British pork pies. Many of these Empanadas contain meat and spices, others have tuna or vegetables. They are ideal finger-food for drinks parties or as starters.

Salt cod is something of an acquired taste but Bunuelos de Bacalao are popular on traditional tapas menus. I personally adore that creamy, salty, fishy potato mash inside a crispy fried shell. They take a little time to prepare because the dried fish needs soaking in several changes of water, but the end result is worth the effort.

The ubiquitous tapa, and a favourite with even the fussiest of eaters, is Spanish omelette. It has few ingredients and it’s a simple dish to cook. There is a knack to turning the tortilla and this might fill the novice cook with fear, but persist and you will have a potato cake of which to be proud. Serve cut into substantial wedges along with a few of the other suggestions from this delightful book.

Cookbook review: Tapas – Classic small dishes from Spain
Author: Elisabeth Luard
Published by: Grub Street
Price: £15.99
ISBN 978-1-908117-02-1

Fishy Fishy Cookbook

I am surprised that there are not more fish cookbooks. We live on an island and the wet stuff around the edges is sea. It’s home to a wealth of good things to eat, that seem far more appreciated by those from other European countries than by us Brits.

We go on holiday to Spain and France and we return waxing lyrical about the marvellous meals that we have had. We glibly state that the Continentals have a way with fish and that “we don’t get that here”. Well, yes we do indeed get “that” here, although lots of our catch still seems to clock up the food miles on its way across the Channel. Ironic, me thinks.

We know it’s good for us. We should, for many reasons, eat less red meat, and variety is the spice of life. Fish and seafood are delicate but they are, for the most part, simple and quick to prepare. A good cookbook can educate and inspire and Fishy Fishy Cookbook is one of the best I have come across.

“New York, New York, so good they named it twice” sang Gerard Kenny in 1978 and I can voice a similar sentiment with regard to Fishy Fishy. It’s a restaurant as well as a cookbook, and there are now two branches (Brighton and Poole). The book contains within its covers just about the best-chosen recipes of any fish cookbook. OK, so that’s down to personal taste, but they are broad-based and consider practicality, economics and flavour.

Restaurant cookbooks can sometimes tend towards the ‘cheffy’: long-winded recipes, too many ingredients, with an over-fussy end result. Fishy Fishy Cookbook avoids culinary showboating and offers dishes for every pocket and skill. There are family-friendly pies as well as the posh and posy lobster plates that you might not be feeding to the kids, although they will doubtless enjoy the fish burgers.

Just about every page offers an idea for a seasonal lunch or dinner. It’s important to appreciate that fish and seafood are indeed seasonal, or should be. The authors have taken time to introduce their audience to the concept of sustainability. We might all support the notion but we need advice to enable us to make the best choices.

There are contemporary as well as classic dishes here. Smoked Mackerel Paté is traditional, good value for money and versatile. This version uses horseradish to add heat but if you don’t like that you can use a pinch or two of cayenne pepper. There are two other smoked fish patés here using trout and salmon, but mackerel has been too long overlooked, so give that one a try.

Sticky Mackerel is one of my picks-of-the-book. The fish is first seared in oil before being finished in the oven and basted with a sticky barbecue sauce. It’s a glaze that would work well with any kind of oily fish. Tangy and aromatic.

I am not a great lover of an oyster – much over-rated and rather boring – but Tempura Oysters with Tomato and Chilli Jam has converted me. The batter gives texture to the shellfish and the chilli adds a sweet-hot edge. They are stunning when served on their shells. Scallops with Chorizo, a common restaurant dish, is also served in the same way but with slices of crusty bread alongside.

Mussels Three Ways are listed in the Everyday Fish and Seafood chapter; although I still think of them as a treat they are not expensive these days. Moules Marinières is perhaps the best known version of mussels cooked in a pot. A little white wine, shallots, garlic, butter and parsley make this a moreish lunch that will remind you of holidays on the cold Belgian or French coast.

Fishy Fishy Cookbook is perhaps one of the most exciting and inspiring fish cookbooks around. This will be on my list of best books reviewed in 2011. It’s a must for any fish lover as well as those who want to enjoy a healthier diet.

Cookbook review: Fishy Fishy Cookbook
Authors: James Ginzler, Paul Shovlin and Loz Talent
Published by: New Holland
Price: £16.99
ISBN 978-1-84773-819-6

Whoopie Pies – Creamy, dreamy delights

Food, like clothes, has fashions and trends. We have had cupcakes and macaroons and now it’s the era of the Whoopie Pie!

The name is amusing and nobody is sure where exactly that name originates, although it’s said to mimic the exclamation of joy as lunch boxes containing the aforementioned cakes were opened. They are an American sweet tradition from the state of either Maine or Pennsylvania. The pies are also called “gobs” in some quarters but that isn’t half so attractive.

Whoopie Pies are made from a batter that’s a lot less temperamental than that for macaroons. They look rather similar, being two spongy rounds sandwiched together with a creamy filling. They come in a slew of flavour combinations and there are even some savoury varieties that would be ideal as cocktail nibbles.

The pies are simple to make but here I offer a bit of advice: Take some baking parchment and draw 40 x 3cm circles. Divide the mixture equally between the circles and spread the batter to the edge. All your cakes will be exactly the same size and will cook evenly.

There are 80 recipes here but the permutations of cakes and fillings are huge, and everyone will have their own favourite. I have never quite seen the appeal of peanut butter and jelly (jam), but here that classic sandwich is transformed into a Whoopie Pie. However, I do have a high regard for Oreo cookies, another American institution: Chocolate Oreo Whoopie Pies contain crushed cookies incorporated into the cake batter, which is sandwiched with buttery chocolate cream.

Hawaiian Pineapple Coconut Whoopie Pies are pale and exotic. They would be delicious paired with a glass of ginger tea on a hot (use your imagination) afternoon. Winter might find you tempted by Cinnamon Raisin Whoopie Pies or Apple and Calvados Whoopie Pies. The alcohol is in the batter but I might add a little to the filling as well.

The savoury Whoopie Pies are intriguing. Consider making three different varieties and serving them at a drinks party. Beetroot Whoopie Pies are a striking pink with a cream cheese filling. Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Whoopie Pies are flecked with red and green, and the smoked Salmon and Chive Whoopie Pies are blond and very smart.

This is a book crammed with inspiration and ideas for family cakes or snacks, but also for stylish savouries to go with aperitifs, or desserts for special occasions.

Cookbook review: Whoopie Pies – Creamy, dreamy delights
Author: Viola Goren
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £12.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-430-4

500 Vegan Dishes

As regular readers will know, I am a great fan of this series of books from Apple Press. Always attractive and practical, these small and chunky volumes offer recipes on a single topic... 500 times!

Now, I must confess my carnivore leanings right away. I have no vegan missionary zeal and I probably would never take that dietary path myself. Having said that, I can sympathise with those who have ethical or health issues and feel that this is the way to go. But vegan ingredients constitute real food and we all, even if we don’t know it, eat vegan food from time to time. Much vegetarian food is vegan. Many dishes that we meat-eaters regularly prepare just happen to be vegan. It’s a way of culinary life that takes some thought but it is indeed healthy, and here one is presented with hundreds of recipes to help.

OK, so a vegan will be a stranger to a British fried breakfast, but 500 Vegan Dishes offers some suggestions that will tempt die-hard traditionalists away from bangers and bacon. Oaty Apple Pancakes are economic and will be a hit with the whole family. Maple syrup is vegan so a liberal libation is sweet and philosophically correct ...delicious as well.

Orange Marmalade Bran Muffins are a real time-saver as well as an easy and palatable method of getting that much-needed fibre. These are sweet and tangy and the mixture can keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge in an air-tight container. Nothing nicer than baked goods warm from the oven and these can be cooking while you’re making a pot of tea. A lovely recipe for those weekends when you have guests staying. You’ll look like a proper domestic goddess, or god.

There is a wealth of Indian recipes in this volume. No surprise when you consider that so many Indians are vegetarian. Samosas can be vegan and here we find a simple and traditional filling of onions, potatoes and other vegetables wrapped in filo pastry. Spiced Chickpeas are another Sub-continental suggestion. Simple but smart when served with drinks.

Hummus with Dukkah is North African and delicious as a starter or snack. We are all familiar with hummus, it’s sold in every supermarket but it’s easy to make at home, and the dukkah spice mix does add an exotic kick – it’s good sprinkled over any kind of salad or vegetable dip.

Winter approaches and the gloomy weather reflects the economic climate. We want warming and comforting dishes that don’t cost a fortune. Winter Vegetable Bake fits the culinary bill admirably. Root vegetables are cooked in a herby tomato-laced stock, but the scone topping is the element that will make this a family favourite. In the US this style of dish would be called a cobbler after the fashion of laying the scone rounds over the top of the casserole. You can change the veggies for those favoured by your particular dining crowd.

500 Vegan Dishes has its focus on a strict regime, but those foods available to a vegan are many, varied and delicious. This might not be the first choice as a gift for a meat eater but it will be welcomed by vegetarians in general and those of us who just appreciate good food.

Cookbook review: 500 Vegan Dishes
Author: Deborah Gray
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £9.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-416-8

The Indian Bible

We in the UK have a very particular view on Indian food. For most of us it’s visits to restaurants that introduce us to those vibrant spices that give such a distinct flavour to Sub-continental dishes – those which have fiery heat and those which are aromatic and mellow.

The Indian Bible offers the reader a well-chosen selection of recipes, many of which will be familiar to those of us who haunt our local Indian restaurant. There are also many that will be new even to the most dedicated “curry” addict.

Most Indians are full- or part-time vegetarians and lots of people eat lentils every day. They are comforting in both flavour and texture, simple to make and can be served with either bread or rice. The Indian Bible suggests a mixed yellow dal. There are few spices needed but the combination of mustard seeds, cumin and garlic along with green chillies give heat and richness that is tempered by a bunch of fresh coriander used as an essential ingredient rather than a garnish.

Kerala is a coastal region in southern India. Their cuisine takes advantage of seafood and the ubiquitous coconut and curry leaves, which add a unique flavour. Kerala Prawn Curry is “Kerala on a plate” or at least that’s how the late Keith Floyd would probably have described it. This isn’t a searingly spicy dish so it’s an ideal introduction to Indian food for the timid.

Baigan Bharta is a much celebrated smoky eggplant (aubergine) dish. The vegetables are slowly roasted. No chillies here – it’s a smooth and moreish dip that is a delight served with naan bread. This would make a delicious addition to a starter platter with onion bhajis, samosas and lamb seekh kebabs, also in this book.

Desserts in India are not as common as they are in the West but they are memorable. Kheer – Indian rice pudding – is traditional and full of nuts, dried fruits, saffron, and cardamom. The recipe includes just one pod but I would be tempted to add a few more.

Kulfi – Indian ice cream – is often found on restaurant menus although it’s mostly bought-in rather than made in-house. It’s easy to make at home even without an ice-cream maker. There are two versions here: coconut and pistachio. My favourite is coconut which contains condensed milk as a key ingredient. Don’t be tempted to substitute regular milk for the condensed milk: it’s what gives the distinctive taste and texture.

The Indian Bible is a small-format and practical book with more than 130 recipes. The spices will likely be ones you already have in your larder, and the few exotic extras can be bought either online or in your local Asian supermarket. It’s amazing value for money at only £5.99.

Cookbook review: The Indian Bible
Published by: Dorling Kindersley
Price: £5.99
ISBN 978-1-4053-6325-9