Rethinking Our Way with Grains
Joshua McFadden has penned a comprehensive and beautifully presented book, with its focus on delicious and economic foods accessible to most of us. Grains for Every Season: Rethinking Our Way with Grains covers all the common suspects and also those which have been more recently introduced to our local supermarkets.
This large and colourful tome offers a couple of hundred recipes. They are conveniently arranged into sections by grain type. There is a wealth of information about each grain and how to prepare it. It will be particularly inspirational to those of us who might want to expand culinary horizons and move away from the more predictable white rice. But this book will likely be prized by we carnivores who strive to eat less meat but still crave variety in both taste and texture. This isn’t a vegetarian or vegan cookbook, but Grains for Every Season teaches us how grains can be used both without meat and alongside it. It’s a volume with wide appeal.
Flexible recipes
I have a good number of ‘Pick of the Book’ recipes. Corn Fritters have my name on them, and they would be perfect as part of a vegetarian platter or as a side dish to a baked ham. Joshua gives plenty of flavouring-ingredient combinations, making this a delightfully flexible recipe. Overnight Oat Parfaits will be a go-to breakfast item when one is entertaining with overnight guests. Colourful and delicious and made in advance. Spring Peas and Calamari Stew with Toasted Farro is exciting dinner party fare. Broccoli, Tuna and Wheat Berry Gratin is a warming mid-week dinner. Baked Wild Rice with Salmon, Artichokes and Leeks is an impressive celebration plate, and memorable. Quinoa and Chicken Soup with French Lentils and Herbs is sustaining and flavourful – the perfect winter lunch.
Grains for Every Season: Rethinking Our Way with Grains is impressive and gift quality. The dishes can be adapted and tailored to the tastes of your own family. Cookbooks are guides rather than textbooks. A lovely addition to any cookbook library.
Grains for Every Season: Rethinking Our Way with Grains
Author: Joshua McFadden with Martha Holmberg
Published by: Artisan Division of Workman Publishing
Price: £32.00
ISBN-13: 978-1579659561