Cookbook reviews

Book Review: Harvest 

Harvest is a collection of recipes divided up by the seasons, with recipes for produce at its best in summer, autumn, winter and spring.

The book contains beautiful photography accompanied by gorgeous watercolour illustrations of the produce featured in the recipes. Embrace the summer sun with Seared tuna with fennel confit, or Butterflied king prawns with mango; watch the leaves fall while indulging in Chestnut risotto with sage and pancetta or Five-spiced duck with pomegranate salad; snuggle into winter with some Chipotle-braised beef ribs with spicy baked pumpkin or an Apple and quince pie; or celebrate the freshness of Spring with Moroccan broad bean salad with yogurt and crispy breadcrumbs or Blood orange and dark chocolate trifle.

Harvest will inspire you to build delicious seasonal feasts for any occasions in the year. (more…)

Cookbook Review: Provence to Pondicherry

Born in London to a Greek-Cypriot father and Finnish mother, Tessa Kiros developed an interest in the food of different cuisines and travel from an early age. After growing up in South Africa, she left home at eighteen to travel and cook, working in restaurants in London, Sydney, Athens, and Mexico. She now lives in Tuscany.

Provence to Pondicherry begins, well, in Provence, where Tessa first fell in love with French food, and explores the Mediterranean region’s links between the indigenous ingredients, flavours, materials, and traditions. She then follows the path of the early French explorers, traveling to the island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, Vietnam in South East Asia, Pondicherry in India, and the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion, before finally returning to France, in the region of Normandy, whose cuisine is so different from the South of France.

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Cookbook Review: Street Food Asia 

Street Food Asia

In Street Food Asia, join Luke Nguyen on a stroll through the heady, fragrant backstreets of Asia to discover street food at its very best. Pull up a stool for a bowl of pho in his beloved home city of Saigon, or explore a hawker stall in Kuala Lumpur. Soak up the coconut-infused air of Jakarta and immerse yourself in the smoke, heat and unmistakeable buzz of a Bangkok night market.

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Cookbook Review: The Yoga Kitchen 

The Yoga Kitchen teaches you that by eating holistic recipes you can nourish your mind, strengthen your body and bring more balance into your life. All the recipes are vegetarian and gluten-free, allowing you to improve your health, build your inner-core, increase your energy and support your spiritual development. (more…)

Cookbook Review: Eat Better, Not Less

Nadia Damaso loves food, but also loves to be healthy. In Eat Better, Not Less she proves that healthy food isn’t boring, and filling your body with the right ingredients can make you feel amazing.
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Cookbook Review: Oprah’s Food, Health and Happiness

Oprah Winfrey will be the first to tell you, she has had a complicated relationship with food. It’s been both a source of delight and comfort for her, but also the cause of an ongoing struggle with her weight. In Food, Health, and Happiness, Oprah shares the recipes that have allowed eating to finally be joyful for her.

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Cookbook Review: Rao’s Classics

Rao’s is the legendary, tiny corner restaurant in East Harlem where it’s impossible to book a table: each of the red-checked, cloth-covered four-, six-, and two-tops is reserved for a titan of New York industry, a celebrity, or a major politician. Permanently. Now Frank Pellegrino, the third generation of his family to operate the impossible-to-get-into Rao’s restaurant in East Harlem and founder of Rao’s food products line, goes deep into the history of his family, the restaurant, and America’s love affair with Southern Italian cooking to create Rao’s Classics cookbook.
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Cookbook Review: Dorie’s Cookies

Over the course of her baking career, Dorie Greenspan has created more than 300 cookie recipes. Yet she has never written a book about them—until now. To merit her “three purple stars of approval,” every cookie had to be so special that it begged to be made again and again. Cookies for every taste and occasion are here. Ms. Greenspan pays great attention to detail. There are over 500 pages filled with recipes, tips, techniques and notes on gear and ingredients.

The author offers up treats like Portofignos, with chocolate dough and port-soaked figs, and lunch-box Blueberry Buttermilk Pie Bars. They Might Be Breakfast Cookies are packed with raisins, dried apples, dried cranberries, and oats, while Almond Crackle Cookies have just three ingredients. (more…)

Cookbook Review: Sicily: Recipes from an Italian Island

Italy’s most seductive island, Sicily, is located in the heart of the Mediterranean. Thanks to its rich history, Sicilian food has Italian as well as Greek, Spanish, French, and Arab influences. Now Italian aficionados, Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, head to the island to immerse themselves in its diverse food scene. (more…)

Cookbook Review: How to Bake Everything

I adore Mark Bittman. Having followed his New York Times food column for years, I have always found his evocative view of the world of food quite refreshing. Bittman has written more than 20 cookbooks, including this new one, “How to Bake Everything.” For an occasional and frightened baker like myself, his witty, caustic and opinionated banter provides a compelling counter to the usual staid baking books. (more…)