Brilliant new cookbooks
And a draw to win three of the featured titles
It’s been a bumper few weeks for new cookbooks, and my collection is ever-expanding. I’ve spent some time reading my way through some brilliant new books in recent weeks, and I’m very pleased to share some interesting new titles with you. I also have a draw to win three of the featured titles, so please do read on for details of how to enter.
Sebze by Ozlem Warren
I’ve been really excited about this book from Turkish food writer Ozlem Warren. It’s a Turkish vegetarian recipe book filled with colourful images and hugely appetising recipes. I am not particularly knowledgeable about Turkish food, but this book has taught me lots. I particularly like the fresh, vibrant ingredients and flavours and, as a UK-based cook, almost all of the ingredients are readily available and easy to source. It’s a sumptuous book, filled with inspiring and easy-to-achieve recipes and a great choice if you love salads and vibrant vegetarian main meals and side dishes.
Cold Kitchen by Caroline Eden
This is another book I’ve been looking forward to from Edinburgh-based food and travel writer Caroline Eden. If you are not familiar with her work, I urge you to look up her back catalogue. Caroline’s travels have taken her across Eastern Europe and Central Asia and they inform this book, which features recollections and recipes from her travels, all told whilst back home in Edinburgh. Caroline’s a great writer, and this evocative, descriptive book is a great read, offering a window into this part of the world.
Amouse Bouche by Carolyn Boyd
This is a hugely readable, entertaining and informative exploration of regional French food through a brilliant collection of stories and recipes.
Carolyn Boyd is a food and travel writer who has spent years travelling around France and is a great authority on all things French. Many broadsheet readers will probably have come across her travel pieces on many occasions. I helped a little with the recipe testing and can happily confirm how great the recipes are. I can’t remember the last time I devoured a book so quickly - it really is a brilliant read is very highly recommended.
It Starts with Veg by Ceri Jones
It Starts with Veg is the debut cookbook from Ceri Jones, a food writer, cookery teacher and chef. Ceri trained as a chef as a cookery school specialising in holistic nutrition in California and cooks regularly for health retreats. This book is focussed on creative vegetable-based cooking. It is not exclusively vegetarian, but offers an interesting collection of simple, flavoursome recipes that use vegetables in innovative and familiar ways. This is a lovely first book with very nice production values, which give the book a pleasing look and feel with its text and illustrations.
The Taste of Belgium by Ruth Van Waerebeek
This is a huge compendium of Belgian recipes that has a strong focus on ingredients one would typically associate with Belgian food: endive, white asparagus, mustard, beer and chocolate. I have really enjoyed the food and drink whilst in Belgium, but it isn’t a cuisine I know all that much about, and so I found this book really interesting and enlightening. To quote the publisher’s blurb: “As the Belgians say, since everybody has to eat three times a day, why not make a feast of every meal?”. Hear, hear!
Finally, here are the details of the draw. I have one copy each of the following three books to give away:
Amouse Bouche by Carolyn Boyd
It Starts with Veg by Ceri Jones
The Taste of Belgium by Ruth Van Waerebeek
To enter the draw, please hit reply and email me with the title(s) you’d like to win. I will put your entries into a draw and contact the winners by email to arrange deliver. Please enter by Monday 17th June, 5pm U.K. time.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.