José Pizarro’s Pan-fried chicken with Pimentón de la Vera is a fabulous way to enjoy smoked paprika (named for the place it’s produced, a county in Spain’s Extremadura region). It’s a wonderfully simple recipe too. Good quality hot smoked paprika makes a difference here, as it provides the key flavour. This recipe is from Spice: ... Read more »
Having come to caraway late in life, we’re now making up for lost time by seeking out recipes that really show off this lovely spice. In his book, Spice: A Cook’s Companion Mark describes Caraway’s flavour as “a cross between cumin and thyme, with a nudge of orange peel, mint and aniseed” and we could ... Read more »
In his previous book Herb: A Cook’s Companion, Mark Diacono wove together detailed advice on growing your own herbs (and handling store bought), with a selection of recipes that show off those herbs beautifully. In Spice: A Cook’s Companion he provides advice on how to source and blend spices well, and how to make the ... Read more »
The title of Olly Smith’s latest book, Home Cocktail Bible, set a whole bunch of expectations for my husband and me, and we’re guessing the same applies to you. We’re reasonably regular home cocktail makers with a handful or two of books in our arsenal, ranging from the simple to the quirky to the complex. ... Read more »
Selin Kiazim had an unusual and admirable ambition in mind when writing her enigmatically titled cookbook, Three. She wanted to give an accomplished eater and competent “recipe cook” the tools to have the confidence to play with their cooking, to drop their reliance on the stricture of recipes and feel free to create. The secret, ... Read more »
I’ve been anticipating the publication of Mandy Yin’s Sambal Shiok cookbook for many months, and now the book’s in my hands, it doesn’t disappoint! As Yin explains, Malaysian food reflects the diversity of the Malaysian people and encompasses a glorious range of ingredients, flavours and techniques from the Malay, Chinese, Peranakan, South Indian and indigenous ... Read more »
The publication of How to Bake Anything Gluten Free by Becky Excell follows the phenomenal success of her debut How to Make Anything Gluten Free (previously reviewed here), which prompted Nigella Lawson to endorse Becky as “the Queen of gluten-free baking” (I can only imagine the resulting paroxysms of joy in the Excell household). Becky’s ... Read more »
Are you one of those people who skips straight to the last page of a whodunnit? Do you read a cookbook review in frustration and haste, skimming the background blurb to find out whether the book was any good or not? Did I love it, did I kinda like it, is it already in the ... Read more »
Herb: A Cook’s Companion by Mark Diacono is not a standard cookbook. Best described as a marvellous marriage of two genres – gardening advice and how to enjoy herbs in your cooking – Herb is divided between salient advice on growing your own herbs (and handling store bought), and a selection of recipes that show ... Read more »
Alan Rosenthal is a chef, food writer and cookery teacher who has been cooking stews and one-pot meals at farmers’ markets across London since 2008. Foolproof One-Pot is Rosenthal’s third book following the success of “Stewed!” and “Ultimate One-Pot Dishes”. The book contains ‘60 simple and satisfying recipes’ that can all be cooked in a ... Read more »
The Place of Onions, in old Lille. After last night’s rainstorm the intense sticky heat has broken and today is cool, breezy, fresh… I love it! A drop of… [more]
We went to Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at The Void this morning, an amazing VR experience where we got to be Rebel Alliance members going undercover as… [more]