Since I went on holiday at the end of March I decided to combine March and April cookbooks into one post. I have four fabulous cookbooks to share with you today.
The first is the absolutely stunning Saffron Tales by Yasmin Khan.
This book is so beautiful. The recipes are so exciting and different. My favourite cookbooks are the ones I can spend ages flicking through and this one definitely fits that bill. I’m always so excited to discover new cuisines and The Saffron Tales is all about Iranian food, a cuisine I’ve never had much chance to explore before. I’ve had the legume noodle soup several times and it’s honestly incredible. Other recipes I’m dying to try include hot yoghurt and chick pea soup, smoky aubergines with eggs and tomato and slow-cooked lamb shoulder with dried limes and split peas. Seriously, how good do all of those sound?
Gjelina Cooks: California Cooking from Venice Beach
When I got back from California a few weeks ago I was back at work and searching for a new cookbook to cheer me up. I came across this one by chance and the fact that it was all about modern Californian cooking seemed to be a clear sign that this was the one I should buy. And I’m so glad that I did because it’s really great. Gjelina focuses on amazing Mediterranean dishes that are both indulgent yet health conscious. Lots of vegetarian recipes and some fantastically simple pasta dishes. The moody photography you can see on the cover and throughout the book only adds to the experience of it. Recipes I can’t wait to try include seared okra, black olives, tomato confit, pine nuts and chile, rustic corn grits with mushroom sugo and poached egg and pizza with spinach, feta and garlic confit.
LIMA is a cookbook I’ve had my eye on for a while. It has a super eye catching design and I was really excited to start reading. While I really enjoyed looking through this book, part of me did wonder whether we’d ever actually get around to making some of these recipes. You know those cookbooks that have great food but the fact that it’s come from a restaurant means that a lot of it doesn’t feel that home cook friendly? I think part of the problem for me is that I can’t really afford to buy really good quality fish so a lot of the ceviche dishes are out since I’d want the best quality fish to make something like that. Despite all that there were still a few recipes which are definitely on the list to try including chicken and potato pachamanca, sweet potato brioche and coriander and red onion bread.
Chriskitch: Big Flavours from a Small Kitchen
Chriskitch is a glorious cookbook. The rustic photography and exciting flavour combinations are just the beginning. Chriskitch is made up of quirky recipe names which are simply a list of the key ingredients found in the recipe. Despite the fact that these are all clever and well formed recipes, my favourite thing about this cookbook is that it very much feels like you could switch up these recipes depending on what you have in the kitchen. This is great for someone like me who enjoys playing around with flavours and ingredients. Recipes (or ingredient lists!) I can’t wait to try include cauliflower, blue cheese, walnut and dried lasagne, parma ham, bread, egg, watercress and mayonnaise and lamb rib, yoghurt, cardamom pods and garam masala.
Have you got any new cookbooks you’re excited about recently?
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