Nigel Slater - Tender Volume 1

Published: 2009

Overview: A hefty coffee-table book with over 400 recipes based on vegetables, with information on growing the vegetables as well as hints and tips on how to season and cook them, from one of Britain’s best food writers.

Review: I love this book. The close up image of a veined cabbage leaf on the front of the thick hardback cover draws a serious foodie in straight away. This is not a glossy book designed to lure a novice into the kitchen, rather it is a food bible meant for pondering over on cold, frosty days curled up in front of the fireplace with a steaming cup of tea whilst dreaming of what to make for a cosy late night supper. Slater is a phenomenal writer, to me this book is food porn. He makes the most un-exciting, mundane ingredients sound like edible gold. I have never raved about broad beans or aubergines, but reading about them in this book makes me dribble all over the pages. That’s a lie – I wouldn’t dream of getting these gloriously textured matte finish pages wet with any sort of fluid, let alone my own dribble. Under no circumstances will this book ever make it into my kitchen! I read it like a novel, letting his descriptions and beautifully simple recipes take over my imagination, and if I do wish to use a recipe I keep it a good distance away from the heat and mess of my kitchen even if that means walking back and forth after every step to check what to do next. The book is broken down into alphabetically arranged chapters, one for every vegetable he covers from asparagus and beetroot to tomatoes and turnips. Each chapter has a section on growing the vegetable in your own garden and then moves on to how to use your vegetable in the kitchen, followed by a selection of recipes. Some of the recipes are accompanied by images, which are gorgeously rustic and imperfect in the most beautiful way, really demonstrating how food is there to be eaten and enjoyed, not to look pretty on a sparkling white rectangular plate with dots of expertly placed jus adorning the merest morsel of edible art. Not that there isn’t a lot to be said for that fancy style of cooking, its just not what Nigel Slater is all about, and I love him all the more for it. Don’t be put off by the fact that this book is focused on veg, he still uses meat, fish and other yummy things (lots of cheese – mmm!) to compliment the main ingredient. It has opened my eyes to the many uses of vegetables that I never would have thought possible, or rather would have just overlooked. Mostly the recipes are incredibly simple, using only a few ingredients with the focus being on fresh, seasonal produce. Some of my favourites are: Chocolate beetroot cake (p 78); luxury cauliflower cheese (p188); A soup-stew of beans and cavolo nero (p 316); Grilled gammon and baked onions (p362) and Gratin dauphinois (p476). I don’t think the recipes would be easy to follow for a beginner as they aren’t broken down into steps and sometimes exact timings and measurements aren’t given – this book is aimed at a seasoned cook who can use their initiative in the kitchen. I have no real criticism of this book, it as beautifully written and presented with some fabulous recipes and advice, but as I have neither the time nor the patience (or the garden space for that matter) I have no real interest in the gardening aspects of the book. I would rather those pages be filled with even more mouth-watering culinary delights.

Rating: 9/10 – purely losing a point because I have not yet found a passion for gardening. Perhaps when I reach my 30s I will find a sudden interest and I know this book will be my first port of call!

Levi Roots - Food For Friends

Published: 2010



Overview: A fair sized hardback book focused on simple recipes with a Caribbean twist, written by the creator of Reggae Reggae sauce.

Review: ‘Food For Friends’ has over 200 pages of delicious recipes, favourite ingredients and an interesting introduction from Levi Roots. His vibrant personality jumps out from the glossy pages, apparent in his colourful recipes and descriptions of his essential Caribbean ingredients. The recipes are arranged in chapter order, with sections such as Lunch, Picnic, Barbecue and Grill, Special Occasions and High Tea, with more in between. I like this layout, making it easy to find a dish to cook that suits the occasion. Some recipes have images, which are all appealing yet homely, some showing Roots and other people making or eating them which gives a laidback, casual feel to the book. The recipe layout is simple and fairly easy to follow, with ingredients that are generally easy to source in local supermarkets. One criticism I have of the recipes is that in some, for example Roots’ version of Spaghetti Bolognese on page 96, it calls for 100ml Sunshine Kit Cooking Sauce, which is in fact a whole recipe in itself on page 123 and contains 14 ingredients, therefore meaning you would need to make this recipe just to make another one. I feel that an alternative should be given, maybe a recommendation to use a bottle of Reggae Reggae sauce would have been better! I do, however, like the recipes, they are user friendly and make Caribbean cookery accessible to the everyday home cook. There is a good balance between sweet and savoury dishes, even showing desserts to make on the barbecue such as Barbecue bananas with passion fruit cream on page 75. The recipes work out to be fairly economical if you are going to be cooking a lot of Caribbean style food as many recipes use the same ingredients such as rum, honey, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, chilli and thyme, which can be bought in large quantities. From reading this book I feel inspired to experiment more with West Indian flavourings and am looking forward to trying out more recipes from this book such as: Pumpkin and spinach gratin (p35); Sweet potato, red onion and feta sunshine tart (p52); Levi’s sticky red cabbage (p120); Coconut pavlova with tropical fruit (p168); Sweet potato pudding (p174); Chocolate and orange spice cake (p178). Can you tell I like sweet things yet?

Rating: 8/10 – Really nice book with great simple layout and lots of colour with some lovely recipes, but a few of the recipes seem a little bit samey and maybe a bit too much rum is used!