We all have those books which sit on the shelf months after purchase, or are picked up in charity shops, or hastily bought on a near out of date Waterstones card. Yet, once read, it’s often these books which surprise and intrigue us. Some of our own treasured books include: an eccentric guest list which gets held hostage; a dissection of our human need for superheroes; a local murder which pans out to reflect the global politics of the sixties; and an ethical guide to buying good food which doesn’t exploit the world. So take your pick, you can’t say we don’t give you an eclectic range: Read more…
‘I buy butternut squash thinking, how useful, and then it sits for weeks on the side. They are very forgiving, however. There is always enough juicy, orange flesh under its hard skin for this late-night fry-up.’ Read more…
A favourite ‘across the road’ recipe, needing only basic ingredients. I cannot count the times I have been grateful for the way British cities have embraced feta cheese and pitta bread. Read more…
When we’re talking about female cooks, no other cookbook springs to mind. Kitchenella will teach you the skills of those teachers who work without books, the ‘mothers’ and the cooks who subsequently learned from them, to decisively show you the easy way to cook and shop.
‘My sister Laura has always made this quick tart fror my children when we visit, cramming it into a very small gas stove, which singes it in places, rather deliciously. In France they row about the colour of the pastry (and why not?). The rustic pastry of the artisanal peasant is darkly burnished, reminiscent of traditionally fired ovens. Golden pastry is for wimps.’ Read more…
Mother’s Aubergines‘This remarkable aubergine gratin was my introduction to a Greek, or rather Cretan, chef, Adonis Babelakis, whose stories of his mother’s ingenious cooking inspired me to write a book about women’s contribution to cooking. Babelakis serves it every day in his taverna, in Elounda, Crete. It was his mother’s way to cook aubergines, and he credits her in naming the dish. Read more…
