I am a humongous fan of Nigella Lawson. I enjoy her books and shows, and think she's a wonderful speaker and writer. I love the use of language to describe food.
Kitchen, Recipes from the Heart of the Home is her latest, and 8th book. This a a massive book, 500 pages, with 13 food chapters as well as lists, hints and help. The book is gorgeous and the photography is lovely as usual for her books. Each recipe has at least one photo of the dish which is always helpful to know what your end result should look like.
Many recipes have notes at the bottom of the page for instructions on making the dish ahead, as well as instructions for freezing and reheating. Some recipes also have companion recipes to use up the leftovers. Great idea.
We tried 8 recipes from the book:
Papparedelle with butternut and blue cheese (pg 333)
I have never had pasta with blue cheese before. It took me a few bites to like this but once I did, I really did. Excellent and impressive.
Tomato Curry (pg 108)
This dish fell flat for us. I had high hopes but in the end I just didn't think there was much flavor.
Lemon Meringue Fool (pg 168)
A quick dessert that is also delicious.
Korean Keema (pg 76)
Ground turkey stir fried with a spicy sauce. Fast and tasty.
Spicy Sausage Patties with Lettuce Wraps (pg 421)
Fun finger food.
Fiery Potato Cakes (pg 387)
This is the "leftover recipe" from the Tangy Parsnip and Potato Mash recipe. Lovely little cakes with a kick.
Crustless Pizza (pg 26)
An easy little dish that reminded me a little of a Yorkshire pudding. That's a good thing.
Pumpkin Scones (pg 451)
Surprise ingredient: Parmesan cheese!
As all the other Nigella books that have come before this, I love this book. It's gorgeous, packed with beautiful pictures of mouthwatering food, and of course Nigella's writing style is stunning. However having said that, my one complaint about the book is this. Many of the introductions to the recipes are long. Like, an entire page long. I found myself getting slightly irritated and thinking "get on with it already!". Right now is not a time in my life for lounging with poetry-style cookbooks, which is a shame. But that is a small quibble to have with such a lovely book.
