Vegetarian recipes we love: Crisp Cauliflower Steaks with Harissa and Goat’s Cheese. Oven Baked Shakshuka. Storecupboard Pasta Bake. Oh, ik moet mijn best doen om niet te beginnen kwijlen bij de cover (en foto’s binnenin) van dit geweldige boek. Ergo, a vegetarian cookbook can have recipes suitable for vegans but a vegan cookbook cannot also be a vegetarian one. I’d perhaps let the author get away with ‘plant based’, but since the author is a carnist it is clear she does not really understand veganism and really, I see the positioning of this book as trying to jump on the ‘vegan’ bandwagon without putting the effort in and seeing ‘vegan and vegetarian’ as separate but ‘two sides of the same coin’. It may seem a minor thing but it did annoy me quite a lot.

so, when i buy a cookbook because the pictures are so pretty that it doesn’t even matter that there’s no delicious meat in the recipes, i’ve already resigned myself to the fact that what comes out of my oven will not look like this: These recipes aren't as one-dish as I'd hope, because often they are just a side dish, and you need to add a carb or another whole thing with many of the lighter salads. With flexibility and creativity in mind, Rukmini takes care to include an extensive list of possible variations for each of her recipes. Each chapter begins by outlining the basic formula behind each of the different bakes and offers a customisable base recipe to follow to come up with your own flavour combos. The possibilities are endless. Recipes we love: Marzipan, Lemon and Cardamom Loaf, Rhubarb and Vanilla Tart, Spiced Focaccia with Roasted Butternut Squash, Orange Choc Chip Bread and Butter Pudding.

Introduction

Dit kookboek is eenvoudig en gebruiksvriendelijk en geeft enorm veel goesting om te eten én te koken. Het is ook een eerlijk (bij sommige foto’s staat dat ze genomen zijn voor het gerecht de oven in ging) en no nonsens boek (met tips als: hete stoom als je de oven opent, oppassen). I shouldn’t have worried. The recipe turned out perfectly. The butternut and bulgur wheat was tender, aubergine deliciously soft and the halloumi still delightfully squeaky. I should’ve realised really, this busy midweek evening was the perfect road test for Rukmini’s cookbook, and I’m pleased to report it passed with flying colours. It now has a place on my ‘tier one cookbook shelf’. And that’s no mean feat. BUT, and this is merely a good-natured gripe—this book WANTS me to fail. it WANTS me to feel the sting of inadequacy resulting from the comparison between my finished product and the book’s. it thumbs its nose at me as it dances around its spacious, well-appointed kitchen. because as lovely as this picture is, it is also a filthy liar. sure, that’s what it maybe looks like after you take it out of the oven, but THEN the recipe instructs you to stir it all up with olive oil and salt and herbs, which makes it look like THIS There are some good ideas in here, but also some really weird and off-putting flavour combinations, especially if like me you hate licorice as there's a lot of licorice flavours in this book (fennel, chicory, celeriac etc). Also radishes and cauliflower, both of which I find unpleasant. I found this author has very different tastebuds to me. I've never been alarmed by so many recipes in any other cookbook. The one with chicory, radish and orange sounds like my nightmare. And too much hot avocado! Yet, there is genuine inspiration in some of the tarts especially.

The infographics in this book are fantastic. I'm half tempted to rip them from the book and put them on the fridge in case of any dinner-related emergencies. It's like a connect the dots, choose your own adventure dinner. And all veg-based without being sad or boring at all. And (so many ands...) everything is perfect for leftovers, so no more sad desk lunches. Vegan recipes we love: Warming Sweet Potato and Mushroom Polenta with Tomatoes. Crispy Gnocchi with Mushrooms, Squash and Sage.

Books Multibuys

this is not a monthly project, but a book i will dip into periodically, sharing my successes and failures as they occur. I'm very into this book on many levels, but mostly because it is such an easy, fun and cheap way to eat more vegetables. Which we all need to do, for reasons of health and environment.

i’m not someone who needs the food i make to be pretty. i’m just me—flinging ingredients into chipped bowls in my tiny kitchen and hoping it all tastes good. i can appreciate the pretty food of others in books and on internet, and i understand that visually appealing food sells more cookbooks than ‘real-life’ food made by people like me without fancy cameras, food stylists, a tableware budget, or even adequate lighting. Who is the author: Talented food stylist and writer, Rukmini Iyer is the author of bestselling cookbook, The Roasting Tin. When Rukmini isn’t revolutionising the way we cook with her simple one-dish dinners, you’ll find her on photo shoots across London making all of the food look even more delicious.Having said that, the first thing I was drawn to make was the speedily-cooked crispy olive and pine nut-crusted cod with roasted red onions and cherry tomatoes, an irresistible combination of flavours on a day when it finally felt as if summer could be round the corner. It’s almost laughably easy to prepare, slicing an onion and crushing some pine nuts in a pestle and mortar being the most complicated cooking manoeuvres required – about all I was capable of after a long day in any case. Everything went into the eponymous tin and into the oven, and I barely had time to pour a glass of wine and ring my mum before the oven timer started beeping 15 minutes later. It’s an instant winner with the magical combination of simplicity of preparation, speed of cooking and fabulous flavours and textures (the pine nut and panko topping is inspired). There was a lot I liked about this book but I have mixed feelings. Fundamentally, the style of cooking appeals to me and the recipes look genuinely appealing, interesting yet straightforward. But there were several elements that rubbed me up the wrong way. Perhaps most seriously, this is a book labelled vegan and vegetarian and it would be great for anyone wanting to build a less meat based repertoire... but actual vegetarians? The vegetarian section of the book has a lot of recipes involving a wide variety of cheeses... the majority of which are *not* vegetarian. This could lead to some awkwardnesses if lovingly and innocently prepared by people for vegetarian friends and relatives.