Food, Home and Garden

Red Sands

I am a huge fan of Caroline Eden's part cookbooks/part travelogues. Her first, "Black Sea", came out a few years ago and combined evocative descriptions of her journey around its title's coast. The second does much the same but this time, her exploration is of Central Asia. I am fascinated by this huge region and there are all too few books on it (even fewer which are interested in elements other than the dictators which rule most of its constituent states). The recipes this time have a strong slant towards stews, breads and cheeses as one might expect but there all kinds of delicious surprises too from sour cherry borscht to pumpkin dumplings. All of these are situated within the context of a story from Eden's travels lending them an atmospheric edge which - for those of us unlikely to make it to Central Asia any time soon - adds additional layers of flavour to a fascinating regional cuisine.

Dishoom - From Bombay with Love

Many in Germany won't know that Dishoom is not just the title of an excellent cookbook, but is also a highly successful London (with maybe a few tentacles in other cities) restaurant chain. It was on the back of their success as a restaurant that they put this book together.

The recipes are intended to bring across some of the gastronomic richness of Mumbai (Bombay to the restaurant owners) and they are interspersed with wonderfully vivid writing about the city. I was delighted to see that they rate the Britannia Cafe - the site of one of my favourite culinary experiences ever- highly and that their biryani is inspired by its Persian-Indian owner's recipe. On the whole the recipes demand time and preparation but they are worth the investment and also really helpful in teaching basic first principles in order to make your food much better - long marinades and long cooking times develop intensity of flavour that recipe books which promise speed can't replicate! Bon appetit!

Greenfeast

As we're definitely into spring now, it's time to make the big seasonal change from Nigel Slater's Autumn/Winter Greenfeast to the Spring/Summer tome. Filled with delicious concoctions involving goodies like rhubarb, asparagus and leeks, it is a very effective way to mark the arrival of warmer times ahead. As always, Nigel relies first and formost on effective pairing of flavours and cuts out complicated techniques. Even better, his ingredients are easy to source (the lazy person's Ottolenghi?-ed) Definitely an unmissable companion in the kitchen during the warm months: inspired, delightful and wholesome.

Spill The Beans

It was very late when I really started drinking coffee, but since then, I've discovered a whole new world of pleasure! I love the hot brewed drink as a cappuccino, a latte, a frappé, in tiramisu, a liqueur or when it's iced ... and I've become a big fan of finding the most beautiful and cosy cafés in Berlin. With 'Spill the Beans', Lani Kingston has put together a perfect coffee-compendium for coffee lovers. The beautifully designed coffee-table book combines brilliant pictures with fascinating facts about the magic bean. The brilliant illustrations transport you with stories about cultivation, harvesting, processing, history and culture. And, of course, it includes lots of delicious recipes from all corners of the world. It's an absolute recommendation to get inspiration for your special daily coffee moments.

The 24-Hour Wine Expert

For much of my adult life (and let's be honest - quite a lot of my teenage life too) I found myself very turned off wine. My politics led me to shun what I felt was a drink for aristocrats and my wallet led me to buy beer in pubs for the simple reason it was a lot cheaper...

At least, those are two of the reasons I would have given in conversation to explain why I tended to always order some hops juice instead of wine. If I am being really honest though, I'll admit to the fact that a certain amount of pride put me off wine. I simply never knew about it to join in educated conversation. For that reason, I was thrilled to discover Jancis Robinson's little book which you really can read in a day and will give you so much of the groundwork for wine-tasting that you will never feel out of place again. I rarely believe books that claim to teach you something at speed but this really worked for me and I still use the knowledge gleaned from it a couple of years later.

Greenfeast

All Day Vegan

Tolles Design, stilvolle Fotos und einfache Rezepte. Für Veganer und die, die es werden wollen oder einfach kochen mögen. Das Buch-Cover hat mich etwas enttäuscht und ist mir zu konventionell. Dass Mina Rome eine YouTuberin ist, kann man wissen, muss man nicht. Was man wissen darf: Minas Fotos und Rezepte überzeugen. Dies ist ihr erstes Kochbuch. (Samia)

Falastin: A Cookbook

Sami Tamimi is the forgotten half of the Ottolenghi empire - his name not included on either Ottolenghi's restaurants or in very large print on the early books which they co-authored. I was therefore delighted to see him finally publishing a book without his normal collaborator (and with Tara Wigley, another co-author who should not be forgotten!). Even better, since picking the book up a few months ago, I have yet to be disappointed by a recipe.
For fans of Ottolenghi, there are a lot of familiar recipes (he regularly uses aubergines, hummus etc) but Tamimi's explicit aim is to showcase the Palestinian food of his childhood and he does this extremely successfully. Particular highlights include his numerous fritter recipes (the cauliflower ones are life-changing...for realz), the fish in tahini sauce, and the beetroot, feta, honey and za'atar tart. A book that has made my lockdowns much, much more bearable!

The Noble Rot Book: Wine from Another Galaxy

This high quality, fine looking book is written by the founders of a restaurant of the same name in London (and a seriously good one at that - a birthday lunch I had there once has lingered long in the memory!). Both the restaurant and the book put wine at the forefront of their thinking about food but this isn't the dry (pun genuinely not intended), academicish kind of wine book you might be used to - this is by the way no criticism of books like the excellent "World Atlas of Wine". Literally all of my piffling knowledge about wine comes from them. What the Noble Rot guys do however is play with wine, removing it from the ivory tower in which we often fear it dwells and revelling in its producers and the human stories behind it. If you are looking for a gift for a winelover (especially the sort that don't often wear smart clothes), you won't put a toe wrong here!