Category Archives: Cookbooks

A Good Harvest. Recipes from the gardens of Rural Women New Zealand

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A Good HarvestThis book on using surplus garden produce, mostly for preserves, follows on from their baking book, “A Good Spread” which has become a regular reference for me. That earlier book was decidedly sparse on some of the instructions for mixing and cooking but this volume is a little more user-friendly for beginners. I think it is great. It is a wonderful collation of recipes from rural women around the country. Rural Women New Zealand is a membership organisation and each recipe has the name of the contributor and the branch they belong to. There is an honest, rustic charm to this collection, from Great Aunt Rose’s Lemon Marmalade to Grandma Rayner’s Mustard Pickle. How about Aunty Mary’s Savoury Silver Beet Muffins from Shelley Harrison of the Ashley Clinton Branch? The recipes are as supplied. There are also handy hints including how to make and store your own pectin, which I have never seen before. Ingredients are store cupboard standards, as you would expect from practical, rural women.

Photographs are mood only, not illustrative. Recipes are grouped by the main vegetable or fruit component.

Unfortunately, somebody decided that tried and true recipes for using surplus harvests was not enough and, in line with modern fashion, a recipe book is not complete without growing instructions. That would have been fine if the same effort had been put into collating the growing hints from the same country women who no doubt have a vast collective reservoir of knowledge. But it didn’t happen that way. Each fruit or veg has a page of anonymous and often inadequate growing information, cobbled together from sources including the infamous Tui NZ Fruit Garden. Just ignore all that. You can get better information elsewhere but the recipes are good and justify buying the book. It is a bit of a shame the publisher wouldn’t invest in a better quality cover – mine is bent and creased already and for a book I will probably continue to use, it will look old before its time.

A Good Harvest. Recipes from the gardens of Rural Women New Zealand. (Random House; ISBN:978 1 86979 786 7) reviewed by Abbie Jury.

Veg In by Flip Shelton

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Veg in

Veg in

The subtitle is “simple vegetarian dishes from around the world”. If you want to increase your vegetarian repertoire, this book is a good place to start. There is life beyond pasta bake when it comes to meatless meals. Chapters include Indian, Malaysian, Japanese, Greek, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and pizza, burgers and spuds. There is no reason why a vegetarian diet can not be as versatile and international as one that includes meat.

I tried several recipes and keep returning to use the refried beans one. Ingredients and techniques are straightforward. Instructions are clear. I think the author is light on flavouring and I found myself ramping up the herbs and spices. One clove of garlic is altogether too subtle as far as I am concerned. But it is a great deal easier to increase the flavourings than to try a new recipe and find it is far too strong for your taste. So I certainly would not regard that as a criticism. This is a really useful book to have on the shelf and there are practical menu ideas to inspire you, even for last minute meals as an alternative to takeaways. It is not glossy and glitzy, despite there being a fair number of mood photos of the author (youngish, blondish, engaging). She is apparently a celebrity cook and broadcaster in Australia.

I wonder why on earth the publisher did away with an index. A table of recipe contents at the start of each chapter is not a substitute for an index at the back of the book. I find it very irritating when I go to look up a recipe and have to flick through the whole thing. I will persevere because there are good recipes in this handy book. Gado gado with vegetable skewers, saganaki (or fried haloumi cheese), bean based nachos, tandoori veggies – is that enough to tempt you?

Veg In by Flip Shelton (Wakefield Press; ISBN 978 1 86254 912 8) reviewed by Abbie Jury.

First published in the Waikato Times and printed here with their permission.

Making a Meal of it by Jane Willcox and Rosemary Cadden

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Making a Meal of It

Making a Meal of It

“Smart ways to buy, store and use up food.”

Food waste is a major issue in the developed world. Studies show in Australia that 20% of all food purchased is wasted and I imagine New Zealand is similar. The US is probably substantially higher, but that should not make us feel good about wastage here. It is a serious topic but tackled in this book with much verve and humour by the delightfully irrepressible authors.

The format is to take one perishable food per chapter. These resemble an eclectic lucky dip, ranging freely across vegetables (does anybody ever have asparagus going to waste?), herbs, rice, meats, bread, baking – you get the picture? Advice is given on buying, storing (including food safety) and then an abundance of ideas on using up leftovers from a little to a lot. It doesn’t sound exciting but there is a joie de vivre in this book which is unexpected, with quirky humour. Banana Strudel carries the note that it is not as well known as German apple strudel, German bananas being a scare commodity. There is an extraordinary amount of advice and a fund of ideas amongst the banter. It is a mix of home making and recipes but quick and practical recipe ideas for busy people.

It is likely to be a gift book and if you are given a copy, leave it lying around where you can pick it up for quick ideas. It is far more practical and fun than a glossy coffee table book and it may save you money and make you feel terribly virtuous while cutting down on food waste.

Making a Meal of it by Jane Willcox and Rosemary Cadden (Wakefield Press; ISBN: 978 1 86254 913 5) reviewed by Abbie Jury.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Spanish Cooking by Miguel Maestre

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Spanish CookingOne of the highlights of travelling in Spain has to be the food. Even at the budget end of the market, the food is memorable (with the exception of breakfast). However there is nothing budget about this book, though it claims to be rooted firmly in rural Spanish family life. The author is a young Spaniard now resident in Australia and his cookbook is both a celebration of his love for his family and a showcase for his talents. Many of the recipes are prefaced by notes giving the family and social context of the dish.

None of this makes it overly user friendly for the home cook. These are main dishes, not the ever useful tapas, and not overly practical. Hare, quail and pigeon stew is not so easy to manage if you are not popping out to the valleys of Murcia to catch the game in readiness for dinner. While he is very strong on fish recipes, these often require a mix of many different seafoods. I have been to Sydney’s fish market but have not seen anything near home to rival them for range and freshness. Nor could I be confident I would find fresh snails at my local farmers’ market. A friend rather fancied Gallina en pepitoria (almond and saffron creamy braised hen) but refused to even try making it when he saw that it required a dozen egg yolks to serve four. That said, the method is rarely complicated – much of it is braising or stewing and there is quite a bit of paella. The desserts chapter carries a good representation of super sweet Spanish treats.

There is one recipe and full page photograph per double page spread and the presentation is sumptuous hardback, equipped with a lovely satin ribbon bookmark. It is just rather more brag book for the author than a useful reference for recreating the flavours of a trip through the south of Spain.

Spanish Cooking by Miguel Maestre (New Holland; ISBN: 9781742570617) reviewed by Abbie Jury

500 BBQ Bites by Paul Kirk.

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500 BitesIs there such a thing as a barbecuist? A combination of enthusiast and barbecue? We briefly toyed with the possibility of becoming regular users. When our old barbecue died, we set off to look at modern barbies “about the same size as a Mini but came home with one the size of an onboard trolley case”, the husband quipped. It is not often used. Our house design, lifestyle and eating habits just run on a different course, rarely accommodating the barbecue. But I know others who barbecue most days, certainly through the warmer months. If you are an enthusiast, this may be the book for you. Despite being American, there is a wealth of ideas and flavours going well beyond the boring staples of steak, sausages or meat patties.

Chapters cover the usual suspects – fish, shellfish, lamb, poultry, beef and pork with the mandatory chapter on vegetarian options. Honestly, vegetarians are not likely to be keen enough to buy a book of barbecue recipes but if you are catering for a group, some non meat options are helpful. The format is the main recipe (most with a photo) such as Hot and Sticky Summertime Chicken followed by four differently flavoured options. There are apparently 500 recipes and variants in all. Ingredients are store cupboard standards with nothing too out there or difficult to source though some fish will need to subbed because we have different options here.

Modern barbecues are multi purpose cooking appliances with a versatility that goes well beyond a mere hot plate, often with a price tag to match. This little hardback book may be just the ticket to extending the repertoire of food options to justify the expenditure. Family and friends will notice and enjoy the variety.

500 BBQ Bites by Paul Kirk (New Holland; ISBN: 9781741107203) reviewed by Abbie Jury.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.