Recipes with an inventive spirit

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The cookbook represents everything Sqirl stands for, being filled with quirky, inventive recipes. So you’ll make all sorts of discoveries in this book like squid toast (yes, it’s a thing), sorrel pesto rice bowl, ganache and nut butter toast, strawberry, rose, geranium jam and cardamom doughnut-ish tea cakes. Everything looks and sounds really interesting and is complemented by out-of-this world gorgeous pictures (especially the dessert chapter) that you’ll spend hours poring over.

Koslow does name-drop quite a bit, often talking about chefs like Mark Bittman and Hugh Acheson saying such-and-such a thing about her food, but that’s actually clever marketing on her part (although she does mention A LOT of names). Probably the only slight negative about the book is the length of the recipes, which often have lots of instructions and sub-recipes on totally different pages.

But if you’re looking for an outof-the-box cookbook with creative (often healthy) recipes, this fits the bill to a T.

– AD Taste & Technique

Author: Publisher: Price: IF you are a home cook ready for the next big step, this book will get you there – faster. Naomi Pomeroy has been there: she learnt how to cook from books (by Charlie Trotter, Alice Waters, Gray Kunz, Madeleine Kamman) and went on to open four restaurants.

She digested the French technique and rebirthed it as her own new baby, soft and warm, gurgling with pleasure. She comes from a food- and rock and roll-loving French mother and learnt how to make soufflé aged seven. Impressed? Proven – there are four recipes for fabulous-looking soufflés in Taste & Technique and the picture of her cheesy French onion soup will make you drool.

But she’s no French snob, having grown up in Oregon in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and makes soulful sauces like a hazelnut Romesco from pantry staples. Her food is modern French with an inventive spirit – homey atas food that calls out to the gourmet, like a new potato salad with fava beans and morels, butter poached halibut, and buttermilk black pepper ice cream.

– JW 26 Grains

Author: Publisher: Price: AROUND London, Alex HelyHutchinson is known as the “posh porridge” champion; 26 Grains is also the name of her shop, a number she is drawn to. In the book she features nine grains, which are “enough to broaden your horizons without overwhelming your store cupboard”.

She revels in the hominess of porridge as the ultimate nostalgia food but takes inspiration from her time in Denmark. “The Danes do porridge properly,” she says. Apart from oats, they use ancient grains like spelt and barley, topped with fragrant Nordic spices. At her shop she changes the menu according to the season to use only the best quality fruit in season. The recipes straddle everything from breakfast, lunch and dinner to desserts and things to have on hand in the larder.

Examples of her sexy porridge: Miso rice porridge with mango and hazelnuts; millet, spinach and cheddar muffins; and – my favourite – coconut and butter squash curry with black sticky rice.

For those into whole grains and healthy food, this is your new bible. Not to mention it is almost meat- and wheat-free.

Food Anatomy

Author/Illustrator: Publisher: Price:

– JW

THERE’RE many reasons why you may want this book – even if you’re well over your teens. It’s pretty, witty, arty and fun. It’s like peeking into a foodie’s handdrawn and hand-written scrapbook made on an expedition around the world. In other words, it’s a mini illustrated food encyclopaedia.

What it lacks in depth is surely made up for in breadth – it covers a surprising amount of stuff and points out the curious and trivial, like who puts banana sauce on French fries and how they have Rolexes for breakfast in Uganda. Do you know what’s an affineur? Transhumance? Pasta filata? Clue: they are all found under the topic Curd Nerdisms. The book even weaves in a bit of science – like what happens when you pop corn.

This book is meant to inspire you to experiment with cooking more, be curious about what you’re eating, and go on more food adventures. An aspiring MasterChef Junior participant would be grateful for this.

– JW