Kitchen Hero Cookbook Review

I had some Amazon vouchers so I thought I'd treat myself to a few books; a couple of amazing cross stitch books (with skull designs no less!) and then Donal Skehan's Kitchen Hero. I didn't know that much about his cooking, I'd read his Good Mood Food blog a couple of times, but it was really his appearance on This Morning one day that made me sit up and take notice. Ok, I thought he was incredibly handsome, no lie! But his food seemed easy to make and his enthusiasm was infectious. Oh, and have I mentioned he was really cute?! Then I saw an excerpt from his book in Yum magazine which swayed me further. I'm so, so pleased I got this book. The photography is bright and colourful, taken by Donal himself, and there are some nice black and white illustrations every so often by Zoe Barker.

There is a quick introduction and then some kitchen essentials, most of the ingredients I already had which was good, ditto for the kitchen equipment. Then it's straight into the 1st chapter - Meals in Minutes. I like that there are no sprawling essays, just quick intros and then on with the recipes. Chapters include Party Food and Drinks, Comfort Food and Stretch Your Meals. I honestly don't think there's one recipe, lamb aside, that I wouldn't want to eat.

The first recipe I tried was the Dig in Fajitas but I can't find the photo. I'm sure everyone knows what a fajita looks like! The seasoning for the meat was absolutely perfect, not too spicy and plenty of flavour. Really lovely and I'd definitely make it again, with chicken this time instead of beef probably.

The 2nd recipe was the Squash and Crispy Pancetta Risotto. Mine was darker than in Donal's photo but that's because I used red onion instead of white. I also used smoked bacon instead of pancetta. I love risotto and this one tasted great. Even without the butternut squash it would be lovely. Risotto is always a good stand-by dish.

The last recipe I made was the Pulled Pork. The recipe was for burgers but I wanted to serve the pork with some cornbread instead. Again, completely perfect. I've made BBQ sauce before, from Nigella's book, but this one doesn't compare - it was way better! It was cooked on the hob rather than roasted but it worked well as it shredded easily. I was afraid the sauce wouldn't reduce enough but with enough boiling it did. I didn't leave the marinade for that long but it still imparted a lot of flavour into the meat. La Mama licked the bowl clean after every serving of this dish! The cornbread is for a later blog, from Supper Club by Kerstin Rodgers.

This book is worth buying just for this recipe if you love pulled pork. Delicious and one to make again and again. I'm super impressed with the book and so glad I bought it. I haven't even ventured towards the dessert section, the Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies sound particularly impressive. I also want to try his Swedish Meatballs recipe having just tried Ikea's version. I bought some Lingonberry Jam in preparation! There are a few Swedish recipes as his girlfriend (dammit!!) hails from there. Great to have such variety in cuisines.

This week I also made some Rocky Road Ice Cream, cheating with some lovely custard from Waitrose! I added so much to the mixture, there are mini marshmallows, glace cherries, brazil nuts, raisins and Dairy Milk chunks! It's pretty sickly but it's also tasty! Not the greatest photo but you get the idea!

We also had our first Farmer's Market in the village, starting off our Festival week. It was a really lovely thing to have locally, with an amazing variety of fruit and veg, fish, meat, olives, gifts and these stunning mini cupcakes and whoopie pies by Tinakiiana. Had to put the 50p there to show you just how miniature these cakes were! There was no compromising on flavour either. I had Raspberry and Coconut, Almond, Summer Fruits, Lemon, Chocolate and Orange and a Butterscotch whoopie pie. Just so cute! They'd be so cool at a party or a wedding. I really hope we get another market soon, would be a great addition to our local shops.

Rosemary Shrager's Absolutely Foolproof Classic Home Cooking Review

After my ice cream adventures last week I thought I'd try out a new library book - Rosemary Shrager's Absolutely Foolproof Classic Home Cooking. It seemed like a challenge, could I make a hash of these recipes - was I a total fool?!
The book contains a lot of recipes and it's really well laid out. There are several chapters including Salads and Dressings, Emulsion Sauces, Custards and Souffles. Each chapter starts with a classic recipe such as a Fish Pie or Pasta with a Fresh Tomato Sauce. There are photos of each stage of the recipe and the instructions are very clear. There are then some tips and ideas and also some variations so the dish can be practiced a few times without making everyone eat the same dish again and again!

The other recipes vary from the easy to the more advanced so the book is suitable for all levels. One negative aspect of the book's design is the font for the recipe titles and ingredients lists are in red and can get a little lost in bright light which is a little annoying. The instructions are in black which are much easier to read.

My first recipe was for the Tiny Meringue Mouthfuls to go with my ice cream last week. They were really easy to whip up - I even did the 'holding the bowl over my head' trick and there were no accidents! They took a little longer to bake than stated but this was because of our rubbish oven. The texture was absolutely perfect, squidgy and marshmallow-like in the middle and crisp on the outside. For me they were a little too sweet so I'd probably reduce the amount of icing sugar next time, or maybe follow the recipe for her Classic Meringues instead. They kept really well in a tin, not that they lasted that long!

The second recipe I tried was from the Pancakes and other Batters chapter. The main recipe here was for Pancakes stuffed with Ratatouille but also has Pancakes stuffed with Ricotta, Mozzarella and Ham and Toad in the Hole. I made Cherry Clafoutis as it's a favourite but only my Grandmere can make a really great one. A test indeed! The batter was easy to put together and the quantities were just right. I added a little kirsch to the cut cherries before putting them in the dish, as I saw on Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets a while back.

The cherries tasted lovely after adding the alcohol! However the clafoutis was really solid! I'm a fan of really heavy yorkshire puddings so I didn't mind too much but it didn't compare to Grandmere's - but her's is a lot more like cake so the ingredients must be different and I'm well aware I made a recipe from a batter section. I'd probably give another recipe a go next time but if you're in the market for a bit of stodge then this is definitely one to try.

My last recipe was Fougasse. I've made this a couple of times before, following a recipe from the Hairy Bikers and been happy with the results. This time I decided to make the dough completely by hand rather than use a bread maker or my food mixer to knead the dough. I think I'll probably go back to the machines! The bread looked lovely coming out of the oven but it wasn't as light as I'd have liked it. I made it with black olives and thought that the suggested extras should have been taken into account when adding salt to the dough as I thought, even as a huge salty food lover, it was a little strong. Shame. It worked better a little toasted though that's not really the point of fougasse. A miss for me here, but maybe my kneading skills were to blame.

I think I'd recommend the book to people who want to try and extend their repertoire while having someone there to help them out and offer advice. I think I probably have most of these recipes in other books so I'm not sure if I'll buy it or not. Definitely worth a look from your local library though.

Iced: 180 Very Cool Concoctions Cookbook Review

It's hard to tell if it's summer or not. Yesterday the weather was glorious and I was outside, today I'm back in a cardigan and cold at work. So annoying! But I thought I'd attempt to bring summer to our house by making some icy delights. I think I picked up my copy of Iced: 180 Very Cool Concoctions from TK Maxx a while back. It's a pretty hefty size, but then the title kind of gave it away - there are a lot of recipes featured! The recipes are by various people but the book has been photographed and styled by the same people so it feels like a coherent cookery book. It's published by Murdoch Books who make a lot of compilation recipe books - I've collected almost all of their 'Chunky Cookbooks' and find them great to dip in and out of. They also publish the book of Stephane Reynaud, Tessa Kiros and Bill Granger amongst others.

The recipes go from the traditional and expected flavours such as vanilla, chocolate and strawberry; to the highly unusual like goat's cheese ice cream, licorice all-sort ice cream and rosemary, carrot and orange granita. There is so much to choose from I don't think you could ever be bored with ice cream! The recipes are one or two pages long so there's no struggling with turning the page when you're elbow deep in cream and sugar (slight exaggeration!). The photos are really bold and usually full page - I'm impressed by the different ways they present the ice cream, quite jealous of some of the bowls!

There are six chapters, including Ice Cream Parlour, Gelateria and Soda Fountain. I especially like sound of the Soda Fountain section as it's full of sickening, fatty recipes you'd expect to find in a 1950s diner like bourbon and brown sugar ice cream and pink peppermint candy cane ice cream! Wow!

I plumped for a simple strawberry ice cream to start with. I've never made ice cream before but La Mama used to make it when I was younger. We've always had a few strawberry plants in our garden and I have memories of going to pick-your-own farms for raspberries.

I started with the custard base first after pureeing and sieving my strawberries. This was another first - making my own custard and ruddy hell was it delicious! Much easier than I thought it would be and I had to restrain myself from just eating it like that straight from the pan! I had to keep stirring it as it cooled to make sure a skin didn't form on top, but mostly it was because I wanted to lick the spoon each time! Double-dipping times about 30 but it was only feeding immediate family so no worries!

I didn't make the full quantity stated in the recipe as I didn't want a litre - too many recipes I want to try out, who wants to be tied down to just strawberry ice cream?! The recipe gives instructions for an ice cream maker and for just freezing and whisking regularly. It was the first time in a long while that our ice cream maker has seen daylight so I just guessed as much as possible about how to use it! The pot didn't really have time to completely freeze so the consistency of the ice cream wasn't quite as creamy as it should have been but even with the ice crystals in place it was completely amazing. If I can improve the texture then I'm never buying ice cream again! I made little meringues (review coming next week) to accompany it. Great.

Very, very happy with this first ice cream recipe and impressed with how it easy it was to make.

The other recipe I tried out was for a pear sorbet. The recipe was for pear and apple sorbet but I fancied pear just on its own so adjusted the recipe accordingly. I also left out the cinnamon as I wanted just the pure pear flavour, plus some pear liqueur for an added little kick. The hardest bit about this recipe was peeling the pears! I find prep work so boring and time consuming. But once that was done the pears just needed poaching and pureeing, I also sieved it as I didn't want all the fibres in the sorbet. Bit of sugar and water and the mixture was ready to freeze. Brilliantly simple and it had such a nice flavour. Again, far too many ice crystals but nothing a few attempts can't iron out, and in the mean time I'll call it a granita!!

Really happy with the book and I feel I'll have to be exercising everyday if I'm going to work my way through all the recipes! There are also sauce recipes, sundaes and even a recipe for ice cream cones. The only thing I would question is the quantity of egg yolk required in each ice cream base, but I'm sure the amount could be reduced without affecting the recipe too much. I'm looking forward to my next attempt, I think rocky road might well be on the cards!

Also this week we found a chocolate and raspberry mousse recipe by Mat Follas, winner of Masterchef 2 years ago. The recipe was tucked in our Happy Egg box! It made a lovely, light mousse but it was quite sharp despite the raspberries being nice and ripe, but you got used to the flavour and it looks so pretty in the little espresso cups. Find the recipe here: http://www.thehappyegg.co.uk/recipes/view/recipe/28

Amsterdam and Cheese and Wine Event

I was lucky enough to spend a week in Amsterdam last week. We were even luckier to have great weather, it was absolutely boiling most of the time. I wouldn't have thought I'd come back with an Amsterdam tan! Obviously I felt the need to blog about the lovely food I came across!

Didn't get a chance to eat here in De Taart Van Mijn Tante, never passed by at the right time, but it looked fabulous! Imagine kitsch to the extreme and triple it! They even have a bed and breakfast upstairs called Cake Under My Pillow - and you can get married in the cafe according to their website!! Imagine the amazing cake you could have!

Excuse the glare but how cute is this cake?!

And my ultimate cake - a big sugar skull! Wow! I'd never be able to eat it! These were right at the top of the shop, so many wonderful examples of their cake making.

After a wander round the Jordaan we wanted to stop for lunch and what better place to end up but a Dutch pancake house? Pancakes! (observe the exclamation mark) isn't huge but the pancakes sure were. La Mama had a spinach, goats cheese and pine nut pancakes which was delicious but pretty impossible to finish!

I had one with bacon to which I added lashings of syrup! There was an Australian couple who had a pancake pie each (cheese, spinach, ham, salad and tomato) and when the waiter asked if they would like the bill they asked for a dessert pancake - "but just to share!" Phew! There was also a young American couple who chose the American pancakes with bacon and maple syrup and had obviously had exactly the same thing the previous day as the lovely waiter remembered them. With the bill came a cute wooden clog keyring as a present. Aw!

As with many places in Amsterdam, they were extremely proud of their ingredients and where they were sourced. Their flour came from one particular windmill and a lot of items on the menu were organic. Our hotel also served a lot of organic food for breakfast - even the food court in the airport were proud to sell local apples.

We ate in a beautiful cafe in the Handbag museum. A gorgeous, privately-owned museum and an equally gorgeous cafe for a light lunch. They also do an afternoon tea, which I can definitely imagine. We had a salmon sandwich and a raw beef sandwich. The bread was one of the nicest sourdoughs breads I've had. La Mama wasn't so sure of her raw beef. We were expecting really thin slices like carpaccio as in all the supermarkets, but what arrived was really thick slices which tasted a lot like pastrami but which was really soft in texture. I thought it was tasty so I just ate more for lunch! It was also very important that I realised my pear and strawberry juice was 'biological', I was told both on ordering and when it was served! It was delicious.

One of the places I wanted to visit before we arrived in Amsterdam was Burgermeester. Our hotel suggested it too so I was very hopeful. It wasn't just an ordinary burger joint, oh no! Again, the ingredients were all the best possible. There were even photos on the walls of the cows that were used to make the first burgers. Best not to look into their eyes too much as you chow down on your beefburger! The beef only came from the Blonde D'Aquitaine breed, a French breed "but Dutch citizens"! The different burger varities are seasonal and I think we were there at the start of a new menu. The great thing is you can choose 3 mini burgers for 11 euros so you can try different flavours rather than struggle to decide which one you want.

I had a Meester burger with beef, grilled vegetables and tarragon mayonnaise; an Italian chicken burger with pesto and wild spinach and a Broad bean falafel burger. All very lovely and I really need to make broad bean falafels at home as they were very impressive.

La Mama had a Lamb burger with red onion marmalade and a Royale Burger with beef, pancetta and get this - truffled egg! And the truffle was very visible, no stingy flavoured oil or anything. The 3rd burger was their special of the month which was a burger with white asparagus. This month's is a Sombrero burger with guacamole and jalapenos! So cool! They took an age to cook and there weren't many seats but this is definitely somewhere to try.

We also ate in the restaurant in the department store in De Bijenkorf which has become a lot smarter since we last went to Amsterdam. Lots of different food stations including salads, sandwiches, pizza (with a proper pizza oven), grilled meats and an amazing selection of freshly squeezed juices. We also ate at La Place which was similar to De Bijenkorf but was set out a lot more like a market and was very busy. Everything is cooked there and then. If you want fish they filet your chosen fish in front of you and cook it to your liking. The pizzas looked delicious but they also looked like they took hours to prepare as the chef was very, very careful in placing all the ingredients and seemed to add cheese after every layer!

I was so impressed with the food and I loved that they obviously cared so much about their ingredients. I can't wait to go back. The good weather and beautiful surroundings also helped!

At least after my holiday I had something to look forward to in Manchester. I had kindly been invited by Vive Le Cheese to a French cheese and wine evening at the Soup Kitchen last night. The proceedings were led by Phoebe Weller who talked us through 10 different cheeses, starting from a sweet Emmental to a Bleu d'Auvergne, with plenty in between. I think the Epoisses and the Comte were my favourites and it was nice to try a couple of cheeses I haven't had before.

A good time was had by all, a huge amount of cheese was consumed and a very reasonable amount of wine was drunk! I loved the little details like putting out bread, grapes and gherkins to cleanse our palates. Pheobe was really knowledgeable and it was so interesting to hear about the different cheese varieties and how they are produced.

We were very excited to get a goodie bag at the end of the night! There were loads of recipe ideas contained within, all involving a good deal of cheese of course! They look absolutely delicious and I'm looking forward to trying some out. We should definitely have more things like in Manchester, maybe a gourmet cake tasting?!

Cookery School Cookbook Review

This week I wanted to try out the Cookery School book that I borrowed from the library. I enjoyed the TV series, though Richard Corrigan scared me sometimes! His stare is rather intense at times, I don't think I would have liked to have been a contestant! It was good though to be talked through a recipe and shown exactly what the method was. Apparently it was the biggest commission Channel 4 had made since Big Brother - not sure how well it did or if it'll be back for a second series.

Of course there had to be an accompanying book, and this one represents the show very well. It contains all of the recipes that featured on the show which is a decent amount. There are 4 main chapters: starters, fish, meat and puddings. Very straight forward. Then the recipes are split into basic, intermediate and advanced. Then amongst these recipes are 'skills' lessions on how to make various elements such as making crepes or bechamel sauce or how to clean or prepare squid. These skills pages are well illustrated and explained, great for a beginner and for anyone who wants to extend their knowledge. I know how to peel a prawn and make mayonnaise but I'd be grateful for a detailed description on how to make tortellini or how to make a smoker (as seen below).

There are also some notes about ingredients by Gizzi Erskine. Can't say I've actually read these, I'd rather dip straight into the recipes, but she gives info on things like herbs and different cuts of meat. Nothing too new but a nice addition in a teaching cookbook.

At the back of the book there are some super-advanced recipes which featured at the end of the series to really test the school's pupils, by different guest-chefs. There are some of the recipes that I think I could tackle. I'm happy making roasted pork belly but I think I'd have to gear myself up to make Eric Lanlard's apple souffle with salted butter caramel sauce. Sounds and looks delicious though.

The first recipe I made was the Tea-Smoked Mackerel. I've wanted to try and smoke some fish or meat for a while and this seemed like an easy recipe to start with as I had all of the ingredients rather than having to buy some woodchips. All it consisted of was some jasmine leaf tea, demerara sugar and long-grain rice. I had to make a few adjustments as Waitrose didn't have any fresh mackerel in that day so I bought some extremely cheap trout instead. Then I didn't have demerara so I mixed caster sugar with a little soft brown sugar. The rice was also changed to brown rice. I don't think it made too much of a difference!

The smoking mix was extremely easy to put together. It seemed a bit of a waste of jasmine tea leaves, don't use your best purchase! I ripped up some jasmine tea bags rather than use up 50g of our lovely tea from London. I don't think you can re-use the mix as the sugar caramelises. It didn't smell particularly wonderful, even with the rice in there to stop everything burning it still smelt of over-cooked sugar! It was only when you took off the lid of the pan that you got the jasmine scent.

It was certainly an acquired taste but after a few mouthfuls I got to like it! The flavour perhaps overpowered the trout, the mackerel probably took the flavour better. I'm willing to try again. It did keep the trout incredibly moist and it was a fun recipe to try. The recipe served the fish with beetroot stew and fresh curd but I just wanted to try the smoker so served the trout with spinach and samphire which was a gorgeous accompaniment. This was one of the advanced recipes - yay me!

To try tea-smoking yourself find the instructions here:
http://www.channel4.com/4food/on-tv/cookery-school-extras/how-to-make-a-smoker

I then tried the Mackerel with Gingered-Rhubarb Hollandaise and Pickled Rhubarb. I used smoked mackerel, again as I couldn't get fresh. I think it worked well as it balanced out the pickled rhubarb. It was another advanced recipe and I can see why as it contained a few elements. The pickled rhubarb was simple to make and was surprisingly nice! It isn't left in vinegar for too long so it isn't too strong. Then I made a rhubarb and ginger puree which is then added to a hollandaise sauce. It's the first time I've ever made a hollandaise sauce and I've heard it can be tricky to make but it wasn't a problem. Again I feared that it would make a pretty sour and unappetising sauce but far from it, it was delicious with the mackerel and I'd certainly make it again. I think this would impress a lot of people at a dinner party.

Then lastly I wanted to try one of the desserts. I made the Fine Apple Tarts with Pecan and Maple, ignoring the accompanying custard as I was happy without. Again this was an advanced recipe. There are no basic dessert recipes, examples of intermediate recipes are Lemon Posset with Butter Shortbread or Dutch Apple Pancakes with Cinnamon and Clove Sugar (I'm hoping to eat some pancakes next week in Amsterdam!). I was pleased with how my tarts turned out, this was the prettiest one though! They took ages to cook, longer than was specified but it's probably because our big oven is rubbish and draughty! I tried to follow the skills page on how to beautifully slice and fan apple segments but I failed slightly. But hey, they're homemade and they looked it!! I used a mix of nuts as we didn't have many pecans left.

I was mostly pleased with my results from this cookbook. The meat dishes look interesting too, the Pork and Fruit Wellingtons look really appetising. There are a few recipes for guinea fowl, kidneys and veal which make the book a little more interesting and there are some good skills page on how to prepare different cuts. I think it would make a great book for a budding chef. I don't think this is something you would necessarily give as a gift to a student or someone moving away for the first time unless they were a real foodie. The food is quite sophisticated and not always the cheapest ingredients. I would recommend it for all levels though and there are enough recipes I'd like to make for me to consider adding it to my book collection.

The Whoopie Pie Book Review

I've been meaning to try out whoopie pies for a while. Though they aren't quite as pretty as cupcakes they are cute and I'm never one to turn down cake! I don't think they'll ever overtake cupcakes as was predicted but they are a nice addition.

I tried to resist buying an entire book on whoopie pies but yet again the lure of a Book People bargain was far too much for little 'ole me. The front cover is so cute! It's a really well put together book and oh, there are photos for every recipe! Amazing! I can't say I'd ever heard of the Violet bakery before but a quick google threw up a rather beautiful sounding shop in London. Her cupcake flavours sound amazing: Candied Violet, Salted Caramel, French Apricot and Fragolina Grape amongst others. http://www.violetcakes.com/

The range of recipes are just as large as they would be for cupcakes, everything sounds completely edible. There are 6 chapters including Simple and Sweet Whoopie Pies, Topped and Drizzled, Frozen and Chilled and A Few Other Sweet Treats. There are different fillings for each pie, it's really great to have such varied recipes for buttercreams and other creams.


So I decided not to do things by halves and tackled this book with the necessary equipment: a whoopie pie cake tin from Lakeland. Not completely needed but I loved the idea of getting even circles rather than relying on how the cake mixture spread in the oven. The downside to the tin as some people have commented on is that the recipes make 9 pies but the tin only allows you to make 6. Not an issue for me as I usually halve quantites anyway. I decided to make the Salty Caramel Whoopies - combining 2 trends in 1 - salted caramel and whoopie pies!!

As you can see, half of the mixture still made 6 rather than 4 and a bit but it all fitted beautifully into my tin without any wastage. The mixture was really easy to make and it was then put in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. The mixture took on an unexpected texture after 30 minutes, it was almost like a mousse with loads of air bubbles in it. I was hoping that it was right! But it made it easy to divide up and only took 12 minutes or so in the oven.

They were possibly the most successful sponges I've made, something usually happens to make them fail but these were light and a great texture. I'd say they were more solid than a cupcake but I expected this as they need to hold the filling in the middle.

The suggested filling to go with these pies was the Caramel Swiss Buttercream. I fear buttercream but I followed the recipe and huzzah - it was a success!! This made me love this book! It was quite involved though, I had to make some caramel, then whip up some butter. Next I had to whisk some egg white and sugar over some water on the stove for around 10-15 minutes which was the point where I wasn't quite sure if I was doing it right. It was supposed to be 'fluffy' but it didn't seem like it to me. But, as if by magic, adding the butter and then the caramel I had myself some buttercream! Very happy! It was worth the faff!

I thought they looked pretty good and looked like they did in the photo (maybe a little more even due to the wonder tin). They were a good size, any bigger and they'd be pretty sickly. They held together very well and I'm looking forward to trying out a lot more of the recipes.

I thought I'd try something other than the pies too and made the Prize Peach Cobbler. I always thought a cobbler was more like a crumble but formed into scone shapes but looking at various recipes it seems it can be like that or with a batter as mine was. It was really simple to make and took about an hour to cook.

To make the recipe cheaper I used tinned peaches instead of fresh but I think it worked well. I'd call it more of a clafoutis but it was delicious and didn't last for very long! I will definitely be trying this again and experimenting with different fruits.

I was very pleased with this book and am looking forward to making more from it. The Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies look yummy and I haven't even touched on the frozen pies such as Chocolate Mint Whoopies and Key Lime Whoopies. Amazing. It's really inspiring and I think these would be really brilliant for a party or as a more relaxed dessert. Kids would love sandwiching them together themselves and with the vast array of flavours there's something to appeal to everyone. Who could resist a Chocolate Whoopie with Homemade Fluffy Marshmallow filling or a Carrot Cake Whoopie with Orange Mascarpone Cream? I know I can't!

Ballymaloe Cookery Course Cookbook Review

I bought Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cookery Course cookbook on a whim. I was buying some cookery books I really wanted from The Book People (which I seem to be somewhat obsessed with!) and I came across this book and thought I'd give it a go. Turns out it was a very good choice.


It says on the front that it's 'the cook's bible' and I'd have to agree. There are 28 index pages altogether, that's an awful lot of recipes! Darina Allen is the mother-in-law of Rachel Allen and the founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork. This cookery book is an updated version that was originally released in 2001 and aims to teach the kinds of recipes that Daria teachers in her school. There are a whopping 24 chapters as well as a comprehensive introduction which includes kitchen safety, store cupboard basics and using the freezer. There is also a conversion chart and a great glossary.

As this is such a huge cookbook there isn't room for a photo per recipe, sometimes there are 5 or 6 recipes per 2 pages as well as variations; but there some lovely photos of how to perform certain tasks just as rolling spring rolls or how to line tartlet cases.

Each chapter starts with some background to the ingredients and how to source the best items you can. The Fish and Seafood chapter for example explains how to buy fresh fish and shellfish, even how to pick up lobsters and crabs so they don't pinch you. She then gives you guidance on how to prepare a whole salmon, how to fillet flat fish or skin Dover Sole. Throughout the book there are master recipes which would give anyone a great range of basic recipes to build on, then there are hundreds of variations and other recipe ideas.

Granted I know how to make Tabouleh but I thought I'd follow the recipe from this book and it didn't disappoint. I've been craving tabouleh recently, it must be as it's warmer weather - or maybe I just need to compensate for all the cakes I tried in France! I added some feta cubes to make it a little more substantial.

I picked up some pigs cheeks from the supermarket the other week and then froze them, not quite sure what to do with them! We cook a lot of pork shoulder in our house, usually in cider, so I guessed a slow-cooked piece of pork would no doubt be delicious, no matter the cut. There was a recipe for Pork Cheeks with Savoy Cabbage cooked with cider but I wanted to try something different so I took the cooking method and applied it to the Carbonnade of Pork with Mushrooms. Pork fillet was the specified cut but it worked extremely well with the pork cheeks. The sauce was absolutely delicious, a mix of onion, white wine, chicken stock and sour cream with a dash of lemon juice. I cooked it for 2 hours so the pork cheeks melted. The were a richer flavour than the other pork cuts I've tried but they make a really make an excellent and great value meal.

Chicken thighs are always useful things to have in the freezer. Here I made the Chicken Thighs with Honey and Mustard from the barbeque section - but I cooked it in the oven instead as this particular day it was raining hard. Shame! It was sticky and sweet which is always a win, I think I'll put more mustard in it next time though as I couldn't really taste it and I love Dijon mustard. This is a great standby dish when you're not quite what to have, goes great with saute potatoes and salad.

Overall this is a fabulous book, especially if you can get it cheaper like I did. I don't think you could ever get bored with so many recipes to choose from. It would be a great gift for someone starting out in cooking, as well as for someone who has been cooking for a while as it has some great tips as well as some delicious sounding recipes. Nothing is too fussy but you could find recipes to suit dinner parties as well as everyday meals. Don't expect just Irish or traditional foods either, there are recipe examples from across the world. If I believed in minimalism I'm not sure I'd need many other recipe books. That's so not me though!

Check out some of Ballymaloe's recipes here:
http://www.cookingisfun.ie/pages/recipes/