Breadsong by Kitty & Al Tait

 

"It was like Jenga, pull one block out too fast, too soon, and my whole tower toppled".

Breadsong by Kitty & Al Tait is an inspirational hybrid of genres: part-memoirs, part-cook book.

This is the story of Kitty, a 14-year-old girl with a bubbly personality, who began suffering from anxiety and depression, and withdrew from the world to the confines of her home. The family has been trying everything to help her, but it felt like she was slipping further away.

If someone you love suffers with mental health issues, it might be not so easy to read the pages of Kitty's memoirs. You can feel her torment as she is descending into depression. 

Kitty's parents tried out many activities to provide her with some kind of distraction. Gardening, TV, crafts, sewing, painting... until one day Kitty watched her father mixing flour, water and salt in a bowl to make a dough.

"There was nothing planned about it. I just asked Kitty if she wanted to have a go herself. There was no hallelujah chorus or a blinding flash of light... I had no idea just how important that moment was, and I still didn't when Kitty asked to bake that bread again".

For Kitty it was pure alchemy of breadmaking that fascinated her. "Something so dull had transformed into something so brilliant. Like the girl who could spin straw into gold, I could do it too. And so I did it again and again and again".

Baking was taking over. Two weeks in, the family started sharing their loaves with the neighbours. The new routine was developing, with bread being delivered to the happy recipients in their street. The demand for the bread in their street has soared, and soon orders started to come in for more loaves.

The subscription service was born.

The recovery wasn't immediate. As Al writes, "I'm not sure initially I was any help to Kitty apart from just being there. I spent a lot of time barrelling into verbal cul-de-sacs thinking that maybe I could talk her out of the sadness she was lost in".

Delivering bread came with the interacting part. "People were genuinely excited to receive Kitty's bread. The buzz of handing over a warm loaf to a grateful customer lit a spark within her".

The next thing they needed was a name. Starting with Breadheads, they eventually chose The Orange Bakery because of Kitty's favourite orange dungarees.

The bakery has become Kitty's salvation.

"The bakery was a place that soothed my brain and made me feel safe. I knew what I was doing there, and my anxiety never roared away. It was just a really happy place".

Reading Kitty's story brought back some painful memories of referrals to CAHMS. I cannot fault the commitment of the medical staff working there, but everything takes ages. If you need help urgently, it takes forever. There is also no consistency of care. People leave, new people appear in your life, and at times it feels like you are re-starting from the beginning again and again.

I'm only saying that as to stress the point, that you might find Kitty's story too upsetting to read at the beginning. It might trigger strong emotions, though you might also find it inspiring and helpful.

Baking could be a therapeutic activity for some people, even if it is not a universal cure. 

I nod my head in agreement, reading that when a family member has mental health issues, the whole family is affected. "The needs of the rest of the family had to play second fiddle for a while", says Al. For us it's our reality. Our family life is centred around the needs of our older son. My younger one never knew anything different, and he accepts the situation with grace. 

The book also made me smile, as it brought back memories of making my own sourdough starter, and failing most of the time. I also had jars and jars of sinister grey unappetising liquid. I did manage to make a decent starter a couple of times and even used it in a few recipes, but then it died a natural death from lack of use.

Al's voice has a distinct touch of sarcasm. "Sourdough pizza, sourdough crackers, sourdough breadsticks; these are the high-class, artisan versions of their peers. The prefix sourdough somehow means that it's okay to charge twice as much". That is so true. I do love sourdough, but agree there's a whiff of the Emperor's New Clothes about it. Despite being an ancient technique, it has become so trendy, especially during the lockdown, that now almost everything is sourdough.

The second half of the book is a cook book of Kitty and Al's recipes.

You will find chapters on Bread (including miracle overnight white loaf, overnight focaccia, Challah, Biga bread, soda bread, Guinness soda bread and more), Sourdough Bread (including a step-by-step on the sourdough starter, recipes for Ultimate sourdough bread, sourdough focaccia, Ulla's rye bread, Fika buns, Next level Chelsea buns - which I hope to try baking one day), Pastries (including Cheese straws, Eccles cakes, Pasteis de Nata, croissants, pains au chocolat and many more) and finally, Cookies and Cakes (Cheddars, Stem Gingernuts, Ultimate brown butter choc chip cookies, vegan nut butter and banana cookies, blondies with a Marmite glaze etc).

Kitty's creative approach to classic recipes is original and inspiring.

For example, she adds chunks of sweet and salty miso fudge to her Ultimate brown butter choc chip cookies. I have followed the recipe quite closely, but knowing my guys, didn't risk with a miso flavour, adding standard fudge pieces to the cookie dough.

Pasteis de Nata or Custard Tarts are our family favourite pastries. One of our local cafes sells pretty good pastel de nata, and I do often buy frozen ones from Waitrose.

However, if you buy a ready-made puff pastry, you can quickly make a batch of your own custard tarts.

Kitty's twist on the classic recipe is to add a pinch of garam masala to the custard. I added a little bit of garam masala to two of the pastries, as I wasn't sure how much we'd like it. 

The pastries are delicate and wonderfully creamy. 

I also tried a recipe for savoury biscuits - Cheddars, made with strong Cheddar. This is an eggless recipe. I wasn't sure how well I can roll the dough, it looked pretty crumbly, but a dash of water was all that was needed. 

Very tasty biscuits, they didn't last long.

Totally delicious with a dollop of chilli jam.

I have bookmarked a few recipes from the book, which I would love to try.

This book tells a beautiful, uplifting story of a courageous girl.

You can check out Kitty's Instagram @kittytaitbaker for delightful baked goodies and inspiration.

Many thanks to Kitty and Al Tait, Bloomsbury and Tandem Collective UK for my copy of the book! I enjoyed taking part in the Readalong and looking at everyone's bakes.

The Witch's Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire by Melissa Jayne Madara

 

 "As you navigate the following pages, consider the lives of witches and mystics long gone who continue to communicate with us through these recipes, and let their work inform your practice as you venture out from the edge of tradition and into the magical unknown".

I hope this intriguing quote has caught your attention. 

The Witch's Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire by Melissa Jayne Madara (26th October, Watkins; £25; 9781848994034) is truly a source of fascination and a must read for the coming Hallowe'en. This essential companion to kitchen witchraft is a beguiling compilation of history and art of magical cooking, with a wide selection of recipes. 

Melissa Jayne Madara is a witch, herbalist and chef, who will be your Virgil, guiding you through the realms of witchcraft, magic and cooking. They invite you to tour five dimensions or facets of the occult via culinary insights.

The book is divided into five parts: Feast of the Ancestors, Feast of the Stars, Feast of the Heavens, Feast of the Earth and Feast of Spells.

In the Introduction Melissa explains how they had always had an interest in chemistry and science, and how cooking offers "an opportunity for tactile engagement with the mysteries of chemical flux and the transformative power of fire". They talk about the metamorphic possibility of transforming ingredients into delicious dishes. Cooking, according to Melissa, is a liminal ground between science, magic and art, which becomes their artistic medium of choice. 

Words "art" and "artistic" are important in this context, as Melissa's recipes are truly a work of art, creative and thought-provoking. 

It's curious how Melissa says that the two disciplines of magic and cooking share some things in common, for example, both practices possess an air of secrecy, never revealing their secrets too readily (I'm sure we have all encountered reticent cooks whose recipes we admired and asked to share only to be fobbed-off with a vague reply. Yes, some cooks do not want to share their secrets).

Melissa's discussing the mystical link between magic and food. The author "extends an invitation to play with fire, both figuratively and literally, and through this playful investigation explore what power and potency kitchen witchcraft may offer us today".

As this is a magical cook book, not all ingredients are readily available in shops or online. Herbs and wild foods needed for some recipes might inspire you to go foraging. There are useful tips on foraging, if you haven't done this before, for example, never harvest more than a quarter of what you see, be respectful and mindful of nature.

The first captivating chapter is named Feast of the Ancestors which features traditional feasts, recipes and rituals of witches past. The historical research which went into the writing of this book is impressive. You will discover the ancient recipes of the Babylonians which were inscribed on the clay tablets from around 1700BCE, among other historical food data and cooking instructions. Melissa has adapted the recipes to make them more appealing to the modern public.

I have bookmarked several recipes to try in the future, for example, Pharmakos Cakes, the sacrifical cakes of the Ancient Greeks, or the Fornacalia Focaccia, immortalised by the Roman poet Ovid.

I read with interest the extract on Maslenitsa, the Slavic folk and religious festival. 

The Pancakes cooked for the Maslenitsa are part of my heritage, so I was intrigued to see what Melissa would offer for the feast - their recipe for Straw-infused crepes for the butter lady sounds fun (though fresh cherries are a bit of a poetic licence, as they wouldn't be available traditionally at that time of the year). Also ricotta cheese is a recent addition to the Russian tables. Cottage cheese would be more authentic (you can find decent cottage cheese in the Polish delis or Polish aisles of the supermarket. The British cottage cheese widely available in the shops is too soggy for the recipe).

So far I have tried only one recipe from the book - Hildegard von Bingen's Cookies of Joy. She was a German Benedictine abbess, mystic and visionary, and also an accomplished author and polymath. Her recipe for Cookies of Joy uses plenty of spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves. According to Hildegard, the spicy wholewheat cookies will keep you strong, happy and alert. How can one resist such a recommendation?

The chapted titled Feast of the Stars explores cooking through the wheel of the zodiac. Here Melissa talks about the fascinating art of astrology and offers a perspective on the work of the astrological cooking, which provides a useful new lens for our continued investigation into the tools of kitchen witchcraft. 

I chuckled to myself, reading about the Pisces that they are known for being easily swayed by indulgence (mea culpa!). I love Melissa's recipe for Roasted cauliflower with miso and yogurt, as suggested for Pisces. That's definitely on my must-try list.

Feast of the Heavens is all about the planetary magic in the kitchen. "A working knowledge of these spheres and their properties forms the basis for planetary magic, which draws its power and inspiration from the fabric of the cosmos itself". How does it apply to the kitchen? It means a careful selection of ingredients associated with the planets, and using them to create dishes at auspicious times and in conjunction with appropriate symbols, so that your meal is a worthy dedication to the celestial power.

For example, Melissa's menu for the Full Moon Feast includes a mushroom and parsnip soup, gnocchi with sage blossom pesto and black sesame cake. For the New Moon Feast the menu is equally delectable - a kale salad with hazelnuts and black garlic, five-spice fried mushrooms and a chocolate poppyseed cake. 

Feast of the Earth talks about the seasonal meals for the solstices and equinoxes. "In examining the religions of the ancient world, we often find the rhythms of nature personified, even deified, to reveal various aspects of spiritual mystery... This is the rhythm of the Sun, king of the cosmos and the central star in our galactic neighbourhood". The author finds great beauty and magical potency in following these crucial cycles, as well as a deep wisdom.

For the forthcoming Winter Solstice Melissa invites you to create a feast of fire cider pickled eggs, lentils and roasted roots with walnut sauce, cheesy celeriac mash and cranberry gingerbread. There is a beautiful story of Melissa celebrating the Winter Solstice by going to the forest at dusk and sharing the story of the past year with their special inhuman family. 

The final chapter, Feast of Spells introduces you to potions, rites and dinner spells. The recipes here represent the simplified, stripped-down versions of what Melissa makes at home, because the kind of work they do is highly personal. The author invites their readers to bring in their own traditions and relationships to spirit, and thus personalise their own withcraft practice.

Here the concept of the Feast table as a sacred space and magic circle is re-introduced. Melissa discusses in-depth the practice of sigilcraft, consecration, divination and even sacrifice, including the vegetarian options. The recipes vary from a rosemary star bread for home-blessing to ritual bread masks, from chocolate, beetroot and grapefruit celebration cake to pressed-violet offering cookies.

The Witch's Feast is an unusual, original cook book, with a plethora of mouth-watering recipes to please the most discerning gourmet. If there's a foodie or a cook book collector among your family or friends, this book will make a fabulous gift for Halloween, birthday or Christmas. You don't have to be a follower of witchcraft to appreciate the culinary aspects of the book and historical research which accompanies each chapter.

 

About the Author

Melissa Madara is a witch, herbalist, storyteller, activist and chef. 

They are a co-owner at Catland Books, Brooklyn's most famous occult shop, and Catlands educational courtyard garden, which features an array of medicinal, magical, and poisonous plants. 

They are also the editrix at Venefica Magazine, a radical arts & occulture journal. Their work as a chef since graduating from New York's The Natural Gourmet has run the gamut from traditional french pastry to health-focused meal planning. 

Melissa has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Teen Vogue, Refinery29 and many other media outlets for their work as a witch. 

Their writing has been published in Venefica Magazine, Susie Magazine and Fiddler's Green. Their work on kitchen witchcraft has been featured in Vice.

Find Melissa's Instagram at @saint.jayne 

A Feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj #BlogTour an exclusive recipe from the book & giveaway

I'm a little bit embarrassed to say just how many cook books I have. Let's just say, enough to stock a small library.
Yet a new cook book is always a cause of excitement.

A Feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj is a type of cook book I enjoy to read, as it's not just a selection of recipes, but a story of the author's ethnic background and family history including old photos and lovely snippets of personal stories related to recipes. You get to know the author, as she describes her favourite food and her family history.

Synopsis:
Dark roasted curry powder, a fine attention to the balance of salty-sour-sweet, wholesome red rice and toasted curry leaves, plenty of coconut milk and chili heat. These are the flavors of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was a cross roads in the sea routes of the East. Three waves of colonization - Portuguese, Dutch and British - and the Chinese laborers who came with them, left their culinary imprint on Sri Lankan food. Sri Lankan cooking with is many vegetarian dishes gives testimony to the presence of a multi-ethic and multi-religious population.

Everyday classics like beef smoore and Jaffna crab curry are joined by luxurious feast dishes, such as nargisi kofta and green mango curry, once served to King Kasyapa in his 5th century sky place of Sigiriya.

Vegetable dishes include cashew curry, jackfruit curry, asparagus poriyal, tempered lentils, broccoli varai and lime-masala mushrooms. There are appetizers of chili-mango cashews, prawn lentil patties, fried mutton rolls, and ribbon tea sandwiches. Deviled chili eggs bring the heat, yet ginger-garlic chicken is mild enough for a small child. Desserts include Sri Lankan favourites: love cake, mango fluff, milk toffee and vattalappam, a richly spiced coconut custard.

In A Feast of Serendib, Mary Anne Mohanraj introduces her mother's cooking and her own Americanizations, providing a wonderful introduction to Sril Lankan American cooking, straightforward enough for a beginner, and nuanced enough to capture the flavor of Sri Lankan cooking.

Review:
Mary Anne started writing a Sri Lankan cook book as a present for her Mum, writing down some of her recipes. Her mother had had to make many adaptations when she came to the States in 1973, for example, using a tomato ketchup instead of coconut milk. Then Mary Anne herself kept changing the recipes further, adapting them to her tastes.
As Mary Anne says in the Introduction: "But I try to accept the truth, that I will likely never cook exactly how homeland Sri Lankans would. My adaptations of my mother's adaptations are still tasty".

Let's look at the list of contents:
Appetizers and Snacks
Eggs, Poultry and Meat contents
Fish and Seafood
Vegetables
Accompaniments
Grains
Drinks
Sweets

There is a good selection of recipes for meat eaters and vegetarians. I had a quick look at the section with Vegetable dishes (22 recipes), and most of them include coconut milk, and no dairy, so are suitable for vegans as well.

There are a couple of recipes in this section which include a Maldive fish as one of the optional ingredients. It is a staple of the Sri Lankan cuisine, but obviously that would change the recipes from vegetarian to pescatarian. I have tried to google for the vegetarian/vegan substitute for the Maldive fish, and it looks like a dark miso might be a possible candidate, but don't take my word for it. I haven't tried Maldive fish, so am not an expert on its taste or alternatives.

This book celebrates the best of the Sri Lankan cuisine.

I have bookmarked several recipes to try, like Milk toffee with cashews, Golden rice pilaf, green mango curry, mango pickle and others.

So far I have tried only one recipe from the book - Cashew Curry, which is a rich vegetarian/vegan dish. It would be great as part of a curry night, with several different curry dishes to mix and match.

I'm looking forward to expanding my curry repertoire. The recipes in the book seem easy to follow, and there are lots of little tips on the possible alternatives, if you cannot source the right ingredients.

This is a book for everyone who would like to be able to cook real Sri Lankan food. It includes a comprehensive and fascinating collection of mouthwatering recipes. Lovingly compiled, this cook book will appeal to both amateurs and committed foodies.

My only slight niggle is that I would have liked more photos in the book, as for me they are often the first thing which draws me to a recipe.
Another thing to keep in mind: as the cook book is written by an American author, the measurements are also American (i.e. cups, stick etc).

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I have an exclusive recipe for Ginger Garlic Chicken from the book.

Ginger-Garlic Chicken (recipe reproduced with permission from the publisher)
(30-90 minutes, serves 6-8)

The timing on this is so variable because you can either do it the long way described below, the way my mother recommends, which is definitely a bit tastier - or you can do a much faster version, where you mix the spices with the chicken, skip the marinating, and then just sauté the chicken in the pan on medium-high until cooked through and serve. I use both methods, mostly depending on how much of a hurry I'm in. Regardless of which method you use, this dish is best served fresh; if it sits, the chicken will tend to dry up and not be as tasty.
NOTE: This is my daughter's favourite chicken dish, and one she always greets with delight; she started eating it when she was about five, with no added chili powder. Over time, I've added a little more chilli powder when feeding it to both kids, serving with milk to help them along, you can also use black pepper if you'd prefer.

Photo credits: Mary Anne Mohanraj

Ingredients:
1 heaping tsp ginger powder
1 heaping tsp garlic powder
1 heaping tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
12 chicken thighs, about 2 lbs, deboned and cut bite-size
vegetable oil for frying
1/2 to 2 heaping tsp red chili powder (to taste, optional)

1. Mix first four spices in a large bowl, add chicken pieces and rub with your hands until well coated. Marinate 1/2 hour.
2. Heat oil on high; add chili powder (if using) and cook 15 seconds, stirring.
3. Add chicken and sear on high, turning to brown all sides.
4. Reduce heat to low and cover; cook approximately 15-20 minutes, until meat is cooked through.
5. Uncover and cook until all the liquid is gone.
6. Tilt pan and push chicken pieces to one side; allow excess oil to drain to one side for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to dish and serve hot.

NOTE: If reheating a day or two later, I recommend reheating in a pan with a little coconut milk; just simmer 5-10 minutes, enough for the milk to thicken with the spices into a nice sauce. Or serve dry chicken with a nice coconut-milky vegetable curry, like carrot or beetroot curry.

About the Author:
Mary Anne Mohanraj is the author of Bodies in Motion (HarperCollins), The Stars Change (Circlet Press) and 13 other titles. Bodies in Motion was a finalist for the Asian American Book Awards, a USA Today Notable Book, and has been translated into six languages. The Stars Change was a finalist for the Lambda, Rainbow, and Bisexual Book Awards.
Monhanraj founded the Hugo-nominated and World Fantasy Award-winning speculative literature magazine, Strange Horizons, and also founded Jaggery, as S.Asian & S.Asian diaspora literary journal.
She received a Breaking Barriers Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women for her work in Asian American art organizing, won and Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, and was Guest of Honour at WisCon. She serves as Director of two literary organisations, DesiLit and The Speculative Literature Foundation. She serves on the futurist boards of the Xprize and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

Mohanraj is Clinical Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and lives in a creaky old Victorian in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, with her husband, their two small children, and a sweet dog. Recent publications include stories for George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series, stories at Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Lightspeed, and an essay in Roxane Gay's Unruly Bodies. 2017-18 titles include Survivor (a SF/F anthology), Perennial, Invisible 3 (co-edited with Jim C. Hines), and Vegan Serendib.

Social Media Links
Facebook - Mary A. Mohanraj
Twitter - @mamohanraj
Instagram - @maryannemohanraj
Website: www.maryannmohanraj.com and http://serendibkitchen.com

Disclosure: Many thanks to Mary Anne Mohanraj, Serendib Press and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book!

This post is part of the blog tour, you can discover more recipes from the book here, for example, a recipe for a vegetarian Beet curry on ShortBookandScribes:

Giveaway:
If you enjoy exploring the world cuisines and love the sound of this book, the lovely people from Serendib Press have offered an e-copy of A Feast of Serendib as a giveaway prize for my blog readers.

T&Cs:
1. The giveaway is open internationally.
2. Giveaway ends on 3 July 2019 (midnight).
3. To be in with a chance of winning, please leave a comment, answering a question:
Have you tried Sri Lankan food, and what is your favourite Sri Lankan dish? (If you haven't tried, which dish would you like to try first?)
4. If you are leaving a comment as Anon, make sure there is your name or username so that I can get in touch with you. If you have a Twitter name, that's the easiest way to contact you if you win.
5. I will contact the winner regarding their email address after the closing date. If they do not reply within 7 days, the prize will be allocated to another person.

Good luck!

Souk by Nadia Zerouali and Merijn Tol (book review) & Stuffed Aubergines

Souk: Image Credits - Smith Street Books

"Imagine a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon with long tables casually filled with delicious mezze - cold and hot sharing plates that together form a delicious and inviting meal in themselves. Here, family and friends enjoy the abundance of the sharing table - from carrots with arak and dishes of silky-soft hummus to fried kibbeh balls and tabouleh or fattoush".

This wonderful description brings back memories of the years, when I was newly wed and when we lived in a tiny house in Jericho, Oxford. We used to visit the local Lebanese restaurant Al-Shami. It was there that I tried mezze for the first time. I was hooked. I loved all the cold and hot appetisers and sharing plates. I haven't been in that restaurant this side of the millennium, but I believe it still exists.

Souk by Nadia Zerouali and Merijn Tol (Smith Street Books, released 1 April 2018; £25) is a colourful, soulful homage to the Middle Eastern way of life.
The authors say: "Throughout our time in the Middle East, it became clear to us that mezze is equal to the generosity and hospitality of the Levantine people".

This beautiful edition includes over 100 inspiring recipes to fill the table with Nadia and Merijn's version of a mezze feast. There are recipes to appeal to both flexitarians and vegetarians.
It is well written, with short personal stories and reminiscences about food.

Photographs by Ernie Enkler are simply stunning. As a food blogger, I always pay attention to styling - beautiful fabrics and china used in the photos.

Labne, Souk: Image Credits - Smith Street Books

Just look at those splashes of colour - don't you want to grab a flatbread and just dip into that pepper sauce?!

I also absolutely loved little embroidery samples by Anneke Koorman at the beginning of each chapter, they are deceptively simple and so charming. They make me feel like going back to embroidery again.

Such pretty little pieces, I can easily see them on napkins and tea towels. And they make a lovely quirky touch to the cook book.

Recipes include drinks and cocktails, cold and warm mezze, the grill and after dinner (desserts).
I have bookmarked several recipes, which I am going to try this summer, like this gorgeous Pistachio and semolina cake with meringue...

Souk: Image Credits - Smith Street Books

or Armenian stuffed carrots in tamarind, pomegranate and coffee sauce

I'd be happy to try a sour cherry sorbet and olive oil sorbet with rosewater, rice pudding with turmeric, tahini and pine nuts, stuffed vine leaves with pomegranate, barberries, grapes and bulghur, buttery date and sesame cookies, and many more delightful recipes.

This book will be a welcome addition to any foodie's cook book collection.

So far I have tried one of the recipes from the book. I love aubergines in all guises and disguises, as you might have seen from my blog.

I was inspired by the recipe Stuffed Eggplant with bulghur, walnuts and mint. I have adapted the recipe, first of all by halving the quantities, and then using a different way of cooking.
Quite a lot of recipes in this book do not mention prep or cooking times, so you'll have to improvise.

Aubergines stuffed with bulghur, walnuts and mint
Ingredients:
2 aubergines
3tbsp olive oil
1 sweet onion
2 small carrots, peeled and grated
50g bulghur
1tsp vegetable stock powder
a handful of walnuts
1tbsp chopped fresh mint
1tsp paprika
a dash of pomegranate molasses
sea salt

Slice the aubergines in half lengthways and place on a baking tray, drizzle about 1tbsp olive oil over them and season with salt. Place the tray in the oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for about 15 minutes.
In the meantime, finely slice the sweet onion and grate the carrot. Fry them with the olive oil for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the chopped walnuts and mint, as well as paprika and molasses, and cook for another 5 minutes.
Place dried bulghur in a small pan with water and stock, bring to boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. The times will depend on the bulghur you are using.

The original recipe in the book suggests combining bulghur with chopped onions, walnuts and mint and then putting them in aubergine boats, and cooking all together. I didn't want the topping to be burnt if you cook for too long, or the aubergines to be uncooked, so cooked the dish differently.

Take out the aubergines, and let them cool a bit before handling them. Cut out the inside, making "boats". Cube the inside flesh and add to the bulghur mix, then scoop the mix and put inside the aubergines. You will have some of the stuffing left.

Stuffed aubergines before being roasted

Place the tray with aubergines back in the oven and cook for another 20 minutes, until the aubergines are cooked through.

Serve with the yogurt on the side. I grated a small cucumber, and added it to the yogurt with a bit of salt. If you're a vegan, obviously use the dairy-free yogurt.

It was a very tasty vegetarian dinner. I will definitely cook it again.
If you are a meat eater, this dish will make a great side dish, just serve 1/2 aubergine per person.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are my own.

The MamaBake Book by M.Shearer & K.Swan + Pumpkin & Ricotta Cannelloni

I am a busy Mum, and there are days when I'm feeling totally exhausted and overwhelmed by the dietary demands and wishes of my family. And yes, there are moments when I feel like throwing a tantrum and refusing to cook. Sounds familiar?
I was very curious to discover a new cook book which evangelizes weekly meal plans and batch cooking.
The MamaBake Book (HarperCollins, published 22 February 2018, £12.99) professes to be no ordinary cookbook. It claims to revolutionise the way we prepare family meals - "once you try the MamaBake way you will never look back!"

I'm mistrustful by nature when any big claims are made, but I'm also open to new ideas and happy to be converted.

MamaBake movement and cook book are the brainchild of two mothers - Michelle Shearer and Karen Swan. It was Michelle who founded their community in 2010, with the grassroots cooking club and a meeting place for young mums who would cook meals in batches, then share and swap their prepared meals to take back home a week's worth of food enough to feed a family.
This big batch cooking granted them free time during the week.

I had to smile, when I read about "mothers united in their passion to free up women from the unending pressures of domestic burden through the power of The Sisterhood".
It reads like a revolutionary pamphlet, rather idealistic.

Take me: I love cooking, and wouldn't dream of not cooking for a whole week. Yes, it is a burden at times, and I do moan about it, but half-heartedly, as basically I love cooking. In my situation it would be impossible for other mothers to cater to my family's special situation with an autistic child who would most likely not eat any of the foods cooked by someone else. But I digress...

I was intrigued as to how this book teaches you to plan meals a week in advance, make shopping lists and batch cook.
If you discard the grandiose statements about The Sisterhood and domestic burden, it is actually a clever guide on how to be more organised and adapt your cooking to make life easier.

Many things mentioned in the book make a lot of sense, like labelling containers or zip lock bags which go in the freezer. Guilty as charged: how many times I took out the container out of the freezer without a clue as to what's inside and how long it was stored there.

The MamaBake Book features many inspired once-a-week cooking plans and big batch recipes. There are over 200 recipes to choose from.
The book would better suit a non-vegetarin/vegan family. There is a Meat-free week menu and the vegan slow cooker menu, but I would say the majority of recipes are for meat-eaters.
Some weeks' menus include meat on an almost daily basis.

The book conveniently offers shopping lists which include everything you will need to cook meals for a week. The once-a-week plans include seven different recipes with step-by-step of prep and cooking.

It is an inspiring concept. And while I don't think I'm ready yet to do a week's worth of meals in one go, I might just try to batch-cook more often and freeze (and label!!!) the meals.

I would have liked to see illustrations of at least some of the recipes. For me photos and/or illustrations are the main magnet to cook books. The MamaBake book is free from illustrations.

There were quite a few of recipes I have bookmarked, for example, Vegetable & bean pie with polenta crust, Greek honey biscuits, potato pizzas, pumpkin falafel & flatbreads and more.

One of the recipes I have tried already - and which we loved - is Pumpkin & Ricotta Cannelloni.

Pumpkin & Ricotta Cannelloni (recipe reproduced with kind permission from HarperCollins)
Ingredients:
1/2 butternut pumpkin (butternut squash in the UK), peeled, seeds removed and cut into chunks
1tbsp oil
2 x 400g tins whole peeled tomatoes
1 bunch basil, leaves finely chopped
250g ricotta
150g mozzarella (plus extra for sprinkling)
1egg, lightly beaten
2 handfuls baby spinach shredded
375g fresh pasta sheets (I used a pack of 250g lasagne sheets)
100g parmesan, grated

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a ceramic baking dish.
2.Drizzle the pumpkin with the oil and roast in the dish until tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and mash. Set aside to cool.
3. To make the sauce, place a medium-sized saucepan over high heat and add the tinned tomatoes and half the basil leaves. Season, to taste. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until reduced by one-third, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat.
4. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, egg, spinach and mashed pumpkin. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Lay out the pasta sheets and place 2tbsp of the pumpkin mixture in the base of each sheet and roll up into a tube. Lay each cannelloni in the baking dish. Top with the prepared sauce and grated parmesan.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for further 15 minutes.

Serve with a fresh green salad.

Allow to cool completely before chilling or freezing. The cannelloni will keep for 1 week in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer.
If cooking from frozen, defrost overnight in the fridge. Cover with foil and bake in a 180C oven for 30 minutes until thoroughly reheated.

Disclosure: I received the MamaBake Book for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are my own.

Pimp My Rice by Nisha Katona + giveaway (E: 17 November 2017)

We often eat rice, and you will find a few different types of rice in our kitchen at any given time (mostly a couple of different basmati and risotto rice). I'm always on the lookout for new rice recipes, and could never resist a new cook book.
Celebrity chef, restauranteur and cookery writer Nisha Katona has a new 8 part BBC 2 show presented by Tom Kerridge coming out in early 2018 called The Finest in the Deli, where she will be one of two expert judges on each episode.
She has recently relaunched her book Pimp my Rice (publisher: Nourish Books, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited). Nisha Katona is often called a rice evangelist, and her passion for rice shines through every page of this cook book. She is the ultimate rice guru. Be prepared not to read her book on an empty stomach. It will rumble.
There are recipes to suit different styles - from meat-eaters to pescatarians to vegetarians.
The photographs are vibrant and mouth-watering (and I'd love to see a photo for each recipe too).

In the introduction Nisha mentions that she wrote this book because she felt rice needed to be celebrated. She thinks that" in the West rice is treated like a second-class citizen and that it is relegated to the realms of lacklustre side orders".
I tend to slightly disagree with that point of view. For example, in Italy risotto is one of the most glorified meals, a feast in itself, if cooked properly. The same goes for a humble rice pudding in the UK: its stodgy creaminess is back in vogue these days when cooked with a variety of dairy alternatives - almond or coconut milk. Each country probably has its own famous rice dish. Nothing of the 2nd-class citizen at all, in my opinion.
And Nisha definitely raises it to a Royal position. Her recipes are fun, jazzy and unconventional, she is not afraid to shock the purists.

Nisha gives a thorough description of cooking methods (to rinse or not to rinse, to soak or not to soak) and useful tips.
She cooks a wide selection of rice dishes from all around the world. There are not that many Eastern European recipes - two Hungarian and one Russian-inspired (I say inspired because the recipe is not an authentic Russian one. I've never come across blini made with brown rice in Russia. Buckwheat flour, yes, brown rice, not exactly).
Nisha has also put a personal twist on many classic dishes. I chuckled at her description of Zingy pineapple & anchovy arancini: "Okay, so this recipe might see Italian mammas crying into their ragu in horror..." and "Serve hot - but not to your Italian mother-in-law". Advice taken, Nisha, I won't be serving it to my Italian in-laws to spare their feelings.

The book is divided into chapters: Kick starts (Binged breakfasts), Light fantastics (starters, lunches & late-night munchies), Main grains (fantastic feasts from around the world), Souped-up sides (Super support acts) and Happy endings (the rice sweet elite).

I have bookmarked several recipes to try - like Peanut Ping Pongs (made with basmati and peanuts)...

Gin & tonic coriander salmon sounds like a fabulous recipe for entertaining and more formal dinners:

Hungarian & raisin rice cake looks luscious. I haven't tried it, but it reminds me of the Italian sweet pastries made with rice.

This is not a budget recipe book, as the author uses a lot of exotic ingredients.

I have cooked only one recipe from the book so far - Smoke my Squash (i.e. stuffed butternut squash). I have cooked different variations of this dish in the past (for example, see Roasted & Stuffed Butternut Squash with Brown Basmati, Quinoa and Goat's cheese). For Nisha's recipe you will need chorizo, sundried tomatoes, goats' cheese among the other ingredients, which all add up price-wise but if you don't count pennies or want to impress your guests, go for it.
It is very tasty, and I will be cooking it again. My Mum who is visiting us this month, loved it.

For a vegetarian version skip chorizo, and add more paprika for colour.
I have adapted Nisha's recipe, first of all by halving the amount of ingredients and slightly changing the method - see my tip on cooking the squash. I used only 1 squash, and that was definitely enough for 4-5 servings.

You will need:
1 medium to big butternut squash
2-3tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic
60g chorizo, cubed
1/2 sweet red pepper
1/2tsp smoked paprika
a handful of sundried tomatoes, chopped
about 100g cooked rice (I used Tilda's jasmine rice)
goat's cheese, cubed (about 1/3 of a small log)
fresh parsley, chopped
smoked sea salt (optional)

It's not an easy task to cut a butternut squash with its hard skin. My tip is to wrap the squash in foil whole, and cook in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 180C. Take it out of the oven, let it cool a bit and then cut in half and scoop the seeds and fibres. Scoop out the inside to make a vessel for the stuffing. It will also then take less time to cook it stuffed.

Cube the squash which you have scooped out, and fry in the pan with the olive oil, chorizo, sliced pepper, minced garlic and paprika. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring.
Season the shells with salt and a bit of oil. I used smoked sea salt, as I love smoked flavours.
Stuff the open halves with the rice, and put back in the oven to cook for another 25 minutes. Add cubed goat's cheese on top in the last five minutes of cooking.
Add the chopped parsley before serving.

This book will appeal to more experienced cooks, or/and a trendier audience, with its mini-anecdotes accompanying the recipes and the title. I confess I'm not overly enthusiastic about the title - Pimp my Rice... I know it's the word widely used these days for almost anything, but it doesn't appeal to me personally. It also proves that I'm not with the In-crowd, and am an old fuddy-duddy.

Nisha is passionate about rice and is very enthusiastic in her desire to share her love of rice.
If you're looking for a gift for a foodie in your life, as a birthday present or for Christmas, this book will tick all the boxes.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this cook book for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are my own.

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If you like the sound of this book, here is your chance to win one of the copies of  this cook book. Lovely people from Watkins Media have offered a copy of Pimp My Rice by Nisha Katona as a giveaway prize for my blog readers.


To be in with a chance of winning, please enter via Rafflecopter form.

T&Cs:
The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.
Once the Rafflecopter picks the winner, I will contact them regarding address details, if they do not reply within 28 day, the prize will be allocated to another person.
Please don't forget to leave a comment, as it is the only mandatory step, I will make sure the winner selected by Rafflecopter has complied with T&Cs.
The prize will be posted by the publisher.
Giveaway ends on 17 November 2017 (midnight).


Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chilli Chocolate lovers giveaway (E: 30 September 2017)

The weather is miserable today, and to cheer myself up I am running a little foodie giveaway.

If you pop into my blog even occasionally, you will know that I love chocolate.

I have offered chocolate prizes in the past and they usually tend to be popular. This foodie giveaway has a little twist. All the chocolate bars in the prize are chilli-flavoured. I hope you'll think it's a fun idea. I certainly enjoyed sourcing out the chocolate bars.

One lucky winner will receive:
- Thorntons Chilli 70& dark chocolate
- M&S 52% dark chocolate with chilli
- Lindt Excellence Chilli dark chocolate
- Montezuma Dark Chocolate Chilli
- Montezuma Milk Chocolate Chilli & Lime
- Waitrose Cooks IngredientsWhole Dried Hot Ancho Chillies
and Chilli Banana/ Authentic Thai Cooking from May's Kitchen cook book


To be in with a chance of winning, please enter via Rafflecopter form.

T&Cs:
The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.
Once the Rafflecopter picks the winner, I will contact them regarding address details, if they do not reply within 28 day, the prize will be allocated to another person.
Please don't forget to leave a comment, as it is the only mandatory step, I will make sure the winner selected by Rafflecopter has complied with T&Cs.
The prize is provided by me, and I will post the prize to the winner.
Giveaway ends on 30 September 2017 (midnight).

Good luck!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

In The Mood For Quick Family Food by Jo Pratt (book review + carrot cupcakes)

Jo Pratt doesn't need any special introduction. She is a well known TV cook and an author of several cook books, as well as an acclaimed food stylist. She has recently opened a restaurant at Heathrow Terminal 2 with two other chefs.
Like busy Mums around the world, Jo is always pressed for time. Having taken a realistic look at the situations and circumstances of family and work balance, Jo wrote an inspiring cook book - In the Mood For Quick Family Food (published in paperback on 18 August 2016 priced at £14.99).

This first version of the cook book appeared in 2013 as Madhouse Cookbook.
This book has been endorsed by Jamie Oliver "Home cooked book that's tasty and stress free - this is Jo's guide for busy parents".
As much as I admire Jamie Oliver, his 15-minute meals were totally unrealistic, as he had a team behind him who chopped and prepared all the ingredients, did the washing and cleaning for him.

How is Jo Pratt's book structured? It is divided into 3 main chapters - Monday to Friday Survival, The Busy Weekend and Cling on to Your Social Life.

Monday to Friday Survival includes recipes which are quick and easy to prepare. Like Jo says, "recipes to help you get through the week of racing about and constantly chasing your tail". I know that feeling, Jo.
Which recipes does Jo classify as "in a hurry"? You will find recipes for a Chicken, potato and spinach curry, Special fried rice, several quick pasta recipes, Honey Miso Salmon with warm green salad, Pot noodles, Baked risotto Primavera etc. Most of the recipes in this section are indeed quick and easy.

There are also some recipes included which will take you longer to cook like a Moroccan lamb stew, Meatballs with olives or Beef and barley casserole.
What I liked about this section that many recipes come with a tip on what to do with leftovers. For example, if you have any leftover spaghetti carbonara, it can be transformed into really tasty fritters that are great for lunch or even cold in school lunchboxes (except my kids perhaps, I doubt they would eat cold pasta fritters).
If you had a cheese fondue for dinner, any leftover cheese could be a perfect base for a cauli cheese.

Most recipes are family-oriented and kid-friendly, though there are some grown-up recipes included as well.

The Busy Weekend section is for those manic family weekends, when you try to fit in more than there's room for. This chapter covers delicious breakfasts, light bites for easy lunches. And then there are The Family Meal options for the times when you all sit down together to share a meal.

Like Jo's, my family enjoys baking. And if this is your favourite kind of cooking too, head straight for Baking and Things for a Sweet Tooth. There are some classic recipes with a twist as well as more experimental recipes.

Jo and I have different ideas on parenting: as for her Saturday Night is when kids are banned. In fact, even the subject of children is totally banned at all dinner parties.
Not sure how that would work in real life. Certainly it's never going to happen here. What do you actually do? Send the kids off to their prospective rooms? or delegate to the grandparents? Anyway, this is not meant as a criticism, just saying that we have clearly different approaches to parenting and lifestyle in general.

Returning to the food: there is plenty of delightful recipe ideas in this section. My all times favourite cocktail Bellini is made with mango and lychee rather than a peach puree, and I would absolutely love to try this version, as I can imagine it will be delicious.

Don't Griddled peaches with Pimm's and strawberry cream sound very tempting?! And what about a Limoncello and blackberry Pavlova?!

The photography in the book is excellent, with beautiful props. The images look stylish, fresh and modern.

The recipes are nutritionally sound and would suit most different approaches to eating and diets from omnivores to vegan.
There are also some non-dairy and gluten free recipes.

Carrot cake is one of our top favourites. I was excited to try Jo's recipe for carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were delicious.

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (recipe reproduced with the kind permission from the publisher)
Makes 12 cupcakes
Prep time 20 minutes
Cooking time 20 minutes

Ingredients:
150ml/5fl oz/scant 2/3 cup rapeseed/canola or sunflower oil
100g/ 3 1/2oz/heaped 1/2 cup soft light brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
75g/ 2 1/2oz golden/light corn syrup
175g/6oz/scant 1 1/2 cups wholemeal or white self-raising flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/4tsp ground allspice
1/2tsp ground ginger
1tsp bicarb of soda/baking soda
200g/7oz carrots, peeled and finely grated
75g/2 1/2oz/scant 2/3cup sultanas/golden raisins
25g/1oz/1/4cup dessicated/dried shredded coconut

I have used sunflower oil, golden syrup and white flour. I have also substituted bicarb of soda for baking powder, as I don't like the taste of the soda in baking.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4 and line 12 hole cupcake pan with paper cupcake cases or lightly grease a silicone cupcake pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs and golden or corn syrup, using an electric mixer, until totally combined.  Mix in all the remaining cake ingredients and spoon into the cupcake cases.
Bake for 20 minutes until nicely risen and firm but springly when lightly pressed. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the cream cheese frosting:
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g cream cheese
finely grated zest of 1 orange plus extra to decorate
250g icing/confectioner's sugar

To make the frosting, beat the butter until smooth, using an electric mixer. Add the cream cheese and orange zest and beat for another minute or so. Add half of the icing/confectioner's sugar and mix together on a low speed. Add the remaining sugar and mix until the icing has a light creamy texture. Chill until needed.
When the cakes are completely cool spread or pipe the frosting on top, sprinkle with extra orange zest and serve.

I didn't use an electric mixer, a hand whisk is perfectly fine to make the smooth frosting, and you will have less to wash too. I omitted adding the zest to the top and sprinkled with some bronze sugar instead.

Disclosure: I received this cook book for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are mine.