Cookery Books

I thought I'd show you my collection of cookery books. I sometimes read them instead of novels as I love to look at the pictures and think about how I would follow the recipes. Some of them are full of so many ingredients that I wouldn't know where to start. I love simple recipes that are full of flavour. Here are some pictures of my collection.

My favourite type of cooking is baking but that doesn't feed the family every night of the week which is why I have a selection of baking and everyday cooking books. I love Delia Smith for her basic recipes that never go wrong. I always use her recipe for meringues and toad in the hole batter. Her recipe uses meat sausages but I just replace with Linda McCartney veggie sausages. It certainly goes down well in our house. I love Nigel Slater kitchen diaries as it's a cross between a diary and cookery book so if I don't fancy making anything it's still a good read. Rachel Allen is anther favourite cook of mine as her recipes are quite simple (have you spotted a theme here?). Even though I have so many cookery books, I'm always on the look out for more. I particularly love visiting Waterstones as I'm able to leaf through the new books in a comfy chair. I came across Ottolenghi's new book Jerusalem as I had time for a five minute visit while shopping a couple of weekends ago. It's a book that is full of beautiful photographs and recipes. I've been to Jerusalem once over 20 years ago and it brought back a lot of memories. It's certainly one for the wish list.

We cook vegetarian in our house and as you can see I have a few cookery books that are specifically for vegetarian cooking. Particular favourites include my books by Rose Elliot which always have lots of basic recipes in them. I'm also loving the Veg everyday book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall which is where my dukka recipe came from and Paul McCartney's Meatless Mondays - there is a great recipe in here for potato and pea samosas. Easy to make and quite spicy. I think you could even have the filling as a side dish when serving up a curry. Another lovely book for its ideas is Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. It makes me want to visit his restaurant's in London. A real favourite of mine is Terre a Terre which includes many of the recipes for the meals served at the restaurant of the same name in Brighton. This restaurant is a real favourite of ours, particularly their 'better batter' which is halloumi soaked in buttermilk, covered in batter and deep fried. I doesn't sound much but it's divine. Unfortunately, they had a fire in their kitchens a month ago and so won't be open for business for a while. I highly recommend this restaurant (obviously once the fire damage has been sorted) as it has vegetarian food with flair. Check it put if you ever visit Brighton. Remember to ask for the wasabi cashew nuts. I'll have to remember to post the recipe on here because they are tasty although I can't get mine to taste exactly as they do in the restaurant.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for cookery books - I always love to read more.

Have a great evening.