The Kitchen Diaries II - Nigel Slater.

So, in complete contrast to Jamie's 15-Minute Meals, I come to Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries II (and, yes, there is room in my life for both of these books but Nigel Slater wins hands down for writing, recipes and inspiring food enjoyment). 

Here is a passage from the introduction, "We can either treat food as nothing more than fuel or relish its every quality.  We can think of preparing it as something to get done as quickly and effortlessly as possible or as something to find pleasure in, something to enrich our everyday life, to have fun with".

This is a beautiful book. It feels heavy, it has a beautiful typeface, evocative photographs and, above all, writing which makes me lose all sense of time.  

The book arrived the day after it's publication which happened to be a Friday - my meal planning day - perfect.  I was torn between getting started cooking from it straight away or placating my OCD side by waiting until the 1st of January to work through it in order.  My greedy side won, of course. 

I have now made several recipes from the book, all very successful.  The first Kitchen Diaries gets used a lot for inspiration.  I pick it up and flick to the date then go back about a month (up here the days get warmer and therefore produce becomes available that much later), see what Nigel would be eating around that time and copy or adapt.  I can see me using this book in a similar way.  I will also read a bit each night like I did with the last one.  I believe there are a lot of us fans who take Nigel Slater books to bed with us!

So here are a few pictures of some of the recipes I have tried so far...

Tomatoes, pre-roasting, for the Roast Tomatoes, Thyme and Goat's Cheese.

Oh dear the photo shows just how lazy we have been with keeping our outside table looked after!  One of the last outside meals of this year.

Sorry - half eaten!

Baked Chicken With Tomatoes and Olives.

Blackberry Ice-Cream Cake

This is amazing.  Heed his advice not to use the huge supermarket blackberries as they freeze solid and take too long to become edible.  Watch this space for some re-interpretations of this dessert.

Okay, yes, I have an obsession with this!

Apricot Couscous.

A Lentil and Pumpkin Soup-Stew.  This tastes so comforting and is very nutritious and cheap to make too.  I will be making this a lot for the cold days coming - a new staple recipe.

Making Tarts of Leek and Cheese.

  

Courgette Fritters with Tomato and Rosemary Sauce.

Broad Bean, Feta and Spinach Pie.

Ooozy!

A Smoked Chicken and Dill Sandwich.  This is so much more than a sandwich.  It's a favourite of Nigel Slater's and now of mine too.

Lots more lined up to be made from this book. Some examples of things I am looking forward to making this Autumn - slow-cooked oxtail with five-spice and tamarind, slow-cooked rabbit with herbs, pear and chocolate oat crumble, fig and hazlenut loaf for cheese. And so much more.  The book is absolutely packed with recipes and ideas. 

I would suggest that any foodie would love a copy of this for Christmas.  I think the gift giver would be thought of as someone with very good taste!