Cookbooks Worth Waiting for in 2024 Part 2

This round of cookbooks worth waiting for was hard to choose. I don’t quite feel the same level of enthusiasm for the cookbooks due to be released in the second half of the year as I did in the first half - maybe the demise of Booktopia has something to do with it and having one less place to buy them from. 

There are also a few books being released later this year (not included in the list below), that I would really like to have a look through in person - so they don’t fit the ‘worth waiting for’ criteria as I would actually like to wait and see what they are like! They are titles from authors I have cookbooks from already, and I’m not 100% convinced their new title will add value to my cookbook collection. This feeling is based on their previous works, and a wonder about whether I need too many more cookbooks on one particular topic (and from the same authors). 

I think a few trips to book shops will be in my future to work out my feelings on some of the other new releases coming soon (what a hardship haha!), but for now, let’s get to those cookbooks I think will be worth waiting for!

Let me know in the comments what your top picks for the rest of the year are!

Ottolenghi Comfort by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (September 2024) - I generally look forward to all of the Ottolenghi groups books, though I have to say I am excited about this one as I enjoy Helen Goh’s recipes and use of flavour so I’m thinking this book may just be really good. No Ottolenghi cookbook has surpassed Simple (published in 2018) for me, and I can’t say I use the last three or so releases (Flavour, and the two Test Kitchen books) as much as I do Simple and those published before it. So while I know that this new title may not surpass Simple for me, I’m willing to give it a go since this book is touted as comfort food Ottolenghi style. And that sounds very good to me!

Sofra by Karima Hazim Chatila and Sivine Tabbouch (September 2024) - I came across this book on social media and was immediately interested in it. A debut cookbook from a mother daughter duo, this book is described as a love letter to Lebanon. It sounds like my kind of book as it will contain recipes, but also stories about the food and the authors connection to Lebanon and its cuisine. 

Bake with Brooki by Brooke Bellamy (October 2024) - After being sent some of the Brooki Bakery cookies by a friend last year, I am keen to see what this cookbook will be like. Baking books like this one feels like aren’t always my style - is the social media hype of the successful bakery in Brisbane going to translate well in cookbook form? I have found cookbooks that stem from social media success a bit lacking in the past. Despite being at a point where I’m not sure how many more baking books I need, I am interested to see how this one pans out and whether the cookbook can provide substance to the hectic social media and bakery pace owner Brooke seems to be riding. 

Karkalla At Home by Mindy Woods (September 2024) - The beautiful design of this cookbooks cover caught my eye first, and then the subtitle (‘Native foods and everyday recipes for connecting to Country) and description kept my interest going. Author Mindy Woods is a restauranteur, and brings her deep knowledge to this cookbook by sharing stories and profiles of our continents most readily available native ingredients. I love that this cookbook is described as a ‘please-use-me- cookbook’ (I suppose the hope of all cookbook authors!), and promises to bring native foods into our kitchen. 

New Cookbooks on My Shelf - March 2023

It’s about time for some more cookbook chat, so I thought I would share a few new (to me) books that I have recently added to my cookbook shelves. 

These are the books that have been keeping me company lately, and as you can see by the length of this I was unable to be brief about my thoughts on them!

1.Extra Good Things by Ottolenghi Test Kitchen - I waited a little while to buy this one, as Ottolenghi’s book ‘Simple’ remains my absolute favourite of his works (and those under the Ottolenghi banner), and none of the releases since that book have interested me nearly as much. After having a look at the book in a shop, I decided to buy it as a few recipes stood out to me. The flavours used in this book as a whole appeal to me more (than say ‘Shelf Love’ or ‘Flavour’), and I am looking forward to trying The Double Lemon Chicken (p.24) and One Pot Chickpeas with Carrots and Dates (p.38) as soon as the weather here has really cooled down.

2. Salamati by Hamed Allahyari with Dani Valent - This book is full of delicious Persian and Persian inspired food by Hamed, where he shares about is life in Iran via food, and describes the dangerous situation that forced him to leave. I have so far tried one of the salmon recipes which I really enjoyed and I can’t wait to try more. Persian food uses many ingredients like an abundance of herbs, pomegranates and pomegranate molasses that I really enjoy. Saffron also features a lot, so get a little supply of saffron ready to cook from this book! 

Reading this book and starting to cook from it makes me want to eat at Hamed’s restaurant in Melbourne ‘SalamaTea’. This book and Hamed’s story also makes me seriously question why someone like Hamed who came to Australia as an asylum seeker 10 years ago, contributes to society and employs other asylum seekers and refugees, still does not have a permanent visa to remain here and have that certainty. 

3. Med by Claudia Roden - I only had one book of Claudia’s prior to buying ‘Med’, ‘The Jewish Cookbook’, which is an extremely throughly researched cookbook which has come to be synonymous with Claudia’s work and food writing. I decided to purchase Med after hearing Claudia interviewed by Alice Zaslavsky during the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival. Claudia was so generous with her time and her explanation about her life and how her books came about. 

As Alice says in the interview ‘Med’ is Claudia’s first book with food photography, so it is a little different from her earlier work. The flavours used in this book are exactly what I want to eat (anchovies, green olives, capers, tomatoes, garlic etc) so I knew I needed to move this book from my wish list to my actual book shelf. So far we’ve tried the Chicken with Apricots and Pistachios (p.225), next on my list is the Green Olive, Walnut and Pomegranate Salad (p.51).

4. Pride and Pudding by Regula Ysewijn - I am having a real moment with Regula’s work of late. It started with her second book ‘Oats in the North Wheat in the South’, and after I enjoyed that book so much I went back to her first book ‘Pride and Pudding’. Regula is from Belgium however has has a very keen interested in all things British for a long time. This book covers the history of British puddings (sweet and savoury), and while some puddings I know I will never make (Haggis and Black Pudding being top of that list!), others would make a lovely addition to any table. 

What I really love about this book is the in depth research and history about puddings and the specific recipes - if you love history and food Regula’s work is definitely for you. Regula is also an amazing stylist and food photographer so the images are absolutely stunning, and coupled with her husband Bruno’s illustrations this book is a real feast for the eyes.

Links to books on Booktopia removed 15/07/2024.

Off the Shelf - 'Simple' by Yotam Ottolenghi

Bought at: received as a gift - thankfully as I had been wanting it so badly after it was released!

Recipes Made: Roasted Baby Carrots with Harissa and Pomegranate p.116, Butternut Squash with Sweetcorn Salsa, Feta and Pumpkin Seeds p.122, Roasted Beetroot with Yoghurt and Preserved Lemon p.125, Pappardelle with Rose Harissa, Black Olives and Capers p.188, Chicken Marbella p.229, Bridget Jones’s Pan Fried Salmon with Pine Nut Salsa p.246, Plum, Blackberry and Bay Friand Bake p.274 and Fig and Thyme Clafoutis p.278. 

The Roasted Carrots with Harissa and Pomegranate has a few flavours that I particularly like - honey, coriander and pomegranate seeds, so I was always going to be trying this recipe. I made it as a side to a main meal, and I really enjoyed it. I put much less harissa in than the 2tbsp Ottolenghi says, as I am not a great fan of spicy foods. The pomegranate seeds added a great juicy crunch to the carrots which was lovely, and also gave the dish a great vibrant colour!

The Butternut Squash with Sweetcorn Salsa Feta and Pumpkin Seeds, is great as a side to something else, or as the main thing itself. The Sweetcorn salsa was absolutely amazing and had me wanting to eat more even though I was full! It was a really nice meal to have on a warm Summer night (even though pumpkin isn’t exactly in season then!).

I made the Roasted Beetroot with Yoghurt and Preserved Lemon with golden beetroot, as I find I am unable to walk away from a store without buying them if they have some. As I didn’t have any tahini, I used pistachio butter instead for the yoghurt dressing and also omitted the preserved lemons too. We did have a jar of preserved lemons, and I wanted to use them, but Mum had bought them with the idea of using them for something else. Nonetheless the salad was still great, and I even added some of the leftovers to a frittata a few days later.

Butternut Squash with Sweetcorn Salsa Feta and Pumpkin Seeds

I really enjoyed the Pappardelle with Rose Harissa Black Olives and Capers (albeit with much less harissa than stated in the recipe!). I had heard about the recipe before I got a copy of Simple, as Yotam made it during one of his podcasts. I remember thinking I needed to make the recipe once I got the book, and it ended up being the first thing I made! I loved the combination of capers and olives in this recipe, as they are two of my absolute favourite ingredients. 

Chicken Marbella with Baked Rice with Pomegranate and Olive Salsa (added 08/08/2019)

The Chicken Marbella is my favourite chicken recipe of the moment. I make it every week or two and I just enjoy it so much. Most of the ingredients we usually have at home already, so I only need to buy some chicken. I haven’t found the specific cut of chicken specified in the recipe, when I have found something similar (like chicken marylands), they just don’t have that much meat on them. I now buy drumsticks (about 6, to feed three people) and it works really well. I always have the chicken marinating overnight, and I even found date molasses in a Persian grocery store here in Sydney (which I have now found more uses for than this recipe!). The combination of chicken, capers, green olives, white wine and vinegar leads to the most moorish chicken dish that has the perfect balance of sweet and acidic flavours. 

When I first received a copy of Simple, I sat down and put sticky notes on every recipe I wanted to make. Sure enough I used up a lot of sticky notes as there are so many great recipes in this book. I didn’t however mark the recipe for Bridget Jones’s Pan Fried Salmon with Pine Nut Salsa. I’m not sure why, as I do like salmon and again it uses capers and olives which usually has me bookmarking a recipe in an instant. The fish section in Simple is towards the back of the book, maybe I just had bookmarking fatigue by then? Luckily when my Mum looked at the book this recipe stood out to her and she made it. It was so good, that I now want to eat it all the time. The Pine Nut Salsa cuts through the oiliness of the fish, and the flavours are delicate yet tasty. 

My Mum also made the Plum Blackberry and Bay Friand Bake, which was a lovely dessert for the end of a meal. I love friands so a whole cake size of it was just great. Like any friand it is best eaten the day it is made. 

Mum also made the Fig and Thyme Clafoutis. And after trying to search for the particular figs mentioned in the recipe (black figs), we ended up just having to buy whatever we could find. This is the only recipe we haven’t really loved from this book so far, and I think it was more because we just aren’t a ‘fig loving family’ unfortunately! 

Favourite Things About the Book: The recipes! This book is absolutely jam packed with fantastic recipes. They have Yotam’s characteristic bold flavours, but with a paired back, slightly more simple approach. There is also a great variety of recipes in this book, so it’s one you can add to your collection and know you will use it all throughout the year for all different kinds of meals and occasions. Ottolenghi’s recipes are also very well tested before publication, and it shows, as they all work!

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): There are so many, but a few that I would like to try next are Roasted Aubergine with Anchovies and Oregano p.64, Cauliflower, Pomegranate and Pistachio Salad p.91, Sweet Potato Mash with Lime Salsa p.131, Oven Chips with Oregano and Feta p.138, Baked Mint Rice with Pomegranate and Olive Salsa p.171, Pasta alla Norma p.184-5, Orzo with Prawns, Tomato and Marinated Feta p.193, Gnocchi alla Romana p.198 and Fishcake Tacos with Mango, Lime and Cumin Yoghurt p.254.

Off the Shelf - ‘Jerusalem’ by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

Since buying, collecting, reading, using and dreaming about cookbooks is such a big part of my life and this blog, I have decided to dedicate some space to them here. Every now and then instead of sharing a recipe, I will share a cookbook profile from one of the books on my shelves. What books other people have, how they use them and what they cook from them (if at all) is endlessly fascinating to me so I hope you will enjoy taking a cookbook off one of my shelves and see how it has influenced me and my cooking. 

The first book I wanted to take off my shelf for you is ‘Jerusalem’ by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi. With all the (much deserved) hype around Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest release ‘Simple’, it seemed only fitting to dive back into some of his earlier co-authored works. I also am unable to buy the new book as with it being so close to the end of the year, and having both my birthday and Christmas in December, I am always told by my family not to buy any new books so they can potentially give me them as a gift. So I am feeling an extreme case of FOMO at the moment, as everyday on Instagram I see another post about the book or about someone cooking from the book - and it all looks so good.

Not to mention Yotam’s new podcast ‘Simple Pleasures’, where he invites someone round to his place and they chat and enjoy dishes from his new book. I am already seriously craving the gnocchi he made for Nadiya Hussain on the first episode.

But until I get my hands on a copy, I still have the vast array of recipes from ‘Jerusalem’ to keep me occupied. See below for a little profile of the cookbook, and what I have made from it. It is definitely one I would recommend! 

Bought at: gifted (I have also gifted this book to someone else as well I liked it so much!)

Recipes made: Shakshuka (p.66) & Clear Chicken Soup with Knaidlach (pp.144-5)

I really like making and eating Shakshuka, however this was the first actual recipe for one I have followed. Most of the time I just make it all up using a can of diced tomatoes, whatever else we have that will go with it, plus the egg. It can be quite a simple dish, and after I saw Molly Yeh demonstrate it at a Local is Lovely workshop a couple of years ago I knew I could replicate it at home. I imagine Yotam and Sami’s version is more traditional than what I often make, and includes harissa and ground cumin. It was really nice making a shakshuka without a can of tomatoes and having a slightly spicy chunky sauce to cook the eggs in (I actually found it easier to cook the eggs this way). 

Adaptations: I reduced the amount of harissa to about a teaspoon as I’m not into really spicy foods, and reduced the amount of eggs as I was only serving one. I also used yellow capsicums as thats what we already had! 

Shakshuka

This chicken soup was my first ever attempt at making a Matzo Ball Soup over Passover. It is an involved affair, but worth it. My soup was not as flavourful as I had hoped, so I’m not sure if I should have cooked it longer or maybe it was the cuts of chicken I used (I didn’t 100% stick to the recipe on that one). I also used freshly ground matzo rather than pre-prepared matzo meal for the knaidlach so I think they would have been a bit lighter and smoother with the shop bought matzo meal. Definitely a recipe to go back to! 

Matzo Ball Soup

Favourite things about the book: This book is beautifully photographed and I really love the lifestyle photography from around Jerusalem. It really brings the essence of the city into the book and the recipes, rather than just showing photos of the completed dishes in isolation. 

I also really like the fact that this is more than a cookbook. Whilst reading you take in recipes you want to try and discover dishes you might never have heard of, but you also get a history lesson through food. The introductions for each chapter and recipes are well worth reading as much of the cultural and religious or historical significance of a dish or ingredient are explained. And sometimes personal notes from both the authors are shared around specific recipes too. 

Bookmarked recipes (to make later!): Swiss Chard Fritters (p.54) & Latkes (p.92).

Lifestyle photography in Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi