The Hottest Cookbook Releases of 2019

Kath December 1, 2019

This is the time of year where it becomes obvious that some pretty good cookbooks have been released. The few months in the lead up to Christmas see's us welcome many new titles to the cookbook section of our favourite bookshops (or even our own cookbook shelves!). Here are the recent releases I am most excited about.

Veg by Jamie Oliver - As a lover of vegetarian food I was really excited to hear Jamie Oliver was releasing a book dedicated to veg. It's filled with really interesting and often fairly simple recipes and great food photography (I love it when a book has an image for each recipe!).
Bake Australia Great by Katherine Sabbath - This book seems like pure fun. And I don't think we could expect anything else from the queen of cakes Katherine Sabbath. Katherine and her wild imagination have dreamed up a selection of recipes paying homage to all things Aussie.
Just Desserts by Charlotte Ree - A super cute book by a super lovely person. This little book packs a punch in terms of fun, colour, design and photography. And of course baking recipes! I tried the Brown Butter Bundt at one of the book release events, and it immediately went straight to the top of my must bake list.
From the Oven to the Table by Diana Henry - Diana Henry is a food writer based in the UK, and if you've not heard of her you're in for a treat. Diana creates beautiful recipes and gorgeous cookbooks, and this one is all about easy and tasty food that takes minimal effort from you. I have bookmarked many recipes in this book, but I first want to start with Chicken with Plums, Honey and Pomegranates - as soon as plums are in season! Check out Diana's previous releases such as How to Eat a Peach for more divine recipes and food writing.
Just Add Love by Irris Makler - If any book could be described as a book filled with love, this is it. This book compiled by journalist Irris Makler, shares the stories and recipes of Holocaust survivors. The stories are detailed and to be honest, they are what keep me picking up this book to read more. Irris also has a blog of the same name which I highly recommend you check out if you want to know more.
The Little Library Year by Kate Young - If you are an avid reader as well as a lover of cookbooks this is the book for you. Kate had created recipes to suit the changing seasons and paired them with the perfect read. I own Kate's first book, The Little Library Cookbook, which contains recipes created from the pages of Kate's favourite novels, and even though I am not a very avid reader of novels I still love the book and particularly enjoy the Harry Potter references!

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

Off The Shelf Christmas Edition - 'Nigella Christmas' by Nigella Lawson

Kath November 13, 2019

Bought at: The Cookery Book, Northbridge (Sydney), many years ago.

Recipes Made: Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies p.208 and Spruced Up Vanilla Cake p.198.

The Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies (or biscuits as us Aussies usually call them), have been quite a Christmas baking staple at our house since we got this book. They are quick to make, very satisfying and lend themselves to lots of adaptations. This recipe also uses pecans, which we usually leave out as we never have any.

I made a version of the Spruced Up Vanilla Cake a few years ago, and posted it here on the blog. I added fresh raspberries to the cake, and served it with a rose syrup. I do however very much like the idea of a good vanilla cake, and this one is one of those. Its quite easy to make, and when cooked in a bundt tin, looks immediately spectacular despite the little effort the cake takes to make!

Favourite Things About the Book: Cookbooks that are dedicated to Christmas are always a joy to read and cook from, even if our hot Australian Christmas doesn’t lend itself to all the recipes. I especially like the way Nigella has organised this book, with chapters dedicated to ‘manageable mass catering’, ‘serve later sides’ and ‘stress free suppers’. Christmas can feel like quite a stressful time of year, but with the calmness of Nigella on your side, the Christmas food preparation can be made much more manageable.

This is also one of those books that needs to be perused during the year as well, not just at Christmas. As some of the more English Christmas fare doesn’t suit our warm climate, it would be great to go back to some of these recipes mid-year when we are enjoying Winter.

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Pumpkin and Goat’s Cheese Lasagne p.34-6, Chargrilled Peppers with Pomegranate p.58-9, Festive Couscous p.97, Beetroot Orzotto and Scarlet-Speckled Loaf Cake p.202.

Off The Shelf - ‘Monday Morning Cooking Club - The Food, The Stories, The Sisterhood’

Kath October 23, 2019

Bought at: a bookshop in Woolhara, Sydney. I don’t remember the name of it, but I remember vividly that I had drove over to the Eastern Suburbs to meet a friend, at the old Jones the Grocer (I think it was about 2012). There was a bookshop nearby and I had it in my mind that I wanted to buy this book. I remember hearing about it on the old day time show called The Circle. And whether or not they were actually talking about this book, or I got my wires crossed and found this one anyway, it doesn’t matter now. The fact is that this book has been such a well used addition to my cookbook collection that, I am so glad I did find it.

Recipes Made: Custard Chiffon Cake p.35, Nice’s Date Slice p.55, Egg and Onion p.78, Talia’s Raspberry Tart p.93, Tomato Soup with Basil and Rocket Oil p.129, Hamantashen p.221, Couscous Roast Chicken p.233 and Challah from Heaven p.263.

If you make only one thing from this book, make sure it’s the Custard Chiffon Cake. This cake is the lightest and fluffiest cake you will ever make or eat. I absolutely adore this cake, and it is well worth the effort of finding an angel food cake tin (that isn’t non stick). I first tried this cake at a baking demonstration/workshop with the Monday Morning Cooking Club at BakeClub in 2014 (for more see this blog post). The workshop coincided with the release of the Monday Morning Cooking Club’s second book, The Feast Goes On (which I also highly recommend), however a few things from the first book were made that day too. We saw how the cake is made, and then got to try some and take a little home. For me, the Chiffon cake stood out from all the rest and has been my go to chiffon cake recipe ever since.

Nice’s Date Slice is also a recipe is has often been on high rotation in our house. A few years ago, when I was still at uni and worked in a cafe, I made it often as it is super quick and simple and was great to take with me as a little snack. It is also a massive crowd pleaser, I don’t recall anyone ever not liking this slice!

I was introduced to Egg and Onion at last years Cornersmith workshop with the Monday Morning Cooking Club ladies. Isn’t it funny, that you can have a recipe sitting right under your nose for years, but not take notice until someone else makes it for you? Well, that’s what happened for me with this recipe. I really needed to taste it to know how good it was, especially as this dip/great accompaniment to bread, was quite a foreign concept to me having only been introduced to Jewish cooking in the last few years. After this workshop I made it so many times, it is super simple, yet so satisfying to eat. It is particularly good with challah and bagels, and I have a smaller quantity of the recipe on this blog post, if you like me, never have that many people to serve (the original recipe serves 12!).

I think Talia’s Raspberry Tart was the first recipe I made from this book. I made it so many times in the first couple of years I had the book there is a labelled post it note for the recipe so it was very easy to find! It was also the first proper tart I ever made, and I always loved the story behind the recipe too. I think I was taken in by Talia’s desire to recreate the dishes she ate at restaurants at home, something that I often do too. The photo in the book of this tart is so inviting as well, with its perfect pastry and gorgeous raspberries. I have also made this tart with a combination of berries along with raspberries and it is just lovely.

Tomato Soup with Basil and Rocket Oil was made a couple of times by my Mum, who was looking for an alternative to our usual Tomato and Bacon Soup. This soup is made from fresh tomatoes rather than canned, and uses stale sourdough to thicken it. I absolutely loved it when Mum made it, and I think I will need to make it again very soon!

Earlier this year around the Jewish festival of Purim, I was doing research around Hamantashen recipes, and of course the Monday Morning Cooking Club was one of the first books I looked at. The image on the inside of the back cover of this book, is a striking picture of folded Hamantashen ready to go in the oven. This image always reminded me that this book had a recipe for Hamantashen, so I tried the dough recipe. I liked it except the recipe (in the edition I own at least), doesn’t say to the brush the cut dough with water or egg wash before folding the dough into the triangular Hamantashen. I found this meant the dough didn’t remain pinched together and didn’t keep that signature triangular shape during baking. I tried another recipe in the end (see blog post here), but I think if I used this recipe again in the future I would just brush the cut dough with an egg wash before shaping.

Hamantashen using dough recipe from Monday Morning Cooking Club

The Couscous Roast Chicken is a dish we have made countless times over the years. As a family we have 3 or 4 roast chicken recipes we frequent often and this one has been a high rotation (another is the Pistachio Roast Chicken from MMCC’s third book, but that’s a story for another Off the Shelf post!). We always use pearl or Israeli couscous for this dish, and always dates rather than dried apricots. The combination of the coucous, dates, herbs, spices and nuts make a delicious chicken stuffing and side all in one.

Simialar to the Egg and Onion I first tried the Challah from Heaven at the Cornersmith Workshop last year. I have certainly eaten challah before, but never a homemade one, and boy does it make a difference! The bread was soft and pillow like, and as I found when I made it at home, using the instructions given by the Monday Morning Cooking Club about how to do the six strand braid, isn’t too hard. I made many challah loaves in the months after that workshop, only stopping for a while as I was almost eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Favourite Things About The Book: Everything! I love the recipes, some of which have become very firm family favourites (the Custard Chiffon Cake, Date Slice and Couscous Roast Chicken most notably). I also absolutely love reading the stories behind the recipes and the people who contributed to them. This was the first cookbook that really got me thinking about food history and heirloom recipes, and how important it is to write them down and continue making them. This was also the first cookbook that really introduced me to the varied world of Jewish cooking, and I have to say I haven’t looked back since! I have found it immensely interesting to learn about another culture through food, and I think it has enriched my life and my families dinner table so much for the better.

I also love the story behind how the Monday Morning Cooking Club came about, and how at it’s core it was about recording recipes and celebrating food. If you already have a copy of this book, or can get a hold of one, read the introduction, it explains the whole concept so well. Then grab a big cup of tea, as you will probably find yourself sat reading all the stories behind each recipe and contributors to the book for a good long while.

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Buba’s Eggplant p.71, Ginger Snaps p.72, Ginger Cake p.75, Bienenstich p.94, Israeli Couscous Soup, Almond Kifli p.150 and Chicken Persian Pilau p.203.

*NB: I own the original 2011 edition of this book which was published by Hardie Grant. Page numbers for recipes may differ in newer editions of this title.

Off The Shelf - 'Molly on the Range' by Molly Yeh

Kath July 31, 2019

Bought from: Booktopia. I preordered this one, as I had met Molly at a Local is Lovely Workshop in 2016 (not too long before the book was due to be released), and knew it would be a good addition to my cookbook shelf!

Recipes Made: Shakshuka Couscous p.25-27, Quinoa Carbonara p.110, Pistachio Loaf Cake p.220-21 and Brown Sugar Cookies p.229-30

For the Shakshuka Couscous I didn’t follow the recipe to the letter, but it gave me (along with seeing Molly make shakshuka at the Local is Lovely Workshop) the idea to add quinoa to shakshuka. I cooked the quinoa separately, and added it in before I added the eggs. It was great, and exactly what I wanted as at the time I wanted to take the leftovers to work for lunch the next day, and the criteria for leftovers for work lunches are that it needs to be tasty and something I will look forward to eating, and also something that is filling enough (no one likes being hungry at work do they?!). This recipe ticked both of those boxes, and I am happy to report that even the egg from the shakshuka was really nice reheated the next day!

Continuing with the quinoa theme, I decided to try the Quinoa Carbonara recipe. Again wanting leftovers for work lunch the next day, I made it and felt the flavour left me a little disappointed. It wasn’t as tasty as I had hoped, but took it for lunch the next day anyway. Well, that extra time seemed to do something as it was significantly more tasty the next day! So I can highly recommend this one to make ahead!

The Pistachio Loaf Cake is definitely my favourite recipe from the whole book! I have never tried the cake Molly is recreating in this recipe, but I feel I probably don’t have to as this one is so good. I wrote a blog post a while back about this cake, and I have continued to make it since. I have also made it with a rosewater icing and decorated with freeze dried raspberries which was also realllllyyy nice.

Brown Sugar Cookies (aka Chocolate Chip Cookies without the Chocolate Chips) - I definitely feel Molly on this recipe! I was always the kid who wanted a Chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips (thanks Mum for obliging on this for so many years!). I now know I can’t eat chocolate, but even as a kid I just didn’t really like it that much (controversial!!!). At friends birthday parties we would play that game where you had to cut the block of chocolate with a plastic knife and eat it (there was some time pressure to this whole thing but I really can’t remember the whole premise of the game now!), and I would always get another friend to eat the chocolate while I frantically tried to cut bits of a chocolate bar with a pathetic plastic knife. Same goes for cookies, I always appreciated them sans chocolate chips, or maybe with white chocolate.

When I made Molly’s recipe I didn’t refrigerate the dough - mostly because as far as I was concerned baking cookies should be a fairly instantly gratifying process and leaving the dough to rest for at least a day was just to much to handle. I probably would have had a better cookie if I had done so, but the instant gratification of a warm cookie was too hard to pass up.

Favourite Things About the Book: The variety of recipes, and their uniqueness to Molly! Molly has such great and diverse recipes that really are a reflection of her Chinese and Jewish heritage and her life on the farm in the Upper Mid West of America. You really won’t find some of these recipes in other cookbooks, and it makes owning this book all the more special.

I really like the snippets of Molly’s life and context around certain recipes or chapters as well. Through reading and cooking through this book, you really get to know Molly, how these recipes came about and why her style of cooking is so unique to her. Molly’s fun and bright personality shines through in her writing and recipes, and it’s like having a friend there with you in the kitchen.

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Mum’s Matzo Brei p.13, Smoky Bacon Mac and Cheese p.99, Pizza Dough p.120, Cardamom Cupcakes with Lingonberry Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting p.262-3, Party Trick Peanut Butter Cake (thinking I could use another type of nut butter for this one!) and Funfetti Cake p.271-3.

Off The Shelf - 'Taverna' by Georgina Hayden

Kath June 12, 2019

Bought from: Booktopia - I preordered this one as I had seen some behind the scenes of the book on Georgina’s Instagram and knew it would be worth getting as soon as it was released!

Recipes Made: Chicken Cinnamon and Sweet Tomato Orzo p.162, Coriander and Lemon Roast Chicken p.165, Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Quince p.170 and Bergamot Loukoumia p.247.

I made the Chicken Cinnamon and Sweet Tomato Orzo as a nice tasty weeknight meal. It was delicious and the leftover orzo was enjoyed for a couple of days after. I would even make it again without the chicken as the pasta element was so good. I didn’t like using chicken thighs with the bone in as the recipe suggested though. It think it is the chicken I have available to me, but the pieces were just massive and hard to eat and also difficult to fit into the pan. Next time I would buy boneless thighs or drumsticks just because that is what my family generally prefers.

The Coriander and Lemon Roast Chicken is a recipe that is right up my families alley so to speak. We love a good tasty roast chicken, and coriander and lemon are flavours we often use and enjoy a lot. This roast chicken is a low fuss affair compared to some other recipes we make which was great, and it had beautiful flavour and everyone enjoyed it. So much so we have made it twice now. You could easily make this on a weeknight if you have time, otherwise its a lovely more simple meal to prepare on the weekend. We ate it with garlic mashed potatoes which we loved.

The Slow Roast Pork Shoulder with Quince was one of the first recipes that stood out to me in Taverna. I absolutely adore quince, and look forward to their season every year. Luckily when Taverna was released, quince season was just beginning so it was perfect timing. This is the first recipe I made, and while I don’t usually cook a lot of meat and had never cooked a pork shoulder (or made crackling for that matter!), this turned out really well. The skin was super crispy and the quince sitting below the meat were soft and tender. The combination of quince and pork is a beautiful one, and I really can’t wait to make this again next year when quince come back into season.

The recipe for Bergamot Loukoumia (the Greek Cypriot version of Turkish Delight), was about 90% of the reason I knew I needed to buy this book. I saw some behind the scenes things on Georgina’s Instagram when she was working on the book, and one time noticed something about bergamot. I knew instantly that if this book had any mention of bergamot I needed to own it. My bergamot obsession rivals my love of quince, so much so, that I think bergamot may win over as my favourite fruit of all time.

We have a bergamot tree, the fruit from which was maybe two or three months away from being ripe and ready when Taverna was released. This recipe for loukoumia was quickly bookmarked for when the bergamots were ready. I then went outside one day and saw a branch from the bergamot tree had broken off. There were a few bergamot lost with the branch and I couldn’t throw them away even if they weren’t 100% ripe yet. I picked a few more to lighten the load of the tree and used half of what I picked to make these Bergamot Loukoumia.

The process of making these, as confectionary making goes, is quite easy, you just need a little time. Mine didn’t go a deep golden colour (maybe as the bergamots I used weren’t ripe), but they tasted absolutely amazing. I added a couple of drops of Natural Bergamot Essence to mine as I was worried my bergamots wouldn’t have a strong enough flavour, but next I make them I wouldn’t bother with it. I found they don’t store well (which I think is common for homemade Turkish delight), as the loukoumia soak up the icing sugar mix dusted on them and create a bit of an oozy mess - but, if you can look beyond that you are in for a really amazing treat!

Favourite Things About the Book: I really loved finding out more about Greek Cypriot food. I don’t know a lot about Greek food generally, and had no idea that Cypriot dishes varied in anyway from those on the mainland. I also really like that this book is deeply personal for Georgina and her family, it is like a celebration of their heritage and food history all the while bringing the reader along for the fabulously tasty journey. This book is really unique and unlike any I already have (which is saying something!).

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Grilled Spicy Prawns with Feta and Ouzo p.74, Garlic Butter Prawns with Orzo p.130, Pastitsio p.172-3, Classic Moussaka p.176-7, Jewelled Pilafi p.209 and Pistachio and Strawberry Celebration Cake p.224.

Off The Shelf - 'A Basket by the Door' by Sophie Hansen

Kath May 9, 2019

Bought at: The combined Sydney book launch of ‘A Basket by the Door’ by Sophie Hansen, ‘Tortellini at Midnight’ by Emiko Davies & ‘A Tree in the House’ by Annabelle Hickson - March 2019. This event took place a couple of weeks before ‘A Basket by the Door’ was officially released, and I was so happy to be able to buy a copy a little early! It was also wonderful to have the book signed by Sophie. I then spent the remainder of the afternoon after the book launch, looking through the book and never wanting it to end.

Recipes Made: Pistachio, Cardamon & Rose Balls p.17, Sweet Verjus-Pickled Strawberries with Vanilla and Pink Peppercorns p.66, Orange and Quinoa Biscuits p.66, Apple, Fennel & Pork Sausage Rolls p.142, Quick Tomato Chutney p.142, Quince Chutney p.145, Pasta Salad with Olive and Walnut Pesto p.159, Piedmontese Capsicums p.183, Quince Butter p.199, Anna’s Minestrone p.215 and Baked Apple Porridge p.216.

The Pistachio Cardamom and Rose Balls are the first ‘bliss ball’ type of thing I have ever made or eaten. I am not one for ‘healthy’ fad foods just for the sake of it, I am after flavour and lots of it. I also find that many bliss balls use some kind of chocolate or cacao and cashews, all of which I cannot eat. These on the other hand, are not like regular bliss balls. The fact that this recipe was the first I made from the book is testament to that. The combination of dates, honey, cardamom and rose makes these balls moorish and actually worth making. I am finding they are a great snack for work days.

I first tried Sophie’s Sweet Verjus-Pickled Strawberries with Vanilla and Pink Peppercorns and the Orange and Quinoa Biscuits at the first Local is Lovely Workshop back in 2014. As we all madly took photos, Sophie demonstrated how to make them and we got to sample some. After that I have recreated it home many time, served with a nice goats cheese or curd and fresh honeycomb.

Ok, the Apple Fennel and Pork Sausage Rolls are the absolute bomb. I am not a big meat eater, but I do love pork, and these sausage rolls are the best I have ever had. They first appeared in column Sophie wrote for the Domain Magazine last year, and I saved the recipe and have made them numerous times ever since. Once I realised how utterly amazing they were, I started making double and freezing them rolled into logs ready to cook. I have made a couple of batches of the Quick Tomato Chutney, which is great with the sausage rolls. I also love serving it with frittatas as well.

The Quince Chutney on the other hand, is the best accompaniment to these sausage rolls. This recipe also appeared in the Domain mag last year, so I made one batch of it. I was so disappointed when it was all gone, that this year I am determined to make at least two batches. If I can really recommend anything to make from this book, top of my list would be these sausage rolls with the quince chutney.

I made the Pasta Salad with Olive and Walnut Pesto so I had something nice to take to work for lunch, inspired by this chapter in the book about making time for lunch during work. I made the pesto with almonds as I didn’t have any walnuts and I loved it. And I definitely didn’t have any “sad desk lunch[es]” that week!

The Piedmontese Capsicums are probably my favourite way to eat capsicums. Again I first tried this dish at the first Local is Lovely Workshop, and have made it again and again ever since. The leftovers are really great added to the topping of a pizza, and as I am such a caper and anchovy fiend I add more than the recipe actually stipulates!

While I have poached quince many times now, I have only recently made them into Quince Butter. Using Sophie’s recipe for poaching, the quinces turned a very deep burgundy red which was most satisfying. I have seen the recipe for quince butter before, and I have to say the lack of water in the recipe always confused me. I did everything as the recipe said until I lost my nerve once the quince were in the oven and added about 1/2 cup water - the mixture was so syrupy almost toffee like I just couldn’t hang around for three hours while it was all in the oven and wonder if it would work! It did in the end and tastes amazing.

I absolutely love the Minestrone Soup recipe in ‘A Basket by the Door’. The same recipe can be found on Sophie’s blog, and I have been making it for the last couple of Winters now. It is super tasty and comforting on a chilly Winter’s evening, and the left overs are great for work lunches or frozen for another time. I always end up using a white wine in the soup rather than red, and there is always a bottle of white wine for cooking open in our fridge. Sometimes I also leave out the pasta and just have the barley and cannellini beans. Mostly because the starch of the pasta thickens the soup up a lot (which is quite noticeable if you are planning on having leftovers), and the soup is so tasty without it I don’t ever miss it.

I made the Baked Apple Porridge last weekend, as an alternative to making my usual Muesli Breakfast Crumble. It smelt so delicious when it was baking, that even though I made it in the afternoon ready for pre-work breakfasts during the week, I just had to taste a little when it was ready! I added some poached quince to mine as well as the apples, and it was delicious. Definitely the perfect warming breakfast for a chilly morning. I served mine with yoghurt and honey as Sophie suggests, though I think some of the quince butter could be lovely with it too!

Favourite Things About the Book: The recipes and the photos! I love the variety of recipes in this book, and that so many of my favourites from Sophie’s blog are included too. Sophie’s food is exactly the kind of food I like to make and eat, simple, seasonal and super tasty. I knew when I heard this book was in the works it would be good, and it certainly hasn’t disappointed. I also love the photography in the book, and the fact that there are so many photos. The pages with the collages of photos are great, and really bright and inviting. The combination of fantastic recipes and photos makes this book so inviting and warm, and one I will be cooking from forever.

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Beetroot, Walnut and Pomegranate Dip p.22, Fennel and Sausage Ragu p.35, The Chicken Pie pp.39-41, Hot-Smoked Salmon and Zucchini Tart p.46, Baked Ricotta with Spring Greens p.69, Vanilla, Peach and Mint Iced Tea p.105, Brunekager p.107, Tomato, Capsicum and Pearl Couscous Salad p.160, Triple Ginger Loaf p.164, Braised Fennel and Tomato p.219, to name a few!

Kulinary Adventures of Kath

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