Recently in Books for Cooks Category

To say that I have been eagerly awaiting Silvena Rowe's latest book would be a complete and utter understatement as I have been an admirer of her cooking style for some time now. Hence, her latest book Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume is an appreciation of Silvena's rich culinary heritage as she takes the reader on a wonderfully rich, culinary journey through Eastern Mediterranean history.

Accordingly, Silvena manages to capture beautifully in both word and picture the food of this region that speaks so clearly of the celebration and festivity of everyday life, whilst also giving her own personal twist to the classic recipes of the Ottoman tradition.

If you enjoy the subtle interplay between sweet and sour and the fresh and the dried, and if you draw immense pleasure from the flavours of cinnamon, saffron, sumac, honey, scented rose and orange blossom water, then this book is definitely for you.

Several weeks ago my dear friend Corrie called to let me know that she may be able to wrangle a spare ticket to the Antonio Carluccio luncheon at ANZ Pavillion at the Arts Centre. I was absolutely thrilled because Antonio is one of my all time food heroes!

After numerous phone calls and much toing and froing, the spare ticket failed to materialise. If truth were told I was a little gutted, as I was so looking forward to meeting one of Italy's great food ambassadors. Corrie could hear the disappointment in my voice, but there really was nothing she could do, as the event was fully booked and she had exhausted every possible avenue.

However, the day after the event my dear friend came bashing on my front door to with a signed copy of Simple Cooking. Not exactly lunch with Antonio, but hey a very close second.

A couple of weeks ago on twitter I asked Anissa if she could recommend some cook books as I was about to splurge on AbeBooks. One of the books Anissa suggested was The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia. The book finally arrived in the mail last Friday and I have since read it from cover to cover.

Although Maria grew up in the kitchen of her Greek Cypriot father's restaurant in London, her recipes demonstrate an eclectic love of world favours. It was only after reading the book and talking to Anissa that I found out that indeed it was Anissa who taught Maria the 'delights of Moroccan cuisine'. Hence, this savoury tomato and Medjool date baklava is yet one example of Maria's versatility and broad culinary landscape.

In this particular recipe Maria suggests that you use fresh tomatoes. Unfortunately tomatoes are not in season yet in Melbourne as we are at the tail end of winter. Being the impatient sort that I am I didn't want to wait months before trying this baklava so I decided to use sun-dried tomatoes instead. The end result was magnificent and the baklava was delicious served warm for dinner that night and equally impressive served cold the next day.

I highly recommend Maria's book as it will not disappoint!

I first came across Natalie Oldfield's book Gran's Kitchen while flicking through the April edition of KiaOra (Air New Zealand's in-flight) magazine. I was so moved by Natalie's story that I decided to contact her and let her know that I intended to review her book. I attempted to write the book review several times, but in the end I suggested to Natalie that instead of me doing the review that maybe she should do a 'guest post' on Gourmet Worrier.

I am delighted that Natalie not only accepted to do a guest post, but thrilled that she also decided to share one of her Gran's favourite recipes. So without further ado I will hand you over to Natalie.

I have wanted a copy of Ottolenghi the Cookbook since I first head about it late last year. My girlfriend Jacqueline was given a copy for her birthday in January and has been raving about it ever since. So the other day while I was at her house I quietly slipped it into my bag while her back was turned. No need to freak as we often help ourselves to each others bookshelves!



On the weekend I had my own little Ottolenghi feast. I now see why everyone has been raving about Yotam and Sami as their food is 'literally, a feast of bold colours and generous gestures. It is driven by an unapologetic desire to celebrate food and its virtues, to display abundance in the same way that a market stallholder does: show everything you've got and shout its praise whole heartedly'.



Their food is straight forward, yet highly inventive. It is 'made and served by a group of people who love preparing food as well as indulging in it, gorging on it, chatting about it endlessly. It is a way of life, somewhere between a healthy obsession and a bad habit we can't kick'. With a focus on the Mediterranean - they strive to 'surprise and stir'. They do so by 'using bold flavours and daring colours, no apologies'.

Today I had a couple of hours to myself so I decided to pop into town and get the last couple of Christmas presents. I was on a specific mission and needed to get presents for two of my young nephews. Hence, after walking around aimlessly for an hour and a half around various toy departments picking up and then putting down assorted bits of Thomas, Bob and John Deere paraphernalia I suddenly felt quite overwhelmed by the task at hand and the growing number of people around me doing the exact same thing!

What was I thinking? Where had my common sense gone and what about my eCommerce prowess? As I fought my way past three hundred or so moaning children and some very frustrated parents stuck in an unmoving queue waiting to get a look in with Santa, I found myself in need of both fresh air and space. Forget the Christmas cheer, Santa's helpers and the string quartet playing carols in a lame attempt to lull shoppers into a false sense of consumer peace. I needed to get on an escalator and get out of there!
 
Moments later I found myself quite unapologetically at 'Food Glorious Food' in David Jones. Almost instantaneously my breathing began to regulate and my head began to clear. What about the Christmas presents for the nephews?  Blame the several hundred whining children for a start! That was enough to frazzle anyone's concentration and dampen ones joyful shopping mood. Not to worry boys your aunt will get things sorted in a jiffy with a little help from eBay!

At any rate, I was quite pleased to find in amongst all the other gourmet finds that David Jones have finally decided (quite sensibly I might add) to put a Cook Book section in Food Glorious Food. Ah - what better way to calm ones nerves then to flick through the latest cook book releases with a glass of wine and a wedge of taleggio? I had a quick flick through Jane Webster's new book 'At my French table' and Christine Manfield's 'Fire - A World of Flavour' before settling on Tessa Kiros' sumptuous book called 'Venezia' (it was marked down by 30%).

Image source - Tessa Kiros 'VENEZIA' (2008).