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Ready, set, cook! 8 new cookbooks for spring
Looking to up your cooking creds whilst in quarantine? Then you'll be needing our curated guide to the most useful and inspiring cookbooks for spring. Yes, chef!
Falastin: A Cookbook by by Sami Tamimi with Tara Wigley
Created by two Ottolenghi chefs, Falastin features over 110 recipes and anecdotes from Sami’s childhood growing up in Palestine. Expect crowd pleasing dishes, like pulled lamb schwarma and tahini rolls (a Palestinian version of a cinnamon bun), that offer a contemporary take on generation old recipes. The book’s really beautiful -more like a coffee table book than a cookbook – peppered with travel photography as well as foodie snaps, so you’ll want to watch out for spillages when you’re cooking.
Grow Fruit & Vegetables in Pots by Aaron Bertelsen
Another cookbook with perfect timing, along with 50 recipes inspired by the English garden, cook and gardener Aaron Bertelsen offers practical advice on growing your own veggies, no matter how big your outside space is (you can grown herbs in plastic bottles dontcha know). Dinner always tastes better when you’ve worked for it so it’s a win win.
Dinner in French by Melissa Clark
This cookbook has a section dedicated entirely to cheese. Enough said. Created by New York Times star food writer Melissa Clark, recipes in this beautifully illustrated book break down classic French dishes and techniques and revamp them for modern cooking. Recipes include Scalloped Potato Gratin, Lamb Shank Cassoulet and Apricot Tarte Tatin. Bon appetite!
Fakeaway by Chris Bavin
Missing your regular Friday night takeaway? BBC One’s British Home Cook presenter Chris Bavin’s new cookbook includes 100 quick and affordable copycat dishes including chicken chow mien (a dead cert for impressing the kids), falafel, grilled chicken katsu and veggie calzone. Recipes also have suggestions for ingredient swaps to make them gluten and dairy free and vegan. Cheers Chris.
Tin Can Magic by Jessie Elliott Dennison
Featuring simple recipes that use forgotten cans lurking in the bottom of larders everywhere (I recently uncovered a can of lentils from 2004 – eek!), this cookbook by chef-patron of Elliott’s Cafe in Bristol, Jessie Elliott Dennison, has arrived just in time. Choose from chilli tomato noodles with crispy garlic and sesame, coconut milk pancakes, garlic mushrooms and more dahl than you can shake a stick at.
The 7 Day Vegan Challenge by Bettina Campolucci Bordi
If you’ve ever fancied giving Veganism a whirl then this cookbook is a great place to start with 70 accessible and affordable recipes to impress. The book also features nifty meal planners, weekly shopping lists and tips on batch cooking and freezing so the hard work is done for you, erm, except for the cooking bit.
The Roasting Tin Around the World by Rukmini Iyer
Muddy HQ staffers are big fans of The Roasting Tin series which feature totally delicious and easy recipes all cooked on one oven tray (our lunchbox game has seriously improved). For the fourth instalment lawyer turned food stylist Rukmini Iyer has whipped up regional dishes from around the world, all perfect for time-pressed cooks.
Trejo’s Tacos by Danny Trejo
The ultimate family crowd pleaser, we <heart> tacos in the Muddy house – it’s a bit of fun to leave the cutlery in the draw for once and the kids live mucking in to assemble them. This new cookbook from Hollywood tough-guy Danny Trejo features 75 punchy Mexican recipes – including his award-winning cauliflower tacos – plus cocktail recipes (oh hello, Hibiscus Margarita) and stories from his LA roots.