Book Club Tuesday: Plant Magic

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“Pattern over plate” (3)

Recently I was sent a copy of Desiree Nielsen’s Plant Magic and, immediately I was interested in her approach because she is a plant-based (vegan) recipe developer and registered dietitian (click on the link to see what this credential means in Canada, where Nielsen is based). She uses her professional knowledge of nutrition to inspire home cooks – for Nielsen, it’s about a lifetime of good nutritional patterns rather than feeling bad or Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Plant Magic”

Book Club Tuesday: Plantcakes

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My year has been bookended by Lyndsay Sung’s cookbooks and, after sharing her first book (Coco Cake Land) in February, I feel the exact same about her latest book, Plantcakes: her books are too good not to share! Coco Cake Land was a book that I had bought based on a recommendation from a friend and I immediately loved Sung’s playful approach to cake decorating. At the time, I referred to her style as “choose your own adventure” because the book Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Plantcakes”

Book Club Tuesday: Ottolenghi Flavor

 

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Looking at the cookbooks released this autumn, there is a definite trend towards flavour — there’s Ottolenghi Flavor by Ixta Belfrage and Yotom Ottolenghi, Nik Sharma’s Flavor Equation, Bob Blumer’s Flavorbomb, James Briscione and Brooke Parkhurst’s Flavor for All, and Dan Kluger’s Chasing Flavor just to name a few. I think this flavour odyssey is about making the most with what we have to cook with and being able to identify ways to enhance the flavour of a dish whether it’s through the use of particular techniques, ingredients or both. Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Ottolenghi Flavor”

Book Club Tuesday: Bento Power

Bento originates from a culture where ritual and presentation plays an important part of daily life, and where a lot of focus and energy goes into producing, cooking, eating, and talking about food. A bento is a neatly packed portion of food you take with you to work or school, prepared at home or bought ready-made on your way to work. (9)

I can picture my first lunchbox now in all its glory: a canary yellow plastic lunchbox with a Cabbage Patch sticker on it and with a matching thermos inside. As a parent I can see the strategy in giving your child a cool lunchbox — it will make lunch Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Bento Power”