Food is Food

Home Baked isn't strictly a dessert book, it also contains savory baked goods, but the vast majority of the recipes are for sweets with just one section dedicated to breads (and a few recipes for dog biscuits). This book is mammoth! It has over 150 recipes for everything from Viennoiserie to cakes, cookies, pies and patisserie. 

What sets the book apart is that the instructions are incredibly clear and well written and for the most part feel very easy to accomplish. The photographs are appealing as are the creative flavor combinations like Zaatar, Carrot Banana Cake, Chocolate Olive Oil Cake with Grapefruit, Peach and Berry Tarts with Buttermilk Custard and Fig, Apricot, Stilton and Goat Cheese Tart.
Who's it for? Any baking enthusiast or as the author says, "domestic adventurer." 

Francois Payard the author of Payard Cookies is a third generation French pastry chef. He was named pastry chef of the year by both the James Beard Foundation and Bon Appetit magazine. He is also a cookie monster. Ok, not a monster but a self-proclaimed lover of cookies. As you might imagine, his cookies are not rustic or homey, they are elegant, sophisticated and well, fancy. 

This is not a book for beginners but for someone with a stand mixer, a scale (everyone should really have one). rolls of parchment paper, a pastry bag and tips as well as silicone baking mats and in some cases, a candy thermometer. The cookies are stunning and involved. For example the Walnut Cookie Bars are composed of a crust, walnut filling, almond cream and a topping.
Who’s it for? Anyone looking to impress or learn some professional pastry techniques. 

I thought I’d seen it all, until Cookies & Beer came around. Yes, it is what it sounds like, a book of cookie recipes with beer pairings. Like a romantic comedy with a car chase thrown in, I suppose it might bridge a divide between two possibly divergent groups, in this case beer lovers and cookie lovers. 

The recipes come from brewers as well as acclaimed pastry chefs from around the country—such as William Werner and Christopher Elbow. The book has both traditional and modern recipes—there are manly cookies with bacon, savory cookies as well as some classics like Russian Tea Cakes and several versions of chocolate chip cookies. There are even cookies with spent grain (from making beer) or beer in the batter.

The recipes are mostly really easy and you can skip the beer if it’s not your thing, or put a whole new spin on the traditional cookie party.
Who’s it for? Obviously cookie and beer lovers!

Guittard Chocolate Cookbook was written by Amy Guittard, the great, great granddaughter of the founder of the Guittard chocolate company. It was published earlier this year but it has lots of holiday appropriate recipes, such as Chocolate Trifle, Chocolate Almond Ginger Bark and Jim's Special Fudge so I'm including it.


I love the use of light rye flour in recipes like Chocolate Pistachio Sables, Salted Chocolate Shortbread and Morning Muffins made with applesauce and oats. The recipes are geared for the home baker and generally don't require any fancy techniques. The book has recipes for cookies and bars, breakfast pastries, cakes, puddings and confections.The recipes use Guittard chocolate, and the chips at very least are widely available in supermarkets.
Who's it for? Chocolate lovers!

one small bowl 

50 g pistachios (unsalted) 

1 tbsp olive oil

140 g feta cheese

large handful of coriander leaves (or two handfuls, really. Lots!)

1/2 garlic clove 

1/2 tsp sambal oelek (feel free to use red chili instead, and as much as you'd like - I like things mild...) 

zest and juice from 1/2 lemon 

2-3 tbsp greek yogurt 

Use a food processor. Start with the nuts and the oil and process briefly until coarsely chopped. Add everything else, and pulse until lovely and creamy. Taste to see if you want to adjust the seasonings. Then serve. Eat. Enjoy. Lick from bowl. 

I've done so many variations on lamb meatballs, really. These were inspired by the lovely Persiana cookbook by Sabrina Ghayour, which I found at my local library a few days ago. Her version contained pine nuts and raisins as well, but as I was out of pine nuts I had to omit those, and I'm not the biggest fan of raisins so I skipped that as well. But feel free to add in both! I changed a bunch of other things too, but loved the idea of adding cinnamon. My kids LOVED these - they're both pretty fussy eaters so I was thrilled that we could actually enjoy something together for a change. I 

serves 4 (at least 2 adults, and 2 kids - I'd do more for 4 adults) 

500 g lamb mince

1/2 yellow onion, very finely minced

large handful of coriander, stalks and leaves, very finely minced

1 egg

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp cumin

salt 

Oil and butter for frying

Mix all the ingredients for the mince. Mix pretty well, it'll help the meatballs hold their shape and stay intact. Shape little meatballs, or any shape you like - I went for the fairly traditional oblong köfte (kefta) but that's up to you. 

Heat the oven to 150°C. Fry the meatballs in butter and (or) oil, until well browned but then move them to the oven and let them cook through. (I check mine with a thermometer, and I want them to be at least 70°C.)

Serve, with anything - we ate tomato bulgur and pistachio-feta dip. 

I’m recently back from a whirlwind week long trip to Guangdong province in China. The capital city Guangzhou is the home of Cantonese food and I am obsessed by many spectacular dishes I enjoyed there. Some were complicated like stuffed mud carp and a candy like crisp pork belly, and some were rather simple yet very compelling such as the congee I ate every morning topped with fried peanuts and some preserved vegetables. One of the simplest dishes I had was a pile of thin flat rice noodles tossed with vinegar, sesame seeds and a generous dollop of XO sauce. The savory, salty, fishy, hot and sweet ingredients in the sauce all meld together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.

XO sauce was invented in Hong Kong, possibly Kowloon, in the 1980’s and there are many different recipes for it. The name XO means extra old, like you see on a very expensive bottle of cognac (popular in China). But there isn’t any cognac in XO sauce, although the dried seafood used in it is rather expensive. The sauce is primarily dried seafood and ham or sausage and pungent aromatics and while you can buy it, it’s extremely satisfying to make. Fortunately you can easily find all the ingredients for it easily in an Asian market. I found the dried shrimp and scallops in a refirgerated case with tofu and noodles. Use the absolute best quality you can find. 

This sauce is kind of crumbly and chewy. It’s super easy to make and just a pure umami bomb. Add it to fried rice, rice porridge, dumplings or noodles, steamed green vegetables or fish, or on anything you like! I’m thinking a jar of it would make a really nice gift this time of year but I wouldn’t blame you for keeping it all for yourself. My version of it is adapted from various sources primarily recipes by David Chang and Kylie Kwong. I first made David Chang's recipe but I felt it had too much ginger and garlic. My version is closer to what I had in China and unlike Chang's version mine includes shallots and Shaoxing wine. 

Enjoy!