Winter Cooking – Food to Warm the Heart and Soul
A cookbook that will carry you through warmer months, too
Robyn Lewis
Winter Cooking - Food to Warm the Heart and Soul [©Penguin Books Australia]
Be inspired by the coldest months of the year to create a heart-warming feast.
This chunky (490 pages) volume arrives on our desk last week with the embargo date of 2nd August. I've already seen the first bulbs and blossoms – isn't it a little late?
Well yes, if you stick to the promise of the title. It's been compiled by Penguin and some of the recipes have previously appeared in various Penguin Bibles: Cake, Curry, Muffin, Pasta, Seafood, Slow Food and Vegetarian, to quote the back page. No celebrity chef name-dropping here, either; the author is the elusive Anon.
To quote the media release: 'Winter Cooking includes over 250 recipes for hearty soups, flavoursome curries, pastas and risottos, slow-cooked dishes and tasty cakes and muffins.
Try your hand at delicious soups such as fish chowder or minestrone with pesto, or a spicy curry like chicken madras. A big bowl of pasta or risotto will keep the winter chill at bay as will a slow-cooked lamb hot pot.'
However, it's a pity about the title, as on closer inspection many of the recipes will see you well into spring, or autumn, and whoever let a bit of summer heat prevent you eating a seafood pasta or a good curry? Sure there are some slow-cooked dishes that you might not have time to whip up if you're out playing sport on a summer's evening, but hey, it's also the new era of pressure cooking; like everything, the pace is picking up, and slow does not necessarily imply snow.
The recipes are the sort I wish my husband could get his head around; nothing too fancy but everyday meals with flair (well, duck rendang isn't everyday, but you know what I mean). Curries are not nearly as hard as most people think, and are very forgiving of errors, as inexperienced chefs of either sex should discover. The pasta chapter is full of delicious combinations that even a novice cook could feel comfortable with and certainly would be proud of.
In the baking chapter that old standby lemon delicious pudding gets a revamp with limes, there are new muffin flavours for the kids (large or small), and there are a few basic but good cake recipes for those of us who feel terror merely at the mention of Adrian Zumbo.
Wine gets little mention except in some traditional recipes like coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon, although those who watched the recent MasterChef series in Australia will know how many aspiring cooks have little idea how to make these classics. I'll certainly be giving the octopus (not Paul) braised with tomatoes and red wine a go when the weather warms up a bit!
Overall, for A$29.95, a bit of a bargain, and despite the title a recipe book that might acquire the dogears and splatter marks of one that gets year-round use, while others languish on the coffee table or bookshelf.
Winter Cooking is published by Penguin Books (sc, 490 pp. Melbourne, Victoria, 2010. RRP A$29.95).
Subscribers of VisitVineyards.com and Winepros Archive can purchase Winter Cooking at 12.5% discount via our book partners Seekbooks (postage extra).
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