Publisher: Murdoch Books
ISBN: 978-1742666464
Publication date: 1st March 2012
My first cookery book review! I’m going through a bit of a phase of buying cookery books at the moment, as I’ve discovered that I rather like reading them in bed (especially those with lots of pretty photos, obviously). This is my latest acquirement - Home Made by Yvette Van Boven. It’s a gorgeous hardback (to be honest, it should be gorgeous for £25.00) and focuses on cooking from scratch. That may sound a bit obvious – don’t all cookbooks do that? – but Van Boven has provided several spreads like the one below detailing how to make gnocchi, complete with step-by-step photos. I, for one, like to know what s0me things are meant to look like as I’m cooking them! Some of the guides are illustrated with fabulous little drawings, rather than photos, including the marvellously scrummy-sounding duck ham.
I only bought Home Made on Friday, but Mr. Mouse and I have already made the Irish Soda Bread. I took a photo before we attacked it and it looks like a giant hedgehog.
Food photography – not my forte!
It tasted ace though! The recipe was easy to follow and basically consisted of throwing flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and buttermilk in a bowl, mixing it and chucking it into the oven. No kneading or waiting for it to rise, hooray! We didn’t have any buttermilk and used natural yoghurt instead, and it worked just as well. One word of warning – the recipe makes a large loaf and took twice the recommended baking time. I suspect that this is far more to do with our tiny rubbish oven than the recipe, but it’s something to consider.
Look at the pretty cakes and biccies!
I really like Home Made and it’s staying by my bedside with a pad of post-it notes so I can mark the next bunch of things I want to try – maybe making our own cheese? Or smoking some prawns, which I’m sure the cat would enjoy slightly too much…
