These Are The Cookbooks On My Wishlist At The Moment

Cookbooks on my Wishlist

You can barely move in my flat for cookbooks (and a lot of my collection has been sent to my parents house in Kent!) so I have had to make a rule that I only buy new ones on my birthday (as a present to myself!) and when I have to make up an order to get free delivery on something I actually need. As a result, my Amazon wish list gets pretty packed, so today I thought it would be fun to share the books currently on my list, and, more importantly, why I want to get my hands on them.

Creole Kitchen: Sunshine Flavours from the Caribbean by Vanessa Bolosier

I keep seeing this book everywhere, and I think while I first picked it up it was because of the pineapple on the cover, it is so full of sunshine flavours that I now really want to add it to my collection. I don’t own a Caribbean cookbook or know much about food from the islands so the main reason it got added to my wish list is the opportunity to learn something new. There are lots of fish recipes which I can’t wait to get my teeth into!

Greenfeast: Spring, Summer by Nigel Slater

Okay, so I was always going to want the new Nigel Slater book, but I’m particularly excited about Greenfeast, and the second Autumn, Winter volume coming later in the year as it is all about my favourite way of eating that us food writers have been banging on about for years, but publishers are only starting to buy into by letting us write books about it. Eating driven by the seasons, mostly vegetable based with not much meat and fish during the week. Everything I want to eat all tied together by Nigel Slater’s fabulous prose.

Completely Perfect: 120 Essential Recipes for Every Cook by Felicity Cloake

I read The Times, not The Guardian, so the first I heard of Felicity Cloake’s column which really hones in on the very best way to make classic recipes (that are all collected together in this book) was when she was interviewed on the Desert Island Dishes Podcast. While as a food writer and recipe developer I spend most of my time either trying to create something new or tinkering to find new twists on classic dishes, sometimes I just want a classic something to eat and I want a book to hand that tells me the very best way to do it (and hopefully I’ll learn something along the way – for example, I still can’t successfully make custard!)

The Little Viet Kitchen: Over 100 authentic and delicious Vietnamese recipes by Thuy Diem Pham

Sometimes I just want cookbooks because I know they will be beautiful and inspiring. I already own a Vietnamese cookbook – Uyen Luu’s brilliant My Vietnamese Kitchen and I have not cooked enough from it to need another one! However, it is photographed by David Loftus and I adore the restaurant in Islington, so how could I not?

Onions Etcetera: The Essential Allium Cookbook – more than 150 recipes for leeks, scallions, garlic, shallots, ramps, chives and every sort of onion by Kate Winslow and Guy Ambrosino

While some books I buy for inspiration and others to learn something new, there are others I buy to make me a better cook, that really drill down on a particular subject. Some sort of allium forms the backbone of flavour and cooking in almost every single cuisine I can think of, so obviously I’m excited by a book that really drills down on every single edible allium.

Cooking With Scraps by Lindsay-Jean Hard

To be honest I’m not entirely sure how I heard about this book, but as I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes down to cutting down on food waste, a book that teaches what to do with the totally edible bits of food people don’t usually eat so I can throw away even less gets a massive tick from me!

The L.A. Cookbook by Alison Clare Steingold

I want this book because from my time living there I know that while I live in London and take influences from around the world (especially Asia) my true culinary heart is the city of Los Angeles. I already own a copy of Los Angeles Cult Recipes and while it really captures the spirit of the food of city I love, the recipes don’t really work for home cooks, which is what The L.A. Cookbook promises. And there are recipes in here from places I love like Bottega Louie, Joan’s on Third, and The Tasting Kitchen.

Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking by Bonnie Morales Frumkin

I got excited about this modern Russian cookbook when it won Food 52’s Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks last year. Part of my family comes from Russia and I’ve always been fascinated in how Russian food has evolved from dishes similar to that I remember growing up with the obvious impact the Soviet Union had on a nations dining habits (if you’re interested, you need to read Mastering The Art of Soviet Cooking which is a fascinating, brilliant read) and everything just sounded delicious as the judges made it. You can read the judgements that included Kachka (as well as a few more utterly brilliant cookbooks)here, here, here, and here.

Now & Again: Go-to Recipes, Inspired Menus + Endless Meal Ideas for Reinventing Leftovers by Julia Turshen

I was excited the moment I found out that Julia Turshen was writing a new cookbook, even more so when I found out that David Loftus was photographing it, and I’m quite sad I still don’t own a copy. To put it simply, Julia’s recipes are noting short of imaginative genius, totally delicious, and pretty much always work. This book also promises to help feed my obsession with cutting down on food waste! You can read me going on and on about how great Julia’s first book, Small Victories is here, here, here, and here.

The Slow Cooker Cookbook by Williams-Sonoma

Now, I’m not usually one for store branded cookbooks, but every single British slow cooker cookbook I’ve had out the library so far has been either boring to read, or the recipes have been awful. Every single slow cooker adventure I’ve had from the recipes in this book shared on the Williams-Sonoma blog have been fantastic (with a special shout out to this Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Harissa which I have made several times) so I have high hopes for this volume!

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