Commentary from Chef Kathryn Taylor

About a month ago I was raving on about The Molten Cookbook, from Michael Van de Elzen. I will continue to do so for some time, as there are so many wonderful recipes to inspire. Char-grilled cauliflower with ginger, parsley & parmesan is a current favourite.

Michael sold Molten at the end of last year, and is fast becoming a well known TV personality with the second season of The Food Truck due to start screening in April.

Another book which has grabbed my attention lately is the newest addition to the River Cottage‘Everyday’ series from the irrepressible Hugh Fearnley-whittingstall. His hair is no longer as long as his name, as he gets more serious in his attempts to change our wayward eating habits. The ‘whole beast’ mantra has now been replaced by a dialogue which celebrates the wonders of fresh, seasonal vegetables.

Hugh already has a huge following in the UK and here in NZ in the wake of his animated and engaging River Cottage TV series. He is knowledgeable and passionate, but also very accessible to the ‘everyday’ cook in all of us.

Veg Everyday! follows on from River Cottage Everyday which included many recipes from his hit TV series. As the name suggests, it offers encouragement and inspiration on how to incorporate more vegetables into our everyday. While Hugh lets us decide whether or not it should be deemed a ‘vegetarian’ book, not one of the recipes features even the smallest amount of meat or fish.

Have a look for yourself and use fresh NZ vegetables to create some, as Hugh would say ‘vege-tastic’ dishes inspired by the likes of ‘baby carrot risotto’, ‘a summer stir-fry with green veg, ginger, garlic and sesame’, ‘cheesy tomato tart’,  ‘ spring onion gallette’ or a winner in everyone’s eyes; (as pictured) ‘runner bean tempura with chilli dipping sauce’.

With beautiful NZ vegetables and Hugh’s infectious enthusiasm there should be no stopping you!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 10:47 pm and is filed under What's new.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.