The Gate
Easy Vegetarian Cookbook by Adrian & Michael Daniel
published by Mitchell Beazley at £20.00
ISBN 978-1-84533-259-4
I was nearly put off by the title – it
sounded as if it might be a simple
guide to stuff like bean stews
and tofu burgers. Emphatically
not! This is a book for people
who really love food written by
two brothers whose passion is food,
and whose extraordinarily rich
and diverse ethnic background ensures
the widest range of flavours and
sometimes daring combinations.
Their highly successful Hammersmith
restaurant Gate is where these
recipes have been developed and
honed to perfection.
The easy bit is that there’s
very little time consuming prep
work to be done and most of the
cooking times are quite short.
The interest of these recipes lies
in the imaginative combinations
of only a few ingredients, so no
massive and tedious shopping required.
Many ingredients come from the
store cupboard whose contents the
authors list in detail. Most of
the recipes consist of three or
four steps only; they really are
doable
The book is arranged in nine categories
from brunch to puddings with useful
sections on pastries, soups, spicy
dishes and side dishes. Many of
the recipes, (not just the side
dishes) would make marvellous and
unusual accompaniments to various
meat or fish dishes. For instance,
the caramelised fennel would go
brilliantly with seabass, and the
savoy cabbage recipe would partner
slow cooked pork belly admirably – to
mention only two picked at random.
The savoury pastries like the
old favourite caramelised onion
and goat’s cheese tart or
the mushroom filo parcels would
make excellent starters or even
party or posh picnic food. The
book contains so many recipes that
are really versatile.
This is simply one of the best
most useful cookery books to have
come my way and I heartily recommend
it, especially to non-vegetarians.
Wild
Food for Free by Jonathan Hilton
published by GAIA, June
2007 at £14.99 ISBN 978-1-85675-285-5
This book claims to be a “comprehensive
guide to foraging” that is “certain
to bring out the hunter-gatherer
in us all”. Yippee! Move
over Ray Mears…
I'm great one for foraging and
gathering. Every year I make bramble
jelly, sloe gin and damson vodka.
As a hunter I curry pigeons, smoke
trout, stew rabbits, roast mallards,
jug hares and draw the line at
squirrels (though I’m told
they’re very good slow cooked).
So I was excited at the prospect
of reviewing Wild Food for Free.
But there are no hints or recipes
concerning any of the above because
this book is exclusively about
wild plants.
I’m probably not amongst
the typical target audience who
are more likely to be into yoga,
reflexology, tai chi, allergen
free living, colour healing and
constructing and furnishing environmentally
low-impact homes. These are all
subjects that the serious minded
Mr Hilton has previously written
about. No, “it is more a
matter of learning to reconnect
with nature” as the publisher’s
blurb puts it.
Nevertheless this is a carefully
researched, clearly illustrated,
consistently well laid out wild
plant reference book, just small
enough to fit into the patch pocket
of one’s Barbour. It’s
arranged broadly by habitat and
there are recipes for some of the
plants and fungi at the end of
the book.
The trouble is, there’s
so much out there that can provoke
stomach cramps, hallucinations
or kill you stone dead, that there’s
a health warning on nearly every
page. Amongst the fungi, (always
dodgy unless your ma is Hungarian),
even the unmistakeable chicken-of-the-woods
must be thoroughly cooked to avoid
stomach upsets. I can just imagine
lying in bed wondering if my cooking
had been sufficient.
Often, in the course of the book
we are encouraged to grind the
seed to make flour, or boil the
stems or roots to make syrup, but
with no specific instructions as
to how to perform such unfamiliar
tasks. For instance, how many bulrush
plants would I need to gather to
produce enough flour to do anything
useful with? And would it make
pastry, or bread, or just be a
flavouring?
Probably the safest section covers
hedgerow fruits and nuts, but perhaps
because many are already so well
known the author has provided fewer
recipes. There’s a good one
for elderflower and gooseberry
jelly though, but wait, by the
time the gooseberries are ripe
enough to pick, the elderflowers
will be over. Come on Jonathan,
reconnect with nature!
Although the book is strong on
the identification of a wide range
of plants that are edible in the
broadest sense, I had the strong
feeling that the author has not
tasted some of the plants he’s
included, as there are many phrases
like “ is said to taste like
liquorice” or “has
been likened to the taste of sweet
chestnuts”. There’s
a sad lack of that palpable enthusiasm
and love of wild things and the
pleasures of eating them that you
find in the work of food writers
like Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall
or Rick Stein. For a full on celebration
of wild fur and fungi, feather
and flora, try reading Antonio
Carluccio goes Wild…
Clifford Mould July 2007
For earlier book reviews follow
the link www.dine-online.co.uk/books.htm
