Louise PickfordCritiques

Such a sweet simple little book of 64 pages. Lovely colored photos, delightful recipes, printed on a white smooth paper. The main titles are large the "with: in in small bold print; the ingredients are in small but easily read font as are the instructions. The only hard to read item is the paragraph/sentence under the title with points out ingredient options.

Contents: Introduction; 5 chapters of recipes; and Index

Late Breakfast: Soft egg w/ asparagus; Cinnamon-soaked granola; Omelet w/ fine herbs; Panettone French toast w/ coco nut milk (YUM); and Fresh figs w/ ricotta & honeycomb

Classic Brunch: Bagles, lox & wasabi sour cream; Eggs Benedict; Mushrooms on toast; and Kedgeree

Early Lunch: Crab Caesar; BLT tortilla panini; Mushroom burgers; Frazzled eggs w/ smoked bacon; and Charred asparagus frittata

Sweet Things: Warm compote; Baby custard tarts w/ cardamon coffee; Pecan & chocolate muffins; and Sweet bruschetta w/ quince glazed figs

Drinks: Iced Bloody Mary; Iced coffee; Mocha affogato; 3 types of Champagne cocktails; and 2 types of smoothies.

How about a Creole Spiced Chicken burger, or a Mediterranean lamb burger, or a Spiced pork burger w/ satay sauce, or a Portabello mushroom burger, or a Triple whammy breakfast burger? If you answered "Yes" to any of these, then this is the book for you.

Recipes are clear & easy to follow and the photographs are drool worthy!

This edition in the Hamlyn series of books follows the now familiar pattern offering clearly explained recipes, one to a page with a colour photograph of the dish on the facing page, in a clear and concise form. There is a brief introduction which covers the different methods of barbecuing and the equipment. The book is divided into the following sections: taste tempters; steak & ribs; kebabs, burgers and hot dogs; seafood; vegetarian dishes; salads, sauces and marinades; sweet treats; the book includes an index.

As usual the range, creativity and interest of the recipes is good, I especially like some of those under the vegetarian section such as mustard & thyme sweet potatoes, potato skins & sour cream dip, mushroom burgers with onion jam, and there are similarly tempting dishes to be found in all sections.

Well worth the small outlay.

Some tasty looking veggie recipes in here - I bought it from a 2nd hand book shop purely on the grounds that the potato, cashew and chickpea curry looked gorgeous. Already shared a few recipes from it with friends which is always the sign of a good cookbook. Most of the recipes seem to only require basic skills and are relatively quick, though a few of them may be a bit faffy to prepare so might be better suited to dinner parties.

This is the third book in this series I have acquired, and although I enjoy a vegetarian meal, I am not a vegetarian, and so am not au fait with the ins and outs of vegetarianism, however the recipes here are as interesting as those in the other Hamlyn books I have, and it follow the same format.

The brief introduction looks at the basic principles and the possible health benefits of vegetarian eating, and also what one needs in a basic larder; there then follows a brief overview of some of the ingredients featured in some of the recipes along with explanations of the more unusual terms. Then follows the recipes under the headings: breakfast & brunch, starters & snacks, main meals, soups & stews, breads & baking, and desserts. Each recipes occupies a page, with a full colour photograph of the finished dish on the facing page.

The recipes are very varied and look interesting, and range from the quick and simple to the more complex and much longer, either in preparation or cooking times. Eggs, cheese, and nuts in variety frequently feature in the recipes, and sometimes fruit and veg appear in the same recipe, but I am surprised there are not more based on beans. Those that do include beans usually list canned beans and not dried beans among the ingredients. Even so the very simple recipes for baked beans needs two hours cooking time, (and in this particular instance I have used far more interesting recipes for backed beans).

I did have difficulty finding recipes from the index, it seems each recipe is listed just the once, for example to find the baked beans mention above one needs too look for beans, and then follow down the list to find "Home baked beans" - all right if you know that, otherwise not finding "baked beans" you might conclude there is none.

But overall this is fine little book, as with the others in the series. It appears to be refreshingly free from any sort of nut or bean loaf (what I remember of vegetarian meals of the past!) and shows what variety there can be.