Friday Favourites - Cookbooks

With a weekend of dinner parties ahead of us, what better way to spend an early evening than flicking through a plethora of new cookbooks for some heavenly inspiration. Here at The Amazing Blog, we want to share with you some of the most mouth watering  new cookbooks that have just launched.

Honey & Co  is a tiny restaurant hidden in the backstreets of Central London. It lures you in with their talent of baked goodies. Bringing food from the Middle East, husband and wife team Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich founded Honey & Co. which specialises in the most yummy selection cakes and desserts.

However, now you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your home to get these delicious desserts, as Sarit and Itamar have launched Honey & Co cookbook. With recipes such a spiced carrot and walnut cake, raspberry and rose kadaif nests and apricot and elderflower jam just to name a few. Our favourite has to be cranberry, orange and almond caramel cookies. A simple and easy recipe and which had everyones taste buds going as soon as we opened the oven. Honey & Co: The Baking Book by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich is published by Saltyard Books in £25 hardback. Alternatively you can buy online here from The Book People. Also available as an eBook. 

As fruit goes with seasons so does cheese and reading through the pages of A Year in Cheese cookbook by Alex and Leo Guarneri we discovered so many things we didn’t know about this amazing source of calcium, we were left amazed! Alex and Leo take us on a journey through the seasons, explaining little gems like why you can’t have a proper goat’s curd in the Winter.

Their eye catching pictures will help you to spring from this damp February into a lustrous Summer with the freshness of their mozzarella and ricotta recipes.  And when it gets colder and all you want is to stay at home having dinner with your closest friends, the gruyere and reblochon menu suggestions will be the perfect choice. The recipes are so easy to follow that once you finished you just can't wait to start cooking again! If you want to explore the world of cheese then look no further. The book is available on White Stuff here for £20.

The finalist contestant Luis Troyano from The Great British Bake Off in 2014, decided to share his culinary knowledge publishing his very own book; Bake it Great. It is not a random collection of recipes but a proper baking course that guided us from the fundamentals. Starting from fillings like jam and custard, Luis teaches us how to cook the perfect bases for our little gastronomic accomplishments.

Here there is a recipe for every palate, we only had to open the book and whatever creation came up, we were only too happy to wear our aprons and start baking. We particularly liked the Butterscotch meringue tart and the traditional Empanadas. What we really liked was that at the very end of the book Luis listed few of the best shops where to find some of the harder to find ingredients. Buy your copy here a £13.60 for the hardcover and £10.79 for the Kindle edition.

Hosting a party and need a little inspiration for canapes? Look no further as the Clink Canape Cookbook has got it covered. Behind this cookbook is a heart-warming story, as it is created by Alberto Crisci founder of Clink Charity. This charity aims to reduce re-offending of prisoners through training and rehabilitation giving them new found culinary skills. These are then put into use at the Clink Restaurants in London, Wales, Cheshire and Surrey.

Alberto has compiled a collection of over 100 different canapé recipes from the friends, ambassadors and also from the prisoners at the Clink. With delicious recipes like mushroom and stilton tartlets, peach with cured ham bruschetta and smoked eel and beef terrine with horseradish; this cookbook is sure to get your taste buds tingling with delight. Grab the Clink Canapé Cookbook here for £14.99

Sally Clarke founded her legendary Notting Hill restaurant in 1984, pioneering seasonal fine dining and British cuisine. Now she celebrates it's thirty year anniversary by writing her own cookbook, 30 Ingredients. This book captures Sally’s love and passion for simple cooking.

The recipes are surrounded by Sally’s favourite thirty ingredients that she loves to cook with. There are so many delicious recipes with salad of duck breast with balsamic-roasted peaches and shallots to baked tomatoes with garlic and herb crumbs, you honestly wont know where to start! For more cooking inspiration, click here to get your copy at only £19.99.

Indian Superfood Pop-Up

Here at The Amazing Blog, we’re always exploring food markets, and feel that there’s nothing better than discovering a delicious treat on the streets of London. With that in mind, you can be sure that we’ll be heading down to London’s latest pop-up stall, Indian Superfood.

Every Sunday during the month of July Gurpareet Bains will be serving up some delectable lunchtime dishes sure to satisfy one's appetite. Taste his signature Chicken Curry with Cinnamon, Blueberries, and Goji Berry Pilau, often recognised as the ‘world’s healthiest meal’, or nibble on Spicy Marinated Prawns. Whatever you choose, it’s sure to be a treat for you this weekend. 

This pop-up will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of Gurpareet Bains bestselling Indian Superfood cookbook. Awarded Chef of the Year in 2011 at the Curry Awards, Bains's cookbook includes a variety of cuisines designed to tantalize the taste buds in a healthy way. If interested Gurpareet Bains cookbook can be purchased here RRP £12.99. 

If you’re looking for an exciting foodie adventure this Sunday, head down to Brick Lane to try out some of Gurpareet's famous dishes. The pop-up will be located outside the entrance to the Backyard Market, Old Truman Brewery E1 6QL. Fingers crossed it keeps running for longer than the month of July! We say "go check him out" because we want him to stay throughout August, September, etc. :)

V&A Exhibition- Shoes: Pleasure and Pain

Christian Louboutin once famously said: “A shoe is not only a design, but it's a part of your body language, the way you walk. The way you're going to move is quite dictated by your shoes.” At The Amazing Blog we could not agree more.  From June this year all the way through to January 2016, the V&A will be home to a very special fashion exhibition exploring the transformative power of extreme footwear, our fascination and obsession with shoes as well as their agonising aspects.

 
In this exciting exhibition, there is an unrivalled collection of more than 200 pairs of historic and contemporary shoes from around the world. Some are as old as 2000 years and have never been seen before.  The collection includes shoes worn by high profile figures including Marilyn Monroe, Queen Victoria, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kylie Minogue and the Hon Daphne Guinness.  There is footwear for men and women by 70 named designers including Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and Prada.

Exhibition curator, Helen Persson, said: “Shoes are one of the most telling aspects of dress. Beautiful, sculptural objects, they are also powerful indicators of gender, status, identity, taste and even sexual preference. Our choice in shoes can help project an image of who we want to be.”

In addition, the exhibition reveals the evolution of shoes and how little style, material and shape are so much more symbolic than you realise.  This exhibition is a must for any fashion lover or someone passionate about history.  You can find out more about it here.

London Beer Week

After a hard day’s work, we here at The Amazing Blog know how nice it is to go out to the pub with your mates for a pint. Since enjoying a good ale or lager is such a wonderful pleasure, the guys behind London Cocktail Week and London Wine Week have teamed up again for a brand new drink week: London Beer Week. The first annual event starts today and will go until 22 February.

Beer week will be where a selection of pubs, bars and restaurants offer exclusive experiences to wristband-bearing customers, which cost £10 each. When you show your wristband at a participating pub or bar, you’ll be able to enjoy £3 specialty beers and £5 boilermakers, which are composed of a beer and a bourbon.

Wristband-bearers will also gain access to special events, such as mastery classes and exclusive tastings, and discounts at restaurants offering special beer week promotions on appetizers and entrees. Purchase your wristband at 14 Newburgh Street in Newburgh Quarter and enjoy an entire week’s worth of great food and drink benefits.  

To find out more about London Beer Week and to stay updated with their endeavours, check out their website. Happy drinking!

Friday Favourites - Cookbooks

It’s that time of year, where we’re all thinking about what we want to improve on for the months ahead. Here at The Amazing Blog, we always start off with good intentions, but struggle to see it through. As we’ve decided to dedicate more time to the kitchen in 2015, we’ve decided to make the task a little less daunting with a collection of great cook books. So if you’re looking to transform yourself from a cooking novice to a bona fide chef, have a look at our list of our fabulous recipe books. You’re sure to find some inspiration to help you stick to your New Year’s Resolutions.

Tired of ramen noodles and frozen food? Cook Now Eat Later by Mary Berry has recipes that are delicious, straightforward and make your life a hell of a lot easier. Whether you are preparing a three-course meal or supper for one, you have over 100 foolproof and easy-to-follow recipes that allow you to prepare in advance, such as the Pork, Leek and Sage Burgers or the Quinoa and Rocket Salad with Garlic Dressing. The recipes include clear instructions on how to get one (or two or three) steps ahead. With some dishes you can prepare everything ahead of time and with others you can prepare both ahead of time and assemble the day you plan on eating it.

Mary Berry is the much-loved judge on The Great British Bake Off and an author of more than 70 cookbooks. Take the stress out of cooking by purchasing her cookbook for £9.99 here.

Ever wonder what Australian food tastes like? Us too, which is why we were so intrigued by Shelagh Ryan’s cookbook, Café Kitchen. The Australian-born foodie and owner of London’s three Lantana cafes has given us a repertoire of recipes for any time of the day in her new cookbook. You can make Toasted Muesli with Baked Rhubarb and Bubble for brunch or nibble on some Thai Fish Cakes with Nahm Jim Dipping Sauce for a mid-afternoon snack. Ryan makes it easy for us to experience Australia’s thriving cafe culture at home for a mere £14.88 here instead of paying for those pricey airline tickets.

Meat eaters, rejoice! Charcuterie by Miranda Ballard teaches you about the history and types of charcuterie and salami, as well as providing tips about how to match different meats and what food to accompany them with. Some of the recipes, such as Grilled Chorizo and Scallops On Sticks are perfect to serve with drinks. You can find other recipes to put the delicious cured meat in like the Smoked Sausage Casserole. There are even recipes that show you how to cure your own pork belly or duck breast.

Ballard and her husband have their own food company called Muddy Boots and have also opened a butchery and charcuterie shop and café called The Modern Meat Shop in London. All you meat lovers out there can purchase Charcuterie here for £16.99.

No matter what kind of dinner party you are invited to, it’s always a safe idea to bring a dessert. Bake Me a Cake as Fast as You Can by Miranda Gore Browne provides over 100 delicious and quick cakes, tray bakes and cupcakes for all occasions. Whether you are preparing for afternoon tea or a family members birthday party, these desserts are perfect for anyone who needs something homemade but doesn’t have time to waste in the kitchen. The book is suitable for both beginner bakers and those who are more experienced. The Coffee and Walnut Cake and the Daisy Chain Angel Cakes sound absolutely delicious, plus, the recipes are simple to follow and don’t require any special equipment!

Miranda Gore Browne achieved widespread claim as a finalist on the first series of BBC2’s The Great British Bake Off. She now runs a successful blog full of recipes and baking ideas. Go here to purchase Bake Me a Cake as Fast as You Can for £11.99 so you no longer have to show up somewhere pretending you actually made that dessert.

If you’re looking to brush up on your Eastern cooking skills, then have a look at The Yunnan Cookbook by Annabel Jackson & Linda Chia. The Chinese cook book is inspired by the relationship between food and culture, and so it offers some fascinating insight into the Chinese way of life, as well as helping you to knock up some of their delicious recipes without having to put a call in to the local takeaway! From Egg Rolls to Fried Yunnan Goats Cheese With Tomato Salsa, the book is chock full of amazing and tasty treats to experiment with in the New Year. Buy the book here for £17.25 and transform yourself into an Eastern chef.

Food channels ain’t got nothing on us thanks to these cookbooks. We hope you enjoy them too!