Simon Gault’s new recipe book, Modern Classics, takes all the “standard” traditional recipes and adds his own subtle twist to them. The book contains over 80 recipes, gorgeous photos and a little personal introduction to each from Simon and some with additional “Simon Says” tips.
I’m liking
I have four littlies and often I thumb through beautiful cookbooks like this and find it difficult to pick a recipe which will suit everyone, be a quick meal and be something I can obtain all the ingredients for (e.g. I love Jamie Oliver’s books but often the ingredients are hard to come by!). Or, I end up looking through favourite family-friendly quick meal type books which get a bit boring quickly.
The nice thing about this book is that there’s a truckload of favourite family-friendly meals in it along with ones I could make for special occasions. Since it’s from a Kiwi author, ingredients are in our stores too.
Here’s some of the family favourite type meals he covers: Pizza Margherita, Macaroni Cheese Chips (as seen on Masterchef), Spaghetti Bolognese, Lasagne, Homemade Fish and Oven Chips, Chicken Stir-Fry, Roast Leg of Lamb, Apple Pie, Sticky Date Pudding….
I love that he takes those recipes and changes them a bit and makes them a bit fancier and different so these could be nicely served up when friends come over too without feeling like it’s a quick ordinary weeknight meal. I also like that he covers all the traditional meals which people love in general (not just young kids) – e.g. if you want to do a lamb roast and need a bit of guidance, he tells you how!
(I am still teasing my boys that I’ll follow Simon Gault’s recommendation to add chicken livers to spaghetti bolognese (I will one day!) which he says will make it the best sauce ever!)
The other cool thing is that even those Simon’s a Masterchef, his recipes aren’t daunting! The instructions are quite detailed and clear (maybe more photos of the work-in-progress would help for some of the recipes).
The conclusion
This book has a really wide appeal to all Kiwis – young adults, parents of young families, anyone who loves cooking… It’s beautifully presented, and the recipes aren’t difficult.
This book is published by Penguin Books and has a RRP of $6o
