As the shelves in our kitchen will attest to, I love a good book. More to the point, I love a good cookbook. Or more to the point again, any cookbook.
I’m sure I’ve got plenty I’ve not yet read from or cooked from, but there’s plenty of time to tackle that issue. Even when my reading pile is getting well out of hand, I’m always on the lookout for another book and better again if I can I can spot a bargain.
Couple all that with an effort to write more for the blog this year, I’m starting a monthly spotlight feature on books, singling out one in particular that’s caught my eye, no matter how big or small.
For January, I’m going to throw in the bargain find of the week, a 2019-published copy of James Ramsden’s Let’s Do Dinner. At the time of writing, it’s on sale on Amazon for €9.55 (affiliate link), down from €23, but the benefit of shopping local is that you can pick up a copy of it in Khan’s Books in Kilkenny for the princely sum of €5. Like I said, better again if I can spot a bargain.
Ramsden previously hosted The Kitchen Is On Fire podcast but more notably opened the 28-seater Pidgin in Hackney, East London, back in 2015 with Sam Herlihy where in nearly nine years on I’m fairly sure they’ve still not repeated a dish on their weekly-changing tasting menu. They also appointed Naz Hassan (ex BiBi, The Cut at 45 Park Lane, Crispin) as their new head chef last July. Ramsden does have some culinary roots in Ireland having come through the Ballymaloe ranks before venturing into food writing.
Inside the book
On the whole, this isn’t a book for quick fixes or sorting out a lunch or dinner in a bind. Hell, the cover even tells you it’s “perfect do-ahead meals for family and friends”. The “do-ahead” is presented at a key step in each of the recipes. Know the family is coming around for dinner on Saturday? Then depending on where you land you’ll find certain steps to do ahead of arrival, from a few hours out to a day or two out to up to a week out (who doesn’t love a long, slow, marinade). By doing certain steps ahead of time, you’ll save a whole heap of bother on the day and could wind up with some showstopping fare as a result.
Both metric and imperial measures are given for recipes with liner notes from the cover setting out the stall for the overall approach to recipes. From there, it’s broken down into simple courses for dinner – bread, small nibbles, soups, starters, mains, vegetables and sides to puddings (dessert to you and I), little sweet things and drinks. There’s even a section at the tail end of the book with menu suggestions based on the 150 recipes contained within, some suggestions seasonal (autumn / winter) or geographical (American / Soviet-ish).
While we’re still in winter mode for January you could try the roasted spiced almonds (page 31), followed by Jerusalem artichoke soup with roast onion, mushrooms and chives (page 61), braised shin of beef with roasted bone marrow (page 137), glazed turnips (page 164) and follow them up with tangerine jelly (page 193) and some date balls (page 223).
Recipes already bookmarked for me include a festival-inspired Potato Rosti with a poached duck egg and wild mushrooms, which I imagine Mrs. Ken On Food will love (page 101), southern-style shoulder of pork that needs your bbq sauce prepared up to a week out, definitely more for me (page 124), a cider-braised red cabbage, the perfect side that happened to be missing from the Christmas table (page 166), while the panzalella starter (page 71) will help make use of any stale bread you’ve got knocking about as you get to the end of the week.
It’s a softback, will sit nicely in your kitchen and at 240 pages and for less than the price of a large seasonally-spiced caffeinated beverage from a certain multinational, it’s a good buy and a nice way to start off the reading list for the month. All I need to do now is sort out some matching plates and get the kitchen in order before getting the family around the table.
My copy of Let’s Do Dinner, published by Pavilion, was picked up from Khan’s Books, James’ Street, Kilkenny first table on the left when you come into the shop about halfway up (aka the food section), priced €5 even. Khan’s place is a treasure trove for books in Kilkenny and also packs a mighty kids section if you’re looking for books for younger readers.
