Celebrating all Home Chefs this Easter!
For my fellow Home Chefs, CEOs of your own home restaurants, because there is always a new recipe to discover, adapt and creatively make in our own style…
I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. I love to peruse cookbooks and recipe websites just as much. I even love movies and shows where different cuisine, restaurants, and fine dining are the main part of the story!
In this blog I share 7+ Cookbooks that I will be cooking my way through this spring and summer entertaining season in the Med.
Plus, 3 of My Go-To Online Recipe Websites. Some are new and others are long-standing favourites.
And - My Top 10 Movies and Shows about food and cooking!
All cookbooks feature Mediterranean and Metabolic diet recipes - even if they don’t indicate that on the cover!
7 Cookbooks to cook your way through Spring / Summer 2024
My Portugal, by George Mendes & Genevieve Ko
NOPI, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramal Scully
The Clean Plate, by Gwyneth Paltrow
Home Farm Cooking, by Catherine & John Pawson
Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi
Flavour, by Yotam Ottolenghi & Ixta Belfrage
Complete Metabolic Confusion Cookbook, by Vince Cruise Sant
All cookbooks are available at Amazon.com - or your local country Amazon site.
Click on the cover photos of the cookbooks below for a direct link. I am an Amazon Associate - I only promote products that I love!
#1. LIKE A 5* CHEF
These first two cookbooks I have selected for those occasions when you want fine dining at home.
My Portugal: Recipes and Stories, by George Mendes and Genevieve Ko
As I have many more Italian, French, and Greek recipes in my virtual recipe box, I was keen to try out Portuguese recipes upon moving the Med - drawn in by iconic Portuguese ingredients such as fish, vegetables and legumes - very Med Diet :).
I found this cookbook in a local artisan shop on a visit to Portugal. From a Portuguese chef with a fine dining restaurant in New York.
A few of my favourite recipes so far are: the steamed clams, and broccoli raab.
NOPI: The Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramal Scully
Following my experiments with Arabian-Mediterranean recipes this past winter, I went looking for a cookbook to expand my repertoire.
I had heard of Ottolenghi, as a star chef with restaurants in London before, but had not yet tried his recipes. In my google search for Arabian-Mediterranean cookbooks I learned of his Israeli heritage.
I tried some recipes from his website and was amazed by the escalated flavours and garden fresh ingredients - I had to buy his cookbooks! I bought 3 - featured here in this blog.
NOPI is a cookbook of recipes from Ottolenghi’s famous restaurant in London - with fine dining Mediterranean recipes. I am looking forward to cooking my way through this one.
FAV RECIPE WEBSITE: Epicurious By Bon Appétit and Gourmet magazine
For fine dining recipes, my go-to recipes website has been Epicurious for years. I used to buy the magazines before they had an online recipe website. Often when I am craving a certain flavour, or want to use up a certain ingredient from my garden, fridge, or pantry - I simply type that flavour or ingredient into my Epi app, and it churns out a selection of recipes to choose from.
#2. MED DIET EVERYDAY
The next 3 cookbooks I’ve selected for their slow living, easy to prepare, and healthy home cooking appeal. For everyday recipes that are full of intrigue and fit the Med Diet Plan.
The Clean Plate: Eat, Reset, Heal, by Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow is my age and she looks stunning! Which begs the question, what is she eating?
I was given her cookbook, The Clean Plate, a few years back as a gift. It quickly became one of my go-to recipe favourites for everyday lunches.
The recipes are really easy to follow with health benefits packed in.
A few of my favourite recipes so far: the Peruvian chicken soup and lettuce cups.
Looking forward to trying more of Gwyneth’s fresh recipes this spring!
Home Farm Cooking, by Catherine & John Pawson
A dear friend of mine sent me this cookbook last year after a visit to my Med Home. She told me it reminded her of my journey of dream home renovations, slow living, and home cooking. I was completely flattered as this is a beautiful book.
It masterfully weaves the story of a couple’s exquisite farm renovation with elegant farm-style home chef recipes. A perfect book for the coffee table - and the kitchen!
I have started to try out the recipes. They have been perfect for Winter comfort food (handily organised by season) - I am looking forward to trying out the Spring and Summer recipes too!
Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes, by Yotam Ottolenghi
There is so much garden fresh food available here in the Med. As I am getting prepared for a bounty of fresh veg from my new veg garden this year, I went looking for more Vegetarian recipes.
Ottolenghi is famous for his New Vegetarian recipes (Guardian and NYT columns)
I am excited to try Chef Ottolenghi’s vibrant vegetarian recipes with veggies from my Med Garden this summer.
Just the description of the book on Amazon.co.uk has my mouth watering!
"Vegetables have moved from the side dish to the main plate, grains celebrated with colour and flair. It’s a revolution that is bold, inspiring and ever-expanding."
"Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty changed the way people cook and eat. Its focus on vegetable dishes, with the emphasis on flavour, original spicing and freshness of ingredients, caused a revolution not just in this country, but the world over."
FAV RECIPE WEBSITE: Donna Hay
Donna Hay’s cookbooks were my gateway to perfect recipes at home in my 20s - and her recipe website is still a go-to today! I love Donna’s Asian recipes in particular - simple, super flavourful and easy to make - these recipes seem to turn out perfect every time!
#3. MASTERCLASS
These final 2 cookbooks in my Spring/Summer 2024 collection are completely new. I am keen to learn more about foods that help to balance, and improve, metabolism - and I am always interested in learning about flavours from top chefs!
Flavour: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi & Ixta Belfrage
In my view, the key to mastering healthy diet recipes is focusing on the flavours you are craving, vs. the foods more associated with them. See my blog: Med Diet Hacks.
I am really excited about my own private masterclass with Chef Ottolenghi, via this cookbook - to learn more about how top chefs pack optimal flavour into their gourmet cuisine.
COMPLETE METABOLIC CONFUSION COOKBOOK, by Vince Cruise Sant
Curious to see what’s inside Metabolic Confusion, and how this cookbook provides the solution.
I have a few go-to metabolic diet hacks for recipes i.e. replace the cheese, replace the carbs - or leave them out altogether and enjoy the other ingredients you were covering the carbs and fat with.
I am keen to learn more metabolic diet reset hacks before beach season :)
NEW FAV RECIPE WEBSITE: Ottolenghi
Ottolenghi's website has a sample of his recipes which I have started to try - and which inspired me to buy the 3 cookbooks featured in this blog. I'm completely intrigued by restaurant-gourmet vegetarian recipes!
Bonus: My Fav Movies and Shows about Food
When I’m not cooking, I am usually dreaming of food - I get excited about discovering a new blends of flavours, and learning new techniques. When family and friends come to visit, I am totally in my element - I love to cook for a crowd. What new dishes can I delight their palates with today?
When I moved to Switzerland for my work in my 30s, I spent a lot of time with a friend’s beautiful family in northern Italy on long weekends and holidays. With this Italian family, the conversation was all about …food! Over breakfast, talking about going to the market and what fresh ingredients we would buy for meals that day. At lunch, talking about what we will make for dinner. At dinner, discussing alternative variations on the food we were eating…it made me think that perhaps I was part Italian, because I was in heaven - also because I learned a lot about Italian home cooking!
If you love to talk about food and watch movies and shows about food and cooking - here is a list of my top 10!
My Top 10 Movies & Shows about Food & Cooking:
Somebody Feed Phil - Global
Eva Longoria Searching for Mexico - Mexican
Chef - Mexican
Replacing Chef Chico - Filipino
Toscana - Italian
Julie & Julia - French
Uncorked - Wine & African BBQ
The Menu - Fine Dining
Burnt - French, Fine Dining
No Reservations - New York, Fine Dining
They are all great. They are not ranked by my view of greatness one over the other, but by frequency that I watch them again and again for recipe inspiration :)
FOR THE LOVE OF RESTAURANT INSPIRED RECIPES AT HOME
My Home Chef Journey…
My love of cooking, I think, is part of my DNA. However I have also had some inspiring influences. My mom is a great home cook. As kids, when we had a craving for a certain kind of food she would find a way to make it herself - from home-made pizza dough, instead of ordering out - to her mother’s family bread recipe, instead of buying sliced bread - to experimenting with Asian wok dishes. Always delicious.
We didn’t eat out a lot when I was growing up, we lived in the rural countryside. The exception were our birthdays. My Dad had a Michelin star restaurant book and a restaurant coupon book for our home city. On my birthday, I got to choose a fine dining restaurant in the city from the Michelin star restaurant book, as long as it was also in the coupon book ;) I loved it. The exquisite restaurant decor and table settings, the 5* service, and intriguing food and flavours that I had often never heard of or tasted before.
I first started to experiment with gourmet recipes at home in my University years. I was working in a fine dining restaurant part-time during my studies. Some friendly chefs would indulge me when I asked about certain dishes I had served. As a student I couldn’t afford to eat out at these fine restaurants, so after my shifts at the restaurant I would go home and try to replicate the recipes myself.
I continued this ritual as I traveled around the world during my career. I tried to take a cooking class in different countries on my days off when possible. And, I would bring back a cookbook of local dishes from each country I visited - and some local music :)
I am a home chef, inspired by my experiences enjoying the restaurants - and kitchen tables - from around the world; and the pure meditative bliss of cooking. Thanks to great cookbooks and online recipe sites (and let’s not forget YouTube), we can now teach ourselves the mastery in the comfort of our own home kitchens!
Buy the cookbooks featured in this blog at Amazon.com:
I am an AmazonAssociate - I only promote products that I love!
My Portugal, by George Mendes & Genevieve Ko
NOPI, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramal Scully
The Clean Plate, by Gwyneth Paltrow
Home Farm Cooking, by Catherine & John Pawson
Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi
Flavour, by Yotam Ottolenghi & Ixta Belfrage
Complete Metabolic Confusion Cookbook, by Vince Cruise Sant
Find new recipes to try at these websites:
Try out some of my top crowd pleasing and show-stopping Med Diet Recipes at my Med Diet Recipes page - and tell me what you think!
Share your favourite cookbooks and recipe websites in the comments!
Bon appétit!
Jade
Lewon
Med
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