Flash Cooking: Fit Fast Flavours for Busy People [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

WARNING! This Book May Change Your Life aka 'Flash Cooking, Fit Fast Flavours for Busy People' by Laura Santtini

To be honest, I didn't think this would be my kind of book. We always ate healthily (and frugally) when I was growing up, I was a vegetarian for 15 years, and deep fried food, creamy sauces, cheeses and fatty cuts of meat just wasn't how I ate. I wasn't any kind of health obsessive, but I just wasn't interested in eating those kinds of foods.

Until I became obsessed with food, and cooking. Perhaps post-recession there's been a resurgence of interest in traditional, hearty, seasonal and fresh British cooking, championed by my favourite cookery writers Hugh, Nigel et al. Maybe it was due to being in a new relationship and that old adage 'The way to a man's heart...' Whatever. Slowly, double cream crept onto my shopping list as I experimented with Pommes Dauphinoise and beetroot gratins. We gorged on raclette, reblochon and roquefort. I made cakes! And slow roasted belly pork with crackling! And it was all delicious, but in addition to that sluggish feeling that comes with eating and drinking too well, two of my very favourite people have recently been battling with heart issues. When eating rich and calorie-laden/artery-clogging foods had started to become the norm, this book could not have arrived at a better time. I'm not saying that succelent, fatty cuts of meat, real butter and artisan cheeses will not have a place in our house, but I hope that now they will be an occasional treat, to be savoured.

You may be familiar with Laura Santtini - I remember her Taste No. 5 Umami paste being released to great acclaim in Selfridges a year or two ago. This book works on a similar principle, with salts, pastes, 'rubinades', seasonings, finishing yoghurts, dressings and 'props' that add a bit hit of flavour to quick-cooking meat and vegetables. These flash flavours are variously described as Western (think Vanilla and Black Pepper Salt), Middle Eastern (as in the Mint, Lemon and Harissa Rubinade), Indian (see the Tomato and Tamarind Paste) Far Eastern (Matcha and Lime Yoghurt) and Umami (Taste #5 Umamui Paste Glaze). It is a brilliant idea; marinade a piece of fish or meat in a 'rubinade' from one part of the world, finish it with it's corresponding salt, plus the prop or dressing, and you can't really go too far wrong.

'Flash Cooking' also has a more comprehensive collection of recipes, covering fish, flesh, eggs, cheese and tofu, 'comfort' (such as Hummus with Crumbled Feta and Pomegranate), vegetables and salads, soups, and ideas for starters and desserts. Phew!

I picked up 'Flash Cooking' from the Post Office on Tuesday, and have since used it to make eight different dishes. In less than a week its pages are spattered and stained. It becomes really intuitive too; I tried the Far Eastern Ginger & Chilli Rubinade on a whole roast chicken yesterday for a Sunday Roast with a twist, and it made perfect sense to add a five spice seasoning to the swede chips that accompanied it.

Another huge bonus for me is that a lot of the spices and condiments needed are either something I have in my storecupboard but may not use regularly (sumac is a case in point), or are ingredients (such as chilli and ginger) that I buy fresh regularly. I realised earlier I have all the spices needed to make the Middle Eastern seasoning Baharat (black pepper, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, smoked paprika, nutmeg, in case you were wondering). And the leftovers are great; the preserved lemon, pistachios, feta, mint and sumac from Saturday's meal were stirred through cous cous for today's lunch, served alongside raw cauliflower florets mixed with leftover Harissa Finishing Yoghurt - bingo!

Not all the recipes worked first time; the marinade for the maple-glazed salmon was much more than I needed to marinate two salmon fillets, and it was quite thin so didn't really coat or glaze the salmon (although it still tasted lovely), and next time I will wipe the rubinade off a whole chicken as the long cooking time meant the rubinade burned slightly (despite regular basting) whilst the chicken was in the oven. However, the purple sprouting broccoli with Pink Peppercorn and Sumac Salt, Harissa Finishing Yoghurt and chopped pistachios was heavenly, the Flash Glazed Cauliflower Cheese Steaks were a healthier and more flavourful version of the old classic, and the Preserved Lemon and Cumin Chicken Cakes wrapped in little gem leaves with more harissa yoghurt were absolutely spot on. We also used the Ginger Vinaigrette to dress some lightly steamed savoy cabbage, and tried the Grilled Pineapple with Vodka, Pink Peppercorns and Chilli.

Flash Cooking is about turning ordinary food into extraordinary food. This book brings together healthy, nutritious meals that are easy to prepare and full of flavour. Indeed it's subtitle is Fit Fast Flavours for Busy People. That would be me!

Before you get to any of the main recipes there is a section on Flash Flavours covering seasonings, glazes, pastes, salts and yoghurts and dressings. I think you need to review this and make the ones you like ready for the fridge or freezer. They are quick to make but some of the ingredients are not what some people may have on the shelf. Mine is pretty well stocked but I did top up with Sichuan peppercorns, furikake seeds, dried herbs like savoury and tarragon as I usually use fresh ones, dried rose and marigold petals and edible gold leaf. See - not standard store cupboard but wonderful to get the chance to use.

Flash Recipes are then split into Fish, Flesh (meat), Dairy including tofu, Comfort, Veg and Salads, Starters and Desserts (together), Breakfasts, snacks and juices and then finally Flash Transformations.

The fish section is brilliant. If you have some of the rubinades and yoghurts dressings made up, the dishes literally take minutes to prep and are done as soon as the fish is. We enjoyed the Cumin Spiced Fish Steaks with Mango Salsa, Maple Glazed Salmon and the Oven Roasted Monkfish with Cherry Tomatoes with the whole family and I'm looking forward to trying the Lapsang Souchong or Jasmine Tea Steamed Seabass with Vanilla Star Anise Olive Oil for our next `grown up' dinner party. As adventurous as my lovely girls are, I don't think they are quite ready for tea smoked fish!

I loved the comfort food section too as it gave us new twists on our weekly lunchbox foods. Hummus but with Crumbled Feta and Pomegranate. Baked Sweet Potatoes but with Green Tea Guacamole , Quinoa but with Thai Curry Paste and Coconut Milk. Why didn't I think of these?

It's easy to see her vegetable recipes matched with so many different main courses or just on their own. We had the Sumac Roasted Tomatoes and Glazed Cauliflower Steaks and Lemon Halloumi with some crusty white bread and red wine for supper last week. It all baked as we put the girls to bed and filled the kitchen with aromas fit for a chilly Friday evening.

As a working mother I love the use of frozen and tinned vegetables in this book and the speed at which healthy family meals can be made. As a foodie I love the easy blending of flavours from all my travels with seasonal ingredients I can get on offer at the supermarket. As an experimental home cook, I love the way this book makes me hunt out those ingredients I have bought at food fairs and forgotten about. This is a must have book if you are in any of those categories.

Full review an recipes from the book tested out here: [...]

'Flash Cooking', has been written by Laura Santtini (her second book) and the notion behind the book is not what you think from the title. This book advocates a healthy, tasty and nutritious eating style, and provides recipes to support this. It's not about a punishing lack lustre diet, but it is about a sensible eating philosophy based on 'whats on your plate should equal protein the size of an iphone accompanied by leafy vegetables' AND should be full of a delicious mix of flavours.

The key to the book is the range of flavours that can be created to accompany this philosophy of 'iphone size protein + leafy vegetables'. Put together at the start of the book are recipes, mixes and blends for 'flash flavours'; these are, seasonings, glazes, rubinades, pastes, finishing salts, finishing yoghurts, props and dressings that can be used to top/garnish all manner of fish/meat or vegetable dishes.The second part of the book covers a series of 'flash recipes' for everything from fish to breakfasts.

The recipes are easy to follow and some accompanied by photographs, I was surprised that I could quite easily make most of the recipes in this book for the 'flash flavours' from my own store cupboard ingredients, and I don't claim to be anything like an alchemist in the kitchen. 'Flash cooking' claims to be easy and fast, this soup certainly was. The recipes are protein or vegetable based in the main or use wheat free or complex carbs.

If you have a need to look at your diet this book will be invaluable in showing you how to add interest and flavour to your foods. If you are lucky enough not to need to, or want to significantly change what you eat, then this book will give you lots of ideas to add delicious and imaginative flavours to your cooking without a great impact on your time.

Definitely a book for new year (or any time) dieters who get bored of eating the same foods.