- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: BBC Books; illustrated edition edition (21 Feb 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0563534206
- ISBN-13: 978-0563534204
- Product Dimensions: 27.2 x 20.4 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
355,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14 in Books > Food & Drink > Food Writers > Gary Rhodes
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Cookery Year Spring Into Summer (the first of two volumes) is built upon the notion, which may be new to some readers, that foods tend to be seasonal and, by and large, are at their best in that season. Rhubarb, flounder, lamb and asparagus in spring; beetroot, broad beans and soft fruit in summer. Rhodes is first and foremost a restaurant chef, which, as he says, means that he is accustomed to an unlimited supply of fresh food from around the world all through the year: returning to the real world seems to have been a bit of a revelation.
It must also be his professional background that inclines him to present his recipes as complete servings--main dish and accompaniments. Grilled beef comes with baby turnips, marinated mushrooms and a beetroot dressing. Soaked lemon semolina wedge (a cake) with warm blueberries. Baked cheese puffs with fresh beetroot sauce. This is generous, but at the same time oddly limiting: it's hard to imagine many cooks taking these recipes into their repertoires and playing freely with them.
One hesitantly comes to the conclusion that Gary Rhodes inhabits a dimension not altogether congruent with the one occupied by the rest of us. There is, on the one hand, the fluent strangeness of his prose, in which verbs slip effortlessly from transitive to intransitive (main dish A "eats well" with garnish B, we keep being told). And the recipes themselves, on the other, invariably well-constructed and thought-provoking as they are, seem often to have arrived fully-formed from some mysterious other universe free of gastronomic tradition and history. What general principles can a cook extract from Roast Gurnard with Beetroot, White Bean and Orange Salad or Braised Beef Brisket with Tarragon Carrots and Cauliflower Champ?
Readers will be able to judge for themselves how liberating these combinations are. At any rate, it's a relief to find Rhodes largely eschewing his baffling enthusiasm for school dinners (no Gypsy Tart recipes here). --Robin Davidson
Review
Best known for his TV cookery programmes, Gary Rhodes is also the owner and chef of two Michelin star restaurants and a proactive campaigner of British produce and cuisine. This is the first of two books where Gary takes the reader through the Spring and Summer seasons using the freshest of ingredients, those products which are at their peak of perfection. Freshly harvested fruit and vegetables, seasonal fish and meat are presented in novel, tasty recipes, gloriously illustrated with colourful photographs. Using fresh produce and highlighting their special taste, the recipes are easy to prepare involving few sauces, the freshness of the ingredients being paramount. Courgette tart, red pepper mousse and fresh herb gnocchi will whet vegetarian appetites while pot-roasted lamb, boiled ham hock and guinea fowl will get meat-lovers' taste buds flowing. Soft chocolate pudding, baked blue cheesecake and Cointreau champagne raspberries will sate those with a sweet tooth. Extra recipes for vegetable accompaniments complete the picture with to-die-for side dishes such as blood orange and chive sea kale, grilled honeyed aubergines and warm leeks with vegetable vinaigrette. Such is the standard of the food and recipes, Gary Rhodes ensures a superb dinner party or a tasty dejeuner a deux with the ease of preparation leaving the hostess plenty of time to enjoy herself with her guests.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
...This is a great book full of fantastic recipes that follow the logic if the food's fresh, why complicate it?
This is the kind of food I like to cook for friends at a mid week dinner party, when time can be tight at the end of the working day - simple, quick, elegant, yet still looks great on the plate and, as Gary would say, it 'eats well'. I speak as someone who also owns all of Gordon Ramsays' books, (including his own ode to the seasons which also follows the fresh and simple philosophy) so I know I'm not afraid of a more complicated recipe when it comes along: I'll leave Passion for Flavour for when I've got all day to cook. Who said every dish you make has to warrant a Michelin star in it's own right?!
I was also thrilled by the amount of fish recipes - we are after all an island nation and eating a more diverse range of fish, such as whiting and guernard, would give the poor old cod a bit of a break and a chance of long term survival, not to mention the obvious benefits to the nations health. I applaud the work of the likes of Gary Rhodes and Rick Stein for their efforts in this direction and their celebration of the best of British.
Yes - a few more photos of the end product would be nice, it's always good to see what you are aiming for, but don't let that put you off an otherwise fab book. If you want delicious, fresh food in reasonably quick time this is a great book to have under your belt. I can't help feeling those who have said it is overly simple have missed the point here - let the ingredients do the talking and stop showing off!
Good work Gary. It's a great book and I have already pre-ordered your Autumn/Winter volume!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a fish lover I was so pleased to receive this wonderful book as a present. The recipes are not a simple as some reviewers have suggested, but then my culinery experience is modest, however the text is clear and encouraging and I have enjoyed both the cooking and tracking down some of the ingredients
So you may have to do a little searching but this shouldn't put you off as you will be rewarded: try the seductive Pot-roasted lamb with sorrel and samphire and you'll never assault your senses with mint sauce again.
I think that the reason this book works so well lies not only with the enthusiasm and expertise of it's author, but also with his belief that using seasonal products gives you the best possible start to any recipe.
Overall this is an inspirational book with great recipes presented in an attractive format. I heartily recommend this book and hope that you get the pleasure from it that I have.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What a lovely book, a joy to look at - getting back to seasonal cooking with Gary Rhodes leading the way, mouth watering descriptions of ingredients, clear and concise directions with variations for those hard to find items. Lemon Peppered lamb with baked potato cake, steamed skate with runner beans chanterelles and sweet red pepper dressing......I can't wait to get cooking.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
the worst Gary Rhodes book.
This book was a big disapointment,It contains way to many fish dishes.I like all of his other books but this one is abit of a let down
Published on 16 Aug 2004
For Fish Lovers!
This book is very good, despite the lack of photography. About 3/4 of the book is made up of fish recipes, which is disappointing. Read more
Published on 11 May 2002
Does what it says
The book both successfully encompasses simple cooking with the best ingredients available, as well as putting across Gary's obvious enthusiasm for the subject. Read more
Published on 9 April 2002
I knew how to cook simple food already!
This book was a disappointment. The recipes were too simple, fish with tomatoes, fish with beans, fish with potato, come on Gary, we all know how to cook the simple stuff, what I... Read more
Published on 5 Mar 2002
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
