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Summary: Now Nigella has become time proven, a cookery staple.
Review: Admittedly, I am a cookbook addict. I collect all sorts, those from far flung locations and those classic and more recent tomes that offer themselves up to my ever expanding library bookshelf space. My children will curse me upon my demise for this very reason.I have never regretted purchasing one of Ms. Lawson's books. How To Eat was my long term companion and is still regularly called upon for both pleasure reading and kitchen duty. Very much the first tome that one should include if one is curious about this authoress. I initially spent less time with her Domestic Goddess offering, but as time past I was surprised how often I reached for and depended upon it. Nigella Bites was long waited for, seeing as I live in the States, but well worth the final reward. I was slightly disappointed in the fact that not ALL recipes shown on her television series are depicted within the book. These are truly missed. And since not even the UK version of her DVD's have all recipes represented within I end up hopefully scouring How to Eat to see if they are shown in this reference. (MANY recipes are, particularly those shown during the first season of Nigella Bites.) But, despite my petty grumblings, how pleased I was with Forever Summer. I love the program, and relish the book. Really it is my second place choice after How to Eat -- very difficult to beat this opus. The Caramelized Pineapple with Chocolate Sauce is now requested by both family and friends -- very simple, and you are a culinary hero without much effort. Other favorites include the Za'atar Chicken, Butterflied Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary, Hasselback Potatoes, Coconut and Chilli Salmon Kebabs, Chicken and Cashew Nut Curry (my husband never touched curry and had two bowls of this offering!), Mauritian Shrimp Curry, Black and Blue Beef, Thai Crumbled Beef in Lettuce wraps (been to PF Chang's? These are far better.), and PLEASE try the Anglo-Italian Trifle (those in the States use the soft cake like lady fingers for the cake portion). Oh, and before I stop exuding here, do be certain to try the Korean inspired Spareribs, very good. I could go on and on, and be sure to realize that I have a husband with rather limited taste buds and two children currently aged 11 and 8 that most approve of all of Nigella's recipes -- well, at least 90 percent of them. (If you have a junior set, refer to the Gooey Chocolate Puddings in How to Eat -- a classic for kids.) Give this book a spin. My Mum always said to me that if you get at least two or three 'keeper' recipes out of a cookbook well then, it was money well spent. This book far exceeds that caveat. New England Mum
Rating:
Summary: Super as usual
Review: Flipping through a Nigella Lawson cookbook is like stepping into the Metropolitan Museum of Art or some breathtaking photo gallery. He recipies are unusual but not hard to make, and always work out! I haven't made one thing yet, that wasn't perfect.
I love the Baci ice cream, Chicken and Cashew nut curry is easy, but tastes like India. Crispy Lamb Chops are coated with parmesan, what a fun twist, and the Ultimate Greek Salad, makes me feel like I'm in Santori, looking out at the lazure waters. This book is great, because it has so many chapters and so many different cultures in it , that it's impossible to exhaust the endless array of rainbow flavored recipies.
Totally worth your bucks!
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Summary: Summer every day of the year
Review: I am an admitted fan of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks. I bought this one on ... months ago, and it has since become a faithful friend in the kitchen. While I cannot say that I use it as much as HOw To Eat, which is a virtual cooking bible, it has some fantastic recipes that have become instant classics, such as the seared mustard coated salmon, which is light, flavorful and so easy it makes you almost feel guilty to accept all of the compliments - or the figs for a thousand and one nights that is almost effortless, but so full of flavor, with rosewater, cinnamon, butter, orange and mascarpone. YOu just have to trust me on how good this tastes. This book is full of creative and flavorful salads and soup that borrow from a few different cultures (the beet and dill salad is very Russian). There are some very nice Asian style fish dishes, as well as plenty of meat recipes, on the grill and off. The book finishes with plenty of summery old fashioned ice cream recipes, shortbreads, etc. and the last chapter is full of fun cocktails, mostly fruit based, both classic and new. The fare in this book tends to be a little bit lighter (summer!) and there seem to be even more easy to prepare recipes (that do not sacrifice flavor!) This book will be a happy addition to your cookbook collection. :)
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Summary: Almost Effortless Cooking--What more could you ask for?
Review: I hate cooking during summer for all the obvious reasons. This book has been a godsend. Every thing I have tried has been a winner--and I am a newbie cook. Nigella is a goddess! My husband's complaint about this book is that there aren't any "babe" pix of Nigella like Nigella Bites. Oh well!
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Summary: Nigella can cook the Food of the Gods
Review: I love summer food, I like watching Nigella; how that girl can eat! In the age of cigarette-smoking, diet-drink swilling models who look at each bite of food as if it were arsenic-laden, she is a testament to healthy appetites. But is her food more than a posh fad of public television? Mmmm, yes, this lady can cook. I would keep this book just for the mustard coated salmon. Many of the recipes are Mediterranean inspired (simple mussels in wine sauce) but she strays wickedly from Europe into the Orient with cold soba noodles, a real favorite of mine. She does rely for some of the desserts on marscapone (rich Italian cream cheese) which has to be trekked in from the Italian Market in Philadelphia by caravan and only ends up on my hips, so why bother? Some of the other rare ingredients are hard for me, in semi-rural Delaware to come by as well. (rosewater, fresh figs, better add these to the caravan order.) We do have great fish here in the Chesapeake, but even if you are in landlocked Iowa, there is a lot of good stuff here for summer entertaining and for tempting you to eat healthy, interesting things in the hot months. Her use of vegetables (yellow squash soup, carrot salad, beets) is original and wonderful. High time we had a new set of creative veggie recipes and here they are. By the way, the mustard coating works well on bluefish, though one is not supposed to eat a lot of bluefish. But fishing for these little fighters is so much fun. If you eat a blue now and then, try the salmon recipe out on them, too.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful to See and Taste
Review: I love this book not only for its many exciting recipies, but for the wonderful photography. Every picture is crisp and fresh, making every dish a vision of summer refreshment. Petrina Tinslay deserves much credit for her work here, as well as her nostalgic images in 'How to be a Domestic Godess'. Nigella's books never really make it back to the bookshelf proper in my house, but rather stay stashed around the kitchen...on top of the fridge, propped against the window, stuffed into the pantry for quick retrieval whenever I need a quick and easy dish to round out a meal. Her roast asparagus in 'How to Eat' has become a weekly staple, and several recipies from 'Forever Summer' have already made it into the weeknight cooking repetior. Black and Blue Steak is the perfect compromise between chargrilled salty crunch, and the delicate savoriness that comes from steak so rare, its almost tartare. Her Feta, Olive, and Watermelon Salad is a perfect, refreshing saturday lunch, and her obvious love of trifle has converted me to the dish without even tasting it! Nigella won't get into the physics of food like Harold McGee, and she won't give you dishes with ingredients that are impossible to find, like many of the cookbooks by my favorite New York chefs, but she will win you over with her enthusiasm, her stomach rumble inducing descriptions of tastes, smells, and colors, and her refreshingly casual and untrained methods and presentations. This book is a joy.
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Summary: Definitly an adventure
Review: I love watching Nigella's show on the style channel, and I bought "How to be a Domestic Goddess" for a friend for Christmas. Forever Summer's pictures and commentary/narrative are appetizing and makes cooking look like the joy and adventure that it is. So far I've tried two recipes: Rice Paper Rolls and Shrimp with Black Rice and Vietnamese dressing. The challenges: the ingredients were hard to find, many of the packages didn't have directions (and the book says follow the directions on the package), and I think that there are some differences in seasoning amounts (too much mint, too much fish sauce). The positives: Adventurous shopping, finding new grocers in the areas with many hard to find items and a helpful staff, learning the wrong way to rehydrate rice sheets, and learning how to modify seasoning to suite my own taste, which I think is a crucial part of cooking (but Americans beware--our bunches tend to be bigger than English bunches, so use sparingly and then add!) Overall a lovely addition to my collection and I can't wait to try more.
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Summary: Smart and colorful
Review: I usually read cooking books to learn the techniques and never for recipes. I always thought that my knowledge in French cuisine and the huge varieties of our Arabian food is more than enough. I further had to buy a book about Japanese cooking, simply to know what to order in their fancy and amazing restaurants.
I received this book by mistake and was about to return it back to the sender, however, upon a quick review, I decided to keep it.
This lady has really good taste and beautiful ideas. The mixture of cultures and cuisines in her book is in harmony, and you will not be invaded by a strange taste that does not conform to the "summer" rhythm.
You should simply choose one recipe of each section of the book (first course, second course and dessert), add a drink (from the drink section), and -my advice- finish with a cigar; I can assure you that you will get amazed by the beautiful colors you enjoyed, the fine tastes you discovered, and that you would feel how everything was well organized and in perfect "summer" harmony.
This lady knows how to cook and write. I would like to thank her on behalf of everyone enjoyed my last Friday dining.
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Summary: Cheering, distinctive, and inspiring.
Review: If you already know Nigella, you already know how you feel about her. But if you don't know Nigella yet, you should know that she is absolutely unlike anyone else. Even when she is writing about things I would never in my life cook (and for me this is true of many of her recipes, even though I live to experiment in the kitchen), I learn from her. She helps me understand, by way of contrast, what my assumptions about food and ingredients and the experience of eating are. And without a doubt, my life and my eating are more pleasing because of her model and her influence. Even if you don't want to cook each of her recipes, she is inspiring and thought-provoking. And this is not to say that I don't want to cook her recipes! With each of her books, I have had almost epiphanic revelations: I can cook something I thought I never would. From this book, I think that recipe is the Rice Paper Rolls, little Vietnamese wraps stuffed with basil, cucumber, rice noodles, and a homemade sauce comprised of ingredients I always have on hand. This is the sort of thing I long to eat, but always think is too exotic for me to make at home. But Nigella helps me realize that's ridiculous, that in fact I have almost everything I need, but I just needed permission to assemble them. Other recipes I'm excited about are the Happiness Soup (yellow squash and basmati rice in turmeric-infused chicken stock), cold Soba noodles with sesame seeds and soy-honey sauce, carrot and peanut salad, ginger-cured salmon, chocolate raspberry pavlova, lemon cupcakes, roasted-peach ice cream, and margarita ice cream. Indeed the cheering part of the book, for me, is the final 3 sections, on desserts (mostly fruity ones), ice cream, and cocktails. Nigella is masterful at conjuring up that fantasied sense of pleasure and accomplishment that cooking ideally gives you, and I can happily loll around imagining a summer of her food for hours. If you have an ice cream maker that you don't use often enough, buy this book. If you're dreading the summer because you think you're going to miss cooking, this book is absolutely mandatory for you! In short: this is exciting, fabulous Nigella reading, more coherent and interesting I think than Nigella Bites. She is chatty and funny and original here. If you're not the sort of person who reads cookbooks for those reasons, then I'm not sure I can be of any use to you!
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Summary: Easy, breezy recipes for sunny days or the depths of winter
Review: Like the previous reviewer said, you probably already know if you like Nigella, or find her aggravating. I think she's marvelous--and one of the best cooking writers today. What this means is that this book is more than just a collection of delicious recipes: it is also full of Nigella's thoughts on memorable meals, the values of simplicity and canned broth, and suggestions for menus. Lawson has the ability to write about food in a way that makes you almost taste it. The recipes in this book are easy, many taking next to no time to cook and very few ingredients. There is plenty of ethnic cuisine (Moroccan, Mediterranean, Indian, Thai) as well as a scrumptious recipe for honey semifreddo (no ice cream maker required!) This would make a wonderful hostess or housewarming gift, but buy 2 copies since you'll want one as well. Mine arrived 7 days ago and has already got grease spots from use. With scores of cookbooks available, Nigella can be relied upon to write a book that is worth the cover price, and will get heavy use!
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