The Kitchen Diaries

Product Information

Nigelis published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate, in the United States by Ten Speed Press at Random House, by DuMont Buchverlagin Germany, Eskmo in Russia andby Fontaine Uitgevers in the Netherlands.

The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater

Nigel's achievement in this book is to make our tastebuds tingle: from the colourful descriptions of the vegetables at the farmers' markets, to the smell of the cheeses at the deli, every recipe is an assault on the senses. The recipes themselves are not necessarily ingenious, or even original, but what is conveyed constantly is Nigel's passion for food. The recipes themselves are often simple- in fact sometimes they aren't recipes at all, but just wonderful mouth-watering descriptions of what Nigel put on his plate that day; such as chunky quality sausages with thyme-baked squash. Put the oven on at 200C/gas mark 6. Cut the sausage into short lengths, about the size of a wine cork, then let them cook in a deep, heavy, ovenproof pan over a low heat. Some of the fat should leak out as they colour. While they are cooking, peel and roughly chop the onion. Roughly chop 4 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds and add them to the softening onion. Stir in 2 teaspoons of ras el hanout and a little salt. Nigel Slater and James Thompson are co-founders of the independent television production company Sloe Films. Their first series, Eating Together, premiered in Spring 2015 on BBC1. Their latest, Nigel Slater's MiddleEast was shown on BBC2 in Spring 2018 and they are currently working on a new series for 2021.Put the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir in the lime zest and set aside to cool. Now stir in the juice and the mascarpone. Scrape into a metal or plastic container and put in the freezer or an ice-cream machine. Shred the kale finely, cook in the melted butter and oil in a shallow pan for three minutes, tossing it gently, then add a little salt and the golden sultanas. When the courgettes are pale gold, add the tomatoes, 6 whole sprigs of thyme and a teaspoon of dried oregano and let them cook for a minute or two, then transfer the whole pan to the oven. His words touch something deep and primitive: appetite. A gorgeous book in the pure sense."Sunday Telegraph"

Nigel Slater - The Kitchen Diaries volume iii.

To make the dressing, put the mustard, lemon juice, mint leaves and egg yolks in a blender and whiz for a few seconds. Pour in the oil slowly, stopping when you have a dressing the consistency of double cream. I've just bought Kitchen Diaries (2005) and Kitchen Diaries II (2012). Nigel Slater is my kind of cook as his recipes are straight-forward, easy to understand, and generally use ingredients that are either already in our cupboards, fridges and freezers, or readily available to most of us. I suppose I fell in love with Nigel's cookery skills by watching his television programmes. He has such a relaxed way about him, such an ordinary way of speaking to the viewer, such a no-nonsense approach to cooking, that he convinced me absolutely that 'I can do that'. Which actually remains to be seen, of course. His Kitchen Diaries are like that. They are far more than just recipe books. They are, as they state, diaries. The narrative from the author, Nigel Slater, is almost poetic with descriptions of his garden, the plants, the weather, the shops that he frequents, the produce that he so loves. You can sit and happily read these books as if they were simply delightful novels that paint vivid pictures with words. They are treasures to be cherished. Really. Remove the cake from the tin and dust with the icing sugar before slicing with a large, heavy knife. I had a very hard time convincing myself to “read” a cookbook. I usually skim. But when I skimmed I missed things! Place them cut-side down in a single layer in the pan, add the butter and let them brown very lightly, then add the onion. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes, until the sprouts are softening and the onion is translucent.Tip the mixture into a gratin dish. Avoid the temptation to smooth the top. Toss the breadcrumbs with the grated Pecorino and scatter over the top. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. Toast is the memoir of Nigel’s childhood. It has won five literary awards and been translated into six languages. Toast has been dramatised for radio, made into a filmand has recently been adapted for the stage. After itspremier at The Lowry and the Edinburgh Fringe it moved to London in the spring and summer of 2019 and then toured for six months until the end of the year.

Nigel Slater - The Kitchen Diaries volume ii Nigel Slater - The Kitchen Diaries volume ii

You will need to have some sort of salad with them - perhaps something crunchy and cooling with bean shoots and cucumber in it. Enough for 2-3, depending on the size of your wings. As he explains in his excellent book, `Appetite', he is all about a minimalist approach to recipe writing, to advance the greatest culinary pleasure of being able to cook without a cookbook, or, at the very least, with only the barest suggestions from the author on how to go about doing things with some ingredients at hand. This is the most attractive aspect of several current popular culinary writers, not the least of whom is Slater's compatriot, Jamie Oliver, who seems to worship the ground on which Slater walks. My one gripe with the format of the book, is that Nigel comes across as a little annoying insofar as all he seems to spend his day doing is lazily shopping for his dinner at the local market (?! - it's well for some...) while the rest of us race around Tesco for ten minutes with a screaming toddler on our hip, at the end of a day's work in the office. Now, he being a professional cook and cookery writer, the chances are this IS all he does all day, but depending on the day, it can make for a jealous/angry/disgruntled reader (esp in Jan/Feb....). Slater's evocative prose gives the impression that you are already devouring that strawberry mascarpone tart"Financial Times, Books of the Year.Lastly, a note about the photography. It is again by Jonathan Lovekin, whose work I mentioned liking very much in my review of Plenty. I didn't love it quite as much here, but I don't think that's Lovekin's fault. One, the paper quality was softer and the images didn't come out as sharply. Two, Slater's food is not as colorful as Ottolenghi's. I was impressed at how Lovekin suited his style to the simpler and homier kitchen-garden feel of this book -- many excellent photographers (or writers or artists) and not so flexible. Slater`s evocative prose gives the impression that you are already devouring that strawberry mascarpone tart` Financial Times, Books of the Year. This book is a bit of an ego trip for Nigel, as it is very much "Me, me, me..." - but then, you'd expect that with a diary. Nigel whets our appetite in more ways than one as he begins most of his recipes with: "There were four of us this evening." (Substitute two, six or any number in place of the four) I was left wondering which four, and whether they were friends, family, partners- but we aren't told.

The Guardian Flavour of the month | Food | The Guardian

Another great book by Nigel Slater. This time he cooks his way through the calendar year. As with APPETITE (his other book I own) this book reads as well as any novel, and introduces its recipes like anecdotes. I love being able to refer to the date (or month anyway) I am myself cooking in to see what might be a suitable recipe/shopping list for the day's dinner.A rich and warming version of the classic nursery supper. We follow this with a spinach salad and, for dessert, a plate of new season's Conference pears, chilled for an hour so they are thoroughly cold and juicy. Enough for 4. The best, possibly the only, places to get crisp apples with any true depth of flavour are the farmers' markets and farm shops. Greengrocers no doubt do their best, but when did you last see a Michaelmas Red or a Peasgood Nonesuch at your local shop? I walk 30 minutes every Sunday to get a decent apple. Today there are strawberry-scented Worcester Pearmains, small, striped Ellison's Orange, maroon-flashed Laxton's and orange and rust Egremont Pippins. I avoid the Cox's Orange Pippins, knowing they will be better after a few weeks in storage. I come home with a mixed woven basket that looks like something from a medieval country fair; certainly nothing like the blue polystyrene trays and cling film so typical of the supermarkets. I really can't recall the last time I enjoyed reading a book as much as I enjoyed The Kitchen Diaries. I spent most the weekend curled up with it on the couch under a warm blanket, drinking a hot mug of coffee. It's basically the perfect format for me - a combination of diary and cookbook, reflecting on seasonal eating, cooking experiments (both good and bad), and the pleasures (and sometimes shames) of food. After reading through half the year on Saturday, I woke up Sunday morning dreaming of perfect breakfasts. Christmas Chronicles was named Cookbook of the Year in the Fortnum and Mason Awards and hasbeentranslated into German, Dutch and Russian.