With Christmas 2014 just around the corner, and the panic over presents about to set in, we though it would be a great time to delve a little into the Irish Christmas cookbook market! When we’re delivering fruit around Dublin, we’re constantly getting asked for fruit recipes and tips, so there’s certainly a returning appetite out there (if you pardon the pun!) for cookbooks.
Here are four of the best Irish options for this Christmas, and remember, support your local book store!
The Extra Virgin Kitchen Cookbook
Cookbooks are often heavily biased against the growing number of people with food intolerances, but Sarah Jane White’s first cookbook, is packed with 140 brilliant recipes, 120 of which are vegetarian or vegan friendly 135 of which recipes are free from gluten, and 3 that are “very rude”!
White is a nutritional cook with a weekly Sunday Independent column that’s become a bit of a cult hit, just like her blog. With recipes such as F%*K Me Salad and Kate Moss Quinoa (because you ll feel like a supermodel if you eat this), there’s lots in there to get your teeth into, and plenty of options for getting more fruit, veg and ‘clean eating’ into your diet that tastes delicious!
What Katie Ate
The old saying goes that we eat with our eyes, and Irish photographer in Oz Katie Quinn Davies certainly makes us think that statement is correct! Choc full of delicious recipes from Katie’s award winning, renowned blog, this book is a unique combo of food diary and how-to. Katie also fills it with tips and tricks, and of course, photographs are accompanied by recipes and stories. If you want to impress over the New Year party period, dishes range from Wild Mushrooms on Toast with Parmesan and Herbs to Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apple, Prune & Pine Nut Stuffing and Cider Cream Gravy. Oh, and there’s also dessert on offer too… 😉
The Happy Pear
The likely lads done good (and we’re told they’re very handsome fellows too to boot!), twins David and Stephen Flynn, chefs by profession, have expanded their growing business beyond a popular cafe and classes into books! We bought the book last week, and haven’t been able to put it down since. There are 5 recipe chapters in the book: breakfast recipes, soups, salads, mains and deserts, along with 5 text chapters, where the brothers tell of their purpose for the business and their brilliant backstory. It’s all written in a practical fun way, not in a preachy all or nothing type way and will inspire you to make tastier fruit and veg laden recipes. So the next time you get that fruit basket delivered to your office, you’ll have something to do with it!
Wholesome – Feed your family for less
We seem to have chosen a few of our favourite bloggers for this post, so why not end it with another! Caitríona Redmond worked in the property industry until she was made redundant the day she returned from maternity leave in 2009. This heralded a personal transformation
From ‘high-flying’ PA to reluctant stay-at-home mother. As the prospects of finding another suitable job dried up, Caitríona turned to using the skills she had used in her job and those she had learned at her grandmother’s and mother’s kitchen tables to run the household on a tight food budget of €70 per week for a family of five. In this book Caitríona shares her tips, tricks and recipes with the reader to help them save money and feed their family well on a budget. All the recipes have been extensively tested on her friends and family! We love Wholesome. and if you’re a fan of good hearty Irish food with a bit of a kick, you will too!
Hopefully you’ll agree that these four look like tasty options for that foodie in your life this Christmas, and we’re happy to do a bit of taste testing in the new year if any of our clients need some help!
