Well Fed Network

Posted by Alex Prichard on Paper Palate.

This is one of my most recent acquisitions: a cookbook that I actually won! Even though it’s a book of swift, store cupboard suppers, in the two months I’ve owned it I haven’t actually used it. Time to rectify that!

The book is by-lined “How to get the most out of your kitchen” and is based on the premise that, with a modicum of attention to pantry stocking, you should be able to eat interesting, quick to prepare food. The importance of cooking your own food, of shopping for individual ingredients and knowing what you’re eating is outlined in the introduction, and the book doesn’t deviate from this philosophy.

Norrington-Davies starts with the two great store cupboard standbys: pasta and rice. While it seems you can never escape a plethora of pasta sauce recipes, risotto tends to hold a slightly more exalted status. People think it’s complicated or tricky when, in reality, it just takes a little time and patience. The risotto chapter walks the reader through the choice of rice and explains the entire process before engaging in recipes.

There are two good sections on eggs and toast and salads. I opted to try out the recipe for tortilla. This was partly inspired by what I had in the cupboard (and so yes, it does do what it says on the tin!) and partly by laziness: after all, you can’t get much more simple than an omelette. I really liked the short cut of par boiling the potatoes. Having spent a long time hovering over a pan of tiny cubes of potato while they turned into patatas bravas I appreciate Norrington-Davies’ sentiments on the fried potato front. In addition, his tip of leaving the tortilla to sit for a while in the pan before serving meant that I was able to serve straight from a non-non-stick stainless steel pan without any hassle whatsoever. At the end of the day, tortilla might be potatoes, onion and eggs but it’s the type of dish that, if it goes wrong, could put you off cooking.

Cupboard Love goes on to cover stir fries, grills and curries (both Indian and Thai) and soups. There’s even a section on ‘Junk Food’, so there’s no excuse for not making your own burgers, kebabs or pizzas. And, naturally, the book rounds off with puddings.

The book is chatty and provides plenty of explanation for nervous or inexperienced cooks. There are plenty of variations added after recipes and notes of where these deviate from the original style of the dish (such as adding some dill or parsley to your tortilla). The instructions are precise but not prescriptive and should allow plenty of scope for novice cooks to experiment. If you’re more practised in the kitchen, there are still plenty of ideas to keep you occupied: personally, I have several of the soup recipes ear marked for winter.

This is a very plain little paper back: there are a few photographs confined to the centre, and it’s very wordy. But, if you don’t want or need a photograph of every dish it is packed with information and rewards careful reading by anyone who ventures, or wants to venture, into the kitchen.

Cupboard Love is available from Amazon UK“>Amazon UK at £9.99 (rrp) or Amazon US at $US40.98.