The Recipe Wheel

There are few things more satisfying or exciting as seeing a book come together. It never occurred to me how well a small, buzzy idea could evolve into a tangible object. My brain, there, in a book. After two years of brainstorming, drawing, painting, writing, cooking and reading over and over, The Recipe Wheel has taken on full, beautiful, book form.

It's moved from scribbling.

To stamping.

To testing, tasting and tweaking.

simple roast chicken

cavolo nero and pearl barley

rhubarb creme brulee

White loaf, molasses bread and soft white roll

To reading, and reading.

And, with the creative input of genius designer Will Webb, to crafting.

an early draft of the risotto wheel

the cover

It's finally here!

With any luck you'll enjoy reading and making the recipes, and you'll love, as much as I did, coming up with your own wheels. Post your ideas for wheel tangents, images of your recipes you've cooked, and illustrations with your own wheels on twitter, using #TheRecipeWheel.

Order The Recipe Wheel here, find a copy in Books for Cooks, pick one up in your local bookshop, or read more about it and buy from Waterstones.

CHEERIO BOOKS FOR COOKS

I'm raising a glass to a fabulous few years at Books For Cooks with this cracking cocktail and giving you something to kick off the Bank Holiday with.

ADIEU, AU REVOIR AND AHOY! TO NEW HORIZONS

A-DI-EU SARONNO

serves 4 glasses

8 cubes ice

4 shots amaretto di saronno

4 shots vodka

1 ltr still ginger beer (fizzy will do)

juice half an orange

4 round slices orange

12 small mint leaves

umbrella

Pulse the ice with all the liquids in a blender so that the ice crushes slightly. Pour into four glasses and garnish with the orange and mint. Say 'salut!' with a sun umbrella.

It's delicious. I think it's time for another...

NEW WORKSHOPS AT BOOKS FOR COOKS

September. Ah what a happy month for cookbooks! Invitations to book launches fly through the letterbox, large packages and giant boxes are squeezed through the shop doorway and tables are stacked high with new titles, sitting fresh for hours of page turning. This season my wish list hits the ceiling.

I wrote a piece for Waitrose Kitchen's September issue on the joy of owning, reading and, most importantly, cooking from cookbooks. From the response since its release, it's clear that most of us cooks, young or old, are keen to hold on to our loyal archives, and even with online recipes hovering just within our grasp, we'd all rather have a hard copy at home to flick through, drool over and splatter with batter. It's fair to say, we all love our cookbooks.


So with a new bunch o' beautiful books hitting Books For Cooks, we need to find space on our shelves. But how do we know which book will cut the mustard?

To help the decision, I will be choosing one fortnightly cookbook to cook from in the workshop kitchen at BFC. Any suggestions on new titles are very welcome.

When, how, what, where?

Saturday, every fortnight
11am-1pm

Classes are £20 and you pay on the day.

02072211992
info@booksforcooks.com

Workshop Kitchen, 4, Blenheim crescent, W11 1NN
Bookshop and cafe open Tuesday to Saturday.