At My Table: A Celebration of Home Cooking
£19.80£26.60 (-26%)
**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**
**Nigella returns to the BBC for Christmas 2023 in Nigella’s Amsterdam Christmas Special**
Let Nigella guide you through the winter with the ultimate in comfort cooking. Featuring all the inspiring, achievable, and delicious recipes from her BBC TV series plus many more.
Nigella Lawson is a champion of the home cook, and this book celebrates the food she loves to cook for friends and family. The recipes are warming, comforting, and inspirational, from new riffs on classic dishes – including Chicken Fricassée and Sticky Toffee Pudding – to adventures in a host of new dishes and ingredients, from Aubergine Fatteh to White Miso Hummus.
AT MY TABLE includes dishes to inspire all cooks and eaters, from Hake with Bacon, Peas and Cider to Indian-Spiced Chicken and Potato Traybake and Chilli Mint Lamb Cutlets; plus a host of colourful vegetable dishes, like Eastern Mediterranean Chopped Salad and Carrots and Fennel with Harissa.
No Nigella cookbook would be complete without sweet treats, and AT MY TABLE is no exception, with Emergency Brownies, White Chocolate Cheesecake and a Victoria Sponge with Cardamom, Marmalade and Crème Fraîche set to become family favourites.
As Nigella writes, ‘happiness is best shared’.. The perfect gift for food-lovers this festive season, these recipes will be served and savoured at your own kitchen table just as they are at hers.
‘I’d happily cook from this book every night’ Bee Wilson
‘Bursting with what will be instant Nigella classics’ Good Housekeeping
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (21 Sept. 2017), Chatto & Windus |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 288 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 9781784741631 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1784741631 |
| Dimensions | 19.6 x 2.9 x 25.4 cm |
by CobWeb
Lovely book. Lives up to expectations.
by Joanie B
I am a big fan of Nigella and her cook books. Ever since I read ‘
How To Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food (Nigella Collection)
, she’s drawn me in to her approach to cooking and enjoying food with friends and family. Her enthusiasm for food and conviviality shines through and she writes so well that her books makes a great read and the photos are always a feast for the eyes. A number of her recipes are in my staples and the birthday cakes I make are nearly all from her fail proof recipes.
It’s fair to say that this isn’t her best book but it looks like a really good collection of food that you’ll enjoy eating – some of which are almost bound to become favourites. There are no chapters but the order of the recipes is pretty traditional and goes from Turkish eggs and Parmesan French toast through main courses such as Pork with prunes, olives and capers and finishes with cakes, such as white chocolate cheesecake and drinks such as turmeric and ginger vodka. Some will wonder why she has recipes such as for mashed potatoes with garlic and whipped feta toasts but I think one of Nigella’s skills has always been about elevating the everyday to a level of celebration.
I’ll check back in as I try out make the recipes and list my favourites but the ones that I’ll definitely be making soon are:
– Indian-Spiced Chicken and Potato Traybake
– Chicken Fricassée with marsala, chestnuts and thyme
– Chilli Mint Lamb cutlets with a reserved lemon and mint sauce
– Chocolate olive oil mousse (Nigellas’ olive oil cake is something I make often and it always goes down a storm)
There will be a BBC series on the book. For the Radio Times Nigella said a bit about her approach as follows: “At My Table continues my celebration of home cooking, infusing everyday with pleasure and flavour. What matters most in life is the connections we have with each other and food is always at the heart of this.”
I’m a great believer in sitting around the table with friends and family and eating good food. As the sub title says this book is a celebration of that everyday pleasure.
by CobWeb
…that being the final sentence from the short & sweet, back cover quote of Nigella’s new book.
???? ‘A celebration of home cooking in over a hundred recipes: inspiring, achievable and always delicious.’
✯ AT MY TABLE
✯ ‘FIRST EDITION with TERRACOTTA EDGES’
✯ NIGELLA LAWSON
✯ CHATTO & WINDUS
✯ SEPTEMBER 2017
‘Happiness is best shared’
After another gap of nearly 2 years, Nigella is back with this new publication.
Published to coincide with the TV series of the same name, this is an elegantly produced book ‘in memory of Ed Victor’.
Although I am generally impressed with the content overall, to me, it lacks a certain special ingredient…Nigella herself.
Don’t get me wrong; the typical NL banter is there, the passion is there, the omnipresent encouragement is there. There is a good cross-section of recipes for all seasons; well laid out for the best part with little white space and the book is jam-packed with incredible colourful illustrations from the seriously talented JONATHAN LOVEKIN that show what you are aiming for on the plate.
These sometimes spill off the page or across a complete, double-page spread for maximum impact!
BUT…although Nigella appears simply in BLACK & WHITE (© David Ellis) on the front cover, this, strangely, is the one and only shot of the lady in the whole book.
Gone is the scattering of full-colour shots of Nigella at home, i.e. the double-page spreads that opened the chapters of
Simply Nigella
.
In fact, there are no chapters at all!
In fairness, Nigella defends the format of
At My Table
in her intro, and I do get it…to a point, but I so miss that old-fashioned familiarity that rings out in the TV shows.
However, a cookery book is a different thing to different people.
Choosing & successfully working a recipe is the important thing, after all.
Mini-whinge over.
ooOoo
From the 6-page introduction:
???? ‘This book, like all the books I’ve written and all the cookery books I’ve read, is not just a manual, but a collection of stories and a container of memories. But then, any recipe every written, any meal ever eaten, is a story, the story of home cooking, which, in turn, is about who we are, where we’ve come from and the lives that we’ve lived, and what we say to each other – all those assertions of love, friendship, hospitality, hope – when we invite people to sit at our table and eat the food we’ve made for them…’
The chunky hardback measures in around 19.25 cm x 24.75 cm x 2.5 cm.
The front cover colour scheme is in two shades of TERRACOTTA, for the lightly textured floral band down the right hand side, the same pattern that is on the back cover.
The 288 quality, matte-finish pages are edged in a similar shade, which is a nice extra touch (for the first edition run).
The main title, ‘AT MY TABLE’ is in the darker shade on the front. ‘NIGELLA LAWSON’ is in WHITE lettering that follows through to the spine, along with the title, which is also lightly textured.
The inner cover pages are in a DUCK-EGG BLUE shade which matches the TV advertising sticker (BBC) on the front cover of mine and…the usual handy addition…the ribbon to keep your place is SILVER-GREY coloured.
After the dedication, the ‘CONTENTS’, i.e. the FULL LIST OF RECIPES spans 2 pages (3rd image refers) as currently shown in the ‘LOOK INSIDE’ facility above. After the aforementioned introduction and without further ado, it is straight into the recipes, which are laid out in a DARK ORANGE & GREY theme that could, arguably, benefit from being a bit bolder for the main text areas.
The recipes have a capitalised title, relevant opening narrative, the list/s of ingredients and, perhaps, a serving note, sometimes the size of cookware required, along with a numbered, step-by-step method.
Most have a ‘MAKE AHEAD/STORE’ note that refers to the section at the back, which runs from page 274-280, and finishes with a note re recipes containing raw or lightly cooked eggs.
Spanning various levels of ability & offering something for everyone, in my opinion, the selection of recipes is a combination of some new & some ‘tweaked’, such as the mouth-watering ‘LAMB SHANKS WITH DATES AND POMEGRANATE MOLASSES’, from pages 174-176, which truly lives up to the opening paragraph:
???? ‘Rich, sumptuous and celebratory, this is a real feast of a stew. The dark treacliness of the dates melts into what becomes a deep, intense gravy, but they don’t overwhelm it with sweetness; the heady sourness of pomegranate molasses keeps it all in fragrant check…’
…and this warming dish can be stretched from 6 to 10 servings, if required.
More intriguing titles include ‘SUBVERTING THE SPIRALIZER’, on pages 100/101, otherwise known as ‘Very Fine Shoestring Fries’, an innovative twist for a gadget Nigella is clearly not so keen on:
‘If you are one of the fad-resistant few who have either never bought a spiralizer or don’t even know what one is, turn the page now. Don’t give it another thought. But, mindful of the several tonnes of spiralizers lying dormant in kitchen cupboards up and down the length of the country, I have found a new use for them.
While you will never find me making zoodles or courgetti or allowing any other vegetable to masquerade as pasta, I can say this for my spiralizer: it does make very fine shoestring fries.’
Some recipes handily use leftovers, e.g. ‘POTATO WAFFLES FROM LEFTOVER GARLIC AND PARMESAN MASH’, pages 70/1.
A couple of short recipes share the page; some are single page, most are over two-page spreads including colour illustration/s, but some span more…such as ‘ROAST DUCK WITH ORANGE, SOY AND GINGER’, pages 154-157.
The awesome illustrations really stand out; sometimes they are over the page with e.g. the irresistible ‘PASSIONFRUIT ICE-CREAM CAKE WITH COCONUT-CARAMEL SAUCE’, pages 224-227, which reassuringly opens:
???? ‘A dream to eat and a doddle to make. Ever since my first pavlova, I’ve been utterly sold on the combination ~ smooth, chewy, sour-sweet and fragrant ~ of cream, meringue and passionfruit. And to turn these ingredients into a coolly elegant ice-cream cake, you need to do nothing more than stir them all together and leave to set in the freezer overnight; a no-cook, no-churn, no-stress affair.’
Inspiration from others is acknowledged, e.g.:
From ‘DIRTY LEMON MARTINI’, page 272:
???? ‘I have always wanted to be the sort of person who drinks a dirty martini, but I just can’t do it. I’m a strictly straight-up-with-a-twist woman. This is my take on it, then, though inspiration comes, originally, from
Sabrina Ghayour’s ‘sirocco’
…’
Nigella doesn’t mince words, at times:
???? ‘There is a vociferous anti-sprout brigade, but I have no time for their Brussels-bashing bigotry…’
…heading up the recipe for ‘BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH PRESERVED LEMONS AND POMEGRANATE’, on page 76, with a stunning shot of the finished dish on the right-hand page (last image refers), which just might change some of those negative feelings on the vegetable.
At the back of the book is an alphabetical index with key ingredients in bolder print, pages 281-286, with the handy inclusion of a legend:
~ VEGETARIAN
~ VEGAN
~ DAIRY-FREE
~ GLUTEN-FREE
This, I find, is also useful to check for the use of a key ingredient in the fridge, pantry or a leftover, for example: what to do with my opened Marsala, and 2 ideas are there:
✤ ‘CHICKEN FRICASSÉE WITH MARSALA, CHESTNUTS AND THYME’, pages 150/151
or
✤ ‘CHICKEN WITH RED GRAPES AND MARSALA’, pages 136/137
A little taste of the other recipes contained within:
※ EGG TORTILLA PIE
※ BLACK PUDDING HASH WITH FRIED EGG
※ GOLDEN EGG CURRY
※ CHILLI CHEESE GARLIC BREAD
※ CATALAN TOASTS
※ BEEF AND AUBERGINE FATTEH
※ GEMELLI WITH ANCHOVIES, TOMATO AND MASCARPONE
※ MUSSELS WITH PASTA AND TOMATOES
※ RADIATORI (PASTA) WITH SAUSAGE AND SAFFRON
※ MUNG BEAN DAL
※ CARROTS AND FENNEL WITH HARISSA
※ ROAST RED CHICORY
※ BUTTERNUT AND SWEET POTATO CURRY
※ SMASHED CHICKPEAS WITH GARLIC, LEMON AND CHILLI
※ MOROCCAN VEGETABLE POT
※ COUSCOUS WITH PINE NUTS AND DILL
※ QUINOA SALAD
※ BEETROOT AND GOAT’S CHEESE SALAD
※ CORIANDER AND JALAPENO SALSA
※ WHITE MISO HUMMUS
※ PEAR AND PASSIONFRUIT CHUTNEY
※ GOLDEN GARLIC MAYONNAISE
※ FLASH-FRIED SQUID
※ HAKE WITH BACON, PEAS AND CIDER
※ SALT AND VINEGAR POTATOES
※ ROAST LOIN OF SALMON
※ COCONUT SHRIMP
※ LIME AND CORIANDER CHICKEN
※ INDIAN-SPICED CHICKEN AND POTATO TRAYBAKE
※ CHICKEN BARLEY
※ CELLOPHANE ROLLS
※ SLOW ROAST 5-SPICE LAMB
※ CUMBERLAND GRAVY
※ LAMB KOFTA WITH GARLIC SAUCE
※ BULGAR WHEAT WITH FLAKED ALMONDS AND NIGELLA SEEDS
※ APPLE PORK CHOPS WITH SAUERKRAUT SLAW
※ CUMBERLAND SAUSAGE WITH APPLES AND ONIONS
※ ROAST TOPSIDE WITH CARAMELISED ONIONS
※ RUMP STEAKS WITH ANCHOVY CREAM SAUCE
※ QUEEN OF PUDDINGS
※ WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE
※ ROSE AND PEPPER PAVLOVA
※ CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL MOUSSE
※ GINGER WINE SYLLABUB
※ STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING
※ BUTTERSCOTCH POTS
※ EMERGENCY BROWNIES
※ LEMON TENDERCAKE WITH BLUEBERRY COMPOTE
※ VANILLA LAYER CAKE WITH ERMINE ICING
※ GINGER AND WALNUT CARROT CAKE
※ RASPBERRY-FLECKED SOUR CREAM CAKE
※ SUNKEN CHOCOLATE AMARETTO CAKE WITH CRUMBLED AMARETTI CREAM
※ COCONUT (SNOWBALL) CAKE
※ FORGOTTEN COOKIES
※ NEGRONI SBAGLIATO
Acknowledgments complete the publication that ends where it begins:
???? ‘…But my deepest gratitude is to my beloved friend and literary agent, Ed Victor.
This book’s dedication originally read “To Ed Victor, without whom”…
…Now I have to change it, heartbreakingly, so that it is dedicated to his memory.’
[20 images attached ~ © NIGELLA LAWSON/JONATHAN LOVEKIN/CHATTO & WINDUS/2017]