Forever Summer - Nigella Lawson

Following on from my love of "Domestic Goddess" I was more than happy to receive another Nigella book as a gift. "Forever Summer" looks as enticing as "Domestic Goddess" - will it prove its weight? "Forever Summer" was a book to accompany Nigella's TV series of the same name. It contains recipes from the show and many more besides. I don't know about you but I'm always a little skeptical of spin-offs. More often than not I find that the dumb down the natural cooking skills of the authors in favour of mass-market acceptability. I found "Domestic Goddess" refreshing in its yesteryear style and hoped, very ...  Read the complete review

Nigella Lawson - you either love her or loathe her. The problem with strong television personalities is that they can be their own worst enemies and the persona we associate with them can distract us from what they're trying to do. Every TV impressionism show now features a spoof on Nigella and the resulting caricature is either a nymphomaniac chocoholic or a "jolly hockey sticks" public schoolgirl who thinks the whole nation lives on a diet of caviare and foie gras. Certainly, Nigella gives the impression she's not like us - slaving over a hot stove but stil looking gorgeous with her raven hair cascading over her shoulders, cooking for the President ...  Read the complete review

Nigella Lawson - successful food critic and TV chef. But are her recipes actually any good? A few years ago I bought 'Forever Summer' to find out. Today, I am a dedicated Nigella fan. Forever Summer contains a selection of 'summer' themed recipes - food ideal for consuming on a hot summer day. Recipes range from starters, soups, salads, fish dishes, meat dishes, vegetable side dishes, puddings, ice creams and drinks. Salads tend to feature quite heavily, due to the summer themed nature of the book. The problem I find with most recipe books is the ratio of recipes included to ones I would actually want to make. However, for me, the measure of a ...  Read the complete review

I am a keen cook after having lived in countries in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the UK and been a member of cooking groups. I also read cookbook reviews and was intrigued at one that claimed that Nigella's recipes didn't work. Never the less, she is popular and the food looks delicious, so today I tried to make Nigella's "Slow roasted garlic and lemon chicken" from her "Forever Summer" book and the result was not good. 2 lemons is too much for only one chichen. The recipe lacked taste (no salt in the dish, only black pepper) but it did look very pretty. As an experienced cook I will try some of the other recipes - doctoring the ...  Read the complete review