Rachel's Favourite Food For Friends (Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends - Rachel Allen)

Member Name: sakura8

Product:	Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends - Rachel Allen
Date:	09/02/09 (615 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of easy to make recipes

Disadvantages: Not enough colour photographs

This book features many recipes from the TV series of the same name.

<<< The Pros >>>
There are over 200 recipes which are very easy to follow and Rachel usually gives each recipe a little introduction. Her friendly narrative includes ideas of when is best to serve the dish and what with, suggestions for leftovers and tweaks or alternatives to the recipe. She has also included very useful notes, which tend to be practical based so you can improve your techniques.

I like that her recipes don't require a lot of gadgets, for instance she has quite a few recipes for ice creams which don't even require an ice cream maker.

In my opinion, the book contains lots of recipes that you would actually want to make. The recipes are homely, but still inventive and challenging enough for the book to be useful and inspiring.

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<<< The Contents >>>
It is split into the following sections:
i) Acknowledgments - here she gives thanks to friends and family, an obvious source of inspiration, hence the title of the book!
ii) Rachel's Tips - this is a short chapter on how to select good quality ingredients, such as sugar, olive oil and spices. She also advises on the best way to melt chocolate and how to eat seasonally.

1) Christmas Dinner - as well as the traditional Turkey and all the trimmings, Rachel has recipes for alternatives such as Roast Duck and a twist on festive treats, with Baby Orange Mince Pies.

2) Romantic Dinner For Two - this section focuses on easy to prepare and light dishes, such as Pan-grilled Scallops with Lemon Oil, Baby Spinach and Pine Nut Salad, perhaps followed by Champagne Sorbet - perfect for indulging yourself and your loved one!

3) Party Food - there are some very simple recipes in this section for easy nibbles such as Marinated Olives and Roast Nuts, to much more complicated things like Sushi.

4) Summer Lunch - plenty of classic salads such as Caesar, Greek and Potato and also a delicious Strawberry and Honey Mascarpone Tart with home-made pastry which is so easy to make (to me this is one of the most memorable recipes she made on TV!).

5) Midweek Supper Party - these are dishes you can prepare in advance so you can enjoy the party, such as Moroccan Chicken Tagine and Banana and Maple Toffee Cake.

6) Formal Dinner Party - this is where you can pull out all the stops to impress your guests, starting off with a Kir Royale cocktail and wowing them with Roast Rack of Spring Lamb with Cumin, Fresh Mint Chutney and Tzatziki.

7) Sunday Lunch - there are quite a few desserts in this section, like Apple Pudding or Little Pistachio Pavlovas, which are great if you can squeeze them in after Roast Leg of Lamb with Garlic Layered Potatoes - yum!

8) Big Family Lunch - comfort food is the name of the game here, with soups and Beef Bourguignon or a nice Spinach and Ricotta Lasagne for vegetarians.

9) Girls' Night In - I would say this is the weakest section of the book as she just has cocktail recipes and recipes for things like Roast Red and Yellow Peppers and Sun Dried Tomatoes, which you would probably buy from a deli anyway.

10) Chocolate - yes a whole section dedicated to chocolate! She goes from the very basic, A Slab of Chocolate (yes, she really has put a recipe which involves serving up a load of chocolate on a board with sweet wine or coffee!) to the more challenging Sweet and Sour Pork with Raisins, Pine Nuts and Chocolate.

11) Barbecue - I like this section a lot, as she has recipes for different marinades, salads and ideas on cooking fruit and vegetables on the barbecue. I just hope we have some sunshine so we can have a barbecue!

12) Curry Night - this is a lot more effort than phoning up your local take-away, but if you want to make your own curry, rice, raita/chutney and kulfi then it's all here.

13) Afternoon Tea - Rachel has concentrated on very classic cakes here, with many variations on Madeira Cake, Shortbread and Butterfly Buns.

The Index at the back of the book is very easy to use and recipes are listed by main ingredients, e.g. almonds, and by sections, e.g. barbecues.

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<<< Who's It For? >>>
I think this book will suit both beginners to cooking and those who are comfortable in the kitchen and want to broaden their repertoire.

<<< The Cons >>>
My only real gripe about this book is the lack of photographs. In the whole book there are only 27 colour photographs of her finished dishes and I think that is a real shame, as photographs entice you to try a recipe and also give you an idea of how the dish should look. Also, the photographs that are included are located in very random sections of the book and even though the page number is given, you still have to flick through the book to find it which is annoying.

Another small complaint is I would prefer the directions in the recipe to be in a step-by-step numbered list, rather than a whole paragraph, as it would make it a bit easier to see where you are.

<<< The Summary >>>
Overall this is a great all-round recipe book with some excellent recipes to cook for family and friends, so I would file this book under How To Make Friends and Influence People.

Summary: A great book to start or add to your collection.