Gordon Ramsay Eat Your Heart Out (Slow Cooking for Yourself - Catherine Atkinson)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Slow Cooking for Yourself - Catherine Atkinson
Date:	30/12/08 (437 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Delicious and nutritious recipes .

Disadvantages: Not a lot!

There has always been this sort of mystique about good cooking that chefs do little to dispel because basically they want to keep themselves in jobs and get you out visiting their often expensive restaurants as often as possible. Granted I'm as susceptible as the next person to a lovely evening out in a nice restaurant, but like the majority of people most of my meals are eaten in my own home.

When you have a busy lifestyle as myself and my wife do then it can be very easy to slip into a rut when it comes to cooking, and fall back on old favourite dishes that you know you enjoy and which don't take too long to prepare. (Mince, fries, steaks, chops, salads, etc) The trouble is that after a while the old favourites have a tendency to become commonplace and a little stale, and it's then you begin to look around for something to stimulate your jaded palate.

Well Gordon Ramsay eat your heart out! The secret to easy and simple gourmet cooking is to own a slow cooker. We've always owned a slow cooker in our household, ever since we first received one as a wedding present over 20 years ago. When my wife and I were both working full time the evening meal would often be left happily bubbling away in one of these beauties for around 10 hours while the two of us were out and about earning the spondoolicks. But since my wife gave up full time employment about 6 years ago it's tended to lie neglected in the back of a kitchen cupboard.

That is until we came across this marvelous cookery book by Catherine Atkinson, "Slow Cooking For Yourself", packed full of delicious recipes solely for slow cookers. We actually bought three of the books on Amazon as Christmas presents for various friends, but after a quick glance through it once it arrived one of them was immediately appropriated for our own use.

Catherine Atkinson is a renowned Cordon Bleu cook who has worked in many fine hotels and restaurants, most notably the patisseries of the famous Roux brothers. (Michelin starred restaurants) She has an Honours degree in Home Economics and worked for years as the deputy cookery editor of publications like "Woman's Weekly" and "Me" magazine. Now she concentrates her talents on producing marvelous cookbooks like the one I am reviewing here.

"Slow Cooking For Yourself" is a 127 page cookbook published back in 2005 that is packed full of totally delicious, scrumptious recipes for you to prepare using a slow cooker. It's aimed mainly at single people or couples with a busy lifestyle that doesn't leave much surplus time for cooking elaborate meals, but who nevertheless enjoy eating well.

If you enjoy your food, and especially if you're a meat eater (carnivore) like me, then this book is definitely for you, as it is chock a block with recipes for pork, beef, lamb and poultry dishes. Vegetarians might find the recipes just a wee bit thin on the ground though, and would probably be better going for another cookbook more designed with their tastes in mind.

The recipes are mostly for two people, but if you are cooking for more it's simple enough to increase the amount of recommended ingredients. The book is well laid out in different sections, has plenty of illustrations to whet your taste buds, and the author also describes each dish in detail rather than just printing a bare list of ingredients. It's also very simple to follow, even for a cretin in the kitchen like me who can manage to burn a boiled egg!

It contains recipes for all different types of ethnic meals such as French, Italian, Chinese, Thai, etc so all different tastes are catered for. About 10 to 15 minutes will prepare the ingredients for your meal. Then you simply pop it into your slow cooker and forget about it until it's time to serve it up. Ah, isn't simplicity just great?

The cookbook is an absolute bargain at a mere £5.99 at Amazon in the UK. (With free delivery)

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© KenJ December 2008

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Summary: Superb cookbook for slow cooker recipes.