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Our Rating
 4 stars

Author: Valli Little

Featured Recipe: Coconut Pancakes With Banana & Creme Fraiche

Well, that's Christmas and New Years out of the way, with all the craziness that it entails. The end of the silly season - or is it? With the school holidays stretching (seemingly endlessly) ahead of bored kids and frazzled parents, it's likely to be a silly season of another kind. That's why I thought I'd look at a couple of cookbooks that offer good food fast.

There are several things I look for when I am reviewing cookbooks. I do have a weakness for cookbooks that look 'pretty'; not tricked up, but pleasing enough to make me pick them up and have a flick through, to make me drool (but in a very discreet and ladylike manner). Well laid out, good photos, nothing pretentious, just something to catch my eye and maybe even inspire me.

It's a good sign if I can find a few recipes that I want to cook. I know I'm onto a winner if I want to cook almost every recipe. It's also a good sign when the books come to me with sticky notes marking the recipes that my web editor would like to cook.

The new cookbook from the crew at Delicious arrived in my letterbox positively bristling with post-its. This is a very good sign. Having published the food magazine for seven years now, they know a thing or two about food publishing.

Firstly the title - Quick Smart Cook (delicious food without the fuss) - that's music to the ears of any time-poor mum or dad.

And the layout? One recipe per page with a photo so you can see how the food will turn out (although it helps if you have a food stylist on hand - but doesn't everybody?). The recipes are well set out with simple instructions and sometimes a comment or two from the author, Valli Little. They are designed to be quick and easy and make use of shops and delis, though some are more complicated than others.

The book is divided into sections such as pasta, fish, poultry, beef, lamb, and (my favourite) desserts or ices (the peanut butter ice cream with caramel popcorn brittle recipe keeps on popping into my mind - I can think of only one solution: I must make and devour it!). There's a really nice mix of lighter or heavier dishes you can choose depending on the season and your frame of mind. It finishes with a menu planner and some basics (duck fat fried potatoes anyone?).

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Author: Heather Whinney, Australian Editor-in-Chief Guy Mirabella

Featured Recipe: Lamb With Chickpeas, Green Peppers, And Couscous

Express Cook is also aimed at the time poor, offering over 700 recipes that promise to be quick and easy - and they are. You may need to take some time at first though to sit down with the book (and do sit down because it's large and heavy) and work your way through it.

Every single page is crammed with recipes, hints, step-by-step guides and menu planners. The book itself is divided into 'everyday food' and 'food for friends', which I think is a much nicer way of describing entertaining. Then these two sections are divided into more sections, like 'no cook', 'speedy suppers', 'batch and freeze', '10 ways with...', 'faster pasta', 'pizza tortillas and quesadillas' and ... well, you get the idea.

Then there's things to do with leftovers and roasts and one pot cooking and barbecues, and I'm only a fraction of the way through the book. There are great menu planners so you can plan for a vegetarian entrée in under 30 minutes, a no-cook-dessert in under 15 (the middle eastern oranges look deliciously different and very pretty), a whole dinner party, or just a meal for one. And you can also choose your menu by using the technique index.

With so much information crammed into the book and onto each page you may find yourself in danger of information overload. The first time I looked at it I felt overwhelmed by the choice. Bamboozled.

But as I've looked at it further I've found recipes that I would like to cook and am beginning to appreciate its style. It's a great resource, not the sort of book for a leisurely flick through but a treasure trove of easy quick recipes and methods. It was originally published in the United Kingdom and even though it has had a going over by the Australian editor Guy Mirabella, there are some recipes or words that sound decidedly anglo...peppers, courgettes or smoked haddock with coconut chilli and lime anyone?

But with over 700 recipes to choose from, you can easily afford to disregard the ones that sound unusual and find something you do like. You might just have to set aside some time to get through the book and make up your mind. It has a lot of really attractive vegetarian dishes (bulgur wheat with mixed peppers, mint and goats cheese) and healthy options. And for those of you who like something a bit more calorific, there are plenty of options for you too.

If you are in the market for a cookbook to help save your sanity these holidays I would pop into your bookstore really quickly, and randomly open each of these. If your mouth waters at the sight of the Thai lobster curry and you don't quail at the cost of the ingredients, go with Quick Smart Cook. If you long for options and answers to your daily cooking dilemmas then Express Cook might be the book for you.

About The Books

Title: Delicious - Quick Smart Cook
Author: Valli Little
ISBN: 9780733326028
Publisher: ABC Books, distributed by Harper Collins
RRP: $39.99
Pages: 256

Title: Express Cook
Author: Heather Whinney, Australian Editor-in-Chief Guy Mirabella
ISBN: 9781740337311
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley and distributed by Penguin Books Australia
RRP: $60.00
Pages: 544

Recipe: Coconut Pancakes With Banana & Creme Fraiche

Recipe taken from ABC delicious. quick smart cook by Valli Little, rrp $39.99

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas
4 eggs, separated
1 cup (250ml) coconut milk
1 cup (150g) plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
Melted unsalted butter, to grease
Creme fraiche, icing sugar and shredded coconut, to serve

Caramel sauce
50g unsalted butter
1/2 firmly packed cup (100g) brown sugar
3 tbs golden syrup
150ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. For the sauce, place all the ingredients in a pan over low heat, stir to dissolve sugar, then simmer for 5 minutes until thickened. Keep warm or allow to cool.
2. Mash 1 banana in a bowl, then set aside.
3. Place yolks, coconut milk and a pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk until combined. Gently fold in the sifted flour, baking powder and mashed banana to combine. Whisk eggwhites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form, then fold into the batter.
4. Heat a non-stick frypan over medium-low heat and brush with butter. Using a heaped tablespoon of batter for each pancake, add 3-4 spoonfuls to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until golden and cooked. Keep warm while you continue with the remaining batter to make a total of 9 pancakes.
5. Slice remaining bananas. Arrange the pancakes in stacks on serving plates, alternating with banana slices and creme fraiche. Drizzle with caramel sauce, then dust with sugar and sprinkle with coconut.

Serves 3 - 4

Recipe: Lamb With Chickpeas, Green Peppers, And Couscous

Recipe taken from Express Cook, arp $60.00

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
900g lean lamb, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3 green peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
900ml hot vegetable stock
175g couscous
50g pine nuts, toasted
Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a low heat. Add the onion, and sweat for about 15 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, lamb, cinnamon, and paprika, and season.
2. Tip in the peppers and chickpeas, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned on all sides. Pour over 60ml of the hot stock, cover the pan, and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Top up with a little hot water if the mixture starts to dry out
3. Meanwhile, prepare the couscous. Tip the couscous into a bowl, then pour over enough of the remaining stock just to cover. Leave for about 5 minutes, then use a fork to fluff up a separate the grains. Season with plenty of salt and black pepper.
4. To serve, sprinkle the lamb mixture with the pine nuts and parsley, and serve immediately with the couscous.

Variations

• You could sprinkle over toasted sesame seeds instead of pine nuts.

Serves 4
Preparation 10 mins
Cook 30 mins