Some things are always on the wish list. For example a housekeeper. That is someone who will do all the cleaning but will achieve this magically so that I will wake up in the morning and it will all be done. This genie would also be able to do all the shopping leaving me free to browse the markets without having to make any serious decisions. He or she would prepare all our meals with the proviso that they would cook just the way I do - so I could enjoy my own cooking without having to do it myself. Given such a gift is unlikely I wouldn't mind someone giving me a Thermomix and/or a Kitchen Aid mixer, or something similar, and/or an ice cream maker. I don't need any of these gadgets but I would love to have one or other of them to play with, and especially without the guilt of having spent a small fortune on something I know I can live without. Should anyone seriously contemplate any of these gifts they should also consider donating an extra room to the house so that there would be somewhere to put the thing.
There are however one or two more realistic suggestions on my Christmas list.
Yottam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi have written another book, Jerusalem: A Cookbook which I have salivated over (although that does sound slightly revolting doesn't it) in the book shop. As usual it is full of strong flavours and interesting combinations. There has been no shortage of publicity for Jerusalem. There is an article with recipes in the latest edition (December 2012/January 2013) of Delicious magazine and a long and very interesting article about the whole Ottolenghi phenomenon in the December 3 issue of The New Yorker magazine if you can lay your hands on a copy.There is another interview with the authors here at Serious Eats and you can whet your appetite with recipes from the book for roasted butternut squash with tahini and za'atar here, Na'ama's fattoush here, mejadra (which is delicious) here, stuffed eggplant with lamb and pine nuts here and hummus kawarma here. When I first made the mejadra (which has all sorts of other spellings - mujaddara for instance) I used this version of the recipe which skips the step of mixing the onions with flour. I found the flour only made things gluggy and messy and the onions tended to clump together - so this step seemed quite unnecessary. However you make it mejadra is terrific with yoghurt, with feta cheese or with a fried egg on top (or indeed with all three together).
On the non-fiction book list is Consider the Fork: A history of how we cook and eat by Bee Wilson (which you can read about here). There are so many everyday objects that we take for granted, many of which have a fascinating story to tell. This book sounds like a good companion to Margaret Visser's The Rituals of Dinner: The origins, evolution, eccentricities and meaning of table manners. Another food book which caught my attention at The New Yorker is Jon Kramper's Creamy and Crunchy which is a history of peanut butter, reviewed here. Having worked at a plant which made peanut butter I am very familiar with the benefits of hydrogenation but can only tolerate peanut butter in small doses.
Another book which isn't actually on the wish list but one which I think I should get around to reading sometime is You Aren't What You Eat. Fed up With Gastroculture by Stephen Poole. Depending on where you sit on the foodie spectrum you might see Mr. Poole's effort as 'a bloody brutal and necessary sacred cow hunt' (as here) or you may find that you 'strenuously disagreed with every single conclusion' (as here). Perhaps you could give copies to everyone to read before Christmas to ensure lively discussion during lunch on the 25th.
There is also a new Mark Kurlansky book which was published this year Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man (reviewed here) which would appear to throw a whole new light on frozen peas.
And there is one last book on the list. I recently heard Lawrence Norfolk interviewed about his latest book John Saturnall's Feast (reviewed here, the download for the interview is here) which sounds like a good yarn and historically interesting as well. A book about medieval feasting should make perfect reading for the beach this summer.
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