Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Alyce Alexandra, Penguin/Viking, $39.99.
Thermo cooking is the rage these days and there’s no one better qualified to let you into its secrets than Alexandra. She shows you how to get the best out of your thermo cooker with recipes that ‘reflect the rhythm of everyday life’. Alyce is not the only one who’s passionate about food. We all are.
She calls them “real-life recipes”, a collection of what she cooks every day. With Alyce’s compilation of never-fail recipes it’s easy to put nourishing and delicious food on your table every day of the week. Alyce writes that food is central to everything that’s important in life and how we eat and feed others is a strong reflection of who we are, our values and how we live. She can’t recall what came first, her love of cooking or her love of thermo cookers that have opened up a whole new world of possibilities, making life in the kitchen quicker, easier and more enjoyable.
The structure of this book reflects how Alyce approaches her own home cooking: weekly breakfasts, tasty lunchbox options and quick meals. When there’s more time on hand at weekends, there’s an opportunity for “slow cooks, baked goods and investment flavour makers to stock up on”. You can also be “creative with leftovers and, of course, sweet treats when a celebration or little indulgence is in order”.
The artfully-illustrated book has 100 simple recipes that are designed to show how simple, feasible and gratifying thermo home cooking can be. It includes variations enabling you to cater for a wide variety of dietary preferences including vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, gluten free, nut free and refined-sugar free. Many can be completed in less than 30 minutes, qualifying as a ‘quick fix’.
A ‘blueprint’ of her culinary life, “it’s about what you like, what you have on hand, and how to make your life that little bit easier”.
