Free Jamie cookbook for every UK library

29.08.13 | Joshua Farrington - The Bookseller

A free copy of Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, Save With Jamie, is being donated to every library in the UK.

The book, published today (29th August) by Penguin division Michael 

Joseph, focuses on cooking on a budget. More than 4,000 libraries

 in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will each receive a copy of the title, 

donated by Penguin Random House with the assistance of The Reading Agency.
Oliver said: "We know from the fabulous work that libraries do every day that everyone

deserves a chance to learn basic skills that can improve everyday lives. Reading and 

cooking are two of those skills for sure. I’ll admit I’ve been a late developer with the first, 

but I can definitely help with the second."

Miranda McKearney, outgoing director of The Reading Agency, said: "We can’t thank 

Jamie and Penguin Random House enough for this incredibly generous gift to library

 users. It sends out a powerful message—to live well we need to feed our bodies with 

healthy food, and our minds with great reading.
"For those under financial pressure, libraries offer fantastic free reading experiences

 and they’re a great place to go if you’re on a tight budget. We’re delighted to be working

 with the Society of Chief Librarians, Libraries Northern Ireland and the Scottish Library

 and Information Council to get Save with Jamie to every library in the country."

Penguin Random House c.e.o. Tom Weldon said: "Save with Jamie is a book we are

 very proud to be publishing and we hope that this gift will genuinely have a positive

impact on households of the UK."
Tony Durcan of the Society of Chief Librarians said libraries were experiencing "a tsunami

 of demand from users on tight budgets . . . So Jamie’s gift is extremely welcome, and we 

will put the books to very good use." He added: "It’s really cheering to have this help in

 meeting the needs of the communities we are passionate about serving."

Oliver has aroused considerable controversy in recent days with comments made while 

publicising the book and Channel 4 TV programme, "Jamie's Money Saving Meals". In an 

interview with the Radio Times, Oliver said low income families often made poor food choices, 

while in a Good Housekeepinginterview he said his restaurants would close without immigrant

 workers, because British people would "whinge" about long hours and tough conditions.

 Newspaper columnists have piled into the debate, withviews ranging from "Jamie is right; 

a poor diet is the national disease" to "Jamie Oliver has no right to tell us how to spend our 

money", coming from Oliver's Michael Joseph stablemate Jack Monroe, writing in the 

Independent.

Grilled Vegetables with Za’atar Vinaigrette

Posted: 29 Aug 2013 - David Lebovitz

There’s a big difference between lucky and fortunate. Luck is a winning lottery ticket blowing in your window. Fortunate means that you’ve taken the initiative and done something. And because of it, there was a positive outcome. So I would probably say that I was lucky because my mother was a good cook but it’s debatable whether I am lucky, or fortunate, because my partner is a good cook as well.

Before dinner a few weeks ago, I’d grilled off some vegetable beforehand and left them in a plat à four (baking dish) on the counter, ready for dinner. Right before we were to eat, I asked him to make a dressing for them, and went about the rest of my business, finishing up the prep for the rest of dinner before realizing what he’d done.

Continue Reading Grilled Vegetables with Za’atar Vinaigrette...

CATALINA NEWSLETTER   Heart Research Australia Dinner Catalina recently hosted an evening that combined fabulous food, flawless wine and fantastic company... All in the name of a cause very close to our hearts. Cardiovascular Disease makes a mark on 3.4 million Australians each year. Researchers at Royal North Shore Hospital engage in pioneering research projects with one goal - a world without heart disease. Catalina is proud to be part of the Heart Research Australia's journey, by hosting a dinner to thank generous Catalina clientele for donations to Heart Research Australia totalling $75,000!  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, to those who gave so generously. We could not have created such a gorgeous event without the support of Tim Storrier, Michael Hill Smith, Pommery, Shaw & Smith, GM Photographics & Susan Avery. New Bar Menu With that crisp, spring feeling in the air, Catalina is excited to launch our new bar menu with a variety of delicious new flavours that is sure to please everyone. Join us for a few casual cocktails on the balcony and make sure you check it out!  Yoshi is back After a month of holiday in Japan visiting family and friends, our Master Sushi Chef  Yoshinori Fuchigami returns this week to Catalina. We know there will be a few customers who will be as delighted as us to have his talents back in Rose Bay! .... and remember, Yoshi's sushi and sashimi is available Wednesday - Sunday.  Wedding Venue of the Year!  We've always known it and our beautiful brides of the past and future know it too - but now it's official. Last weekend, Catalina was awarded Sydney's Best Restaurant Wedding Venue at the Wedding & Events of Australia awards night. We are so thrilled! Danielle, our incredible weddings co-ordinator was there to accept the award, one that she so rightfully deserves. This award recognises her hard work but also the efforts of the entire team we have here at Catalina. Each member of staff plays an integral role in delivering a product and service to you, our loyal customers - at a level that Michael & I are so proud of and one that we will continue to build upon.  September marks Catalina's 19th birthday!  Stay tuned - we plan to celebrate our birthday with you in style, and will be in touch soon about our birthday plans.  Catalina Restaurant, Lyne Park Rose Bay  www.catalinarosebay.com.au

Things I Bring When I’m a Guest for a Weekend (or Week)

1. Posted: 26 Aug 2013 
2. 
   
3. A while back, someone posed the question on Twitter, asking it was okay to bring your own knives if you’re a houseguest for the weekend. It’s a question I didn’t think was all that odd, since I do it all the time. Then a friend of mine also noted recently that, like me, he brings red pepper powder with him, when he’s cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen. Which got me thinking about the mini-arsenal of equipment and foodstuffs I tote along with me when heading out to the country to stay with friends or family.
4. 
   
5. I try to be a good guest and bring food to take some of the burden off my hosts. I’ll usually prepare and freeze a few rolls of cookie dough, or maybe a disk of tart dough, which I’ll bring along to make a tart. I might take along a marinated lamb or pork shoulder (or loin) studded with garlic and rubbed with spices, ready to roast off with little fuss. And I always bring a couple of loaves of bread from Paris since it can be a challenge to find good bread in the countryside. (And I don’t like eating baguettes that can be tied in a knot.) And I always arrive with a couple of bottles of wine, because I don’t want to be known as the guest who drank his hosts out of house and home.
6. 
   
7. Continue Reading Things I Bring When I’m a Guest for a Weekend (or Week)...

The Bookman is on a reading and eating holiday..........

We are in Port Douglas, Queensland for a week's r'n'r and must say we are enjoying the temperature range - 20C min overnight last night and presently 25C going to 27C later this afternoon.

Bought a kilo of freshly caught prawns from the back of a boat down at the marina and ate most of them for lunch washed down with a glass of Annie's Lane Chardonnay. Tonight we are going to Nautilus Restaurant for dinner, one of Port Douglas' top eating establishments. And I must say there is a great range of dining options here

Only complaint is that the WiFi connection comes and goes, most frustrating, so if there are any long pauses in me posting items then my apologies but you will know why.

I have four novels and a pile of magazines with me.................

Warm good wishes,
Bookman Beattie

Sun link-up for Jamie

23.08.13 | Joshua Farrington - The Bookseller

Penguin is gearing up for the launch of Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, Save with Jamie: Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less (29th August), with a "massive" pre-publication transmedia serial with the Sun.
The book accompanies a six-part Channel 4 series “Jamie’s Money Saving Meals”, which will show in primetime at 8pm, beginning on 2nd September.

The media push for the book launches tomorrow (24th August) with five days of in-paper coverage in the Sun, accompanied by TV advertising and exclusive online material.

Meanwhile outdoor advertising campaigns are being specifically focussed on London, Birmingham and Glasgow, the three cities where Penguin has noted particularly high mass market sales of Oliver's books. Adverts will run on the sides of London buses, and there will be heavy advertising in the Glasgow Underground.

The campaign tagline is “Making Your Food go Further”, with social media users encouraged to engage with a #savewithjamie hashtag. A number of online videos have been prepared, while a Save With Jamie mini-site goes live tomorrow on the chef's website with user-generated sections which will pull in content from Twitter and picture-sharing site Instagram. Penguin and Jamie Oliver will both make use of their social media profiles, which collectively have 4m Twitter followers and 1.5m Facebook likes.
Oliver has had the Christmas number one in 2010, 2011 and 2012 with Jamie's Great Britain, Jamie's 30-Minute Meals and Jamie's 15-Minute Meals. Jamie's 30-Minute Meals has sold more than 1.7m copies, taking more than £24.5m through the tills. If Save With Jamie becomes Christmas number one, it will set a new record.

Marilyn Hagerty’s ‘Grand Forks’: Unpretentious Food Writing Is the New Outsider Art

By Jason Diamond on Aug 23, 2013 Flavorwire

The term “outsider art” has always bothered me. It implies that if you want to be an artist of any sort, you need to go through the proper channels, fill out the right paperwork, live in the right place, and make sure you look and act the part at all times. It is a term nearly as infuriating and insulting as the one Americans use to describe Fela Kuti or Os Mutantes: “world music.” These are terms we apply to art that we see as the “other,” good or bad. Hence the labels, and the hundreds of essays that will follow about how all American art is a capitalist tool to decorate the walls of the bourgeois, blah blah blah.

… Read More

Al Brown showcases NZ food and wine in San Francisco

• Kea - New Zealand's global network - from their Facebook page

  ‪#‎Kiwi‬ chef Al Brown has showcased ‪#‎NewZealand‬’s world-renowned food and wine at SF Chefs, San Francisco’s food, wine and spirits festival: http://bit.ly/12n2g6u

  
  

  

EBISU'S NEW LUNCH MENU

21 August 2013

EBISU'S NEW LUNCH MENU

Never ones to rest on their laurels, this local Japanese restaurant’s menu features some inspired new lunch offerings that’ll surpass even the loftiest of expectations... READ MORE

Black Currant Jam

Posted by David Lebovitz : 21 Aug 2013 

Someone recently asked me why I do what I do. More specifically, what compelled me. They were particularly focused on how I was likely most concerned with the finished product, asking me if that was my goal when I cooked and baked. I thought about it for a bit, and realized that the goal has very little to do with it; I like picking through lugs of fruits and berries with my hands, melting chocolate and butter until the mixture is smooth, the smell of folding toasted nuts into a cake batter, and lifting a batch of just-churned ice cream out of the machine and alternating the layers with ribbons of glossy chocolate swirl.

I do, however, have a rather particular thing for scoping out fruit and berries whenever I find them growing and using them to their best advantage. Most of the time, they end up in jams and jellies, especially since I recently returned to the trees which I found overloaded with wild plums a few years ago (which the owners had hacked down to their nubs the following year), which were now gloriously heavy with multicolored fruits of unbelievable goodness. And I spent a good afternoon plucking out the pits and making jam, and a nice tart out of them. Fait accompli!

Continue Reading Black Currant Jam...

The Hairy Bikers latest cookbook breaks 2013 fastest selling non-fiction record

Wednesday 21st Aug 2013 - James Grant

The Hairy Bikers latest cookbook 'The Hairy Dieters: Eat for Life has gone straight to the No 1 spot on the UK Top 50 chart list with 21,389 copies sold within just the first 3 days of its release.
It makes it the fastest-selling non-fiction book of 2013, having beaten the previous, fastest-selling non-fiction title, The 2-Day Diet by Michelle Harvie and Tony Howell, by 6,000 copies. Whilst it's staggering first week sales saw it even outsell JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy.

Hairy Dieters: Eat for Life follows their immensely successful first diet book, Hairy Dieters, which has remained in the Top 50 chart for a staggering 53 weeks, 49 of which were in the Top 10. Now, with even more delicious, low-calorie meals, the boys are back at No.1.

Aaron Brunet Masterchef NZ at Euro Bar & Restaurant

• Euro Bar & Restaurant - from their Facebook page.

  Yesterday Aaron Brunet Masterchef NZ had a training session with our team on his 2nd five course degustation menu! (It was amazing) Aaron’s inspiration for this menu comes from his time on ‪#‎MasterChef‬.
  
  Aaron’s Menu - http://bit.ly/17IaA0x
  Bookings - Euro 09 309 9866
  ‪#‎Auckland‬ ‪#‎Lunch‬ ‪#‎Dinner‬

  

The Bookman has a rave on Radio Live about crime fiction author Donna Leon and Brunetti's Cookbook

Here is a link to my chat with Wallace Chapman about crime fiction writer extraordinaire Donna Leon and the wonderful cookbook linked to her famous fictional Venetian policeman Commissario Brunetti 

http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Beattie-On-Books/tabid/506/articleID/37213/Default.aspx

For the record the UK edition, published by William Heinemann, is called A Taste of Venice: At Table with Brunetti. and retails here for $45.00..

Australian Gourmet Traveller

Somebody pass us a spoon. The best relief for the colder months is a piping hot pudding. Don't believe us? We think think our winter puddings slideshow might change your mind. Plus, the best winter roasts in Australia; our travel guide to Bali; our favourite trivets; and your chance to win a trip to Hong Kong, a Profiline cookware pack, a day with Peter Gilmore or an Estée Lauder prize pack! Happy eating, Anthea Loucas and the team at Gourmet Traveller

Chance meeting with cookbook author

Popped into my favourite Ponsonby coffee stop (Fred's) this morning and who should be in there but two Sarahs - author of cook simple Sarah Bowman, whom I had not met before, with book publicist Sarah Thornton.

 I was able to enthuse to author Sarah about the dishes I had made from her book. She had just been at TVNZ appearing on Good Morning.

Nice to meet you Sarah Bowman, and nice to catch up with you Sarah Thornton.

Bon appetit.

Why I Write...David Tanis. . Cooking and writing

By David Tanis | PW - July 19, 2013

Photograph - 

Andrea Gentl

Cooking can be a kind of self-expression. Aside from the obvious purpose of providing nourishment, cooking may inspire a mood, and, under the right circumstances, be positively transporting, for both the cook and the diner.

Writing is another form of self-expression, and it’s always nice to have more than one. I am a cook who writes about food, among other things. (Full disclosure: I was an English major before I ever thought of cooking professionally.) Food writing can be daunting: there are just so many ways to say “delicious,” and everywhere are shameful examples of overused food adjectives. Yet there are odes to asparagus and poems about pancakes

Food is evocative. The mere aroma of onions slowly stewing, or bacon frying, or tortillas on the griddle will instantaneously summon a childhood memory or a long-forgotten moment. For me, a mere whiff of pasta cooking is a culinary trigger. Something about the steamy starchy vapors haunts me every time, and in my mind’s eye I see an old battered aluminum pot and colander—my mother’s. That pot produced some rather mundane dishes, but just the smell of boiling noodles, even now, carries a hint of nostalgia. And it’s strange how the nose can name a dish long before the eyes have noticed. Every ingredient has its own perfume.

Writing about food can be a way to document a culinary event. Indeed, it is a slower way than dashing off a quick tweet or photographing each dish in a meal and zapping the image to the known universe before eating it. Such technological advances are amazing, and a picture may well be worth a thousand words, but the images become obsolete at an incredibly rapid pace. The nuanced history behind these “sound bites” might deserve elucidation; often more words are required to tell the story well.

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Rite of Passage: The Chef Book

By Natalie Danford |   PW - July 19, 2013

Publishing a book—whether a compendium of recipes, a memoir, or some combination of the two—has become a rite of passage for chefs, and this fall publishers are offering a slew of thoughts from beneath the toque.

In October, Grand Central will publish a 50,000-copy first printing of Daniel: My French Cuisine by Daniel Boulud (and Sylvie Bigar) of the New York City temple to haute cuisine, Restaurant Daniel. The West Coast is represented by Manresa: An Edible Reflection by Bay Area star David Kinch and Christine Muhlke (Ten Speed Press, Oct.); Eric Ripert contributes a foreword.

From more casual quarters comes Roberta’s Cookbook by Carlo Mirarchi, Chris Parachini, and Brandon Hoy with writer Katherine Wheelock, about the seminal restaurant in Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Bushwick neighborhood. Clarkson Potter publishes that volume in October. And from still more casual quarters, Junior’s Home Cooking: Over 100 Recipes for Classic Comfort Food by Alan Rosen and Beth Allen (Taunton Press, Oct.) includes recipes for dishes served at the chain.

Even crafters of candy and sweets are getting into the act: October will see a 60,000-copy first printing of Mast Brothers Chocolate: A Family Cookbook by Rick Mast and Michael Mast (with a foreword by famed chef Thomas Keller) from Little, Brown, as well as Robicelli’s: A Love Story, with Cupcakes by Allison Robicelli and Matt Robicelli (Viking Studio), who own a wholesale bakery in Brooklyn. St. Martin’s Press will publish Small, Sweet, and Italian: Tiny, Tasty Treats from Sweet Maria’s Bakery by Maria Bruscino Sanchez in September.

In December, the Taylor Trade imprint of Rowman & Littlefield will publish No Experience Necessary: The Culinary Odyssey of Chef Norman Van Aken, a memoir by the chef/owner of the famed Florida restaurant Norman’s and the only Floridian on the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage” list. The memoir includes 18 recipes.

Pamela Cannon, executive editor, Ballantine Books, says, “Many people, including professional cooks and chefs, look to challenge themselves with advanced collections that feature an acclaimed chef’s or restaurant’s full body of work, such as Michael White’s upcoming Classico e Moderno: Essential Italian Cooking.” The November title, written with Andrew Friedman, juxtaposes recipes for classics, such as ricotta tortelli with butter and sage, with those for newer concepts developed in White’s restaurants, which include Marea, Osteria Morini, Ai Fiori, and Nicoletta in New York City, as well as outposts in London and Hong Kong.

Not all chef-authors hail from the U.S. Michelin three-star chef Pierre Koffmann of La Tante Claire in London will offer Memories of Gascony (Octopus, Oct.). Phaidon will publish three chef cookbooks this fall: D.O.M.: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients by Alex Atala (Sept.), whose D.O.M. restaurant in Sao Paulo was rated the fourth best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine in 2012; A Work in Progress: Notes on Food, Cooking, and Creativity by René Redzepi (Nov.), a set that consists of a cookbook, a journal, and a flipbook about the author’s restaurant, Michelin two-starred Noma, in Copenhagen; and COI: Stories and Recipes by Daniel Patterson (Oct.), whose restaurant, Coi, in San Francisco has also earned two Michelin stars.

Scott Conant has five Scarpetta restaurants around the country, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt executive editor Justin Schwartz notes, “Conant is a frequent judge on Food Network’s wildly popular program Chopped, and his The Scarpetta Cookbook, due out this fall, is looking to be a major release for us based on that visibility, far greater than what he would enjoy solely from his acclaimed restaurants.”

In October, Andrews McMeel will publish John Besh’s third cookbook, Cooking from the Heart: My Favorite Lessons Learned Along the Way. Besh has been recognized as one of Food & Wine magazine’s 10 best new chefs and won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southeast in 2006. He also placed second on the first season of the Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef. He owns nine restaurants.

Globe Pequot is continuing to expand its regional Chef’s Table series. Amy Lyons, editorial director of travel and regional cooking for the press, explains, “We gather 50 to 60 of an area’s most celebrated eateries, farmers, or purveyors, profile the establishments, and feature 80-plus recipes from the eateries themselves—all adapted for the home cook.”

Then there are the brand-name authors who are not restaurant chefs. Martha Stewart’s Cakes: Our First-Ever Book of Bundts, Loaves, Layers, Coffee Cakes, and More (Clarkson Potter, Sept.) is from the author of more than 75 books—but Stewart also has 2.6 million Twitter followers, 475,000 Facebook fans, and an audience estimated at 11 million people.

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Rosé Sangria

Posted: 18 Aug 2013 - David Lebovitz

Summer in France means a lot of things in France. En masse vacations, a blissfully empty Paris, price increases (which notoriously happen during August, when everyone is out of town – of course), and vide-greniers and brocantes, known elsewhere as flea markets, where people sell all kinds of things. If you’re lucky enough to take a trip to the countryside, the brocantes are amazing. But some small towns in France also have little antique shops that are always worth poking around in. And when your other half has a station wagon, well, the possibilities are endless. (And sometimes voluminous!)

Continue Reading Rosé Sangria...

UK Young Food Writer of the Year announced

The Young Food Writer of the Year has been announced by The Guild of Food Writers.

Lidia Fanzo, 17, from Devon, won the 2013 Write It Competition, fighting off stiff competition from many aspiring young food writers.
This annual competition, organised by the Guild of Food Writers, is open to entrants aged up to 18.
Entrants were asked to write a non-fiction feature of around 750 words on any food-related subject.

The judges Elisabeth Luard, Alex Renton and Karen Barnes were unanimous in their verdict on Lidia's piece.
They described the feature as 'well written and clever, with an element of surprise'.
Lidia's prize includes all the books shortlisted for the 2013 Guild of Food Writers Awards.

Her is an extract from her piece: You looked on knowledgeably as my chubby five-year-old fingers creamed butter and sugar with a big wooden spoon, added sticky, runny eggs and white, dusty flour, beat it all together with intense concentration as sticky yellow splodges were flung around the room. You patiently put up with me as I sat before your door waiting for them to cook, opening it frequently and peering in, before I proudly produced my first sunken fairy cakes.

Maidenhead Advertiser - 20 August 2013

CHORIZO AND BROAD BEAN RISOTTO from DISH

	Hello, We've been hard at work while you've been reading your August-September issue and I'm delighted to say the amazing new Dish iPad app is here.. victoria@dish.co.nz
Chorizo and Broad Bean Risotto Use a soft cured Spanish chorizo rather than a hard, drier style chorizo for this recipe – and if broad beans aren’t popular in your house use frozen peas or cooked green beans, thinly sliced. 2 cups frozen broad beans 6 cups chicken stock, hot 2 tablespoons olive oil 200 grams chorizo sausage, thinly sliced 1 onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1¼ cups risotto rice, e.g. Arborio or Vialone Nano ½ cup white wine small handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped sea salt and freshly ground pepper Cook the broad beans in boiling water for 3-4 minutes then drain and refresh in cold water. Peel and discard the skins. Set aside. Put the stock in a saucepan, heat and keep warm. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over a low heat and add the chorizo. Cook for 2 minutes until the chorizo has released its smoky, paprika-flavoured oil and is lightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the pan with a good pinch of salt. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally. Add the rice, stirring well to coat each grain in the oil. Cook for another minute until the rice is warm (toasted). Add the wine and stir until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Begin adding the warm stock, a ladle at a time, stirring and allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding the next quantity. When the risotto is tender to the bite and has a creamy consistency (this should take about 20 minutes), add the chorizo and any juices, the broad beans and the parsley and gently combine. Season if needed and serve immediately. Serves 4-6 Cook’s Tip: If the chorizo doesn’t release much paprika-flavoured oil, add ½ a teaspoon of smoked paprika when cooking the onion. Dish launches iPad app Watch your favourite food magazine come to life on your iPad – Dish is now available in digital format from the Apple App store. The beautifully enhanced version of the magazine also features a handy cook mode for each recipe, allowing for easy use of your iPad in the kitchen. Buy a single issue for just $6.49 or subscribe for a year (6 issues) for just $24.99. Get yours now by clicking here or visit www.dish.co.nz/iPad