Cookery Book Give Away

New Holland, who publish lots of beautiful cookery books have asked us if our users would like a 34% discount and free shipping at their online store (of course!) and they’ve also given me some cookery books to review and to give away to our users.

“We've got a 34% discount & free P&P for all our users.”The books are beautiful, and I’ve cooked one recipe from each to see how they shape up in action. If you’d like to win one of the books, just add a comment at the bottom of the page, saying what you like about the Resourceful Cook and telling us which book you’d like. We’ll pick winners at the end of August.

Enter the discount code Resource when you get to the checkout at their online store to receive your exclusive 34% discount and free P&P (the offer is valid until 30th September 2011 and is valid for UK residents only!)

Big Book of Family Meals: 130 Inspiring Recipes from Around the World

As the title suggests, this book draws on different cuisines from around the world with the intention of making your meal times more varied and interesting. It also aims to promote a balanced and healthy diet for the whole family.

There’s a good range of recipes for all courses: soups & starters, meat, fish & veggie main courses, and desserts. The instructions for the recipes are simple to understand and most are relatively quick to cook, making this a genuinely useful resource for busy families.

There are ‘fun’ recipes that will appeal to young children who enjoy eating finger foods like samosas, chicken goujons with pesto dip and party pizzas. There are also plenty of more sophisticated recipes such as marinated steak in tomato and wild mushroom sauce and family classics like chilli bean beef with nachos and cheese.

“A great way to encourage kids to be adventurous.”Eating food from various parts of the world is definitely an interesting talking point for the family at meal times and a great way to encourage kids to be adventurous in their thinking and tastes.

I cooked: the leek, fennel & basil tart. Fennel and basil aren’t an immediately obvious combination – I haven’t encountered them in combination outside of the occasional salad – but this was delicious. It’s been cooked twice since I first tried it, and is now in the family repertoire and a variant of it will probably end up in a meal plan soon!

Big book of Family Meals is compiled by the editors at New Holland and costs £9.99.

Vegetarian: 100 Inspiring Recipes for Every Occasion

This book is a showcase for vegetarian food delivered as hearty and wholesome meals. It’s a recipe book that embraces vegetables as the highlight of a meal and who's flavours should be celebrated: ‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride...Finally, the vegetable is getting married’ the writers say.

It’s a great book for vegetarians and non-vegetarians wanting to cut meat out of some meals or looking to ensure that their vegetable side dishes are inventive and interesting, not just afterthoughts.

Generally I found the recipes colourful, vibrant and creative, proposing lots of interesting ideas. Vegetarian cookbooks can be dull and I am often disappointed by more recent books by celebrated vegetarian food writers. Instead I return again and again to old favourites, Good Housekeeping’s excellent, if a little dated, vegetarian guide and to Madhur Jaffrey’s comprehensive survey of Eastern vegetarian cooking.

“Easy to follow recipes accompanied by beautiful photos.”This book is different though - the easy to follow recipes are mostly accompanied by beautiful photographs and I found myself itching to cook several of the recipes. No doubt we’ll see some of them appearing in meal plans in the future.

I cooked: the Parmesan polenta with mushrooms & wild garlic. An incredibly distinctive combination. At first I was a little startled, wondering if the clean tasting, thin sauce, was enough to unite three very strong flavours, but actually it works: there’s a sweetness in the garlic stems that the Marsala sauce emphasises and together they offset the smokey polenta and mushroom flavours nicely.

Vegetarian is by Pippa Cuthbert & Lindsay Cameron Wilson and is £12.99.

COMPETITION: Leave a comment for a chance to WIN a cookbook

SORRY THIS COMPETITION HAS ENDED. Congratulations to Helen Jones - the Big Book of Family Meals is all yours!