Last week I came home to a very exciting package – two copies of my friend Nicola's beautiful new cookbook, Homegrown Kitchen.
Nicola's been working on this book for quite a long time, and it shows. It's a heavy volume with a hard cover, amazing photography and pages jam-packed with recipes and information about making all sorts of things, from palak paneer to real fruit ice cream.
What I most like about this book is that while it is an essential guide to making healthy and interesting food, it's also just a collection of really good everyday recipes that don't require any unusual or difficult-to-source ingredients. Nicola has years of experience teaching cooking classes around the country and is an expert on bread making, fermented foods, and cooking for people with food intolerances.
These days I don't make time for bread baking (would rather be knitting when I'm not at work) and we don't have any food allergies but I know that I will use every recipe in the book to cook for my friends and family. And I really like knowing I have access to Nicola's sensible take on food issues, and knowledge of grains, sourdough, preserving, yoghurt making, and fermentation anytime I need it.
I've only had this book for a week or so, but have already made four of the recipes, including the lemon loaf you see above, which is my new favourite thing to eat and make. I've also made delicious lentil dahl and berry clafouti (you can find that recipe here).
You can buy your own copy of Homegrown Kitchen here and visit Nicola's blog, where you'll find lots of other recipes and ideas.
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One copy was kindly gifted by Nicola to one of my blog readers, so if you'd like to enter, just leave a comment below. I'll send the book to anywhere in the world because I think it's such a treasure.
I'll draw a winner early next week. Happy Easter.
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tiny happy 
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