Nigella Lawson's Feast

By JULIETTE ROSSANT [Editor's Note: Click here for a review of Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express] Easter is coming, and so I cracked open Nigella Lawson's Feast: Food to Celebrate Life (Hyperion, November 2004) to see what Britain's preeminent sex-cum-domestic goddess recommends for Easter dinner and came upon an inspiring recipe for rabbit. Her Hot Cross Bunny (p. 158) is facing a recipe for Hot Cross Buns (pp. 159-160). A sense of humor – hurray! Only a few weeks ago I had been in Puerto Rico and eaten a most amazing piece of deep fried, nearly greaseless coney (see previous article) so, I was eager to make some rabbit of my own. Hot Cross Bunny turns out to be a recipe for curried rabbit that includes a shot of fiery Thai red curry paste. Yum. But if you don't have the heart to cook Bugs, then Nigella does have recipes for Slow-cooked Lamb with Beans and (pp. 164-5) or Saffron Roast Lamb with Sticky Garlic Potatoes (pp. 166-167) and even one for Easter Turkey (pp. 168-9). Feast is a stunning, rich book, organized around a calendar of celebrations, with great photographs in which Nigella often appears, cooking, mugging, and firting with the camera. It starts with Thanksgiving and Christmas (though Nigella is British and they don't usually celebrate Thanksgiving over there...!) which takes almost 100 pages. This is a British cookbook by and large – with plenty about Sunday lunch with roast rib of beef (pp.217-18) and horseradish sauce, Shrove Tuesday pancakes (p. 255), and Simmel cake (p. 162-3). Nigella isn't afraid to tell long stories with each of her recipes, so the book is a treat to read for those who don't really want to cook. The recipes are long and involved, though some, as in those in the Kiddie Feast chapter are fairly easy. The children's recipes aren't all full of fat and most could be made with kids in the kitchen and served to adults as well. My eye quickly shot to A Georgian Feast (p. 301), which I rightly guessed would be not a period menu from Georgian England but an ethnic menu from Georgia (tell me you've seen the 1997 movie A Chef in Love, with France's Pierre Richard!). She recounts her discovery of this great cuisine at a restaurant in St. Petersburg, which reminded me of my first visit to Moscow hole-in-the-wall for Georgian food. Russian food in 1991 was nothing to write home about (except for the caviar), but Georgian food was bright and flavorful and perfect for the bitter cold weather. Nigella includes recipes for Melon with hot pepper relish (p. 304), Hachapuri (pp. 306-309), the wonderful cheese-filled bread that is Georgia's answer to pizza, and Georgian stuffed chicken (pp. 310-312). There are plenty of sweets – a whole section on birthday parties and even a chapter on Hanukkah. Here, she borrows and reworks other's recipes for Latkes (p. 383), Rugelach (p.. 385), and even Zalabia (pp. 389-90) from the Jewish-Iraqi heritage of her husband, Charles Saatchi. (For a really great movie, check out the documentary Forget Baghdad by Jewish Iraqi director Samir.) Previous articles: Nigella Lawson on QVC: Stand Aside, Boys! Cook Like a Kyrgyz Personal Favorites: The Chefs of Las Vegas Anne Willen: The Good Cook Gale Gand's short+sweet More Food from Alton Brown Manju Malhi's India With Passion Xmas Shopping: Rating Celebrity Chef Cookware SOS: Baking from the Heart Madhur Jaffrey: Our Lady of India, CBE Amazon UK's Steamy Xmas Chefs All Hail Alfred Portale Agassi's Star Palate: Celebrity Chefs Book Links: Publisher Amazon.com Technorati Tags: chefs restaurants food cookbooks biography branding -> back to superchefblog