We’re heading into comfort-food weather here in Australia, so Elizabeth Hewson’s nurturing “Home Food” totally hits the mark.
Well, my enthusiasm for autumn was totally misplaced last month, and the colour of changing leaves is the only hint of the season that we’ve had. Devastatingly, the autumn rains have failed to arrive – again. However, the Lambs’ Ears Cookbook Club soldiers on – families still need feeding.
This month we will be embracing home food and home cooking, with Elizabeth Hewson’s beautiful new cookbook Home Food. Hewson has plenty of strings to her culinary bow, not least of which is that she’s the in-house home cooking food columnist for the Weekend Australian Magazine. This is her third book, and in this one she urges us to forget about being perfect, and to simply aim for authentic, delicious, achievable food.
At the end of the day we’re all tired and hungry, and often we simply don’t have the reserves to pull a Cordon Bleu boned, stuffed and fricasseed rabbit out of the hat – we just want honest dishes with maximum flavour. Elizabeth Hewson’s food is designed for our messy lives, offering flexible shortcuts, simple flavour bombs and realistic meal ideas.
With uncomplicated recipes for a pot of creamy beans, It’s-Going-To-Be- Okay stew, and a silky pork pasta dish, to instant chocolate mascarpone creams or a stunning one-bowl lemon olive oil cake, this is going to become your go-to cookbook. Home Food and home cooking is totally going to warm up your winter.
Our seasonal flavour focus for May
In keeping with the cosy home food and home cooking vibe, apples and pears will be our seasonal focus for May. Nothing says comfort food to me like a warm, custard-draped apple crumble, or a perfectly poached pear. They’re in season right now, and they are delicious, so let’s make the most of them.
What did we cook in April?
In April, we each explored a cookbook of our own choice, from our bookshelves. There were plenty of very tempting dishes shared in our Facebook group. Here’s just a few –
Scandi–style Smoked Salmon, Potato, and Boiled Egg Salad from Poh Ling Yeow’s “What I Cook When Nobody’s Watching.” Photo from Kathy Laderman Wright
Baked chicken with tomatoes and olives from A Kitchen Diary vol 2 by Nigel Slater, our yearly book. Photo from Karyn Hearn
Traybake chicken with potatoes, preserved lemon and olives. “Madaq” by Nargisse Benkabbou. Cooked by Flossie Jane Olsen
Best butter chicken from Monique Beedles
A heads-up for the June cookbook
June brings the colder weather to our southern hemisphere and the kind of wintry, rainy (please!) weather that demands generous, nourishing meals. Nothing says “I want to nurture you” quite like a rich, hearty casserole, stew or braise, and Lambs’ Ears Cookbook Club favourite Lucy Tweed’s new cookbook Tender offers over 90 bold, warming, modern takes on the ultimate kinds of comfort food.
We are definitely in for a couple of truly warming, nourishing months food-wise, so lets kick it all off with Home Food and home cooking by Elizabeth Hewson.
IF YOU HAVEN’T JOINED THE LAMBS EARS COOKBOOK CLUB YET, YOU WILL FIND ALL THE DETAILS HERE.
HERE’S HOW 2026 IS SHAPING UP SO FAR
Our whole-year cookbook selection is any of The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater
May – Home Food by Elizabeth Hewson
April – Any ONE cookbook from your own collection
March – The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook by Poppy Cooks
February – Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt by Donna Hay
January – Salata by Michael Mantissas and Kristy Frawley
Please note, this post contains links to online Australian bookseller Booktopia. If you purchase via one of my links you will get a great price, and I will get a very small commission.
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