With steep increases in energy costs, kitchen economy is the generous extra helping with our timely June Cookbook – and read on to discover our July selection.
May has drawn to a close, but I’m pretty sure that some of the dishes from The Italian Home Cook will be on our menus through the cold months ahead. With that in mind, and with the price of energy soaring, it’s time to look at kitchen economy. Our June Lambs’ Ears Cookbook Club selection, Modern Pressure Cooking, will show you how to continue to turn out delicious, tasty food to please your family and guests alike, while cutting your energy use to the bone.
But first, take a look at some of the amazing dishes that club members produced, with the help of our May selection.
Minestrone con farro from Carmel Demery
Barley risotto from Carolyn Miles
Caprese salad from Colleen Murphy
My own mushroom and barley salad
Okay – back to June.
A while back, I canvassed the members of the cookbook club about their interest in using a pressure cooker because I think that Modern Pressure Cooking, by Catherine Phipps, is a cracker of a cookbook. Lots of you were keen and I can totally understand why. This under appreciated, and incredibly versatile appliance will help you create fantastic meals all year round, at a fraction of the price of conventional cooking. Far from the fearsome and volatile appliances that some of us remember from our youth, modern pressure cookers reliably and safely produce bright flavours, incredibly tender meat, and vibrantly bright veggies. And all this while stepping up your kitchen economy by reducing cooking time, and cutting energy use by up to 90%.
At the risk of sounding like a zealot, I will confess that I’m now a total convert to pressure cooking.
Many of us already have a multi-cooker of some kind, and this is the perfect way to start your pressure cooking adventure. Once you’ve discovered the wonders you can create in it, you may even want to think about purchasing a dedicated pressure cooker – either is great, you do you.
If you’re still in two minds, or haven’t sourced this book yet, I’d urge you Google it, find it, buy it, borrow it from the library, or download the ebook version. If kitchen economy is a priority for you, I guarantee that you won’t be sorry.
Now – on to July. Few Australian cookbook authors generate the warmth and genuine engagement with their food and their fans that Belinda Jeffrey does. One of the very first cookbooks I selected for the cookbook club was her iconic Mix & Bake, and many Australians, and now their sons and daughters, are die-hard devotees of Belinda’s food. Recently she released her ninth book, In Belinda’s Kitchen and this is our selection for July. This is a companion volume to her 2021 cookbook A Year of Sundays, and includes her absolute all-time favourite recipes and their stories, updated for a whole new audience.
We all know how exhaustively Belinda tests her recipes, so everyone will successfully enjoy getting to know her food – for the first time in many cases.
So, recapping 2023 so far –
Our whole year “cookbook” for 2023 will be delicious. – either the magazines or anything from their website.
June – Modern Pressure Cooking by Catherine Phipps
May – The Italian Home Cook, by Silvia Colloca
April – Strong, Sweet and Bitter by Cara Devine, or First, Cream the Butter and Sugar by Emelia Jackson
March – Maggie’s Harvest by Maggie Beer
February – Salamati by Hamed Allahyari
January – More Fish, More Veg by Tom Walton
YOU CAN BUY ANY OF THESE COOKBOOKS AT ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS, OR ONLINE AT BOOKTOPIA USING THE LINKS IN THIS POST. (IF PURCHASED VIA THESE LINKS, YOU WILL GET A GREAT PRICE AND I WILL RECEIVE A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE COST.)
If you would like to join us in the Lambs’ Ears Cookbook Club, check out my original post here, or just click on the “Cookbook Club” link at the top of the page.
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This Kitchen Economy – June in the Cookbook Club recipe from Lambs’ Ears and Honey sounds absolutely amazing! The concept of exploring economical and delicious recipes from a cookbook club is both inspiring and practical. The presentation of the dishes, as described in the blog post, showcases the variety and creativity that can be achieved while being mindful of the budget. The preparation process, as outlined in the post, highlights the resourcefulness in using ingredients efficiently and reducing food waste. It’s a wonderful initiative that celebrates the joys of cooking on a budget while still creating flavorful and satisfying meals. Perfect for those looking for innovative ways to stretch their culinary skills and make the most of their ingredients!