What's a good cookbook for a Christmas gift?

[buckeejit]

I bought dh Persiana a couple of years ago & the others by the same author last year-all good

Was thinking of an Ottolenghi but really something with fairly easy dishes & a bit of a twist would go down well if anyone has any recs? 😁

Simple is great.

I like the Mildreds cookbook.

Another one for Simple. It's a beautiful book.

Thanks - will look it up!

Zaitoun is lovely. The recipes are baked on middle-eastern cuisine and are alongside awe-inspiring travel photography and the stories that go with them.

What does he like cooking?

Anna Jones is a big hit in our house as are Meera Sodha's books, despite DH's initial horror he had unwittingly bought vegetarian books.

The Ottolenghi in contrast has been used once and is close to being charity shopped.

Thank you - the zaiton looks lovely.

He likes cooking anything that is fairly straightforward - kedgeree, chicken satay, persian rice, risotto-would like a curry in his repertoire!

Ooh the meera sodha books look nice too-which do you recommend?

Any of them! I have Fresh India which is an older book now. But I cook a lot of her recipes from the Guardian website and they are all winners and much better than a standard curry.

Simple is nice
The Dishoom one is beautiful

I've been recommended by my friend who loves cooking - Simple and also Feasts by Sabrina Ghayour

Thanks - we have feasts- bought him it last year after Persiana. A lot to pick from now

Last year I bought DB/SIL The Roasting Tin (Rukmini Iyer). And I wrapped it up with.....a nice roasting tin.

It's a fantastic little cookbook, which I've recommended to loads of people.There's also The Green Roasting Tin, which is all veggie recipes.

I was also going to suggest the Roasting Tin series. Really useable books.

One of my favourites is Stirring Slowly by Georgina Hayden. Don't see many people talking about it, but the recipes are so appealing and tasty.

Roasting Tin is brilliant for weeknight dinners. I am currently teaching my non-cooking DH to cook using the Roasting Tin books as it turns out that he can chop things badly and put them in a tin

So depends what your DH wants - the Roasting Tin books are ace for improving weeknights but if he wants to do some more interesting cooking, they are probably not it.

Any of the Meera Sohda books- Fresh India is my favourite though.

Thank you for the recs! Have got the roasting tin & its lovely. I'm really tempted by a couple of the Meera Sodha ones now and will look at Stirring Slowly tomorrow in real life. After looking at Simple, I don't think there's that much that we'd cook in there after all.

I hadn't really thought that a vegetariain cookbook would be good but I love veggie stuff and if needed we can pan fry some chicken or prawns to add to it. A couple of curry/fried rice/couscous side dishes might be great to add to.

It's all making me hungry!

The Curry Guy recommended from here - I gave it last year as part of a hamper including various spices, spice tin, pans etc. Went down a storm and has had a Lot of use.

thanks @reckless - I've ordered the easy one of the curry guy as was cheap on ebay so may pick one of the others. I will also have to buy some ingredients for preferred dishes so he can cook over Christmas hols!

If you like Persiana (it’s one of DHs favourites) have a look at Snackistan and Veggiestan. They look nice on the shelf too!