Carina Contini's Kitchen Garden Cookbook by Carina Contini

My rating: 5 of 5 spoons
ggggg 

I surprised my kids this morning with homemade pancakes using the recipe for 'Nona Olivia's Pancakes', and they were a big hit. My husband even voted the recipe a keeper! The recipe said it served four, and I was serving five, so I doubled it thinking we'd have a few left over. Umm, probably shouldn't have done that! I had at least twice as many pancakes as I needed, but my kids are happy to have leftover pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!

I'm not a huge fan of books set up by month as what is in season say during July in one area might be in season in June or August somewhere else. However, that is just a personal preference. Also, while it talks about what fruits or vegetables are in season, it also goes by meats as well. For instance, January says "In season we have cabbage, cauliflower, chicory, chard, pheasant, partridge, red deer, haddock, cod, whiting and pears." There are cook's notes in the beginning of the book as well as the history of her garden, and growing notes throughout the book. It is also to be noted that the author lives in Scotland, so here in America some things are harder, if not impossible to find such as langoustines.

The author is Scottish, but her father was Italian. This makes for some interesting Scots/Italian recipes such as 'Broad Bean, Pea & Ham Pasta' and 'Cooked Cream with Rhubarb Compote & Toffee Brittle' which is actually an indulgent 'Panna Cotta'. I love how she integrated both heritages into her food.

I really like this cookbook. It's beautiful, well made with an abundance of delightful recipes. While there are some that either don't appeal to me or I don't have access to the ingredients, there are many, many more that have my taste buds salivating! I highly recommend this cookbook to all.

I received a copy of this cookbook from Quartos Books for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.