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Forever Summer
Setting the warm, relaxed tone befitting the season, U.K. food goddess Lawson (Nigella Bites) presents her newest volume as an ode to summer, to freshness, and, in gray weather, to a time to "conjure up the sun, some light, a lazy feeling of having all the wide-skied time in the world to sit back and eat warmly with friends." Befitting a book of simply prepared summer dishes, Lawson takes her inspiration from such warm climes as southern Europe, the Middle East and southeast Asia. For starters, Lawson offers Grilled Eggplant with Feta, Mint and Chilli, where the ingredients are rolled inside the thinly sliced eggplant, and then moves on to Flatbread Pizzas, whose dough is made with za'atar, a mixture of thyme, sumac and sesame. Her pastas and salads are innovative and wonderfully fresh, such as Linguine with Chilli, Crab and Watercress; Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad; or Shrimp and Black Rice Salad with Vietnamese Dressing. Main courses include Keralan Fish Curry with Lemon Rice, as well as Porchetta, which is chopped pork shoulder cooked with fennel, garlic and rosemary and sandwiched within a ciabatta roll. Winding down the meal, Lawson serves such cooling fare as Figs for a Thousand and One Nights, which are broiled and then pulled open until they look like "young birds squawking to be fed worms by their mommy" before they are drizzled with rose water, orange water and sugar. As viewers of her shows will notice, the book's photos-of both Nigella and the food-are just as cool and luscious as the recipes themselves.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
279 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2002
111 people are currently reading
2645 people want to read
About the author
Nigella Lawson
44 books975 followersNigella Lawson is the daughter of former Conservative cabinet minister Nigel Lawson (now Lord Lawson) and the late Vanessa Salmon, socialite and heir to the Lyons Corner House empire, who died of liver cancer in 1985. Lawson attended Godolphin and Latymer School and Westminster School before graduating from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, with a degree in Medieval and Modern Languages.
Lawson wrote a restaurant column for the Spectator and a comment column for The Observer and became deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times in 1986. She became, among other things, a newspaper-reviewer on BBC1 Sunday-morning TV programme 'Breakfast with Frost'. She has also co-hosted, with David Aaronovitch, Channel 4 books discussion programme 'Booked' in the late 1990s, and was an occasional compere of BBC2's press review 'What the Papers Say', as well as appearing on BBC radio.
Following slots as a culinary sidekick on Nigel Slater's 'Real Food Show' on Channel 4, she has fronted three eponymous TV cookery series broadcast in the UK on the channel. She has had two series of 'Nigella Bites' in 1999-2001, plus a 2001 Christmas special, and 'Forever Summer with Nigella' in 2002, both of which yielded accompanying recipe books. Her style of presentation is often gently mocked by comedians and commentators, particularly in a regularly-occurring impersonation of her in the BBC television comedy series 'Dead Ringers', who perceive that she plays overtly upon her attractiveness and sexuality as a device to engage viewers of her cookery programmes, despite Lawson's repeated denials that she does so.
She was voted author of the year at the 2001 British Book Awards. More than 2 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.
Lawson wrote a restaurant column for the Spectator and a comment column for The Observer and became deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times in 1986. She became, among other things, a newspaper-reviewer on BBC1 Sunday-morning TV programme 'Breakfast with Frost'. She has also co-hosted, with David Aaronovitch, Channel 4 books discussion programme 'Booked' in the late 1990s, and was an occasional compere of BBC2's press review 'What the Papers Say', as well as appearing on BBC radio.
Following slots as a culinary sidekick on Nigel Slater's 'Real Food Show' on Channel 4, she has fronted three eponymous TV cookery series broadcast in the UK on the channel. She has had two series of 'Nigella Bites' in 1999-2001, plus a 2001 Christmas special, and 'Forever Summer with Nigella' in 2002, both of which yielded accompanying recipe books. Her style of presentation is often gently mocked by comedians and commentators, particularly in a regularly-occurring impersonation of her in the BBC television comedy series 'Dead Ringers', who perceive that she plays overtly upon her attractiveness and sexuality as a device to engage viewers of her cookery programmes, despite Lawson's repeated denials that she does so.
She was voted author of the year at the 2001 British Book Awards. More than 2 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.
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April 4, 2017
Read this for the 2017 POPSUGAR Challenge prompt 'A Book with One of the Four Seasons in the Title'
25/2 - My parents have gone to Canada for three weeks, leaving me in charge of the house which means I get to clean when I want and cook what I want. So in coincidental honour of what the meteorologists reckon is going to be a hotter than average autumn I'm spending the three weeks cooking from Nigella Lawson's ode to summer cooking.
Last night I made Sea Bass with Saffron, Sherry and Pinenuts (I served it on a bed of rice to soak up the juices). Although Mum and Dad made 'eww' faces when I told them about it over Skype I thought it was very nice, a really good combination of sweet and salty, plus super easy and cheap (I couldn't get sea bass so I switched it for basa which is a type of catfish and works well whenever I need a firm white fish and is only $11 per kilo). All you have to do is soak some sultanas in the sherry, toast the pinenuts in a frying pan, set them aside, pour the sherry/sultanas into the same pan bring to the boil and add the saffron, add the fish and cook for a couple of minutes turn and cook for another minute or so (all depending on the size of your fillet) and serve sprinkled with the pinenuts.
Tonight I made Baked Ricotta which involved beating ricotta with eggs, salt and lemon juice until smooth and creamy and then gently frying it in an oiled frying pan before putting it under the grill till the top was set, kind of like a frittata (I served that with garlic bread).
26/2 - Tonight I attempted the White Chocolate and Passionfruit Mousse. It didn't quite set, which was probably my fault as I didn't read the label of the can of passionfruit pulp that I was using in place of six fresh passionfruits and so didn't realise that the pulp was in syrup which made it a lot runnier than it was supposed to have been. It had almost four hours in the fridge and freezer and still wasn't set, although the fresh raspberries at the bottom of the bowl were frozen solid which made them difficult (and painful) to eat. The large bowlfuls were well-received despite the lack of solidity, so I would make this again, I would just make sure that I gave it longer in the fridge and used fresh passionfruit. To be continued...
5/3 - Last night I made the Thai Lettuce Cups for dinner and they were really yummy and amazingly quick and easy. I used more mince than was required because I couldn't be bothered saving 125 g from my 500 g pack for 'another time' (which would likely never come because 125 g of mince isn't enough to do anything with and 99% of recipes that I've ever come across need mince in 500 g amounts - 500, 1000, 1500, etc., so I wouldn't have even been able to add it to anything) and omitted the chillies because I don't really like spicy food and I felt the flavourings of fish sauce and lime juice/zest was enough, it didn't need chilli overpowering everything. My main problem was my iceberg lettuce, the leaves were so tightly furled that it was impossible to extract a whole leaf. In the end I had a large pile of lettuce leaves torn into palm-sized pieces and I used a teaspoon to scoop the mince onto the lettuce before hurriedly shoving the lot in my mouth before I could lose any of the mince down the side of the couch. It's a good thing I was eating alone (except for my ravenous dogs), as I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight (there were a few times when I literally had to poke the tail end of the lettuce leaf in my mouth because it was a bit too big, but if I had taken a bite out of it I would surely have ended up with it down my front). So, no pretty eating, but it was definitely tasty and I'm sure I'll make it again when my parents get home.
Tonight I did a double header for my uncle and cousin's weekly Sunday night meal with me (and my parents when they're here). First I made Risi e Bisi for the main and followed it up with Gooseberry Fool (due to a lack of gooseberries it became blackberry fool). Risi e Bisi is (according to Nigella) a Venetian risotto soup. Her version was made by frying frozen peas in butter and then pureeing them with some more butter and parmesan cheese. Then you fry a finely chopped onion in more butter (Nigella doesn't do 'diet' cooking) then add the Arborio rice and a few tablespoons of freshly chopped mint. Then 1.5 litres of vegetable stock and the pea puree and simmer till the rice is cooked (about 15 minutes). Take it off the heat, add some more parmesan and you're done. It was fantastic and I can't wait to have it for dinner again, on Tuesday. The blackberry fool was so simple you could hardly call it cooking. All I did was gently fry the blackberries in some unsalted butter (to soften them slightly) and maple syrup (the berries were very sour, barely edible without some kind of sweetener and I thought maple syrup was a bit more interesting than plain sugar), then I strained the juices off (otherwise I was concerned the fool would be way too runny, like a blackberry soup with little cream clouds floating on top) and folded the berries into 300 ml of whipped cream. I served large dollops in individual bowls drizzled with the juices. To be continued...
11/3 - Last night I made Gingery Duck with Red Onion and Orange Salad. This was the first time I'd cooked duck and I think it went moderately well. Only moderately because of both my own inexperience with duck and what I see as the need for modification to the recipe, plus I forgot to add the ginger to the marinade that was supposed to make the duck gingery. The flavour was fine (even without the ginger), it was more about the cooking and the fact that the marinade ingredients (minced ginger, juice and rind of an orange and diced red onion) get thrown out after they've done their job. I felt that was a waste of a perfectly good orange and onion so after I slightly over-caramelised the duck (by which I mean it was black on the outside, but still pink in the middle) (due to the recipe not giving a level that the pan was meant to be heated to as well as the sugar from the orange and onion) I put the duck breasts on a plate to rest and put the marinade in the same pan and fried it until the onion was soft and the juice had reduced to a sauce. I also skipped the 'raw onion and orange segments salad' that the sliced breasts are meant to rest on as I don't like raw onion and all those oranges (4 in total) was too much sugar for me. I would definitely make this one again, but remember the ginger and only heat the pan to medium so I don't burn the skin. To be continued...
13/3 - Last night I made Rice Paper Rolls for dinner, with a few modifications (as usual) and a few suggestions on further modifications for next time. The recipe says to mix together the herbs and liquid ingredients before adding the pre-prepared noodles and cucumber batons, I would recommend not adding the cucumber to the rest of the ingredients as they are very hard to stir through. Next time I make this I'll keep the cucumber separate and add one or two to each roll manually. I would also say that while it's not necessary it's really nice to add some kind of meat to the rolls. I used left over duck from the Gingery Duck recipe that I had made a few days earlier in some of the rolls and canned shrimp in the others. I'm really glad I had both of those ingredients to add to the rolls as they really made the meal. I'm not a particularly good rice paper 'roller' so my rolls were messy and I kept losing bits but they were really tasty. I also substituted the soy sauce dipping sauce for hoisin and that was a genius idea because soy would have been way too salty for my tastebuds.
Tonight I made the Baked Pasta Shells Stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta for the main and the Mint Chocolate Mousse for dessert for Sunday night dinner with my uncle and cousin (except it's actually Monday night because Aron, my cousin, couldn't make it to dinner last night so we pushed it to tonight). Everything went fine but I do think some minor modifications could be made to the main. First of all I was forced to make it cannelloni instead of pasta shells because for unknown reasons giant pasta shells are impossible to get in my area and instead of using uncooked cannelloni tubes (which have never cooked through completely when I've used them in the past) I used Latina Fresh lasagne sheets that I rolled around a sausage of the filling. Second, next time I make this I would use less spinach. The recipe calls for 500 g of ricotta and 1 kg of frozen spinach, but that much spinach made the filling too spinach-y for me and I thought it should be more ricotta-y. I think 750 g of spinach to 750 g of ricotta would be a better ratio for me.
The chocolate mint mousse went very well, much better than the white chocolate mousse from two weeks ago proving that the problem was indeed that the passionfruit pulp from a can had too much syrup in it for the mousse to ever set. I used a 70/30 ratio of milk chocolate to dark as I find pure dark too bitter and this only had two tablespoons of sugar added to it. Since my supermarket doesn't sell mint chocolate (except in the case of chocolate with a minty cream filling, which wouldn't have worked in this case) I used peppermint essence, but it seems Queens brand is not what Lawson meant when she suggested a 'good quality product' to use in place of mint chocolate as I had to add about ten times more essence than the 'few drops' she recommended in the recipe.
That was actually my last recipe from this book for the moment as my parents get home in two days and I'm pretty sure they're going to want to see some familiar faces - lamb chops, panko crumbed fish, barbequed sausages, steak, Mum's roast chicken, my speciality (and Mum's favourite because she's obsessed with pumpkin) pumpkin risotto with pancetta and feta. Of the ten recipes I made from this book I would cook all of them again (with the modifications I mentioned) and there are others that I didn't get around to that I would also like to try. That's why I'm giving this five stars. I have all of Lawson's other books and this was the one I'd cooked the least from, now it's on par with my other favourite - Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home.
Oh and P.S. - a note on the weather for posterity, three weeks ago the meteorologists said it was going to be a hotter than average autumn, 14 days in our average daytime max has been 27.7C which is the third highest on record for this point in time and our average overnight minimum has been 16.8C which is the highest ever, so Forever Summer has practically been prophetic. The only problem with 'forever summer' is that we haven't had any rain since I started reading this and our last water bill (for the period of Nov-Feb) was over a thousand dollars.
25/2 - My parents have gone to Canada for three weeks, leaving me in charge of the house which means I get to clean when I want and cook what I want. So in coincidental honour of what the meteorologists reckon is going to be a hotter than average autumn I'm spending the three weeks cooking from Nigella Lawson's ode to summer cooking.
Last night I made Sea Bass with Saffron, Sherry and Pinenuts (I served it on a bed of rice to soak up the juices). Although Mum and Dad made 'eww' faces when I told them about it over Skype I thought it was very nice, a really good combination of sweet and salty, plus super easy and cheap (I couldn't get sea bass so I switched it for basa which is a type of catfish and works well whenever I need a firm white fish and is only $11 per kilo). All you have to do is soak some sultanas in the sherry, toast the pinenuts in a frying pan, set them aside, pour the sherry/sultanas into the same pan bring to the boil and add the saffron, add the fish and cook for a couple of minutes turn and cook for another minute or so (all depending on the size of your fillet) and serve sprinkled with the pinenuts.
Tonight I made Baked Ricotta which involved beating ricotta with eggs, salt and lemon juice until smooth and creamy and then gently frying it in an oiled frying pan before putting it under the grill till the top was set, kind of like a frittata (I served that with garlic bread).
26/2 - Tonight I attempted the White Chocolate and Passionfruit Mousse. It didn't quite set, which was probably my fault as I didn't read the label of the can of passionfruit pulp that I was using in place of six fresh passionfruits and so didn't realise that the pulp was in syrup which made it a lot runnier than it was supposed to have been. It had almost four hours in the fridge and freezer and still wasn't set, although the fresh raspberries at the bottom of the bowl were frozen solid which made them difficult (and painful) to eat. The large bowlfuls were well-received despite the lack of solidity, so I would make this again, I would just make sure that I gave it longer in the fridge and used fresh passionfruit. To be continued...
5/3 - Last night I made the Thai Lettuce Cups for dinner and they were really yummy and amazingly quick and easy. I used more mince than was required because I couldn't be bothered saving 125 g from my 500 g pack for 'another time' (which would likely never come because 125 g of mince isn't enough to do anything with and 99% of recipes that I've ever come across need mince in 500 g amounts - 500, 1000, 1500, etc., so I wouldn't have even been able to add it to anything) and omitted the chillies because I don't really like spicy food and I felt the flavourings of fish sauce and lime juice/zest was enough, it didn't need chilli overpowering everything. My main problem was my iceberg lettuce, the leaves were so tightly furled that it was impossible to extract a whole leaf. In the end I had a large pile of lettuce leaves torn into palm-sized pieces and I used a teaspoon to scoop the mince onto the lettuce before hurriedly shoving the lot in my mouth before I could lose any of the mince down the side of the couch. It's a good thing I was eating alone (except for my ravenous dogs), as I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight (there were a few times when I literally had to poke the tail end of the lettuce leaf in my mouth because it was a bit too big, but if I had taken a bite out of it I would surely have ended up with it down my front). So, no pretty eating, but it was definitely tasty and I'm sure I'll make it again when my parents get home.
Tonight I did a double header for my uncle and cousin's weekly Sunday night meal with me (and my parents when they're here). First I made Risi e Bisi for the main and followed it up with Gooseberry Fool (due to a lack of gooseberries it became blackberry fool). Risi e Bisi is (according to Nigella) a Venetian risotto soup. Her version was made by frying frozen peas in butter and then pureeing them with some more butter and parmesan cheese. Then you fry a finely chopped onion in more butter (Nigella doesn't do 'diet' cooking) then add the Arborio rice and a few tablespoons of freshly chopped mint. Then 1.5 litres of vegetable stock and the pea puree and simmer till the rice is cooked (about 15 minutes). Take it off the heat, add some more parmesan and you're done. It was fantastic and I can't wait to have it for dinner again, on Tuesday. The blackberry fool was so simple you could hardly call it cooking. All I did was gently fry the blackberries in some unsalted butter (to soften them slightly) and maple syrup (the berries were very sour, barely edible without some kind of sweetener and I thought maple syrup was a bit more interesting than plain sugar), then I strained the juices off (otherwise I was concerned the fool would be way too runny, like a blackberry soup with little cream clouds floating on top) and folded the berries into 300 ml of whipped cream. I served large dollops in individual bowls drizzled with the juices. To be continued...
11/3 - Last night I made Gingery Duck with Red Onion and Orange Salad. This was the first time I'd cooked duck and I think it went moderately well. Only moderately because of both my own inexperience with duck and what I see as the need for modification to the recipe, plus I forgot to add the ginger to the marinade that was supposed to make the duck gingery. The flavour was fine (even without the ginger), it was more about the cooking and the fact that the marinade ingredients (minced ginger, juice and rind of an orange and diced red onion) get thrown out after they've done their job. I felt that was a waste of a perfectly good orange and onion so after I slightly over-caramelised the duck (by which I mean it was black on the outside, but still pink in the middle) (due to the recipe not giving a level that the pan was meant to be heated to as well as the sugar from the orange and onion) I put the duck breasts on a plate to rest and put the marinade in the same pan and fried it until the onion was soft and the juice had reduced to a sauce. I also skipped the 'raw onion and orange segments salad' that the sliced breasts are meant to rest on as I don't like raw onion and all those oranges (4 in total) was too much sugar for me. I would definitely make this one again, but remember the ginger and only heat the pan to medium so I don't burn the skin. To be continued...
13/3 - Last night I made Rice Paper Rolls for dinner, with a few modifications (as usual) and a few suggestions on further modifications for next time. The recipe says to mix together the herbs and liquid ingredients before adding the pre-prepared noodles and cucumber batons, I would recommend not adding the cucumber to the rest of the ingredients as they are very hard to stir through. Next time I make this I'll keep the cucumber separate and add one or two to each roll manually. I would also say that while it's not necessary it's really nice to add some kind of meat to the rolls. I used left over duck from the Gingery Duck recipe that I had made a few days earlier in some of the rolls and canned shrimp in the others. I'm really glad I had both of those ingredients to add to the rolls as they really made the meal. I'm not a particularly good rice paper 'roller' so my rolls were messy and I kept losing bits but they were really tasty. I also substituted the soy sauce dipping sauce for hoisin and that was a genius idea because soy would have been way too salty for my tastebuds.
Tonight I made the Baked Pasta Shells Stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta for the main and the Mint Chocolate Mousse for dessert for Sunday night dinner with my uncle and cousin (except it's actually Monday night because Aron, my cousin, couldn't make it to dinner last night so we pushed it to tonight). Everything went fine but I do think some minor modifications could be made to the main. First of all I was forced to make it cannelloni instead of pasta shells because for unknown reasons giant pasta shells are impossible to get in my area and instead of using uncooked cannelloni tubes (which have never cooked through completely when I've used them in the past) I used Latina Fresh lasagne sheets that I rolled around a sausage of the filling. Second, next time I make this I would use less spinach. The recipe calls for 500 g of ricotta and 1 kg of frozen spinach, but that much spinach made the filling too spinach-y for me and I thought it should be more ricotta-y. I think 750 g of spinach to 750 g of ricotta would be a better ratio for me.
The chocolate mint mousse went very well, much better than the white chocolate mousse from two weeks ago proving that the problem was indeed that the passionfruit pulp from a can had too much syrup in it for the mousse to ever set. I used a 70/30 ratio of milk chocolate to dark as I find pure dark too bitter and this only had two tablespoons of sugar added to it. Since my supermarket doesn't sell mint chocolate (except in the case of chocolate with a minty cream filling, which wouldn't have worked in this case) I used peppermint essence, but it seems Queens brand is not what Lawson meant when she suggested a 'good quality product' to use in place of mint chocolate as I had to add about ten times more essence than the 'few drops' she recommended in the recipe.
That was actually my last recipe from this book for the moment as my parents get home in two days and I'm pretty sure they're going to want to see some familiar faces - lamb chops, panko crumbed fish, barbequed sausages, steak, Mum's roast chicken, my speciality (and Mum's favourite because she's obsessed with pumpkin) pumpkin risotto with pancetta and feta. Of the ten recipes I made from this book I would cook all of them again (with the modifications I mentioned) and there are others that I didn't get around to that I would also like to try. That's why I'm giving this five stars. I have all of Lawson's other books and this was the one I'd cooked the least from, now it's on par with my other favourite - Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home.
Oh and P.S. - a note on the weather for posterity, three weeks ago the meteorologists said it was going to be a hotter than average autumn, 14 days in our average daytime max has been 27.7C which is the third highest on record for this point in time and our average overnight minimum has been 16.8C which is the highest ever, so Forever Summer has practically been prophetic. The only problem with 'forever summer' is that we haven't had any rain since I started reading this and our last water bill (for the period of Nov-Feb) was over a thousand dollars.
January 21, 2009
Forever summer. Forever delicious. May be the best of her cookbooks. Here are the recipes I've tasted and the cookbook club cooks who made them.
Molly - Zucchini Fritters: Feta, zucchini, fried, goodness. Excellent.
Gretchen - Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds: Amazing seasoning. G got the noodles perfect and I wanted to keep all the leftovers for myself.
Me - Three fishes with Three Herb Salsa: Capers and lemon and delicious fresh fishes. It will smell up your kitchen something good but the taste is sooo worth it.
Sheela - Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova: Now I know why this is practically the national dessert of New Zealand. crisp outside and chocolatey middle. Nothing finer.
Molly - Zucchini Fritters: Feta, zucchini, fried, goodness. Excellent.
Gretchen - Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds: Amazing seasoning. G got the noodles perfect and I wanted to keep all the leftovers for myself.
Me - Three fishes with Three Herb Salsa: Capers and lemon and delicious fresh fishes. It will smell up your kitchen something good but the taste is sooo worth it.
Sheela - Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova: Now I know why this is practically the national dessert of New Zealand. crisp outside and chocolatey middle. Nothing finer.
February 17, 2009
So, I checked this out from the library, thinking I would find lots of fresh and delicious recipes, maybe even some that would impress my English grandmother. Alas, most of the recipes were not only complicated, but the ingredients were not easily accessible where I live. Maybe this cookbook is meant for United Kingdom cooks? I don't know, but I was definitely disappointed and happy that I just borrowed it and didn't buy it. Probably won't be in a hurry to check out any more of her cookbooks.
March 22, 2009
Will have to update this review once I actually try more of the recipes, but the pictures are lovely, the food sounds great, and her writing is a trip (she calls one of the dishes "sluttish ruby berries in jelly" or something like that).
April 5, 2008
Ugh, she's so pretty and sassy, doesn't that make her recipes good? For me, no ... Oh well, Nigella, I love the look of your kitchen products but am going to have to pass on your cooking.
December 31, 2021
The photos are lovely. I know I have fixed the soba noodles with sesame seeds, but have not used this book much.
September 9, 2021
I've never been a fan of Nigella Lawson as a food expert. I'm re-reading all of her books (for the last time). I will say she always has highly flattering pictures of the food (and herself with an open mouth shoving something in there.) One major problem is how often the recipes don't work, despite her adjective ladden text: you get too dry pavlovas and dry chicken with orzo and weird combinations of tastes--watermelon, feta and black olive salad. A ton of lamb. A lot of pasta. I am going to try a few recipes (very few) and with caution, looking for pitfalls prior to any chopping or baking.
In this book? She needs serious editing, and I'm guessing her skills evolved in the past twenty years. I should have, but didn't count how often she used the word "fiddly" in this book. Fiddly meaning a recipe that requires a lot of steps and fuss. I think the best thing about her books, overall, is the narrative--her stories behind the food. A recipe for something her mother prepared when she was a child, or on vacation in Greece. The chapters are broken down into the following categories: First Course, Second Course (fish), Desserts, and Drinks. I will test a few of her cocktails, dependent on their not needing a lot of fiddly ingredients.
In this book? She needs serious editing, and I'm guessing her skills evolved in the past twenty years. I should have, but didn't count how often she used the word "fiddly" in this book. Fiddly meaning a recipe that requires a lot of steps and fuss. I think the best thing about her books, overall, is the narrative--her stories behind the food. A recipe for something her mother prepared when she was a child, or on vacation in Greece. The chapters are broken down into the following categories: First Course, Second Course (fish), Desserts, and Drinks. I will test a few of her cocktails, dependent on their not needing a lot of fiddly ingredients.
August 30, 2017
Very disappointed in this. There is nothing here that is appetizing. I know food is one of the hardest things to photograph, but there isn’t anything here that even looks appealing. I will say though the text is nice and inspiring. I have Nigella Express, which I think is really good and practical, but this leaves a lot to be desired. I will still look to her other books and teevee show.
July 11, 2024
I was disappointed with this cookbook. Most recipes seemed complicated and/or contained ingredients that aren't very easily obtained. The photography was nice, but there weren't photographs of all of the dishes.
December 19, 2017
Good as all Nigella books are, but nothing stood out to me in particular.
July 19, 2020
Only found 2-3 recipes that tempted me.
September 18, 2021
Want to try the Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds, Italian Beet Salad, and the Blue Lagoon recipes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2025
Lovely light summer recipes for when the temps are too high to think about food
February 25, 2017
NPR introduced me to this author. She appears regularly so she is another reason to listen. Happiness Soup is now part of my rotation.
April 10, 2012
I actually originally bought several of Nigella Lawson's books for the food photography, which is actually gorgeous, but ended up cooking some of the recipes.
I find this book to be fun, but not an entirely serious cooking tome. Many of the recipes are very specific in their ingredients (meaning you will likely have to go shopping in order to execute specific recipe). But a great resource for special occasions or cooking for a dinner party.
My favorite savory recipe is the slow roasted Garlic & Lemon Chicken which is incredibly easy to whip up & always a crowd pleaser. Nigella's recipes always come with a cute little back story, and her flavor profiles are excellent. If you're looking to expand from the status quo of Monday - Friday recipes this is a great place to expand your palate & your spice rack!
I find this book to be fun, but not an entirely serious cooking tome. Many of the recipes are very specific in their ingredients (meaning you will likely have to go shopping in order to execute specific recipe). But a great resource for special occasions or cooking for a dinner party.
My favorite savory recipe is the slow roasted Garlic & Lemon Chicken which is incredibly easy to whip up & always a crowd pleaser. Nigella's recipes always come with a cute little back story, and her flavor profiles are excellent. If you're looking to expand from the status quo of Monday - Friday recipes this is a great place to expand your palate & your spice rack!
December 26, 2022
Summer is the best season for fresh fruit and veg - however, we live in a seasonless economy - you want strawberries in winter - you got 'em. You want leeks in autumn - you got 'em!
Forever summer was never about mocking seasonality but about embracing the warmth and fun of summer food all year round. To those that think we should follow the seasons and only eat what's grown at that time of year - I say 'boar off' why? Why should we revert to the past when the future gives us everything we want in the here and now?
If I want strawberry and cream in the winter - why can't I? Forever summer teaches us that the summer feels to food is 365 - we should never be afraid of embracing the summer warmth as its the emotion that food brings us that is most important, not the time of year it's grown.
The recipes are nice, easy to make an most importantly - forever summer!
Forever summer was never about mocking seasonality but about embracing the warmth and fun of summer food all year round. To those that think we should follow the seasons and only eat what's grown at that time of year - I say 'boar off' why? Why should we revert to the past when the future gives us everything we want in the here and now?
If I want strawberry and cream in the winter - why can't I? Forever summer teaches us that the summer feels to food is 365 - we should never be afraid of embracing the summer warmth as its the emotion that food brings us that is most important, not the time of year it's grown.
The recipes are nice, easy to make an most importantly - forever summer!
February 27, 2008
I've read Nigella Lawson's column now and then when I lived in England but it wasn't until I saw her show that I gotten the Nigella Bug. British food aren't known to be delish but she and Jamie makes it looks totally exciting. She's written many books about cooking but, like Jamie, their recipes tend to be seasonal ie. what's good for winter, fall, etc. I chose this one because it suits my home climate's best. The book is illustrated with colour photos and the writing style is also chatty. Seems like all the celeb chef write their books this way don't they?
October 1, 2015
While I love Nigella and her passion for food, I found this cookbook rather impractical for those of us who live in rural, landlocked areas. Many of the wonderful looking recipes call for ingredients I have found impossible to easily acquire (i.e. passion fruit, deliciously ripe mangos, fresh seafoods, etc.)
This is no fault of Ms. Lawson's but the book is only eye candy in my situation. There are few of the recipes that I can readily prepare from my well-stocked pantry and the local markets.
This is no fault of Ms. Lawson's but the book is only eye candy in my situation. There are few of the recipes that I can readily prepare from my well-stocked pantry and the local markets.
August 5, 2007
Many fresh and flavorful dishes and food photos inspired by the idea of the summer season with equally enticing Nigella commentary. Key ingredients can be plucked from your garden or the local farm market. The recipes are honest, fun and fairly simple to put together. A few favorites: spiced pink soup, the rainbow room's carrot and peanut salad, lavender trust cupcakes, rhubarb fool, fresh green gimlet.
July 23, 2009
My least favorite of the Nigella books, although I thoroughly enjoyed the accompanying television series when it originally aired. This is the only book of hers I never purchased for my collection because, while I have made a few of the recipes within these pages, I am not compelled to make more. Simply put: seek out her other, stronger books (and leave aside Nigella Express for the moment as well).
May 22, 2010
Please Vist http://tycookfromthebook.blogspot.com/
The recipes are 'different' not exactly 'summer comfort food', but more like 'summer impress your guest food'. Nigella seems to hold your hand throughout the entire cooking process. It is actually quite comforting. I would have given this book five stars if only it provided pictures for every recipe rather than every other. I look forwarded to seeing how it is suppose to look. But over all this was a refreshing spin on summer delight.
The recipes are 'different' not exactly 'summer comfort food', but more like 'summer impress your guest food'. Nigella seems to hold your hand throughout the entire cooking process. It is actually quite comforting. I would have given this book five stars if only it provided pictures for every recipe rather than every other. I look forwarded to seeing how it is suppose to look. But over all this was a refreshing spin on summer delight.
July 13, 2010
While I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE N.L., I will probably only make a handful of the recipes in this book...just my personal tastes and some of the ingredients I'm unsure of, so I will have to do a little educating and investigating...when I have some time!
However, I will purchase this book to add to my collection (I borrowed this copy from the library to check it out); it's a good read in and of itself and the photos are lovely...
However, I will purchase this book to add to my collection (I borrowed this copy from the library to check it out); it's a good read in and of itself and the photos are lovely...
July 14, 2008
Mmm...got this from the library because of the title. Was looking for a good summer cookbook and - this wasn't it. It's very very pretty to look at, but every recipe I turned to (started at the beginning, admittedly -didn't skip around) was either something I didn't want to cook or found wayyyy too intimidating. But the pictures are really pretty. ;)
September 7, 2009
The woman is so insanely sexy--I love watching her on television. I wanted to love the book, but a lot of the recipes are things that I'm just not interested in eating (lamb, seafood, etc). Sigh. I still hold her in high regard nevertheless. She makes the idea of cooking a sensual experience (which it definitely can be).
January 22, 2015
I loved the ice cream,drinks and desserts chapters of this book,really made me want to have a go at them myself which is surely the mark of a successful cookbook,what's the point of having a book on your shelves that never gets used,just because it's trendy or whatever?
Pretty photo's too,and would have given 5 stars,but sorry Nigella,you need to include more vegetarian recipes and less meat!
Pretty photo's too,and would have given 5 stars,but sorry Nigella,you need to include more vegetarian recipes and less meat!
September 13, 2008
This is a great cook book. I love the penne and asparagus recipe, the pork chops are also a favorite. Plus Lawsons writing style and direction takes all of the fuss out of cooking and just makes it seem so cool and effortless. I LoVE this woman!
May 27, 2011
Since I loved her cookbook "How to Be a Domestic Goddess" and since it is basically summer here in Arizona, I figured I would give this book a try. The recipes were mediocre at best, and I only ended up bookmarking about 5 out of 300+ pages.
Read
December 9, 2011Now what did I learn? That I love to eat, love to cook, and I love nigella! Ol news but so what! Her books are a fresh daisy every time you open them , something new something forgotten, all delicious makes u feel proud of ur end results
June 29, 2012
We LOVE the coconut slab cake and the Crab Linguine - to die for.
Beautiful Photography, light summery recipes... what's not to love if you like Nigella? Oh and if you don't, she doesn't witter on too much in this one and there's not that many photos of HER, unlike the later ones!
Beautiful Photography, light summery recipes... what's not to love if you like Nigella? Oh and if you don't, she doesn't witter on too much in this one and there's not that many photos of HER, unlike the later ones!
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