Paradiso Seasons

by Denis Cotter

Cooking in Cafe Paradiso, the internationally-renowned restaurant in Cork , Ireland Denis Cotter has gained a reputation for innovation in his approach to food and for the quality and personal style of his menus. Paradiso Seasons represents Denis Cotter's personal journal through the eternally shifting seasons, focussing on his favourite vegetables at their prime moment and, from them, creating sumptuous and thoughtful recipes. Featuring over 140 original recipes, prefaced by informative and witty introductions, Paradiso Seasons offers a practical and inspirational approach to cooking and eating seasonal food (the section on 'outdoor cooking' will be a godsend to anyone who wants to cook vegetables creatively during the summer 'barbeque' season!).

Genres: Cookbooks

290 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2003

Reviews

[Queer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eating the seasonal food at Cotter’s Paradiso is one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope everyone finds their way to Cork, Ireland or at least to this cookbook to experience some of that joy.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beginning with a very short introduction, Denis Cotter explains that these are the recipes he cooks at home and that most of them would never get anywhere near his restaurant menu. Frankly, he eats better at home than most people do when they dine out.

Some of the recipes in here are perhaps over-fiddly and, like in River Cottage: Veg Every Day! , there's very little in here except for a list of recipes and a lot of glossy 'lifestyle' photo's. I can see why vegetarians love his books so much - they do, after all, actively discriminate against the nuts, pulses and wholefoods that stereotype vegetarian cookbooks.

Perhaps as an omnivore I'm spoilt? There are recipes in here that I'm going to cook (there are recipes in here that I have already cooked) and more so than in the River Cottage book mentioned above. Neither though, offer exactly what I want from a cookbook, which should be so much more than a collection of recipes. Anyone who knows how to cook has little need for them and if that were all that anyone wanted then the cookbook market would have been saturated long ago.

A seasonal vegetarian cookbook is a great idea, so why not go more into it? Why not discuss growing vegetables? Cooking with vegboxes? Dealing with gluts and making the most of disappointing crops?

All in all, this wasn't what I had hoped it would be. A good cookbook should be inspirational and informative, this is merely instructive.

[Karen Wellsbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the best vegetarian cook book I have ever read, and certainly one of my favourite cookery books ever.

The recipes are grouped seasonally, and there is a terrific outdoor eating section, some of the recipes can be complicated, but they are so worth the effort, the spiced beetroot and rice flour pancake recipe comes to mind, but the results are completely worth the effort.
Some cookery books are mere lists of ingredients and methods, which is great if you want to cook, but isn't engaging on other levels. Others are more about the personality of the writer, TV series - again that can be great, but for me detracts from the food.
But there are books like this, where the quality of the writing, and clear passion about food transported me to a place where I just wanted to cook everything all at the same time.
If you want to understand passion, just read anything that Denis Cotter has written, all of it is more evocative than the majority of fiction.

[Alan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been cooking vegetarian food for the last 25 years and using various recipe books from Cranks to Rose Elliot which I consider everyday. We love to entertain and when we do I reach for this book the recipes are complex but so are the flavours and the results always impress and stun the majority of our friends who are mainly non vegetarian. We have stayed at the Paradiso and enjoyed the food first hand and now have all if Mr Cotters books. If your looking for a book that will improve your cooking skills and your ability to cook vegetables that in theory could accompany non vegetarian courses. Meals to impress you and yourself not for beginners as you may open it once and never pick it up again :)