The Weekend Cook: Good Food for Real Life

by Angela Hartnett

DAILY MAIL BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR * THE TIMES BEST FOOD BOOKS OF 2022

Internationally beloved chef Angela Hartnett's first cookbook released in the U.S., featuring 100 recipes perfect for entertaining at home.

"Everything one wants in a cookbook. Beautiful, elegant simplicity. Angela’s gorgeous Weekend Cook is a vital addition to any cook's kitchen." ―Stanley Tucci

An invitation to dine at Angela Hartnett’s house is a real treat. Nestled in London’s vibrant East End, her home is a place to experience delicious food, great company and a relaxed atmosphere that is as far removed from the high-octane stress of a professional kitchen as it is from the social anxiety that many of us face when hosting a dinner. Angela knows the secrets to throwing the most relaxed and enjoyable dinners for friends and family―magical evenings that people talk about for months afterward―and in The Weekend Cook she shares them.

Great flavors and simple, yet delicious foods abound in these pages, from satisfying one-pot dishes and comforting risottos to perfect party food and baked goods to feed a hungry crowd―each one a joy to cook and eat. With 100 recipes as well as time-saving tips and cheats, The Weekend Cook takes the stress out of hosting, allowing you to enjoy your dinner parties without breaking a sweat.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking

288 pages, Hardcover

Published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[Leane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good photography and easy to follow recipes. Almost a family & Friends photo album celebrating weekend repasts. Good group meal suggestions and execution.

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Received this as an advance copy via Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (Thank you!!!)

This is a lovely cookbook by Angela Hartnett, who is apparently a British celebrity chef. Normally I find most celebrity chef cookbooks to be bland but I am happy to report that this is not the case with this book.

The book layout is simple but hooray for all the color photographs showing finished recipes! It's a British book, so American cooks will need to look up the conversion oven temperatures (the book did not include one with their conversion charts). The recipes themselves are not really suited for beginners, while the instructions are clear and easy to understand those having some experience in the kitchen will likely have better success when making them.

As someone who enjoys learning about new recipes and ingredients, this book did not disappoint. The book is a bit of love letter to the author's East London home, family and friends, and provides many traditionally British recipes like Faggots (meatballs), Haggis and Queen of Pudding. While I won't be making those first two recipes anytime soon, I'm not sure how I made it this far without knowing about Queen of Pudding, jam, white bread, meringue, yes please!

[Jodi Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brings you right to her neighborhood and the people there. After reading this cookbook I told my husband we need to start block parties in our neighborhood. The recipes are different to me as the English use different ingredients and cook them in ways we might not here in America. I tried the turnip and celeriac au gratin and wow, just wow. It is tender, flavorful and oh so good. I need to find monkfish tails (not easy in my land locked state) so I can make the Barbecued curried monkfish tails. So many things to try, so little time....

[Karen Hancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-known British chef and author, Angela Hartnett cooks every day for a living, so on weekends, she likes to relax a little and prepare fuss-free down-to-earth cooking at home. She introduces her recipes in her cookbook, The Weekend Cook: Good Food for Real Life.

Many of the recipes Hartnett includes in the cookbook are decidedly British, and others are very European. Pasta lovers will enjoy the fact that there are plenty of unique and mouthwatering pasta recipes; most are quite easy to make and will be perfect to make on weekends. Hartnett has also included a few breads, cakes, and other pastries that are definitely worth making. Besides scrumptious savory pasta dishes, there are great recipes for side dishes, including risottos, quiche, and unique main dishes using beef, lamb, poultry, and seafood. There is a good variety of recipes, and the beautiful photographs are mouthwatering. The recipes are written in the traditional manner and can be easily followed by both beginning and advanced cooks. The book is well-organized and is nice enough to generate interest from cooks of all ages.

It’s always fun to cook dishes from other places, especially when they are appealing to everyone in your home or at a gathering at your home. This is a nice cookbook and will inspire some excellent dishes while the family is together over the weekend.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

[Mae Leveson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been dipping into this book at intervals since Christmas and I’ve loved reading about Angela’s cooking and the community of Spitalfields, where she lives with her husband. She has a very laid-back approach to cooking and her enthusiasm is infectious.

Last week, I tried the recipe for chocolate cake, which was absolutely delicious. I tweaked it a bit, as I didn’t have sour cream to hand, so I used 0% Greek yoghurt instead. Who knew chocolate cake could be a good source of protein? Even with substituting the sour cream and reducing the sugar content by 50%, the end result was a cake that was moist and delicious.

I highly recommend this cookbook and look forward to more cooking adventures with Angela as my guide.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While this cook book is beautiful, it's not one I would frequently use.

There are some nice photos of some of the recipes. The recipes are in both metric and cups. The recipes themselves are largely things I wouldn't eat or try. Some are more accessible than others and Hartnett notes that some can be made in advance to make it easier, but she also says she uses pantry staples for ease and for the majority of recipes I don't have those kinds of ingredients on hand. There are some interesting recipes to try, but it feels like a mix of traditional British food and and fancy party food.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mixed review. Many of the recipes contained herein sound absolutely delicious! But, it’s said you eat with all your senses. This delightful cookbook contains mostly black and white pictures of the food. You eat with your eyes, as well as your taste. Not a single b&w illustration of a recipe looks appetizing to me. Dishes, in a cookbook, need to be in full color for our eyes to tell our brain they look delicious.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the recipes in this book. I just don’t find the pictures of the finished dishes particularly pleasing.

[Penmouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Weekend Cook is a perfectly lovely cookbook which is probably better suited for British cooks. The recipes use metric measurements and many of the ingredients use British terms making it a bit more difficult for American cooks to figure out what the recipe is using to prepare the dish.

At the back of the book is conversion charts which could be used to prepare the recipes.

Recommend with caveats given.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little worried when I first started reading this book and realized it was going to have British food recipes in it. I had a friend who travelled abroad there once and she agreed that the food tended to be bland. But actually some of these recipes look very delightful. There's even some Italian ones thrown in to for pasta lovers. Anyone can enjoy this realistic take on home cooking very fine recipes.

I got this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

[Leith Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read Angela Hartnett’s recipes in The Guardian and Telegraph newspapers for years. They always sound delicious and interesting.
I really liked this cookbook! The recipes are very British and some of them might not be familiar to US readers. The photos are mouthwatering and I’ve enjoyed the recipes I’ve tried so far. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

[Melissa Borsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully done cookbook by Angela Hartnett, a professional cook in London who shares her life and her very important food weekends with her readers. I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this cookbook.

[Carol]

This is definitely a cookbook for the other side of the ocean. Food has different names. Measurements are in grams. I stopped when the author suggested I could get wild garlic on my hikes in the spring.

[Marge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but nothing really appealed to me. Being in Mexico, ingredients are too hard to find.

[Joni Owens]

I love reading cookbooks from other countries. That being said not every recipe translates well to another country.

I loved all the stories & pictures included in this book.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book does have lovely photographs of the dishes, however none of the recipes appealed to me.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does exactly what it says on the cover -“ Good food for real life”

A great resource for the weekend cook.

[Amanda Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the pictures of every dish!