The book boasts 60 recipes from the show including snacks, main courses and desserts. They have all been tested, checked and perfected by Gay Mitchell who is a renowned food stylist and chef, so each recipe has been professionally crafted to ensure a perfect result every time.
The book is bigger than its parts: it is a salute to all the colourful and exotic cuisines that are part of the daily lives of the people of this country. In this respect, perhaps it’s cooking that will bring us closer together. Perhaps it rings true that you can get to the heart via the stomach.
I decided to test the 'heart via the stomach' theory on my dinner guests one Saturday evening. I prepared the Kingklip in White Wine Sauce dish to get to their hearts and was pleasantly rewarded with their minds as well. I received compliments peppered with adjectives such as divine, scrumptious, beautiful and amazing. I can also confirm that this was before the wine started talking.
The other recipes I’m going to try are Chakalaka Chicken Pots, 3-cheese drop scones, Bobotie Pancakes with Apricot Chutney and Toffee Bannoffee Whoopies. I have to confess that I love the names and have enjoyed saying them out loud.
There is also a greater benefit attached to the sales of the books as all the proceeds will go to a charity chosen by the winning family, Team Sugar and Spice made up of Lee-Anne Ibbetson and her daughter Hannah.
The
Little Big Cook Off Recipe Book is available at all good book stores countrywide and from the
Porcupine Press website. The book retails for R275.