Foodie Lass Book Review Seasonal Suppers by Fi Buchanan
Seasonal Suppers is the perfect cookbook for fuss-free cooking – whether you are cooking for a family, an evening with friends, special occasions or a weekday evening supper, then this book ticks all the boxes. An ideal book size to use in the kitchen, well laid-out with simple recipes and chapter headings illustrated by the months of the year.
Seasonal Suppers allows the reader to make choices on foods that are grown seasonally and therefore help reduce your carbon footprint. The author even makes helpful suggestions on how to make suppertime enjoyable. Here are a few examples that I found most helpful –
Plan, allowing enough time to make supper; it’s one thing to cook quickly but cooking in a hurry saps energy and takes the joy out of the process
Substitute depending on what’s in season, in your fridge or storecupboard or just according to what you like.
Shop, when you can, preferably in independent food shops: butcher, baker, fishmonger and fruit and veg shop.
The above are just a few of the tips mentioned in the book.
My recipe choice is taken from the August chapter in the book – a quote from this season ‘Borders are heavy with roses, and allotments brim with ripe tomatoes and basil and mint. This is the month of fruitfulness, of festivals adventure and summer holidays.’
The following recipe would make a delicious summer dish to share with friends for a relaxed supper.
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Crispy Coconut Prawns and Pineapple Salsa
Serves 4
For the pineapple sauce
300g ripe pineapple cut into 1cm cubes
15g fresh coriander, finely chopped
½ red onion, finely sliced
1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp brown sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
¼ tsp fine sea salt
For the Mayo
200g good quality mayo
1 tbsp Tabasco
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
500g king prawns, shelled
70g self-raising flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 egg white
75g fine desiccated coconut
50g panko
200ml sunflower oil for frying
Combine all the salsa ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine all the mayo ingredients
Pat the prawns with kitchen paper. Select three bowls and three forks. In the first bowl combine the flour and salt and pepper. In the second, put the egg white and give it a good whisk. In the third, mix the coconut and the panko. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and place it at the end of your row of bowls.
Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or large frying pan over a medium heat. Line a plate with kitchen paper and place it next to the stove along with tongs or a slotted spoon. Working in batches of three or four, dip the prawns into the flour, then the egg white and finally the coconut before layering them on the prepared baking tray.
When all the prawns are crumbed, fry them in batches of six and place them on the kitchen paper lined plate. They cook really quickly so keep an eye on them. If the oil’s at the right temperature the prawns will take about 40 seconds on each side to become golden and crispy. Turn down the heat if they cook faster than that. Serve with the salsa and mayo.
Find out from Seasonal Suppers what you should be choosing to eat and when and then enjoy experimenting with the recipes in this delightful cookery book.
Seasonal Suppers is published by Kitchen Press. You can buy the book direct from their website www.kitchenpress.co.uk or from all the usual book outlets.
