Newsletter: Go green with garden-to-table cooking + indulge with Cookiepedia

Cooking from Seed to Table with Luay Gharafi

Canadian Luay Gharafi, the author of Seed to Table: A Seasonal Guide to Organically Growing, Cooking and Preserving Food at Home, joined his local Community Supported Agriculture program in 2009 and was immediately hooked. From there he went on to study in Toronto, enrolling in George Brown University's culinary arts program.

In his food, fresh produce, and its cultivation, comes first. His gardening and lifestyle blog Urban Farm Kitchen focuses on all aspects of garden-to-table cooking and eating.

Seed to Table is neither a cookbook nor a gardening book – instead it both, combined to make a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

With chapters dedicated to planning an abundant garden, managing your crops, learning how to grow what you love to eat, and more, this book has everything you need to develop your own garden-to-table lifestyle. And of course, plenty of gloriously tempting recipes.

Try Charred Eggplant Dip or Autumn Squash Toast. There is even a whole section on Garden Inspired Libations, offering a range of thirst-quenching drinks from your garden!

Find all 40+ recipes from Seed to Table

Pictured above: Curried Lentils and Greens from Seed to Table by Luay Ghafari

Take a culinary trip to Nepal and the Middle East

Newly added to ckbk, and all set to brighten up your winter cooking, we have two new books packed with flavor and spice.

Food and Flavours from Nepal by Jyoti Pathak is the follow up to hugely successful debut Taste of Nepal. It is equally filled with deep knowledge of the culinary history and culture of Nepal, and packed with mouthwatering recipes. This new book includes extensive photography – and the food looks tempting indeed!

Try Nepali-Style Fried Fish, fragrant Ajowan Rice, and this sweet Milk Dessert with Cardamom and Pistachios.

In Flavors of the Sun: The Sahadi’s Guide to Understanding, Buying, and Using Middle Eastern Ingredients, Christine Sahadi Whelan brings 120 recipes from the famous Sahadi’s market in Brooklyn, New York. A comprehensive guide to Middle Eastern ingredients and dishes, that will get you started if you are new to Middle Eastern cuisine, or give you loads of new ideas if you are already a fan. Try Alicia’s Saffron Chicken Soup, and Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Lentils and Dates, followed by this dreamy Pistachio Cheesecake with Kataifi Crust.

The Cookiepedia

It’s National Cookie Day on December 4. We don’t need any reminder to love a cookie, but a day devoted to our favourite sweet thing to munch, and bake, is a good excuse nonetheless.

Just in time we bring you The Cookiepedia: Mixing, Baking, and Reinventing the Classics. Doing exactly what it says in the title, author Stacey Adimando has gathered all the cookie knowledge and recipes you could need in one place. And has done so with a whole lot of cookie joy.

Start with the ABCs of cookie baking, and read on to master recipes classic and new. Try Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bittersweet Chips, or Almond Biscotti.

Then try out Cornmeal Cookies with Rosemary and Green Tea Cookies.

Because we think you can never have enough cookies, we’ve assembled a whole Cookie Bookshelf for you to explore.

Ingredient spotlight: alliums

Allium is the general term for a plant family that includes onions, leeks, garlic and more. With differing amounts of the same flavor-producing sulphurous compounds, their taste is related but varoes in strength and nuance detail. Their flavor also alters when cooked – with a sharp heat when raw, that grows gentle and sweeter when braised, fried or roasted.

Onions are at the heart of most savory cooking, a well-softened onion being the essential beginning of so many great dishes – just look to any curry or stew, wherever in the world you are. But onions can also take centre stage. Try the classic French Soup à L’Oignon Gratinée au Comté, these Spiced Fried Onion Rings, or any of the recipes in our collection of 12 Ways with Onions.

Leeks bring a gentler, greener addition to a dish – try this Spinach, Leek and Mushroom Pie. Leeks are great on their own, braised or roasted, and make a full-flavored side dish – try this Leek Gratin.

For more leek recipes take a look at our 12 Ways with Leeks collection.

The most potent of the alliums, garlic, is small but mighty, adding depth to all dishes. It has significant heat if eaten raw, for example minced into a salad dressing, and a pungent sweet flavor if roasted until fully soft. Add punch to your cooking by making some Garlic Oil, to use on salads and in a wide range of other dishes.

Try a spicy take on a classic with this Mexican Garlic and Chili Bread. Find these recipes and more in our collection of 12 Ways with Garlic.

Oakville Grocery: The Cookbook is coming to ckbk next week!

Many excellent cookbooks originate with groceries or delis (Persia in Peckham, Flavors of the Sun and The Silver Palate, to name a few ). So we are delighted that Oakville Grocery: The Cookbook will be available on ckbk from publication day on Tuesday 5th December. This collection of recipes and food inspiration comes from the oldest continually operated grocery store in California, located in the heart of the Napa valley. Oakville Grocery has been in operation since 1881, and its philosophy is fresh and foodie. So, keep a look out!

Don’t forget that you can sign up for new book notifications, if you want to be informed about all new books added to ckbk as soon as they appear.

6 of the best caramel recipes

The creation of caramel, the turning of bland sweet sugar into something richly brown, shiny, intense, and irresistible, is true culinary alchemy. Once you have caramel mastered you will never look back.