On The Hob

So you’ve bought or been given a Slow Cooker, and now all you need are some Slow Cooker recipes, well fear not we’re here to help with our pick of the best Slow Cooker Cookbooks.

Would you like to cut down on convenience food?Want to eat home-cooked meals but just don’t have the time or energy to prepare them after a busy day? Then a slow cooker could be the solution for you. Requiring only minimal preparation, a slow cooker will cook your ingredients throughout the day or overnight, producing a delicious meal that will be ready to eat as soon as you are. Hamlyn All Colour: 200 Slow Cooker Recipes provides over 200 recipes for you to enjoy,with delicious ideas for breakfasts and light bites,meat dishes, vegetarian meals, fish and seafood dishes and desserts.

Rated at 4.3 Stars on Amazon with over 180 reviews – With comments that include – Great because this book is NOT Americanised, Fantastic Value for money ( RRP just £4.99)

Hamlyn All Colour Cookbooks 200 Slow Cooker Recipes

Dianne Page’s collection of over 100 traditional family recipes for the slow cooker has been a bestseller for many years and is perfect for those who are buying (or thinking of buying) their first slow cooker, as well as for the expert. Now updated to cover the latest developments in slow cooking, her recipes prove that slow cookers not only produce tasty soups, stews and casseroles, but are also ideal for cooking fish, fruit and vegetables. Slow cooking enables the food’s flavours to blend and develop. It tenderizes even the toughest, cheapest meats, offers flexible meal times for busy families and produces no cooking smells and steam in the kitchen.

Slow Cooking Properly Explained

Using a slow cooker couldn’t be easier: simply prepare the ingredients in the morning, turn on your machine and then return home to wonderful aromas and mouthwatering food that has been cooked to perfection! This book provides you with a choice of over 100 of the best slow cooker recipes to ensure that cooking will never be a chore and dinner will never be dull again! Whether you are making a family meal or entertaining friends, you’ll find delicious, healthy dishes that are guaranteed to satisfy all tastes and save you valuable time.

Ultimate Slow Cooker – Sara Lewis

And for the spice and Curry Lovers a Slow Cooking recipe book just for you!  It includes the best of recipes from around the world – India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, South America and Africa. The preparation is simple and the results exceptional.A curry is probably the world’s favourite step-change in everyday eating habits. And the slow cooker produces quite outstanding eating from these recipes. The long, slow cooking tenderises the meats and maximises the exotic flavours of the spices while it does so.

Slow Cooking Curry and Spice Dishes

Whats your favourite Slow Cooker Recipe?  Let us know in the comments!

This is the definitive Pie Bible from the Kings of Pie, The Hairy Bikers. In their culinary homecoming, Si and Dave celebrate a dish close to their hearts. This beautifully illustrated cookbook brings together the Great British classic in 150 brand-new recipes. Featuring an extraordinary range of pies – from the sweet and savoury, deep and small, and to the pies that are puddings – The Hairy Bikers will inspire you to coo and share the mighty dish with the ones you love. With top tips on pastry, the failsafe methods, the secrets and the cheats, the boys will teach you how to choose the right type of pastry and filling for any occasion. Learn the rules of pastry making and how to add the right pickles, relishes and sauces to make your pie an unforgettable dish. And of course, how to make the most of those little left over bits and turn them into delicious cheese straws, jam tarts and turnovers. This is a heart-warming, delicious and nostalgic recipe book that can be enjoyed by families, friends and fans of the nation’s favourite dish.

The chapters are split into Double crust pies, Handheld pies,Top crust pies, Open topped pies and tarts, Plate pies, Party pies, Raised and freeform pies, Fancy pies and suet puds, Sides salads and sauces, Leftovers and The basics.

Click to read more and buy Perfect Pies at Amazon

Click to read more and buy Perfect Pies at Amazon

Have you bought Perfect Pies, Do you think you have a Pie recipe that could rival The Hairy Bikers?  Leave a comment and let us know!

Jamie grew up in one of the first true British “gastropubs”, which his Mum and Dad still run today. For him, the heart and soul of real British cooking is food that puts a smile on your face. And that’s what he wants to share in the new book: the essence of British food, done properly.

Over the years, British food culture has embraced flavours and influences from all the people who came and made Great Britain their home. The food reflects an open-minded culture as well as the country’s beauty. There are over 100 of Jamie’s favourite recipes: some are indisputable classics, some are his versions of the classics, some should be classics but just haven’t been made famous yet and others he’s made up from the great bounty of British produce.

Wherever you’re from, if you love food this book will offer you a little taste of happiness.

Click to buy Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain on Amazon

Click to buy Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain on Amazon

Some of the many receipes in Jamie’s Great Britain include

BREAKFASTS bubble and squeak, homemade yoghurt, yemeni pancakes, kedgeree and Glasgow potato scones

SOUPS including tomato, spring veg (with gin!), mushroom, ham and pea, minted courgette, mulligatawny

SALADS – Apple and watercress with blue cheese dressing, heritage tomato salad with dill, a shredded rainbow salad, salmon salad, and a Caribbean-inspired pork and rice salad

PUB GRUB yorkshire puddings with smoked trout in, scotch eggs, scampi bites, ploughmans, toad in the hole.

NEW BRITISH CLASSICS empire roast chicken (combining roast chicken and curry ), Yemeni lamb, Jerk-dressed pork

AFTERNOON TEA including a tea loaf with Earl Grey in it, a romantic Victoria sponge with some orange zest and rosewater, a sour Cranberry bakewell, mini Eccles cakes…

SEASIDE Oysters, skate and peas, potted shrimp, mussels, fishcakes etc.

PIES AND PUDDINGS A Shepherd’s pie, Cornish pasties,steak and kidney pie…

SUNDAY LUNCH

WILD FOOD pheasant with fennel bake, honey-roasted rabbit, rabbit bolognese….

VEGETABLES Champ, red cabbage, about fourteen ways with asparagus, leeks with a crunchy topping, four different mashed potato recipes

PUDS Summer Pudding with elderflower, two quite bonkers trifles, a rice pudding with rhubarb, honeycomb with chocolate sauce

Amazon reviewers rate Jamies Great Britain at 4 out of 5.

The TV show that accompanies the book is on Channel 4 Tuesdays at 9pm

Click to buy Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain on Amazon

Do you have Jamie’s Great Britain?  Let us know what you think, whats your favourite recipe?  Leave a comment!

TV chef Lorraine Pascale, author of the phenomenal bestseller Baking Made Easy, is back with her second cookery book — this time packed with simple and delicious recipes for relaxed home cooking that go far beyond baking. The queen of cookery is back with 100 scrumptious and seriously easy recipes, from cosy soups and roasts to delicious autumnal breads, in this beautifully photographed second book to accompany Lorraine’s BBC2 prime time four-part autumn cookery series.

Click here to find out more and buy Home Cooking Made Easy from Amazon

Click here to find out more and buy Home Cooking Made Easy from Amazon

Twelve new amateur bakers are ready to rise to the Great British Bake Off challenge. While they don their aprons, adjust to their new ovens and get used to baking in a tent, this book takes you through the challenges from the series and shows you how to achieve baking perfection.Throughout the book, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are on hand with practical tips to help you create perfect cakes, biscuits, breads, pastries, pies and teatime treats every time, as well as showing you how to tackle their ‘technical challenges’, as seen on the show.

There are over 120 recipes in this book, including traditional British bakes and imaginative twists using classic ingredients, as well as the best contestant recipes from the series. There is plenty to challenge keen bakers here, from brandy snaps to elaborate pastries, pavlovas to iced celebration cakes, and with a sensuous and yet practical design and full-colour, step-by-step photography, this really will become the baking book that you will turn to for years to come.

Find out more about the Great British Bake off and buy at Amazon

Find out more about the Great British Bake off and buy at Amazon

In his latest book Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall asks us “Why don’t we eat more veg?” They’re healthy, cost-effective and, above all, delicious. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall believes that it is time to put this to rights, as he explains in this brilliant new book. The book is a accompniment to his new channel 4 TV series and he’s come up with an abundance of veg-tastic recipes, including a warm salad of grilled courgettes, lemon, garlic, mint and mozzarella, a winter giant couscous salad with herbs and walnuts, radishes with butter and salt, lemony guacamole, linguine with mint and almond pesto and cherry tomatoes, baby carrot risotto, new potato gnocchi, a summer stir-fry with green veg, ginger, garlic and sesame, a winter stir-fry with Brussels sprouts, shiitake mushrooms and five-spice, a cheesy tomato tart, a spring onion gallette, roast jacket chips with merguez spices and spiced yoghurt, curried bubble and squeak, scrambled eggs and asparagus with lemon, tomato gazpacho, pea and parsley soup, roast squash wedges, baba ganoush, beetroot houmous, spinach pasties and barbecued corn on the cob. With over 200 recipes and vibrant photography from Simon Wheeler, River Cottage Veg Every Day is a timely eulogy to the glorious green stuff.

Find out more and buy Veg Everyday at Amazon

Find out more and buy Veg Everyday at Amazon

On a Stick! poses the question “Why do the world’s most delicious foods taste even better served on a stick?” – The author of this book Matt Armedariz answers this with over 80 delicious reciepes.

The Author – Matt Armendariz is a man obsessed with food, drink, and everything in between, as evidenced by his entertaining food blog, mattbites.com, has written for many publications, and even cooked with Martha Stewart.

On A Stick is a 184 page book which is beautifully illistrated on every page, this gives some great ideas on presentation and serving aswell as the recipe,the main sections are split into Savory foods, and sweet foods (both on a stick of course).  the book also contains details on different types of Skewer and sticks you could use, dips and sauces, and a helpfull conversion chart and ingrediants index.

The receipes all look so appealing I just know I need to hold some parties soon!  Its hard to choose a favourite, but here are some recepie titles to give you a flavour of the book.

• Breakfast Pancake Dogs (the cover image)
• Chinese Meatballs
• Deep Fried Ravioli
• Fish and Chips
• Pizza Skewers
• Cake pops
• Candy Apples
• Chocolate Covered Cheesecake
• Ice Cream Sandwich

On a Stick! is available now at Amazon!

One more slice is the follo-up to Leila Lindholm’s  “A Piece of Cake”.  One More Slice focuses on wood fired pizza, pasta, bread, pancakes and waffles, as well as sweet desserts like ice cream, cheesecake and sweet pies.

Although there is an Italian feel to many of the recipes, Leila has taken inspiration from all over, from American apple pie to French pastries to Belgian waffles. Filled with over 150 recipes and over 200 beautiful photographs, this is a cookbook to inspire and delight.

This hardback book is split into the chapters over 220 pages

• Pizza Amore
• Say Cheesecake!
• Pancakes and Waffles
• Ciao Tortano
• Brownies and Blondies
• I Scream for Ice Cream
• Boulangerie
• American Pie
• Pasta Pronto

Each section is packed with recipes and inspiring photographs.

With “One More Slice” you will never be short of cooking inspiration!

One More Slice is available to buy now from New Holland Publishers

The Food Lover’s Guide to Europe by Cara Frost-Sharratt blends practical travel information with hand-picked selections of the finest culinary treats that Europe has to offer. Appealing to both food obsessed travellers and travel obsessed foodies, this book presents an outline of the cuisines of 25 European countries, before focusing in on their most exciting gourmet destinations. Picking out local specialities, the most highly-rated farmers’ markets, and a selection of the best restaurants for all budgets, this title showcases national dishes and regional delights, with recipes to try when you get back home.

The book is organised first by country and then with sub sections of each destination within each country.  For each destination there are details of the history of the area, the best places to eat, events or tours that should not be missed, and several classic reciepes to enjoy at home.

The food lovers guide to Europe is a great introduction to European food, and will help you plan a trip abroad or just looking to try some new recipes at home!

The Food Lovers Guide to Europe is available to buy now at New Holland Publishers

Special Cupcakes by Wendy Sweetser contains over 50 recipes for every occasion.

Cupcakes are little treasures, mini cakes that bring joy to adults and children alike. The passion for cupcakes shows no sign of diminishing as people seek out more sophisticated designs and fantastic flavours. Cupcakes have moved on from being just a treat for children and it is not unusual to see wedding cupcakes and boxes of cupcakes sent as gifts – whether to celebrate a new baby or as a Mother’s Day gift.

This is where this book excels, the chapters are organised by occasion -

• Party Time,
• Seasonal Celebrations
• Romance
• Cake for Kids
• Fruits and Flowers
• A taste of the exotic
• Spoil Yourself
• Size Matters
• Not so guilty
• Free From…

Recipes include: Caribbean mango and palm sugar, Coconut with passion fruit icing, Peach melba, Tiramisu, Chocca-mocha with peppermint frosting, Blueberry and vanilla yogurt and Strawberry daiguiri. There is also a basics section covering essential equipment, ingredients and decorations as well as basic recipes and techniques, decorating tips and packaging and presentation ideas.

Each reciepe is spread across 2 pages, one devoted to a mouth watering image of the finished cupcake and the other with clear ingredients, step by step instructions and even a Tip to help make the process even easier, we particularly liked that the ingredients list separate out the frosting and decorations from the cupcake so if you want to experiment with different toppings its still easy to know what to buy!

You can buy Special Cupcakes now at New Holland Publishers