It has to be said we were bowled over by Adrian Martin’s excellent cookery book ‘Create Beautiful Food at Home’. It has indeed become one of our ‘go to’ books. And we can see the same thing happening with another of Adrian’s books ‘Fakeaway – Fast Food Made Healthy’.
To be honest we rarely have takeaways but we have been known to pop into a supermarket and buy a ready meal or go out to a local restaurant specialising in something that we enjoy for a treat; even if we do feel guilty about the amount of calories consumed, and the money spent.
Whilst the recipes in Fakeaway do not necessarily result in quickly prepared meals, several of them can be on the table in minutes. Others will take a little longer, but worth it as they are not only obviously flavour-packed they are also much more healthy than our ‘fast food’ treats, especially as they are not laced with food additives.
The book is divided into chapters like ‘Indian’, ‘American’, ‘World Cuisine’, ‘Burgers and Dogs’, ‘Western Europe’, ‘Sides’ and ‘Desserts’ making it really easy to find whatever type of recipe you fancy. Vegetarian recipes however, are very scarce.
There are some terrific Indian recipes, and whilst we are not great fans of Chinese food – we are determined to try some of those recipes. We can see sticky chicken wings appearing on the table next gathering of friends who come round for an evening – along with nachos and guacamole. Yummy.
A friend made an After Eight cheese cake for us a while back and gave us the recipe. It was such a complicated procedure, but Adrian has come up with a recipe that sounds just as, if not more, delicious and so much quicker and easier. And what could be easier than his Healthy Fruit Crumble.
We are being picky but maybe for a future edition a calorie count for each recipe could be included along with an indication of just how much time each recipe requires?
In the meantime, with so many recipes for us to try; many thanks Adrian.
Fakeaway – Fast Food Made Healthy. Adrian Martin. Pictures Rob Kerkvliet. ISBN: 978 1 78117 490 6. £xxxx. www.mercierpress.ie