November 4th
2006
Even good cookbooks are usually consumed much too fast in our household, sometimes all it takes is a free evening and nasty weather to snugly cuddle up on the sofa with the obligatory cup of hot chocolate and of course the new book. Many of our glossy books have fallen victim to this routine.
But then there is this rare occasion when you get hold of a very special book and you know it too the very moment you open it. Books that meet my individual taste spot-on and sometimes even exceed my anticipation. These are precious books, which deserve due attention. I then tend to regulate myself, consuming in small doses, because I don’t want them to end. A Tale of 12 Kitchens by Jake Tilson is one of those rare finds.
There are two hearts beating in my chest and skimming across my bookshelves will quickly prove that one is dedicated to my passion for cooking, the other devoted to design. A Tale of 12 Kitchens passes both requirements with flying colors, it has to be one of the most creatively laid out cookbooks that passed through my hands. The vibrant mix of different typography and retro illustrations is breathtaking, so are the countless packaging shots (finally someone seems to have a bigger heart for packaging than I do), handwritten notes and a very own style of photography featured. It almost made me forget, that it is actually a cookbook. Well, is it one anyway? I like prefer the way Claudia Roden refers to it as “…enchantingly evocative kitchen memoir of food and cooking…” and yes it contains recipes and instruction, but probably not in the way you’d expect.
As the book title rightly suggests, this book is not a glossy cookbook you’d be afraid of taking into your kitchen, it’s a book you might as well take on long train ride for a good read – rugged in a way. The book is not pretending to be a comprehensive source for recipes, but tells a wonderful story of Jake Tilson and his artistic family, his childhood in what he calls their “first family kitchen” in Notting Hill Gate, London. To him, a starting point for many remote destinations including Tuscany, the USA and Scotland, all leaving wonderful impressions, culinary influences and cultural diversities enriching him and his family.
“An entry in my mother’s 1958 notebook records what she cooked the day before i was born – shepherd’s pie and sprouts for lunch and a light supper of onion soup and pancakes.” I don’t know what’s more fascinating, the fact that the author’s mother kept note of their prepared dishes or Jake Tilson’s desire to find out what his mum had cooked the day before he was born. Undoubtedly, he is somebody paying close attention to details, very present throughout his culinary anecdotes and his fine sense of style. Tilson’s photographs of the featured recipes are all done without food styling or extra lighting, an aspect I find refreshing and likable.
The recipes aren’t overly fancy, but down to earth – many stews, roasts or the blizzard duck paired with regional specialties from the countries he has been living in. The method and cooking steps are furnished with plenty background information on either the recipe or individual ingredients and require a slightly different approach: recipes, unlike seen in so many plain-vanilla cookbooks, are being depicted in a narrated way disregarding [typical] conventions and schema. With each recipe a story is told, from short notes to elaborate memories, enhancing the recipe’s personality and appeal to the reader.
The first recipe I picked was chosen simply because I had ricotta left over and it sounded like a quick one. Delightful little dumplings, with a surprising light consistency – after all, there are no flour, semolina or breadcrumbs involved, which usually are added to aid proper absorption. A hint of skepticism -after having prepared the dough (consistency!)- was quickly put to rest seeing and tasting the final result on my plate. Light & delicious. Nevertheless, I prefer my dumplings, any for that matter, more on the firm side, next time I will add the one or the other tablespoon of flour or semolina to the dough.
A final word on Strozzapreti: the term is used for a couple of different regional Italian specialties, either gnocchi-like dumplings or simply a pasta shape, so better confirm, if you find them on a restaurant menu…
Wash the spinach, remove bigger stems and cook or steam until soft. Let the spinach cool down, then squeeze out any excessive liquid and chop finely.
In a large bowl mix together spinach, ricotta, egg, grated Parmesan and season with freshly ground black pepper, sea salt and nutmeg.
Meanwhile heat a large pot of salted water.
The author thinks of the next step as the “tricky bit”: Drop a spoonful of the mix on a floured board, dust your hands with flour and flap it from one hand to the other to give it the proper shape and get rid of the extra flour. This method worked better than I had expected. But you could also try to dust a spoonful (tbsp) of the mix with some flour and carefully roll it with your hands into the desired shape. Works well, too.
Cautiously drop them into the pot with the simmering water, but not too many at once. They are done, as soon as they float on the surface again, which takes about two to three minutes. Remove with a skimmer.
Heat some butter in a pan and add the Strozzapreti as well as the cherry tomatoes (these are not in the original recipe, but added a nice fruity touch). Sauté for one or two minutes and shake the pan occasionally, then serve on a plate with freshly ground pepper and grated Parmesan.
Strozzapreti with sauteed cherry tomatoes
Recipe source: adapted from A Tale of 12 Kitchens, p.94
Prep time & cooking: 20-30min.
.
Ingredients (serves 2-3):
200g spinach
175g ricotta
30g grated Parmesan
1 egg
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
freshly ground nutmeg
flour for cutting board and hands
50g butter
100g cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
to serve: grated Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper
shepherd’s pie and sprouts for lunch Wurggh! Although that reminds me of the perfect Halloween spoof. Take a box of Ferrero Rocher; unwrap carefully; keep the papers; discard the rubbish (ie contents). Melt chocolate in microwave while boiling Brussels Sprouts to death. Carefully dip sprouts in chocolate. Allow to cool. Wrap in Ferrero Rocher papers. Feed to kids. Enjoy.
I love strozzapreti / strangolapreti if just for the name - priest chokers - so rich that they even choke a priest (who is more used to rich food than we are).
I'll have to put it on my wishlist, it sounds like a wonderful Christmas treat.
ooh, another lovely cookbook to add to my wishlist :)
I just read another review on another blog and have put this book on my Must Have book list! I think I'll try the Strozzapreti recipe!
A mouthwatering review! Great idea to combine it with a recipe looking so tasty, one that made me rewrite my grocery list. I'll try it tonight! And I have to take a closer look to this book.
These look delicious! And now I am intrigued by the book.
This sounds like my kind of book. I love the homey descriptions about life that accompany the food. To me that makes the book! I'll definitely be looking for this one.
I will definitely be making this recipe. Thank you!
yum! that looks amazing ... the photos are gorgeous, i'll be back!
I read a lot of good reviews about this book before leaving Scotland, but didn't have a chance to actually see and browse it. I'll try to get hold of it soon. Lovely post & pictures!
After reading your review and drooling over the strozzapreti recipe, how can I not head out of the door and buy this book? Impossibile!
I really want to try this, where does the egg go, with the mix or just before the flour?
EDIT (Nicky): The egg is added in step 2. If you feel that the dough is too soft, you may want to add one or the other tbsp of flour or seminola, which I will try next time. However the recipe works well as is.
Definetely, we have the same taste - this is the book of the year, although there are still lots to discover in it. So thanks for your hint, that its origin is in Notting Hill - I found it there at books for cooks. May I show you another great recipe from it?:
http://www.rettet-das-mittagessen.de/blog/?p=384
By the way (although it’s in the future): good quiz that one with the happy cook. So it’s still not the ice machine - no wonder, looking out of the window.
hi
i read your blog regularly
i am indian and i do not understand certain terms
can you tell me what 'ricotta'means.
EDIT Nicky: Hi Mahek, It's an Italian cheese, just hop over to Wikipedia and you'll find lots of information about ricotta.
oh... this looks like something i'll have to try soon! my last attempt at gnocci was unfortunately not the most successful, but maybe these will work for me?
I've wanted to try spinach gnocci for years. If the book is like you say, I must read it - sounds beautiful.
I made the Strozzapreti recipe you gave ( I know them as Nudi) and considering I estimated the amounts ( I don't have a scale) I think they turned out well ( only one fell apart in the water) not as pretty as yours....but very tasty...in fact the richness was nicely cut by the tomatoes. Thanks!
I made this recipe, or maybe I didn't really, because I didn't have any Parmesan so I used Mozarella. Unfortunately, it all fell apart in the water. Fortunately, they turned into some pretty good spinach nuggets when I placed them on an olive oil drizzled pan and cooked them in a 340 degree overn
The recipe seems really good and particularly simple and...cheap! that's perfect for me right now! I wanted to buy the book and I think that it's gonna be in my christmas list (yeah, i know i'm pretty earlly about this!).
I found you via Luisa at the Wednesday Chef.
I particularly like food memoirs and I've added Twelve Kitchens to my Amazon wishlist.
Your pictures are lovely and the ricotta dumplings look delicious.
Hi hag, Glad you were happy with the recipe - and you seem to have a good eye for amounts when they turned out well without scaling the ingredients! Like you, I think the tomatoes play an essential role in balancing the whole dish.
Denise, Substituting Parmesan with Mozzarella is quite adventurous, glad you could turn them into some nice baked nuggets. For the original recipe I'd recommend to stick with the grated Parmesan, because it provides the necessary "glue" effect.
I love new cookbooks, I spend too much time in bookstores looking for new ones.
Found your blog after Googling the book which I am planning to buy. I will be visiting your site often.
You also will like Jake Tilson's website which is impressive:
http://www.jaketilson.com/12kitchens/uk/index.htm
Nicky, Oliver, you´ve been in my personal hall of fame for ages, but now, I totally worship you. I ordered the book the minute I saw your post, it arrived yesterday, and it´s the best thing EVER. Thank you.
Hi lobstersquad, I'm so glad you like the book, it's one of the few cookbooks that for the past months I've been continuously and actively reading - if that makes sense.
[...] Nicky posted a recipe for strozzapreti, light Italian dumplings made with spinach, ricotta, and parmesan, with a bit of nutmeg and some egg to bind it all together. Demonstrated with beautiful photography as always, this looks like one of those simple recipes that turn out utterly irresistible. [...]
[...] Wo ich doch gerade das wundervolle Buch A Tale of 12 Kitchens lese (zurecht sehr empfohlen von delicious:days) und darin immer wieder handgeschriebene Originalrezepte aus der Familie des Autors als Fotos auftauchen: berreicht mir meine Mutter bei ihrem jngsten Besuch den A5-Zettel, mit dem ihre spanische Schwiegermutter, meine Yaya, ihr Ende der 60er Jahre das Rezept fr Pollo en pepitoria zukommen lie. Sie hat es sicher nicht selbst aufgeschrieben, denn meine spanische Gromutter war, ebenso wie mein abuelo, Analphabetin. Sie wird das Rezept wohl, so wie den Brief, bei dem der Zettel lag, einer Nachbarin diktiert haben. Darauf weist auch der sehr mndliche Stil der Anweisungen hin. Mich fasziniert allein schon die unverkennbar spanische Schrift. Ob es darber wohl schon Untersuchungen gibt? Nationale Merkmale von Handschriften? Ich behaupte nmlich, es gibt eine typisch spanische und eine typisch englische Schrift. [...]
OOOh, a new cookbook! From your review alone and that dish of fabulous looking gnocchi-like wonders ( I almost licked my computer screen!) I am going to search out that cookbook...I just hope it is available in Canada!