It’s Sunday, cookbook review day, & this week it’s @aaronbertelsenofficial from @greatdixterofficial “Grow Fruit & Vegetables In Pots” @phaidonfood, a delightful mix of small-gardening how-to + recipes, w beautiful photos by the talented Andrew @montgomeryphoto. I combined/adapted two recipes. First, potato & parsnip herb farls (p122), had everything ‘cept fresh herbs, kinda important for texture, instead used dried dill &…wait for it…chopped blanched lettuce (inspired by lettuce soup, p134). Served w courgette salad w anchovies & capers (p170), & sub’d fried sheep+goats #cypriot halloumi (not the great @kuprosdairy, would’ve been ace) & chopped #cornichon for capers.
Pros: Aaron knows his onions. The conversational how-to-grow section at the start makes you feel utterly confident on starting growing in pots, starting seedlings, taking cuttings. And it’s not google’able info (I googled to check, it’s not), but Aaron’s rather special thoughts & experience whittled into helpful paragraphs, not over-written, very digestible. Together with beguiling pics in a clean easy-to-read design (it’s @phaidonfood so you’d expect that), it’s a classy smart book. Recipes make up about half of the book, mostly all illustrated, very straightforward. The recipes are mostly given to Aaron by friends of his, or people working at Great Dixter: a style of recipe writing you don’t see that often (an example would be ‘The Cookery Book of Lady Clark of Tillypronie’), and that’s refreshing to see, free of ownership. Gorgeous cover & design by @melaniemues
Cons: the title, hehehehe, in truth I’m rather charmed by its preposterous straightforwardness. Though wishing more of the recipes were focused on ingredients that could be grown in pots, the ones used seem relegated to the background. Carrots and strawberries play minor roles, these could be pushed upfront.
Overall: Would utterly charm a hopeful gardener to get as a gift this Christmas, as they could start planning what pots to grow in the spring. And likewise, open the eyes of a supermarket-obsessed cook as to what can be grown in pots in the smallest of spaces, even window-sills.
