Book reviews by Mobilism's Book Review team
Aug 20th, 2019, 11:03 am
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TITLE: Time to Eat: Delicious Meals for Busy Lives
AUTHOR: Nadiya Hussain
GENRE: Non-Fiction, Cookbooks,
PUBLISHED: 11 July 2019
RATING: ★★★★☆

PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon iBook Store
MOBILISM LINK: Read Here

Description: François de la Rochefoucauld said "To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art” while Virginia Woolf said "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if not has not dined well.” But let's be honest how many of us have time to cook properly after a hard day of work, preparing meals from scratch at home. Most of the time, we don’t that’s the time we end up getting a takeaway, ordering food, or eating frozen ready stuff of kitchen. Time to Eat can help us there, it has a collection of over 100 speedy, tasty, time-saving recipes to take the stress out of cooking including oven-ready recipes to prepare every meal and inspire people to get back into their kitchens, that too without going over budget on things.

Time to Eat comes from Nadiya Hussain, who rose to fame after winning the sixth series of The Great British Bake Off. She was one of the most memorable contestants ever due to her captivating smile and inspirational winner’s speech. Time to Eat is her fifth cookbook and it’s for everyone who wants to be a better cook or cook everyday but struggles to find the time in their busy lives or are amateur cooks who are just learning to cook. The inspiration for this new book is drawn from her own life, the desire to prioritise home cooking and how we all struggle to find the time

The cookbook is broken into manageable chapters for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Dessert and a special chapter explaining how to use the book to its maximum benefit. Time to Eat is based on 6 principles she swears by… and explains how and why these principles work.

    1. Don’t Throw Anything Away
    2. Canned, Frozen, and Dry are not bad words
    3. The Freezer is my Friend
    4. Every Dish is Two Dishes
    5. Everything is an Ingredient
    6. The Microwave Can Save

Everything, each ingredient she uses can be bought at the supermarket, ideas for making the most of canned, dried and frozen ingredients. Cookbook consists of some nifty kitchen hacks and timesaving tricks to make every meal a little simpler. Nadiya’s recipes teach us to think ahead in the kitchen, as many dishes can be frozen for another time. Learn how to spin leftovers into completely new meals, the most effective way to use your freezer and how easy it can be to batch cook without needing to have the same meal every night. The recipe for delicious cheesecake breakfast croissants you take half from it and make overnight oats for a second breakfast. She’s all about making good food but acknowledges that we’re time-poor. Below is one of my fave recipes from the book other than the super quick canned beets pasta.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT MOUSSE

MAKES: 1 LARGE DISH OR 8 SMALL RAMEKINS TOTAL TIME: 20 MINUTES

This is the simplest mousse, and we all need a quick mousse recipe for when we want dessert or something sweet. I for one love chocolate hazelnut spread, but I also love the spreads that used to be just chocolate bars and have been reborn as the same thing in jars in a spreadable form. You can use whichever you like.

200g chocolate hazelnut spread
50ml whole milk
600ml double cream
1 tablespoon cornflour
3 tablespoons icing sugar
100g roasted chopped hazelnuts
whippy cream, from a can, to serve (optional)
cocoa powder for dusting, if you feel like it

Pop the chocolate hazelnut spread into a bowl with the milk and heat in the microwave in 10-second bursts until the mixture is runny and viscous, but not steaming hot. This should not take more than 20 seconds. Set aside to cool.

Put the cream into a large bowl with the cornflour and icing sugar and begin whipping. As soon as it begins to thicken, pour in the chocolate mixture and keep whipping until you have stiff peaks.

Fold through the hazelnuts (keeping a tablespoon back for decorating), then spoon into a serving dish or individual ramekins. If you want it to look extra special, you can pipe the mousse in.”

Serve with whippy cream if desired, with an extra sprinkling of hazelnuts on top and a dusting of cocoa powder.

Time to Eat is a book for real people because it is essentially a recipe book direct from the home of a busy mom. She’s unapologetic in her choice to put her family’s needs at the heart of everything she does. And this is something that many women/men struggle with — the having it all, the balance between family and work life, the guilt, the other voices, but often in these discussions we forget about choice. I would say this book is a must for every busy person.
Aug 20th, 2019, 11:03 am