My New Roots
Why buy it?
There’s a health food revolution at way and Sarah Britton, holistic nutritionist, is among the proponents leading the charge. The Copenhagen-based Canadian rose to fame for her blog, My New Roots, which chronicled her early days in a professional wholefood kitchen in the Danish capital. Now, her recipes tally 100,000-plus global followers. She’s just released her first eponymous cookbook and it’s a beauty.
It doesn’t hurt that both the blog and book ooze Scandi style, including meticulously styled food photography and lifestyle shots of the glowing Britton, but the real crux and allure is her fare: seasonal, plant-based dishes that tread a line between vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free and broader appeal.
Her voice is also part of her charm; Britton encourages and enthuses, weaving in nutritional insights without preaching. It’s why hers is one of the most popular food blogs the net has ever seen and why this book could sit in any kitchen that wants to up its vege intake, forego processed foods and make as much from scratch, from sprouted beans to nut butters, as possible.
Cookability This is a special diet book (Britton dubs it “all-inclusive”, meaning vegetarian, with options to make recipes vegan and gluten-free), so expect ancient grain flours in place of plain wheat, brown rice syrup for caster sugar, and coconut oil and ghee instead olive oil or butter, for example. It’s not for traditional cooks, but the curious will discover new ingredients and techniques, some of which will go mainstream as health and food continue to merge.
Must-cook recipe Britton’s mantra of “delicious food that happens to be good for you” is epitomised in her life-changing loaf of bread, which became so popular online, it was christened the LCLOB. She includes a variation with kalamata olives for the classic nut, seed and oat loaf bound with coconut oil.
Most surprising dish You’ve likely heard of chia seeds and had them in a bircher or smoothie, but did you know you can use chia to make jam? Britton combines fresh strawberries and vanilla bean with chia seeds – “the miracle food that turns liquid into thick jelly” – to whip up a raw jam in around five minutes.
Cook the book
1. Roasted cauliflower with Lebanese lentils and kaniwa
2. Pan bagnat with sunflower seed "tuna"
Source: Sarah Britton
Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads
Why buy it?
Matt Wilkinson wants you to make at least one salad a week. Don’t think of them as just “leaves with other bits”, he urges; any ingredient, from vegetables and fruits to grains, pulses, noodles, meat and seafood can be transformed into a hot or cold wonder. Serve it for lunch, or dinner; even serve it up for brekkie.
In Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads, the follow-on title to his immensely popular Mr Wilkinson’s Favourite Vegetables (it sold 100,000 copies worldwide), Matt (aka Mr Wilkinson) offers plenty of inspiration for his cause with 50-plus recipes (one for each week), plus tips for creating your own, including a salad dressing ‘family tree’, which suggests new combinations.
It’s a beautifully designed cookbook, much like the first, replete with botanical illustrations and handwritten notes. It’s also exudes personality, with charming tips and tricks from the Yorshireman like “watch ya fingers” and “don’t tell the Mrs!” And in a sea of prescriptive diets, there’s no formula to his food beyond seasonal produce, cracking flavour and enjoyment, and it’s a breath of healthy fresh air.
Cookability Wilkinson is the executive chef and co-owner of Melbourne hotspot Pope Joan, plus a hubby and dad to two little boys, and recipes reflect his professional and personal life. Save the many restaurant-quality dishes for entertaining and jazz up your midweek repertoire with the remainder.
Source: Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads
Must-cook recipe The salad of golden beetroot, pickled plum and yoghurt with pancetta dressing is so appealing with its bright multicolours and characterises Wilkinson’s recipes with a few unusual techniques, ingredients or combinations. Chapters, divided by season, also come with a dessert and two cordials. The chef’s strawberry, black pepper and cucumber drink tops our list.
Most surprising dish There are a few recipes – and it’s possibly just the styling – that only loosely qualify as a salad, such as the crab, samphire and mustard on toast. But hey, it looks and sounds good!
Cook the book
1. Shredded sugarloaf cabbage with burrata and spiced butter 
2. Carrots, their tops, honey and smoked yoghurt
Source: Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads
Source: Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads
Recipes and images from Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads by Matt Wilkinson (Hardie Grant, RRP $49.95), available in stores nationally.
At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well
Why buy it?
Amy Chaplin has been a wholefoods advocate long before the term became hip – pretty much her whole life. She grew up on a community farm in rural New South Wales, where her family grew and made almost everything they ate, followed a macrobiotic diet once she left home, then pursued a culinary career with wholefoods at its heart.
Basically, she comes with cred, and her passion and knowledge on the subject is palpable in every page of At Home in the Wholefood Kitchen. It’s Chaplin’s first book and it’s utterly comprehensive, drawing on the Aussie expat’s extensive professional experience, including executive chef at renowned New York vegan restaurant, Angelica Kitchen, and health food contributor to the likes of Food Network, Martha Stewart Living and Wall Street Journal.
The near 400-page cookbook is cleverly divided into two parts. ‘The Pantry’ describes every item in Chaplin’s kitchen (think 140-plus), with notes on health benefits, flavour profile and how to cook with it. Meanwhile, ‘The Recipes’ are split into meal types and contain even more info. It’s an impressive book, in effort, detail and execution, and good-looking, too, with its clean, slick aesthetic. A keeper for vegans and a must-read for the wholefood curious.
Cookability While the title might have you believe otherwise, this book is very much for vegans and hardcore vegetarians. Even Chaplin concedes that over 90 per cent of the recipes are vegan. This is great news for you, if you are, as you’ll relish the inventive, global recipes.
Source: At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen
For omnivores, it’s a cracking reference and inspiration for integrating wholegrains and seeds, natural sugars and more into your kitchen.
Must-cook recipe The eggplant curry with cardamom rice, apricot chutney and cucumber-lime raita is appealing whatever food style you subscribe to. For dessert, her roasted fig and raspberry tart with toasted almond crust is another crowd-pleaser.
Most surprising dish Ginger is frequently seen in desserts and drinks, but another rhizome is less common outside of health circles. Chaplin introduces us to a delicious, golden turmeric lemonade, inspired by an Ayurvedic drink she enjoys in Bali.
Cook the book
1. Date, pistachio, praline tart
2. Wholewheat fettucine with kale, caramelised onions and marinated goat’s cheese
Recipes and images from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin (Quarto Books, $39.99, hbk).
Source: At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen
Source: At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen
Superlegumes: Eat Your Way to Great Health
Why buy it?
We all know legumes are good for us, but traditionally, they lacked a little sex appeal. So we enjoyed them in the occasional baked beans, ham hock soup and dhal, and that sufficed. Now, legumes are wholefoods poster children and applications for them are more varied than ever.
Take Superlegumes, by Chrissy Freer. In the second title to her best-selling Supergrains, the Australian nutritionist and media favourite offers 100 options for legume-laden fare. Freer garnered a following for her quick, easy, tasty wholegrain recipes and the same everyday, accessible approach defines this book. You’ll find a few classics (think quesadillas with black beans), a handful of new-age dishes (such as cauliflower ‘fried rice’ and peas) and plenty of family favourites (like massaman curry) made over with added legumes, from the relatively common cannellini beans to the more obscure mesquite.
It’s not a keepsake in the way some titles are designed for display, but it’s the kind of book that will collect grubby hand marks from use making midweek dinners for the kids or a healthy, filling meal for one or two.
Cookability While many dishes are vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free, Superlegumes is not a special diet cookbook and a sizeable portion contain meat. Freer’s straightforward, mass-appeal recipes are divided by legume and each chapter kicks off with a brief history, concise nutritional info and seemingly fail-safe cooking instructions.
Source: Superlegumes
Must-cook recipe Oven-braised pork with soy beans, eggplant and chilli bean sauce. Need we say more?
Most surprising dish A number of desserts cunningly substitute mashed legumes for a portion of the flour, including the mandarin, pistachio and chickpea cake, Freer’s equally moist and nutty take on the classic orange and almond. Meanwhile, lupins (the seeds of a cottage garden flower), touted as the next big thing in human nutrition, are used as a flour to make pasta dough. Neat.
Cook the book
1. Quinoa risotto with beans, lemon and Parmesan
2. Honey-roasted pumpkin, borlotti bean, broccolini and hazelnut salad
3. Double choc bean brownies
Source: Superlegumes
Source: Superlegumes
Source: Murdoch Books
