SIMPLE: effortless food, big flavours (Diana Henry)

I like Diana Henry’s approach to food and cookery writing. She has passion about what she prepares and eats and it comes across in her writing. I prefer cookery books as paper copies, but picked this up as a 99p ebook. It works well on iPad and Fire with plenty of colour and hyperlinks, so it’s user friendly and easy to navigate. The thinking behind this book is to inspire some really tasty meals that are easy to prepare and won’t break the bank. But these are midweek meals with a difference; they use ingredient inspired by all sorts of flavours but fuss free. Griddled chicken and thyme, Moroccan chicken with dates and aubergine. These recipes are inspirational but don’t require out of the ordinary ingredients and they’re not difficult to prepare. I love this book and recommend it to anyone with even the remotest interest in food and cooking.

Diana Henry has excelled herself yet again, with an incredible page turner of a book, with every recipe eliciting the comment of, ' mmmm, I fancy to try that'. The pictures look like works of art and make your mouth water, to highlight the lists of tasty ingredients in each recipe and Diana's stories/descriptions/advice on the recipes are priceless. There are very few cookery books that you pick up, where you are at a loss as to which recipe to try first as they all sound so good, but this book, as with all of Diana's other books, is one of those few. From her previous books, I know her recipes will always work, be quick to make and taste delicious, to the point that if I am having friends to dinner I am happy to experiment with a totally new recipe to present to them and know I can trust Diana to do me proud. I look forward to trying every recipe and, as I trust her recipes completely, know they will all be as delicious as they sound.

I debated buying this book for quite a while due to the many reviews complaining about how it was anything but simple and required far too many obscure ingredients. It's just arrived and I'm glad i took the plunge. It is full of really exciting and new (to me) flavour combinations. As a person trying to reduce my (red) meat intake I am excited to find quite a few different egg based and veggie recipes alongside chicken and fish which I sometimes eat. With regards to obscure ingredients, there are a few recipes that call for fresh ingredients that aren't that easy to find. In my mind if it looks worth tracking them down give it a go - if not just give the recipe a miss. I'm one of those people that has pomegranate molasses and other non mainstream condiments/spices in the cupboard/fridge so there were very few recipes that would really require me to purchase something new, but I am probably in the minority. In my opinion the title is a bit misleading as I definitely wouldn't have considered this type of cooking simple in my uni days. That said most recipes aren't overly complex and the resulting dishes look fairly simple and delicious. I haven't tried making anything yet - but I can't wait to give something a try - but where to start?!?

Please don't think that "Simple" is a simple book in scope, as Henry's recipes include a pantheon of flavors (Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Nordic, Indian), along with techniques and ingredients ('Nduja, salmon roe, harissa) pulled from other cultures. The first recipe in the book is for a donburi, or Japanese rice bowl, that Henry says she stole from Nobu; the last is for a Turkish coffee pudding. In between are pages loaded with Laura Edwards' appealing photography (ceramics, jam-filled spoons), Henry's cheerful commentary (the joys of canned food) and of course, a lot of truly wonderful recipes. We made her orange-oregano roast chicken in the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, and there is no greater recommendation than four people gathered around a hot All-Clad sauté pan, the air perfumed with oranges and herbs, the only sound one of spoons against metal.

This book is quite simply brilliant- well written and (what all cook books should be) inspiring. Cookery books are my weak spot and every once in a while one comes along that makes your heart sing - this is one of those! Don't listen to the people who knock this book because the Devine Miss D dares to ask you to use an ingredient you've never used (or heard of) before - that's what makes this book special. The recipes certainly are simple (if you disagree then stick to Delia) and produce incredible flavoursome, impressive dishes. It's a joy to cook from and will only make you a better cook to boot - what more could you ask from a cookery book?

I love Diana Henry recipes as they always turn out well and are generally straightforward to make. Being able to download a sample for her latest book is brilliant and on the basis of that I will definitely buy the whole thing. I'm a big fan of her original 'Cook Simple' book and still use it regularly - even after 10 years or more. I'm very much looking forward to exploring this latest one as it looks like she's created a really good range of recipes - both for everyday suppers and more fancy stuff as the occasion demands. If you don't know Diana's recipes - then do get this. She deserves a much wider audience.

I am keeping this book for the amusement derived from reading the title and then looking at the recipes. I have so far only flicked through the book but I think simple might be a stretch. One of my favourite lines so far is: In fact I know that cooking anything for 10 hours might seem like a hassle.... Yes Diana, just a teeny tiny bit..... Another reviewer called this aspirational as opposed to inspirational and I would agree. For me it’s like watching astronauts going into space. In another life I might make one of those recipes but probably not..... UPDATE: amazingly I’ve actually made two recipes from this book and both were really good. Even my very picky one year old ate them both. I still don’t think the book is full of simple recipes but I picked the easiest I could find and they were both fairly simple and worked very well.

A birthday gift! Just read it properly. I have literally hundreds of cook books but this is the real deal. Sold as a book which suggests everyday recipes and boy does it deliver! Usually, a book yields half a dozen recipes but this has me searching for where to start really! Have bought a couple of Iranian/Persian cookbooks of late but really no need as this betters all! Everyday suggestions are accessible and delicious. I consider myself to be an accomplished cook but there are beautiful tips to glean from this great book. If you loved Bird in the Hand you will devour this! Please purchase - you will not be disappointed!

We love this cookbook even more than Henry's, Plenty, which has great suggestions for leftovers. So many straight-forward, easy recipes we've already repeated more than once. Great for dinner parties. I've already given this book as a gift.

Diana hat’s einfach drauf, aus dem Alltäglichen was Besonderes zu zaubern, ohne dass man sich abrackern muss. Die Rezepte sind einfach wunderbar und der Geschmack hats in sich. Das Buch kommt dabei in der Welt rum und hat ein paar exotische Gerichte dabei, allerdings braucht man dazu keine fancy Zutaten. Sie zeigt, wie man mit dem, was eh schon jeder im Schrank haben sollte einfach tolle Gerichte zaubert.

Delivered promptly and on time. This is the first Diana Henry cookbook i own and do not regret buying it. The recipes are indeed simple, but tasty.

Ok

Photos are often missing. The same ingredients are often used. Have a feeling that it was a book about pomegranate, feta and anchovies.