Book Review – Scrumptious

by Jane-Anne Hobbs (Struik) ISBN 9781431702244

Creating memorable meals for the people you love is the author’s aim, and she writes about honest food, cooked with love, generosity and an open heart: beautiful words, but do they meet my expectation? Yes! This book has a wide range of recipes, from Thai and Middle Eastern to Italian and typically South African, with good vegetarian options.

Hobbs mixes old-fashioned recipes and gives them a modern twist, like onion soup with a mustard and cheese soufflé topping or lamb curry with coriander gremolata. Or she transforms a Caprese salad into a hot Caprese tart.

My favourite one is the white gazpacho with tomato granita. This cold soup is served in a bowl made of ice. Hobbs describes step by step how to make such a bowl. I have been looking for an unusual conversation piece at the dinner table and this will be the one.

She explains each recipe with precision: ‘one slice of lemon, no more’ and most of the ingredients are easily available. Hobbs started Scrumptious as a food blog and maybe that experience has made this cookbook so successful.

The photographs are also beautiful and inspiring. If only each recipe had a picture, the book would have been perfect.

Pauline Vijverberg
4/5