Tender by "Nigel Slater"

Posted: 10/02/2010 6:45:48 p.m.

Such a pity, as this is a real foodie’s delight and deserves a place on the crowded kitchen shelves. Mr Slater is possibly the best cookery writer around and, since he’s been tending the garden in the narrow plot behind his London terrace house, he is even more passionate about the food he prepares and shares through his writing. 

 

There’s so much to revel in on Tender’s pages. It is a hefty volume and by no means encompasses every vegetable grown by man, but pays homage to most of the plants that grace our table.

Each ‘chapter’ provides notes about the particular ‘vegetable in the garden’ and the ‘vegetable in the kitchen’, and these are often supplemented by a growing diary for the plant. I can imagine him tenderly carrying the pickings of the day to the kitchen, laying them on the bench and then nursing them gently through their cooking process to the plate. And I bet he eats them slowly, savouring every single mouthful before the next.

There are a multitude of recipes using his glorious vegetables. What terrific recipes they are. Mr Slater knows what all good cooks understand. Simplicity is the essence of a great meal if the ingredients are fresh and natural. He does not provide lengthy lists of ingredients or complex, too clever by half recipes full of complicated technique. He unashamedly gives us recipes for vegetables that have two or three ingredients alongside slightly more intricate casseroles or baked dishes that never exceed 12 ingredients, including the salt and oil.

Tender is beautifully illustrated, with photographs that are so earthy and natural I could almost smell the veggies in the garden. It is handsomely printed on a paper that has a natural matt finish and feel and is bound to last with its attractive cloth cover.  

This not a book for vegetarians for there are plenty of recipes that include meat, fish, and poultry. But in Mr Slater’s words: “…I now place less importance on them in my diet than I did. It is the meat and crackling rather than the vegetables that are now on the side. When you lift the lid of my casseroles, peer into my pots or read my plate, it is the veggies that play the starring role.”

And having devoured the words in the book, I too will be thinking like Mr Slater in the near future. I will truly value my trips to the farmers market, to my local veggie grower and the wonder of fresh veggies straight from the soil.