SEASONING - HOW TO COOK AND CELEBRATE THE SEASONS
My latest cookbook - published March 2024 by Murdoch Books
Seasoning resounds with the rhythms of how our seasons meld and flow into each other. At its heart it is a book about why seasonality matters now - even / especially when we all know so much produce can be available year-round. It's about the value of reconnecting with the arc of the seasons for the good of the land and also our own delight.
It is my third cookbook and without a doubt the biggest, most ambitious and most personal I have done. It is structured by the conventional four seasons and features across them over 50 vegetables and fruits, each with a short feature about its heritage and seasonality, and that’s then followed by guides to how to shop and store, ways to cook and use, flavour partners and tips on preserving. I hope so much that with Seasoning on the kitchen side no-one need ever be bored by what to do with the umpteenth showing of celeriac, beetroot, parsnips, potatoes, tomatoes….. I should stress it very much isn’t a vegetarian book. Packed with vegetables, yes. And woven through is the seasonality of meat, fish and dairy that is so often forgotten but really matters too.
It is also an absolute beauty of a book. Glasses and hats to be duly raised to the magnificent team of Georgie Hewitt (designer); Patricia Niven (photographer); Georgina Luck (illustrator); Valerie Berry (food stylist, assisted by Hanna Miller); Jennifer Kay (props stylist); and Celine Hughes (publisher).
There’s a lovely shop in Shaftesbury, Dorset, called the Kitchen Table, which sells cookbooks, Seasoned Pioneers spices, and choice kitchenalia. I bought Seasonings there, plus chermoula, and made the lamb slow-roasted on aubergines. This is easily the best dish I’ve cooked this year! I made a post-it note of all the oven temperature changes called for, which was a good idea, and was delighted that the lamb was still quite pink even after all those hours of cooking. Thank you!