
Most of the cookbooks that are produced every year are about what’s trending in the food world. It’s all about the latest diet, the latest kitchen device. Very occasionally one is blessed with a cookbook that will endure the test of time.
The New Classics By Donna Hay
is just such a book. It is full of classic recipes from the Donna Hay Magazine created with their own signature twist.
Divided into two sections, Savory and Sweet, the book is a virtual encyclopedia. It is designed to enhance your cooking repertoire, taking old favorites and pairing them with modern flavors. I have no doubt that this will become the go-to cookbook on your kitchen shelf.
Recipe categories include:
Savory
- Eggs + Cheese
- Pasta, Noodles + Rice
- Soups
- Beef
- Chicken + Duck
- Pork
- Lamp
- Seafood
- Pies + Tarts
- Salads + Sides
Sweet
- Cookies, biscuits + slices
- Small cakes
- Cakes
- Putting
- Pies + tarts
- Desserts
Each and every recipe has a stunning full-page photo included. Many of the recipes have more than one component, so each of the components also has its own picture.
Throughout the book, all of the full-page photographs give the name of the recipe on the page. This is extremely helpful when you’re looking at something that you would like to try because it helps you find the right recipe.
As this book is designed to stretch your cooking repertoire, it also includes many step-by-step instructions for making basic dishes and then includes variations on that recipe. For instance, the “How To Cook Quiche” starts out with pictures of each step of the quiche’s crust. It then goes on to provide a basic filling. The subsequent pages include flavor variations on that recipe.
The “How To Cook” recipes include:
- Quiche
- Pasta
- Polenta
- Paella
- Chicken Soup
- Roasted Beef
- Stir-Fry
- Butterflied Chicken
- Poached Chicken
- Pork Roast
- Meatloaf
- Roast Lamb
- Beer-Battered Fish
- Sushi
- Hot Water Pastry
- Shortcrust Pastry
- Shortbread
- Macarons
- Brioche
- Banana bread
- Baked Custard
- Steamed Puddings
- Tarte Tatin
- Lemon Tart
- Truffles
- Marshmallow
The back of the book includes a lovely glossary of terms. After you find a Global Measurements Chart comparing metric and imperial, and an excellent Index by main ingredients and recipe name.
Beautiful And An Excellent Resource
This book is beautiful enough to be a coffee table book. It is full of excellent recipes but is, however, not a book of “30 minutes or less” recipes, or one full of recipes that use only five ingredients. This book is designed to stretch your cooking repertoire and expand it.
The instructions on each of the recipes seem very straightforward. The “How To Cook” recipes, provide very easy to follow instructions and the extra step-by-step pictures are helpful.
The recipes do include the Serving Size but do not include any overall cooking times, only those for the oven. With the recipes in this book, you will have to read it in advance to determine how long it will take.
Overall, this book is destined to be one I refer to many times. If you’re looking to become a better cook, this will be one of the books you will want to own.
With over 400 pages of recipes, it was not easy choosing only one to include in my review. I decided to go with the “How To Cook Meatloaf” Basic Meatloaf recipe because it really does show how you can take a standard recipe and bring it to the next level.

Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion brown, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 24 slices pancetta flat, rind removed
- 1 cup breadcrumbs fresh [70 g]
- 1/4 cup milk [60 mL]
- 2 tablespoons Rosemary finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon mustard Dijon
- 2 eggs
- 400 g pork mince [ground pork]
- 400 g veal mince [ground veal]
- 1/2 cup pancetta chopped, flat, extra
- Sea salt
- black pepper cracked
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C [350°F]. Heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5-7 minutes or until softened. Allow to cool completely.
- Line at 22 cm x 8 cm x 7 cm tin with the pancetta slices, slightly overlapping. Set aside.
- Place the breadcrumbs and milk in a large bowl and set aside for five minutes or until the milk is absorbed. Add the onion mixture, rosemary, mustard, egg, pork and veal mince, chopped pancetta, salt and pepper and mix well to combine.
- Press the mixture into the tin and fold over any overhanging pancetta. Place the tin on a baking tray and bake for 40–45 minutes or until just cooked. Set aside for five minutes before inverting onto a tray lined with nonstick baking paper. Bake for further 5 to 10 minutes or until golden.
Notes
RecipesNow! The Reviews And Recipes Magazine
Get the newsletter: http://www.RecipesNow.com/newsletter
Download FREE eBooks at: http://www.RecipesNow.com/Free
Be the first to comment