Last year I got a copy of Alice Hart's Vegetarian. I liked the look of the recipes - they seemed imaginative and delicious - and thought it might be useful.

Well it has been. In fact I love this book. I have used it over and over and over again and each recipe has been brilliant. One of my cooking friends has a copy and she and I are constantly referring each other to recipes from Vegetarian; commenting on how fabulous Alice is; and talking about what we've made.

 

I've cooked more from this book than any other I've bought recently. Alice's simple Japanese miso eggplant has become a regular in my house; and I made the beautiful warm salad of slow roasted tomato, rice, lentils and labne last time we had friends over. I make her no-knead sourdough bread several times a month; we had the carrot, coriander and haloumi fritters for Christmas lunch; and her Malaysian egg curry is heavenly. Plus when I can't be bothered to think about food I make her pasta with broccoli, replacing the pine nuts with toasted pepitas.

The book is also full of little snippets: recipes and genius ideas. Her slow roasted tomato recipe is the best I've used, especially as there's no added oil. The section on salad toppings is creative. I've made the spiced roasted chickpeas and this week, on my friend's suggestion, I made the tahini roasted seeds. Oh my.

This is simply one of the most useful cookery books I've had in years. The pictures are glorious, Alice uses mostly seasonal ingredients and while there are a few more involved recipes, it's mostly simple and low-fuss. Vegetarian is beautiful, creative meat-free food, which will appeal to both vegetarians and omnivores alike.