Our Verdict: Fresh

Maureen: What a delicious month. It’s always very cheering when we have a few brilliant cookbooks in a row, and we’ve been on a good run of late. We probably cheated by choosing Mob this month after having cooked from Elena Silcock, who writes for Mob, last month. But whatever. Our blog, our rules.



I liked everything about this cookbook. It delivered exactly what it promised on the front: “Over* 100 tasty, healthy-ish recipes.” I liked how it categorised the recipes in the front– Hearty, Speedy, Freshest, Summery, Etc.”, and then listed them there and in the beginning of each chapter (with page number). Honestly, this might not seem like a big deal to you, but it made life much easier for me.



*The grammar pendant in me would like to point out that really should be “more than”, so maybe it’s not perfect after all.



The recipes leaned on fresh ingredients that weren’t impossible to find. The methods themselves were not that complicated and dinner could be on the table in a reasonable amount of time. Again, this might not seem like a big deal to you, but we were just discussing one cookbook author we love, and we agreed that we had to be in the right mood for it, given how long a typical recipe took. In this cookbook, that never was a concern.



So maybe it wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty damn good.



Kirstin: This is such a gem of a book. There are recipes for everyone to cater all requirements. I loved the way the recipes were written, in a simple and easy to follow order. The winning formula of main + salad really worked for me, adding flavours to the dish while explaining the various nutritional benefits. I cooked more from it than I blogged. The three recipes below did not make it off the cutting room floor but they were fabulous. They were Chocolate mousse with peanut brittle, Sesame-crusted fish with tomato salad and Clementine, almond and olive oil cake.

















I am planning to return to some of the recipes I have already cooked and then some. I already have the MOB Comfort book which I need to investigate further as the weather becomes colder. And they’re releasing their next book Mob 6 , in September. As they say on their website, “We want to prove that you can cook something special – not just a half-decent dinner but a memorable meal your mates will be raving about for years to come – using just 6 ingredients. It might not sound like a lot of ingredients, but that’s kind of the point. Cooking doesn’t have to be ridiculously complicated or expensive to be delicious.”And while I often these limited ingredient cookbooks don’t work I think if anyone was going to pull it off it would be these guys. I’ve put in my pre-order!