Nadiya Bakes

"Yes, this came out in the UK last year but it didn’t come out for us in the States until 2021, so I didn’t get my hands on it until this year and I’ve gone ahead and included it. I watched the Netflix show of the same name last year when I was at home, not doing anything, and it was just a breath of fresh air. A lot of the recipes that were on that series are also in this book, which certainly drew me in. But she’s such a good writer, her voice just jumps off the page. She talks a lot about her family and her kids, which is appealing to me as someone who is herself a parent. A lot of the recipes feel like they’re meant for families. They’re generous, they’re sharing. One of the things that she does a lot of, which I love, is the tear-and-share, big things that people can pull off, family-style. She describes the recipes as ‘traditional, twisted and everything in between.’ Nothing is sacred. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, she doesn’t take food too seriously. She’s willing to use store-bought ingredients and does some really clever things: she has a cupcake recipe where the frosting includes softened ice cream, which is so smart. There’s also a cookie in the bottom of the cake part. She just comes up with things that I would never have thought of. She has a layer cake, but it’s a loaf cake, and you cut the loaf cake into layers. I’ve made layer cakes, and I’ve never done that with just a regular loaf cake. And I’m like, ‘Why haven’t I done that? That makes total sense and it’s cool looking.’ “She doesn’t need any introduction, but if you were to need an introduction to Nadiya, this would be the book” The photography is really nice. She has some good process photos that show you some of the steps that might be trickier, which I always appreciate. A lot of cookbooks have the finished, glamour shot, but they don’t show you how to do stuff. I think that’s really nice. It’s just really fun. It includes sweet and savory and there are certainly some savory ones I want to try. There’s a big noodle dish where you throw dried noodles into a dish with some liquid and it cooks and no boiling is needed. She’s just really smart about shortcuts or things that you might not have thought of that save you time. Like you said, she doesn’t need any introduction, but if you were to need an introduction to Nadiya, this would be the book. It’s a great book."