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Perfect Plates in 5 Ingredients
John Whaite offers beautiful, innovative, pared back recipes that are simple to cook but stunning to serve. With only 5 ingredients per recipe (plus the essentials of olive oil/butter/salt/pepper), this is practical, fun cooking.The book is divided into Weekend Morning Plates for breakfasts and brunches, Hearty Plates of comfort food, Every Day Plates for easy week-night suppers, Worth the Wait Plates for slow cooking, Posh Plates for easy, impressive dishes, Many Plates for sharing and finally Dessert Plates for simple cakes and sweet treats. John's departure from just baking shows his striking talent as a cook with clever ideas for home cooking that will inspire and delight.
208 pages, Hardcover
Published April 21, 2016
1 person is currently reading
78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 8, 2016
I hardly watch TV and I haven't seen any of the British Bake Off. For someone who likes cooking and food as much as me, it may seem odd that I don't watch cooking shows. I think the only cooking programmes that I've watched consistently are Good Eats (it was hard to get hold off in the UK!) and America's Test Kitchen (again difficult before they offered their whole collection online to members).
All this to say that I had no idea who John Whaite was when I got the book (he won the British Bake off a few years ago). I just liked the idea of the book and I was looking for simple books that I could recommend to people on my cooking course for busy people.
It's good that his "essentials" list (things that you probably already have at home on top of the 5 ingredients) is very short and acceptable. Salt, pepper, oil, butter and water.
This book isn't for vegetarians or "clean" eating folk. There are recipes that include chorizo (which I love) and sausages, ready-made puff pastry and gnocchi, cheese and things that basically come with heaps of flavour already. And hence help us get round the restriction of 5 ingredients without sacrificing depth of flavour and variety too much. Having said that, there are lots of healthy dishes too made with fresh ingredients from scratch that also look marvellous.
The photos are moodily good and have tempted me so much that within a day of getting the book, I went out got the couple of things that I didn't happen to have in my fridge (almost all the ingredients in the book are very easily available) and made a couple of the breakfast suggestions already (which were easy and delicious).
I'll test a few more of the recipes but it looks like a decent contender for the recommended books for the course.
All this to say that I had no idea who John Whaite was when I got the book (he won the British Bake off a few years ago). I just liked the idea of the book and I was looking for simple books that I could recommend to people on my cooking course for busy people.
It's good that his "essentials" list (things that you probably already have at home on top of the 5 ingredients) is very short and acceptable. Salt, pepper, oil, butter and water.
This book isn't for vegetarians or "clean" eating folk. There are recipes that include chorizo (which I love) and sausages, ready-made puff pastry and gnocchi, cheese and things that basically come with heaps of flavour already. And hence help us get round the restriction of 5 ingredients without sacrificing depth of flavour and variety too much. Having said that, there are lots of healthy dishes too made with fresh ingredients from scratch that also look marvellous.
The photos are moodily good and have tempted me so much that within a day of getting the book, I went out got the couple of things that I didn't happen to have in my fridge (almost all the ingredients in the book are very easily available) and made a couple of the breakfast suggestions already (which were easy and delicious).
I'll test a few more of the recipes but it looks like a decent contender for the recommended books for the course.
August 4, 2021
Meh. Compared to "no-recipe recipes" this was fairly annoying. Whaite - the winner of a season of GBBO - starts off the book by claiming this book is about the perfection of imperfection, about cooking with whatever you have on hand. I was hooked.
The recipes, however, betrayed the snobbery. Pretty much every recipe included ingredients that I have never cooked with. Meh.
I snatched a few recipes, but for a cookbook of this volume, far too little.
The recipes, however, betrayed the snobbery. Pretty much every recipe included ingredients that I have never cooked with. Meh.
I snatched a few recipes, but for a cookbook of this volume, far too little.
July 10, 2021
This is a great book. The recipes are so creative and draw on a lot of sources . Many you would not guess had just 5 ingredients! This isn’t a weeknight book though - som of these recipes are complex and take a while. The breakfast and desert chapters were highlights for me.
If you like to cook, you’ve got to check this out.
If you like to cook, you’ve got to check this out.
November 14, 2022
I was thinking I may actually buy this one, but then it got progressively fancier on the ingredients. Thought it was out of my league when I got to the beef cheek dish and that wasn't even in the "Fancy" section!
January 4, 2018
Nicely laid out with good pictures. The banana blueberry dutch baby was good but I didn't find a lot of recipes that I was interested in making.
January 8, 2018
Some good recipes, though the 5 ingredients can be pricey ones.
January 1, 2020
We tried several of these dishes after picking this up from the library. We loved it so much we ran out and bought it. So so many great dishes.
March 26, 2022
Lots to love here.
August 18, 2016
My View:
A cookbook designed especially for the busy home cook.
This book shares easy to make comfort foods, quick healthy breakfasts that anyone can easily prepare (overnight oats are my new favourite), to lazy weekend brunch suggestions to slow cooked meals and quick mains and desserts. There are vegetarian mains and dishes for meat lovers; there is something for everyone here.
Whaite uses shortcuts like premade pastries, canned beans, batter mixes, Nutella and tin soups to speed up the cooking process and then finishes with flavoursome herbs and spices to really liven up the meal.
Great recipes for those who are time poor.
A cookbook designed especially for the busy home cook.
This book shares easy to make comfort foods, quick healthy breakfasts that anyone can easily prepare (overnight oats are my new favourite), to lazy weekend brunch suggestions to slow cooked meals and quick mains and desserts. There are vegetarian mains and dishes for meat lovers; there is something for everyone here.
Whaite uses shortcuts like premade pastries, canned beans, batter mixes, Nutella and tin soups to speed up the cooking process and then finishes with flavoursome herbs and spices to really liven up the meal.
Great recipes for those who are time poor.
Want to read
October 30, 2018COCC
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews