Cook: At Home with Peter Gordon of the Sugar Club Cookbook Book

Peter Gordon's restaurant, The Sugar Club, is reckoned to be one of the best in London, serving vivid, eclectic Pacific Rim cooking. Having expounded his signature restaurant style in the acclaimed Sugar Club Cookbook, he turns his attention to the domestic arena with Cook at Home with Peter Gordon. Anybody who found the innovative fusion style of The Sugar Club Cookbook a bit daunting will welcome the accessibility of this new book. Organised by meal rather than by ingredient, it offers scores of ideas for new flavour combinations. Breakfast kicks off with what is probably the book's showstopper, the elaborate but achievable "Tea-Smoked Salmon with Poached Eggs, Toast, Spinach and Hollandaise Sauce". Tropical flavours characterise "Mango, Lime and Strawberry Salad with Greek Yoghurt, Toasted Oats and Honey". The lunch recipes have an airy, semi-improvised feel: "Smoked Eel and Avocado Omelette", for example, or "Broccoli, Olive, Mozzarella and Caramelised Onion Pizza". Even a British summer couldn't dampen a picnic if it included the "Salad of Spicy Chicken, Coriander and Peanuts with Green Yoghurt Sauce" or "Grilled Asparagus with Jamon Serrano and Nectarine Dressing". Ideas to liven up the barbecue include "Slightly Smoky Grilled Quails with Ginger, Mirin, Basil and Sesame" and "Lamb and Lime-Leaf Burgers". The highlight of the book is a series of recipes for complete dinner parties Peter Gordon has cooked at home himself--a birthday party and Asian, vegetarian and fish feasts, all zinging with inspirational combinations of Eastern and Western flavours. --Robin DavidsonRead More