Product Description

In tough times we still always crave good food, even if we have to cut down (or give up) eating out. In this book Tamasin Day-Lewis shows that eating really well is a pleasure that never has to be compromised no matter what your budget. Supper For a Song is a book for the clever cook in the cost-conscious kitchen. This is comfort food at its best: creamy risottos, robust pasta dishes and tasty, succulent slow-cooked stews made from inexpensive cuts. There are original ways to extend the Sunday roast - to make great soups and weekday suppers. Leftovers are transformed into generous bruschettas, exotic suppers, zingy salads and delectable puddings. A wonderfully indulgent baking chapter offers cookies, cakes and gooey puddings, and there is lots of chocolate for that essential comfort factor. Supper For a Song is not about hard-time thrift, it is the way to cook and enjoy food, making the most of the wealth of ingredients available to us. It is the food of the future.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6072 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-02
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Review
"Thrifty but delicious is the mantra in Tamasin's latest title. Leftovers, foraged finds or seasonal gluts are used in cookable recipes illustrated by warm homely photography."
--The Bookseller, 17th July 2009

"A tight budget is no barrier to a slap-up supper. Here are recipes such as beef stew with mustard and thyme dumplings that use cheaper cuts and larder staples, but still feel luxurious rather than thrifty." - Waitrose Food Illustrated October 2009. -- Waitrose Food Illustrated, October 2009.

"For the savvy cook, with delicious food made from leftovers or seasonal ingredients while they're in abundance." - Sainsbury's Magazine October 2009. -- Sainsbury's Magazine, October 2009.

"Packed with heart-warming favourites and tantalising photography." - Good Housekeeping October 2009 -- Good Housekeeping, October 2009

"shows how to produce imaginative budget meals... influences come from Europe, as well as traditional and modern British." --BBC Good Food magazine, December 2009

"Approchable, easy to follow and- even with its thrifty elements - full of treats." --Delicious magazine, December 2009

"This book helps you prioritise so that you spend your cash on the central ingredient, the one that matters most, and then use creativity to turn it into a delicious meal." --London Evening Standard, 5th November 2009

"A wide range of tempting and wonderfully accessible winter dishes, from shepherd's pie to rhubharb brioche and butter pudding." --The Independent (Life section), 5th November 2009 - Ten Best Autumn Cookbooks

"There's nothing mean about these thrifty, easy forays into fridge foraging and stocking up on seasonal bargains."
--RED, November 2009

About the Author
Tamasin Day-Lewis is an inspirational food writer with a wonderfully refreshing style. In her own words, she writes 'for people who appreciate good food, for people of all skills'. Tamasin writes regularly for English and American Vogue, Saveur, Stella (The Telegraph Magazine), Sainsbury's Magazine, Waitrose Food Illustrated and Reader's Digest. She has also written a host of successful cookbooks, including her most recent food memoir Where Shall We Go For Dinner? A Food Romance (2007) and All You Can Eat (2008). She has also appeared in two television series entitled Tamasin's Weekends and Great British Dishes. Author Location: Somerset

Customer Reviews

Poor Cook? Not really
With references to shooting parties, Ascot and her brother winning his Oscar scattered liberally through the text, this book really doesn't sit well with its "thrifty" tag. Frankly, Tamasin D-L is about as appropriate a guide to frugal food as Nigella Lawson, someone she resembles in many ways. Having said all that, this is a lovely book. It's gorgeous to look at, with photographs that don't just look pretty but genuinely help you to prepare the meals (something Delia's books often lack, making her detailed recipes look off-puttingly lengthy). The layout of each page is both attractive and clear, making it a real pleasure to use in the kitchen. Finally, unlike some recent offerings from TV chefs, it's a sensible size and actually stays open on a kitchen table.

So, what about the recipes? Well, they sound stunning - I see where she's coming from with the "thrifty" tag because she does encourage the attitude to food that all good cooks should try to cultivate. Use the best ingredients you can afford, be sparing with portions and stretch them to two or even three meals wherever possible. It does rather undermine this worthy concept, however, that she has a habit of chucking in pretty expensive extras as padding. Reminds me a bit of those TV shows where rich people volunteer to spend a few weeks on welfare benefits, blissfully unaware that poverty is a very different experience when cushioned by extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar in the cupboard.

So it's probably best if we forget the "frugal" tag altogether - her account of her days as a poor student will grate on your nerves if you're trying to feed a family on a budget without reaching for the Asda Value Lasagne. But if someone gives you this for Christmas, wallow a bit in the gastro-porn, try to ignore the asides and take away a good idea or two. I've had a little previous experience of TD-L's recipes and I feel the same way about the ones I've tried from this volume as I did about their predecessors. She always seems to make her recipes a little too complicated, as if she's motivated by a need to stamp her personal twist on accepted classics. I tried her yummy-looking Beef Stew with Lemon Thyme and Tarragon Dumplings and found absolutely no need to pair it with a rich, complicated Colcannon recipe - a side of curly kale was ample. Also, the addition of orange peel to the bouquet garni did nothing for me. Similarly, her beetroot soup's gorgeous and the addition of a piece of rye bread is an unexpected but successful idea. But to add raw beetroot to the finished dish, which she raves about, seems pointlessly fiddly.

To sum up, a lovely, inspirational cookery book that does presuppose a certain amount of experience and exposure to quality food - if you want to start from scratch you're probably better off with something like "River Cottage Everyday" by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. But if you want to cuddle up with a glass of wine and a roaring fire and read aspirationally about the delights of Saturday afternoon baking sessions after a long day's work, this is a good buy and, for many people, would be appreciated as the kind of gift they wouldn't feel justified in treating themselves to.

Lovely, inspiring recipes - but not about eating on the cheap
It's important to understand the author's aim here - it's NOT about cooking as cheaply as possible, it's actually about focussing your cash on the central ingredient, and being economical with the rest of the dish. And it's a concept that works really well, as the recipes are all really inspiring, and the photography is superb and makes them look delicious. I tried the French-inspired ham cake, which was gorgeous and very easy to create - confirming that it's not an over-complicated cookbook if you're fairly novice in the kitchen like me. I plan to try the blackcurrant sorbet next, which again, is explained very clearly and looks amazing in the pic. A cookbook should spur you on to want to try things out as soon as you can, and this volume certainly doesn't disappoint.

The author explains how awful food at uni was the reason she turned to creative cookery, but I'd say this isn't a book for students - 'Student Grub' it is not. If you're on a shoestring budget and are looking for cheap feeds, Student Grub is fantastic and simple. More appropriate for the 25+ age group, this kind of fare is better suited to food you'll snuggle up to in the evening, or things you'll want to share when friends pop round for the evening.

With the focus on supper, the recipes nearly all have a cosy / comfort food quality to them, but that's probably why I like them so much... A lovely book, and definitely one I'll be dipping in and out of in the kitchen over the coming months.

You must be joking!
Given the choice, I would have rated this book as a minus-one star! I ordered this book, thinking that from the blurb, it would make an ideal birthday present for a close friend who is on a very limited budget, but does enjoy good cooking. This book is totally unsuitable if you are on any sort of budget.

For example, organic ingredients are often cited. Whilst organic food is generally seen as being a healthier option, that option comes at a premium. A recipe for paella with spring vegetables includes 1lb of monkfish - hardly an inexpensive fish. The author describes preparing her stove-top dried tomatoes on the top of her Aga - again, not a standard fixture in most kitchens. Alcohol is another often cited ingredient. Again, how many people have a supply of creme de cassis and Grand Marnier, when on a shoestring budget. Whilst farmed salmon can be relatively inexpensive, wild salmon is a different kettle of fish! I am not sure that a tight budget will include the odd bottle of pudding wine or oloroso sherry either. Breaking down another recipe for "Autumn Vegetable Lasagne", the ingredients include morel mushrooms, Marsala or port, and tinned cherry tomatoes. There is a recipe involving braised belly pork, but organic Middle White is specified as a preference.

Overall, the title of this book is misleading. I would suggest it is aimed at those individuals who like to claim at dinner parties that they are on a budget, but wouldn't know hardship if they sat down to dine with it. Don't waste your tight food budget money on this book; go for one of the "Three Ingredient" and "Four Ingredient" cookbooks instead.