Product Description

Fresh, innovative, versatile and delicious, it's sultry summer all year round and from around the world with Nigella. With all the style and class of her earlier books, and a whole new concept, this is an irresistible and wide-ranging book of summery recipes which can be eaten at any time - from scrumptious Italian antipasti and Greek mezze to Spanish cuisine, from barbecues to beach picnics, from Moroccan roast lamb to Mauritian prawn curry, from the traditional strawberries-and-cream feel of an English summer afternoon to Indian-summer evenings at home, from light lunches to seductive suppers; and with a selection of unusual ice creams and melt-in-the-mouth puddings to die for. And to top it all there's a fabulous selection of unusual ice creams and melt-in-the-mouth puddings - could you resist Nigella's Slut-red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly, heaven on a plate (one amazon reader declared she 'could jump into a swimming pool full of this') Relaxed, easy cooking, easy eating: the keynote is simplicity, freshness, enjoyment, and you can cook from it all year round. Ravishingly illustrated with full-colour photos throughout.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11685 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The cover of Forever Summer features Nigella Lawson posing in a convertible car with luggage piled behind her, as though driving along the Riviera. Her beaming smile, however, betrays a hint of strain. Can she be wondering whether success and fame constitute something of a treadmill? Given that she has attained iconic single-name status, will she ever be able to return, should she wish, to the humble obscurity of serious journalism?

If treadmill it is, it's one she continues to work with considerable panache. What she never lacks is poise: her effortless blend of the artless and the deeply considered does not fail, here, to beguile. Nigella's appeal is, of course, a lifestyle thing--you, too, could be at once an intelligent modern woman and an old-fashioned vamp, draped in pashminas and liable impulsively to pop off for a run down to Monte. In all this, and especially if you take her television persona into account, the food can seem a little incidental. But it is of course at the heart of the project. Nigella Lawson seems to have a knack of thinking creatively about food which allows her to turn a recipe over in her hands, as it were, give it a tweak and turn it into something livelier and fresher than it was before. So her Greek Salad marinates the red onion and omits the sapid cucumber, substituting sliced fennel. Barbecued Sea Bass is stuffed with preserved lemons (pickled, incidentally, in a usef! ully unusual way). Roast Potatoes are given in their Swedish Hasselback form (sliced nearly through, so they fan out in cooking). The section on ices is adorned with Margarita Ice Cream ("surely what angels would eat at their hen night"), while Nigella indulges her inner slapper with Slut-Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly. Above all, she communicates, through dozens and dozens of recipes, the ideals of freshness, simplicity, spontaneity and immediacy, a combination it's hard to resist. --Robin Davidson

From the Publisher
It’s sultry summer all the year round with Nigella – in this fabulous new book which ties in with her new 8-part Channel 4 TV series.

About the Author
Nigella is the author of 4 bestselling books, How to Eat, How to Be a Domestic Goddess (both now available in paperback), Nigella Bites and Forever Summer, which together with various successful Channel 4 TV series have made hers a household name in several continents. She is a contributor to the New York Times and writes regularly for other publications. She has two children and is married to advertising mogul and art collector, Charles Saatchi.

Customer Reviews

Much better than it looks
I am a reluctant convert to Nigella Lawson - all the cult of the personality stuff irritates me enormously - but damn the woman, her recipes are good, even the ones that aren't hers. This book weirdly came out mid-autumn last year and it took me a full six months to overcome my dislike of the look of it to pick up a copy, first from the library and then finally to buy it. Boy am I glad I did!
These are cracking recipes, the book is well structured and, as long as you skip the crinch-makingly twee intro, very readable. To be fair to the woman, she also properly credits ideas and recipes she's pilfered from other writers and cooks like Jane Grigson and Ruth/Rose of River Cafe fame. I did throw away the lurid dust jacket and can reveal that underneath is a very well-designed jacket of water washing over sand. It could be a metaphor for the whole book.

Truly scrumptious
Quite simply, Nigella Lawson will enable you to gain a reputation amongst friends for being a brilliant cook. What your friends won't know is just how effortless it all is when you are in Nigella's capable hands. Her narrative is just as eulogistic as her other books, which means that recipes you would normally overlook end up being firm favourites, thanks to her powers of persuasion. As a stand alone read, this book is well written and colourful, even out of the kitchen. Don't be put off by the summery title, these are just foods that remind her of summer. Most of these dishes could be cooked or adapted to suit any time of the year. That's another good thing- she doesn't mind if you mess about with her recipes to make it suit your own taste. She often recommends alternatives and is very rarely bossy and only when she needs to be (twice I think). I tried the Chocolate Peanut Squares and used pecan nuts instead of peanuts. I also used dark and white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Whatever I used, the plate was cleared and colleagues and family were begging for more. It's now a firm favourite and I can now pretty much rustle it up now without needing the book. I also tried the Braised Little Gem Lettuces and was amazed to find they taste like a nutty version of asparagus when cooked this way. The Pasta al Sugo Crudo tasted nothing like I expected Italian Tomato-ey pasta to taste. It was fresher, more fragrant and tasted much lighter than I would have imagined. If you, like me, think life doesn't get better than a gathering of friends and greedy portions of superb food and great conversation, then buy this book.

Sumptuous
Try her Slut-Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly (on page 198).

She's absolutely right in saying that it is heaven on a plate. Go for this particular recipe and you will unexpectedly find that you want to dive into it, paddle deliciously around in it and then float on it in ecstatic appreciation.

I'm not a pudding person but I could jump into a swimming pool full of this one.

(It's a really easy recipe too!)