Nigella Bites: From Family Meals to Elegant Dinners -- Easy, Delectable Recipes For Any Occasion [Hardcover]

Nigella Lawson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 13, 2002

With her charming style, delicious recipes, bestselling cookbooks, and popular cooking show, Nigella Lawson has become a household name -- symbolizing all that is sumptuous and pleasurable about food.

In Nigella Bites, Nigella shares her favorite recipes that are easy to make after a busy day at the office, perfect to linger over during a lazy weekend, or fun to make with kids on a rainy afternoon. All the recipes are delectable to read, dreamy to look at, and, of course, delicious to eat. Whether cooking Pasta E Fagioli or baking Orange Breakfast Muffins, Nigella knows just how to achieve maximum flavor with minimum effort.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nigella Bites--the title is taken from Nigella Lawson's Style Network cooking show of the same name--is the third book from British Vogue food editor and New York Times food columnist Nigella Lawson, a force of nature all her own. Her other books include How to Eat and How to Be a Domestic Goddess. Fans of the TV show will find all these easy-to-follow recipes familiar, and the book is even designed with pages for note taking at the end of each section.

Nigella Bites is divided into chapters that include "All-Day Breakfast," "Comfort Food," "TV Dinners," "Party Girl," "Rainy Days," "Trashy," "Legacy," "Suppertime," "Slow-Cooked Weekend," and "Templefood." "Templefood" refers to the "body as a temple," and Lawson shares what she calls "restorative" recipes, like the raw egg and brandy hangover cure called Prairie Oyster. Hot and Sour Soup and Gingery Hot Duck Salad are also present and accounted for.

It's all self-referential. Lawson (her chapter introductions are printed in 26-point type for the hard of seeing) holds nothing back about what she likes, how she overindulges, how she works her lifestyle into the kitchen and onto the table. It's encouragement by example, with a practical twist. You aren't going to spend hours in the kitchen midweek. That's a reward you save for the weekend. But there's plenty of deliciousness to be had midweek as well, and Lawson's there to help you along your way. --Schuyler Ingle

Review

". . . helping you understand not only what you are after, but also the pleasure of the journey." -- New York Times

"Cooking with Nigella is a joy." -- Bookpage

"Her enthusiasm is infectious." -- New York Times Book Review

"The domestic goddess' recipes make eating as fun as it should be." -- Book Magazine

"easygoing comfort food." -- USA Today

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; lst ed edition (November 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868694
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868698
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 1 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nigella Lawson is the British bestselling author of Nigella Express: Good Food Fast, Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, Forever Summer, Nigella Bites, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, and How to Eat, which have sold in excess of 5 million copies worldwide. Her 2005 book Feast: Food to Celebrate Life inspired 'Nigella Feasts,' which debuted on Food Network in fall 2006. The Domestic Goddess is back in her second Food Network series, 'Nigella Express,' launched in fall 2007 in conjunction with the release of Nigella Express. American audiences also know Nigella as host of 'Forever Summer with Nigella,' her popular cooking/lifestyle series that aired on style, and 'Nigella Bites,' which aired on E! Entertainment Television and style. In July 2003, Nigella launched Nigella Lawson's Living Kitchen, a range of kitchen items designed in collaboration with Sebastian Conran, to widespread acclaim in the U.S.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 111 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars a fun cookbook with mixed results April 13, 2003

By audrey TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

I approached this cookbook skeptically. It can be difficult to separate the cooking from the cult of personality, so to critique the recipes is to critique the woman. The cookbook has lots of chatter and lots of white space, but Nigella Lawson is a charming woman, so the chatter is friendly and companionable, and the book has lots of white space but it is slender and elegant and filled with beautiful photographs of every dish. Sections are organized as Breakfast, Comfort Food, TV Dinners, Rainy Day, Trashy, etc. These are more colorful than helpful, but one can find recipes by name or ingredient in the well-constructed index. No nutritional information is given for the recipes, but that's just as well.

I've tried eight recipes so far (and have many more marked to try). Of those eight, I would say three were resounding successes: the icing for the chocolate fudge cake will be at the top of my list whenever I need an airy but flavorful frosting; the sweet corn pudding was very good; and the double potato and halloumi bake was delicious though I couldn't find the sheep's milk cheese required for two of the book's recipes, even at a gourmet cheese shop. Two recipes were servable if not very exciting. And three of the eight recipes did not work for me at all. My Mozzarella in Carrozza, for example, never resulted in a stretchy warm concoction that I could pull lustily from my teeth, my neck outstretched in voluptuous splendor, though I tried several times.

Three additional comments: Several of the recipes I tried benefited from the addition of spice. Secondly, recipes have been lazily retooled from the metric units originally used, so instructions often call for multiple multi-measurement ingredients -- 1 cup + 2 T flour, 1/4 cup + 1 t sugar, etc etc. Finally, quite a few recipes call for self-rising flour; you can make the equivalent of 1 cup of self-rising flour by mixing 1 cup of all-purpose flour + 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Ultimately this is not a flawless effort, but Nigella has the charm and talent to pull off a successful personality cookbook, and though results might be mixed, the good recipes are archetypal. That ain't bad.

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nigella does it again December 10, 2002

By Kasey M. Moctezuma

Format:Hardcover

I recently purchased this book (I own Nigella's other three, including the recent British release "Forever Summer" - also very good) and I have been really pleased with it. I was originally dissuaded from buying this book from a reviewer on the UK site who said that this book was a combination of "Domestic Goddess" and "HOw to Eat"; it is not. Nigella's style is very chatty and it is like having a friend in the kitchen with you. She also encourages substituting ingredients (offering her own options) when you are unable to find something, such as Seville Oranges. She also encourages that the reader/cook use these recipes as a guideline, changing them to suit their own taste/ingredients on hand, and she includes a section at the end of each chapter where you can jot down your own notes. I have already tried two of the recipes, the Lemon Risotto and the Chicken Breast with Cannellini Beans and Kale (I substituted Beetroot Greens - I am sure Nigella would approve.) These met with great success from my culinarily spoiled husband, who said they tasted great, and from me, since both recipes were fantastically easy, yet looked like I tried so much harder than I did. Nigella's recipes range from slow-cooked meals for lazy weekends to very fast dinners, what ever suits the cook and the eater(s). Finally, thumbs up to the organizational sections of the book, and I positively cannot give less than five stars to anyone who readily admits to being an Amazon addict (like myself!) Check this book out - you will not be disappointed! :)

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Comfort Food April 18, 2003

By Herbert Nagel

Format:Hardcover

As a professional working chef. I've been impressed by Nigella Lawson approach to food, for several reason, like her I am Italian ( she is part italian but both our mothers are) Also for those people who think professional chef's cook at home like we do at work, HAHAHAHA fat chance, how often we come home and are satisfied by the cool simplicty of a bowl of cereal or a ham and cheese sandwhich. But since I have discovered Nigella my hame and cheese sandwhich has be morphed into her Mozzarella in Carroza ( Carroza means carriage dont ask I dont get it either)I just added some ... ham I got from the deli section of my local market. and it is good!, her recipies are all about the comfort and joy of what cooking should be, its not about food art which so many literary chef's seems to feel their dishes need to be, Not Nigella, her dinner parties are great no fancy dishes just a table set with warm candles alot of happy people great food and love ( thats an italian for you) Ive made almost all of the recipies in her book. The Chocolate Cake is incredible and easy to make.The Sticky toffee pudding is easy and incredible and I took her Ginger Jam bread pudding to work and it became a dessert for the days special and we sold out of it like you cannot imagine, its just really easy yummy simple food. The Salmon over the fresh greens is great the entire section called "Temple Food" is full of wonderful simple and mainly asian in flavor and low calorie dishes that comfort and soothe. The book has some clever names, I gotta admit trashy still cracks me up Ive made the fried peanut butter and banana sandwhich several time afte work with a tall ice cold glass of non fat moo( milk to y'a'll) its total yum! The Warm thai duck salad is easy and simple to make and excellent with thinly sliced london broil if you cant find duck. The Pasta and Meatballs is great, if you dont want to make your own pasta De Cecco Fettucini or Tagliatelli is a perfect subsitute. The Ham and Coca Cola and Sweet Corn pudding are tasty and perfect for the upcoming easter weekend. her recepies are simple and easy to follow, when I bought this book I bought it before it came out here, I got the UK version all in metric, I had to rely on my cooking school conversions but since its now available here, no conversions needed. Im amazed how much I go back to this book when I want to have some people over and throw something together that easy relaxed comforting and fun. Oh yeah the spiced nuts , make em for a party they will be gone in a flash they are so good. I just ordered her new book forever summer I look forward to that. I also hope style channel starts showing that series. Ive checked it out on her website over in England and it has the recepies available there according to color? I dont know what the deal is with the colors yet but Im sure I will find out when the book gets here