Notes about Recipes in this book

• Flaky shortcrust pastry - whole rye variation

  • eliza on May 13, 2022

    Made a half recipe to try out his rolling pin method, which was new to me. I found it quite difficult and messy, but it came together eventually; if I did this again, I would cut the butter into smaller pieces to start with. Baked in a galette (filling from a different book) using his galette instructions. Resulted in a very flaky pastry, will def repeat.

• Celeriac, kale and hazelnut muffins

  • pomona on August 16, 2021

    Delicious and easy. Easy to prepare ahead, mix dry and wet for quick breakfast baking.

• Nettle and Gruyère muffins

  • pomona on August 16, 2021

    Delicious and easy. Easy to prepare ahead, mix dry and wet for quick breakfast baking. Replaced nettle with spinach because I couldn't get nettle at the time.

• Steak and Stilton pasties

  • Lafro on September 20, 2022

    This was a labour of love and took a good few hours to make - mostly because I don't make pastry too often so had to keep re reading the recipe. The instructions were great and easy to follow. The pastys were delicious. Would make them again.

  • SKidd on January 21, 2024

    The best pasty I’ve ever made—the lard crust is perfect. We used a ribeye for the beef as we had one to use up, and gruyere cheese which was pretty subtle, seems like a lot of onions but the balance was fine in the end, but if you’re short don’t sweat it. Filling amount worked out as described (200g each)—seemed like a lot but worked out fine

• Cheese and onion pasties

  • SKidd on February 27, 2026

    Made a half batch of these and the pastry. Cut back on the filling amounts a little as I had a note that it was high—I ended up with five 9 inch circles of dough with a refill of scraps and still had plenty of filling. Anyway they’re good and easy, I cut potatoes fairly small and they all cooked through by the end of the longish bake. A nice non-meat alternative to traditional pasties with ingredients you often have on hand.

• Tomato and anchovy spelt galettes

  • luluf on August 17, 2021

    These were wonderful. The pastry is delicious and flaky and the filling is great. I’ll be making these again and soon

  • Ganga108 on January 14, 2022

    Galettes are common in our household - they are wonderful vehicles for using up end-of-the-week veggies and even leftovers. We use an excellent frozen spelt pastry as I don't have eggs in the house. Instead of the onion I used the last (almost) of the home made savoury fennel jam, and topped with tomatoes and olives as suggested by the recipe. I might just add some feta next time, or perhaps bocconcini, and omit the parmesan. Overall, very delicious, and very easy.

• Ratatouille and bocconcini pie

  • luluf on August 05, 2021

    Delicious ratatouille filling but my pie bottoms were soggy, maybe I should have made a bigger hole in the pastry lid. I also used frozen shop-bought pastry. I will be making these again and I will make the up the short crust pastry recipe in the book next time.

• Pea, asparagus and sour cream quiche

  • Astrid5555 on April 20, 2025

    Dinner-party worthy, got rave reviews. Basically spring on a plate!

• Potato, asparagus and gribiche tartes fines

  • BoobGuru on May 15, 2026

    So so good

• Rye sourdough crackers

  • eliza on December 15, 2021

    My first recipe from this beautiful book, and it’s a winner. Very easy and quick, these crackers use discard (or fresh starter) along with whole grain flours to make a crunchy, tasty cracker. I used rye starter and einkorn flour along with a seed mixture (poppy, sesame, and caraway seeds), and I increased the salt a little. These will go into regular rotation.

• Pumpkin scones

  • SKidd on October 17, 2022

    Made a half -sized batch: I liked the flavor of traditionally fall spices (ginger/cinnamon/cloves) mixed with cheese in a savory bake. Seems like maybe a little too much butter compared to similar scone/biscuit recipes, I had some leakage during baking even after freezing them.

• Rye, walnut and anise myrtle scones

  • MyKitchenInHalfCups on May 11, 2026

    These are marvelous! Really nice rye flavor but not overwhelming. The spices are perfect and the walnuts glorious! I did give them about 2 minutes under the broiler to get browning.

• Zucchini, goat’s cheese and rosemary loaf

  • readingtragic on August 06, 2021

    The recipe specifies an onion, tells you to cook it, then no mention of it again. I imagine you mix it with the zucchini and stir into the batter, or mix it in after or at the same time as the zucchini…

• Sweet corn and sour cream loaf

  • MarciK on April 28, 2024

    Excellent! You can taste the lime, which along with the corn makes it feel summery. The cilantro probably won’t be obvious to those who dislike cilantro. I love cilantro though, so maybe my judgement is skewed. I had to use a Serrano chili because that’s what I could find. It wasn’t spicy with the chili, so no need to worry about those with limited spice tolerance. Maybe a red chili would have been spicier. Highly recommended if you’re looking for a snack or breakfast that is savory. Went well with bacon for breakfast this morning.

• Onion and Gruyère gougères

  • pomona on August 16, 2021

    So good. Did not last long.

• Olive, rosemary and sea salt focaccia

  • katiesue28 on April 21, 2025

    This was delicious and had great instructions to follow. I look forward to using this for my base focaccia recipe from now on, and experimenting with different toppings.

• Rabbit, bacon and white bean pie

  • pomona on August 16, 2021

    Rabbit is not cheap but this was delicious and it made a bunch of pies. They were easy to freeze and were still great reheated. Pastry held up well.

• Root Wellington

  • pomona on August 16, 2021

    Bit of a showstopper. I'm looking forward to being able to have guests because this is a dinner party centrepiece.

• Rabbit and wild rice pie

  • pomona on August 16, 2021

    Tasty, but turns out that black rice in tomato sauce is a look and texture I find not entirely pleasant. But if you love that combo, this is a winner.

• Preserved lemons

  • Ganga108 on October 04, 2024

    Excellent.

• Tomato kasundi

  • Ganga108 on November 22, 2021

    Kasundi is a Bengali condiment - sauce, chutney or relish, somewhere in between all of these. First and foremost it is mustardy in flavour, using brown or black mustard seeds, or a mix of these and yellow mustard seeds. Tomato Kasundi is one of the variations on the basic kasundi (the most popular variation uses green mangoes). This recipe by Michael James has the typical kasundi building blocks - garlic, chillies, turmeric. Other recipes may vary in the spices, but Michael keeps it simple with ginger and cumin. The main issue with this recipe is the low level of mustard seeds. A typical Indian/Bengali recipe will contain between 1 and 2.5 Tablespoon per 1 kg tomatoes. Increase the level if you are keen. Use jaggery or palm sugar. Olive oil is not usual - use mustard oil to add to the mustardy flavours, or vegetable oil..... BTW, if it is TOO bitter or mustardy, leave it out of the fridge for a couple of days and the taste will mellow.

• Fermented lime pickle

  • anna_svqecs on March 24, 2026

    I’ve made this annually for the last 5 years. It’s wonderful with Indian food or mixed into yoghurt as a dip. I make it in a big clip lid jar and store in fridge when finished fermenting. It’s easy to make - just takes time.

• Eat Your Books by Jenny Hartin

  Just as spectacular as their debut title, the James' return with another gorgeous book.

  Full review