| Bibliofemme Reviews |
Cooking for Family and Friends by Neven Maguire 
(Published by Poolbeg)
 |
One of Ireland’s well-loved daytime TV chefs, Neven Maguire comes from a small County Cavan village on the Northern border called Blacklion. Bearing in mind today’s busy lifestyles he has aimed his third book at the family cook and has divided it into useful sections from brunch to party bites and low-fat to celebration food.
Although I often don’t mind what it looks like as long as it tastes good, I do think presentation is part of the enjoyment of food, so it is truly unfortunate that the photography in this book lets it down. Images in a recipe book are so important, not just to let you know what it’s meant to look like when you’re finished, but to catch your eye when you’re leafing through and wondering what to cook! Here, the leek and parsnip mash looks positively grey as does the thyme-spiced roast rib eye of beef; and while the pizzas look tasty enough their photographs are faded and pale like those back-lit plastic fast food signs that have spent too long in the summer sun.
That said, there are some dishes that have been nicely photographed and look particularly tempting: poached apricots with vanilla, cinnamon and Greek yoghurt (with the useful advice to make up a double batch as it will keep for three weeks in the fridge), and chicken casserole with sweet potatoes nestling in among toasted flaked almonds.
Maguire has included one or two recipes for vegetarians, but like several of the dishes here his efforts seem a little uninspired: basic tofu and vegetable stir-fry anyone? The recipes roam from traditional Ireland (Blacklion porridge with Irish Mist, honey and cream) to Asia (Thai green curry, Oriental pork fillet with mixed peppers) to South America (Melting turkey quesadillas) and back again without stopping for breath; and while that makes for a varied and wide-ranging choice of dishes, it also leaves you wondering what Neven Maguire’s own signature style is.
He has included a few unusual ideas like sausage rolls with sesame seeds, and his garlic and smoked bacon potato gratin looks like a good, lower fat, alternative to Nigel Slater’s killer version in Appetite. He also offers some very good small finger food ideas like mini pizzas and various skewers with dips.
This is a good, all-round offering for people just starting to experiment with new dishes, but I like a recipe book with personality. Neven looks like a nice chap – he’s really smiling in all the publicity shots – but this publication lacks the creative oomph (and the photos) to keep me coming back to it. 
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