Honey & Co: The Baking Book

Description

Our day is marked by what comes out of the pastry section, and there's always something good on the way: sticky buns full of cherries and pistachios in the morning; a loaf of rich dough rolled with chocolate, hazelnuts and cinnamon that has been proving since dawn and comes out of the oven fresh for elevenses. Lunch is a crisp, crumbly shell of pastry filled with spiced lamb or burnt aubergine, and at teatime there are cheesecakes and fruit cakes, small cakes and massive cookies - so many cakes that it's hard to choose one. (There's no need to worry, whatever you choose will be great!) After dinner there might be poached peaches with roses or something more traditional, sweet and salty Knafe drenched in orange blossom syrup, or maybe just a small piece of fresh marzipan. There's something sweet, something in the oven for everyone, all day long - welcome to Honey & Co. Chapters include: How to be good at baking: general notes; Store cupboard; Sweet & savoury breakfasts; Elevenses; Lunch; Teatime; Traditional desserts

Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer are a husband-and-wife team who together run Honey & Co in London's Fitzrovia. They first met ten years ago in a restaurant kitchen in Israel and arrived in London dreaming of high gastronomy and Michelin stars. Their tiny restaurant has ten tables and brings the magic of homely Middle Eastern soul food to a hungry crowd.

The modest subtitle of Honey & Co's debut cookbook, Food from the Middle East, published this month, doesn't begin to capture the richness and variety of the recipes - sardines cured in vine leaves, oxtail sofrito, their celebrated feta and honey cheesecake. But it's not just about the superb dishes: the book also captures a sense of place, bottling the personality of the tiny, 10-table restaurant on London's Warren Street that won last year's Observer Food Monthly award for best newcomer. -- Killian Fox * Observer Food Monthly * The recipes are as reliable, imaginative and savoury as you'd hope from Ottolenghi alumni, but the other big draw is the narrative. The couple met in a kitchen, and haven't stopped sharing their favourite foods with each other and the people around them ever since. * Guardian * Middle Eastern Cooking at its most inspiring. Brilliantly useful and exquisitely designed. * BBC Good Food Magazine * The lure of this book about an eatery is clear: the owners' stories that reflect on love, immigration and identity are endearing and universal, and the book is heavily seasoned with them... If you love Honey & Co, this book is a must-read. * Time Out, Cookbook of the Week * There is a cheering warmth here, from the quinces on the cover to the self-deprecating stories about running a small business. Above all, I commend this book because my kitchen has never smelt as good when cooking from it. * Food Book of the Year - The Sunday Times * Praise for Honey & Co: Food From the Middle East: * . * The seemingly inexhaustible list of secrets wielded in Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer's kitchen is unwrapped here for your home-baking pleasure. * Guardian * Buns for breakfast, pie for lunch and cheesecake for tea: it's always time for something from one of OFM's favourite restaurants. * Observer Food Monthly * Srulovich and Packer were one of the star turns at this year's Ballymaloe Litfest and this is crammed with recipes from their London restaurant. The Middle Eastern sensibility is still trendy, and these recipes are all crowd-pleasers. Highlights include sticky buns crammed with cherries and pistachios; loaves of rich dough rolled with chocolate, hazelnuts and cinnamon; and crumbly shells of pastry filled with lamb or aubergine. * Sunday Times (Ireland) * My first-choice restaurant for any special occasion is Honey & Co and Honey & Co: The Baking Book by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich allows you to (or try to) recreate the Middle Eastern magic at home with recipes including lamb and spinach pastries and lemon, blueberry and cream cheese squares. * Daily Express * Most cookbooks now are promising either health or comfort. On the comfort side are the baking books. With their consoling rivers of ganache, they have an air of childish innocence. Obesity crisis? What crisis? My favourite of 2015 is Honey & Co: The Baking Book by Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer. Honey & Co cakes - from blueberry, hazelnut and ricotta to courgette and golden raisin - are not light on sugar, but to my mind they taste better than anyone else's. * Guardian, best cookbooks 2015 * The husband-and-wife team, who together run Honey & Co in London's Fitzrovia, return with more Middle Eastern soul food magic - this time baking, with everything from sticky buns to pastries to cookies. * Gransnet * It contains mouth-watering photographs and recipes that you wouldn't normally find in a baking book. * Bath Magazine * The recipes are so fragrant and beautiful - very inspiring. * Woman & Home * This is a great book for anyone who's even moderately interested in baking, or just eating amazing things, but baking pros will get a lot out of it, too. * Delicious Magazine * After the success of their multi-award winning debut, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich set the bar pretty high for the much anticipated Honey & Co follow up, but they have pulled it off with aplomb... the book is beautifully written and designed, the recipes failsafe and dependable, and each page is shot through the enticing aromas and flavours of the Middle Eastern kitchen. * Crumb Magazine *