Weekend Cooking: Manu's French Bistro by Manu Feildel

A couple of years ago I did a Weekend Cooking post about going to the Good Food and Wine Show and getting the chance to watch a demonstration by celebrity chef Manu Feildel. Since that time, Manu has become even more well known with more series of his TV show, winning the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars, celebrity endorsements of soup, and more. At the demonstration, he talked about the fact that he was starting to work on a cookbook, and today I am going to talk about  that book  his second book.

Manu started out helping out in his dad's restaurant but then he ran away to join the circus. Having realised that the circus was not his long term future, he returned to the kitchen and spent many years working in the bistros of France.

There were plenty of recipes that included traditional French ingredients that I just can't imagine using in my home kitchen like a recipe for Garlic Snail Pies and a gorgeous looking Hare Pie, which is like a posh version of cottage pie but I just can't imagine actually ever cooking with hare. There are plenty of recipes though that I could at the very least try. In some of the interviews that I read though, Feildel makes no secret of the fact that this book was designed to be more challenging without being too inaccessible. Having now looked at this book, I am interested to see if I can get hold of the first book and see how it compares in terms of accessibility to someone like me who is a functional cook at best.

As an object, this is a very well presented package. The photography is both practical and gorgeous when it comes to the recipes, but also there is a bit of fun in some of the other photos that are included. In addition, there is a menu which gives suggested entrees, mains and desserts that are fitting for each season. I think that one of my favourite things stylistically is the word cloud type page which features the name of the recipes that are included in each of the section; entrees, mains, desserts and basics. You can catch a brief glimpse of an example of this at about the 30 second mark of the video below.

Instead of typing up a recipe, I thought I would share a video that was created to help promote the book. This has a couple of bonus points in that you can hear his delicious French accent, and you also can see a quick glimpse of the styling that I talked about before.

In addition, below are some links to recipes that are from the book

Onion and Bacon tartlets (from the publisher's website)

Beef Cheeks/Chewy Walnut and Caramel Tart (from the Courier Mail)

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.