Nigella Bites: From Family Meals to Elegant Dinners -- Easy, Delectable Recipes for Any Occasion

Customer Reviews

Tsk, tsk, Nigella...

I really, really love Nigella's books, her shows and her approach to food... So believe me when I say it pains me to say that this book is an enormous disappointment. It is safe to say that this was just meant to be a quick cash-in for Nigella and her publisher.
For $35 you should expect far more than what was offered up in this feeble effort. I rushed out to buy the book, didn't think twice about it, then got home and couldn't help feeling a little bit taken advantage of once I had time to take it in.

Does she really believe that recipes for Bloody Mary's, pancakes, mashed potatoes, pigs in a blanket, sugar cookies and a peanut butter and banana sandwich are worth $35? I know what you're thinking. "Maybe these are magic mashed potatoes!" No. The "recipe" (if you can call it that) consists of potatoes, milk, butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg. It doesn't even offer a fresh approach to mashed potatoes (for a book that does, see Marcus Samuelsson's Aquavit!)
I had about damn near had it when I saw her passing off asparagus with soft boiled egg as a recipe. That one basically goes like this: boil the egg, boil the asparagus, dip the asparagus in the egg. Give me a break.
Shoddy recipes on top of two blank pages at the end of each section for your "notes" and two pages per section for very large, bold print that doesn't even take up a half a page, had me losing my faith in the Domestic Goddess.
That said, there are a few recipes here that I liked. Granny Lawson's lunch dish, the lemon risotto and chocolate cloud cake were good. So I figure each one of those recipes was worth about $11.66.
This book is not worth the cost. My money would have been put to better use getting bikini wax. Save yourself the annoyance and opt for one of her other books (all of which are worth the price.)

A great addition to the Nigella Collection

I confess: I am a Nigella groupie. I love her show, her books, her writing, and her overall take on life. She is an inspiration for forty-something women everywhere.
Nigella Bites is an excellent book both for those individuals who already have her previous tomes and for those new to the Nigella world. She includes new recipes and she updates previous ones (her famous ham with coca cola, for instance). I particularly appreciated the revising of her recipes-you felt as if you were evolving with her. It forced me to rethink my own dishes and it made me realize that recipes are not set in stone.
I have made a number of the recipes in this book including a lemon risotto for a casual cuisine club. All received good reviews. I would recommend that the cook watch the proportions of fat and calories in these recipes-Nigella lite can still be very good.
Nigella is not for everyone. She is not a cooking purist-doesn't claim to be-and she is not into spa cuisine (to say the least). Her overall British goddess act could get on some people's nerves. But if you do like her, she is a wonderful, witty companion in your kitchen. Each new book launches another great series of conversations with her.

TOO EXPENSIVE AND BLAND

I found this cookbook to have terrible tasting recipies .I would not recommend this cookbook to any serious chef because they would laugh in my face.I found the outcome of all my strenuous effort I put into making these bland tasting dishes awful.ALL IN ALL THE RECIPES WILL LEAVE A BAD TASTE IN YOUR MOUTH.