Review: Kitchen Sanctuary Quick & Easy, by Nicky Corbishley

Description

Making dinner from scratch can feel like a chore – often half the battle is trying to find something that’s quick, nutritious and, most importantly, delicious. But delicious doesn’t have to mean demanding.

After their debut book, Sunday Times bestseller It’s All About Dinner, Kitchen Sanctuary is back – this time focusing on quick and easy meals, all made in 30 minutes or less!

With chapters such as Champion Chicken; Moreish Meat; Fantastic Fish; Vitally Veggie; Perfect Pasta; Rice, Noodles, Grains and Bread; Snack Suppers; Super Sauces – as well as a section dedicated to Smart Shortcuts containing Nicky’s top tips for speeding up dinner – you’ll be able to whip up a range of fabulous meals for the whole family, every day of the week, no matter how little time you have.

My Review

Thanks to Anne, at Random Things Tours for organising this tour and to Octopus Books for sending me a copy of this recipe book.

This book arrived today (9th February 2024) and it looks like I’m collecting cook books now. Not that I’m complaining, I do enjoy cooking, and adapting recipes for my limited cooking equipment. Not oven or hob here, so I’m working with an air fryer, a slow cooker, a Salter electric grill and a microwave. It’s amazing what I can do with them. Also, I have a rice cooker which is useful if I’m using the microwave for other stuff.

I’m also helping to facilitate a cooking course at work in February and March. Six weeks of working a full day plus my usual hours is going to exhaust me! By the time this review goes up I’ll have two weeks left and the other facilitator will be at university for the rest of the course. If I disappear in April, assume I’m hibernating to recover. Ah the joys of being Autistic!

Back to the book.

I have read this book from cover to cover. Yeah, I know, recipe book. However, I needed an overview of the recipes covered and the writing style. These are savoury dishes, everything from vegetarian dishes to sauces. There’s a good bit of variety, and I’m going to try two of the recipes, creamy garlic and mushroom stuffed bread, and black pepper chicken. I just need to make a shopping list and order the ingredients. I have some of the stuff already because I have some random ingredients in my cupboard.

The author makes suggests for shortcuts and ready-prepared ingredients, as well as ingredients you can make at home in advance. There are instructions for safe storage and reheating of batch cooking, as well as flavour enhancers. The recipes have icons showing cost, ingredients, serving size, prep and cooking times. Each comes with a QR code link to a video, as well as written instructions and ingredient list. Each recipe has a pro-tip call out box. It’s really clearly set out and the photography is lovely.

I will report back with my tasting notes on the recipes.

Black Pepper Chicken: Fairly easy to adapt to my kitchen. Tasted amazing. I’ll be having that again. I’ve still got oyster sauce left to use up. Must do my shopping…

Garlic and mushroom stuffed bread: Quick and easy. Tasted great. The stuffing lasted well in a sealed container in the fridge. I pre-stuffed one bread roll, wrapped it in foil and then cooked it the next day. Worked just as well as a fresh stuffed roll. Ate two rolls with a salad. Made a lovely dinner.

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Author Biography

An award-winning food blogger, wife and busy mum of two who loves food, Nicky Corbishley spent 14 years working in corporate IT before turning to something more
creative that would allow her to spend more time with the children. Nicky loves being in the kitchen and started cooking from a young age – inspired by her dad, who spent part of his childhood in Singapore, and mum, who taught her how to make a roast dinner at the
age of 11.

She started Kitchen Sanctuary as a way to keep a diary of her favourite
recipes, and it quickly grew in popularity, with readers loving the straightforward, easy-to-follow recipes, eye-catching photography and professional recipe videos.

Instagram: @kitchensanctuary

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