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Roasted Eggplant with Saffron Yoghurt by Ottolenghi
European Recipes By Amy @ cookbookmaniac

"Oh my goodness. You have so many cookbooks. Do you cook from them all?" This is the question asked by most people who are perplexed by the size of my collection. In fact the IKEA shelf that I purchased specifically to house them is now full and there are books overflowing onto the floor. Most of the books that end up on the floor are far too obese for the lean wooden shelves Ripailles - yes, I am talking about you. Quite often I purchase a cookbook for its potential. This is the possibility of creating something that will satisfy my greedy appetite. If I only get one 'great recipe' out of a cookbook, then I consider it worth its value, at the very least. I recently purchased Ottolenghi - The Cookbook and was flabbergasted by the quality and diversity of the recipes. I could not flick pass one page…

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Silvas Portuguese Restaurant in Little Portugual
CBD & Inner City By Amy @ cookbookmaniac

Pizzaboy and I had been looking to dine at a portuguese restaurant for a long time and for some strange reason I always thought that Little Portugual at Petersham was a little too hard to get to. It turned out that it was within walking distance from Petersham station and the cluster of Portuguese shops wasn't too long either. Silva's was easy to spot being on the main corner of Little Portugual and from the outside it looked quite charming. We enter the premises through a side door and I think we could be forgiven in thinking that we had just stepped into the local tuckshop. The takeaway bar was not the reason for our visit tonight, but the sight of freshly barbecued portuguese chickens in the display glass was enough to warrant a huge jaw drop from Pizzaboy and myself. Just over the partition next to the take away…

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Chinese Five Spice Duck with Bitter Salad by Karen Martini
Asian Recipes By Amy @ cookbookmaniac

This recipe was the easiest thing to put together and photograph. I didn't prep, nor expect it to turn out quite like it did. It's funny how the harder I try, the less successful the outcome. No matter how often this happens I still love that little surprise at the end when I am astonished by my own cooking. This is my first attempt at five-spice anything. It must seem silly that I've started off by using a Chinese recipe from an Italian chef - even when I have quite a few Asian cookbooks in my collection. This particular recipe jumped out at me and I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did. I made some slight alterations (because I was lazy), this turned out to be super easy, delicious and pleased my toughest critic... Mum. Recipe adapted from Where the Heart Is by Karen Martini…

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