Benny Roff's
Borsch, Vodka and Tears (Hardie Grant Books), is the drink and food book from the eponymous Melbourne bar and restaurant. Subtitled "Food to drink with", it is as much about vodka as recipes for the Polish and other eastern European dishes they serve.
There's a brief story about its founders, Polish refugees, descriptions of more than 30 notable vodkas they serve along with information on how vodka is made, how to taste it, and how to match it with food, and pages full of recipes for vodka cocktails. Then come the recipes, hearty, subtle, rich and sometimes sharply flavoured, from bigos (hunter's stew), potato blintzes' dumplings and soups of many kinds, salads and of course, borsch. An intriguing book of an obviously intriguing restaurant.
Having created (and closed) her two-seater restaurant in her tiny Paris flat, Rachel Khoo has now produced a book
The Little Paris Kitchen: Classic French recipes with a fresh and simple approach (Michael Joseph). Originally from Croydon, in south London, the up and coming star of a British television cooking show of the same name, she has tweaked and turned some classic dishes on their heads - different certainly although not necessarily for the better. Coq au vin (chicken stewed in red wine) morphs into chicken skewers with a red wine dipping sauce, croque madame (a hot cheese and ham and egg sandwich with a poached or fried egg on top) turns into muffins, and macaroni cheese has been given a fancy French name. Fans of the television show will no doubt enjoy it.
