New Food Fast by Donna Hay
Morrow Cookbooks, 2003

Review by Kathleen Daelemans with Rita Daelemans

I bought the book because my Mom bought the book. I hate it when she calls me to tell me how really great her dinner was and I don't have the book she cooked it from. If I'm not home she reads the ingredients and quantities into my answering machine as though I have a team of transcribers standing by. If I am home, I have to drop whatever it is I'm doing, fumble for a paper and pen and scribble as fast as I can. She doesn't have a good track record for repeating things with accuracy if she even remembers to tell me all the ways she modified the recipe in the first place to make it "really great". It's easier if I just buy the same books and scribble all her modifications in the margins.

I asked her what made her buy the book, "It's got pretty pictures. They were inspiring even if the recipes weren't going to be which means it'd be worth the price but I love Donna Hay so I knew I'd like the book.

The photos made me want to cook. Sometimes I get great ideas from looking at pictures. You don't really even need to look up the recipe for Angel Hair Nicoise on page 85 to make it or something similar. The picture tells the whole story. And if you have enough stuff in your cupboard you can pull it off.

I haven't made the White Bean and Tuna Salad on page 37 but since it's a lot prettier than the one I usually make, I'm going to. But I'll have to wait until your father goes out of town because he'll never go for it. The Thai Chicken Salad with cilantro and basil on page 100 makes me want to run out and get all the ingredients. Of course I don't know what I'll do about the raw red onion. Your father can't eat them. I guess I'll pickle them in a little bit of lemon juice, white vinegar and sugar." "For how long, Mom?" "I don't know. As long as it takes me to organize the rest of the ingredients. At least 20 minutes." "The recipe calls for lemongrass. Do you know how to use it?" "I don't know Donna Hay uses it but I cut off the bottom half inch of the stalk and peel off a couple of the outer leaves until I get to the tender ones. I only use about the bottom 6 inches because the rest is too tough. I never mince it because it's too hard and I lose interest. I use my microplane grater but you can probably get the job done in a mini chopper. The salad would be really cool rolled up in lettuce leaves like they do in those fancy Chinese restaurants your father never takes me to."

Mom's Favorite Features:
She's got pages of mini recipes she calls, Short Top and Sides (heaven only knows why). The Salt and Rosemary potatoes are really great. And the Greens with Oyster Sauce were good too. Your father ate them. But then there wasn't much else on his plate. The Roast Tomato Salad might make winter or early spring tomatoes edible. But then again, it might night. I haven't tried it but I'm dying for tomatoes so it's on my list. The Warm Walnut dressing looks kind of nice too.

The "Kitchen Sink" on page 130 is really cool because it's a quick way to get dinner on the table. "Take anything from the fridge that looks like a leftover – roast potatoes, pumpkin, roast lamb, cheese, tomatoes, whatever. Place them in a frying pan over medium heat and cook until warm. Beat some eggs and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables and leftovers and stir to let the egg get to the bottom of the pan. Cook over low heat until almost set and then broil the top. Cut into chunks and serve with hot buttered toast." Your father will come early if he thinks he's getting hot buttered toast for dinner. Of course he won't. I'll have to tell him I left it out. But he'll be so hungry by then he'll get over it.

From Mom's Kitchen Notebook:
"The Sweet Chili Prawn Cakes on Page 58 were really good." "They have kiffer lime, Mom. Did you use Kiffer lime?" "Of course not, I used lime zest." "What about the sweet chili sauce?" "Yes, I used that. It's easy to find. I found it in the oriental section. The bottle says sweet chili sauce. It's red sauce with things floating in it. It's good on chicken and your father likes it because it's not too spicy."

Mom's Cons: The Hoisin Pork in Green Onion Pancakes on page 36 sounds really good but the recipe calls for "ready made green onion pancakes" and I'll never find those in my Chinese or Asian Markets.

Last Bite: The book is well worth buying if you can look beyond the fact that she lives in Australia and throws in the occasional odd ball ingredient. I have every cookbook she's ever written and can say with certainty I'll buy every new book she churns out.