Baking with Melanie Andrews

Melanie Andrews is a Professional Chef and Masterbaker and the recipes included in this book are her award-winning recipes from the highly successful “Scottish Baking Awards”. Melanie Andrews is the Founder/ Director of these awards in Scotland and she produces an easy guide to successful baking, whether you are baking for the first time or a seasoned baker. In her own words – you cannot fail to bake well if you have the right teacher and the right recipe. Melanie Andrews is at the top of her profession through talent and passion for the first love in her life – baking.

A Taste of Lebanon

‘In this book, I bring to life the stories behind the recipes, exploring the culture behind the ingredients and the poetry of their stories through a playful translation of language. It is a fusion of words and food; a cultural education.
‘Each recipe in this collection is inextricably linked to a memory or story from my colourful past; from watching a Lebanese neighbour cooking tomato paste on woodfire to exchanging recipes with my friends at college. My food expands the repertoire of Lebanese cooking by importing from the multicultural melting pot of contemporary London.
‘This is a celebration of seasonal fresh produce, family connections and friendships, and takes you back to basics. Something as simple as “Baked Potato with Kibbeh Spice” is a celebration of ingredients, flavour, and rural village life. This is food to nourish, to share, to enjoy, and to show the healing power that good food has on our lives.’
Mervat Chahine

A Kiss of Smoke

This book hosts a compendium of my favourite recipes which can be cooked outdoors on a barbecue or using traditional indoor kitchen methods. In this book you will find good, honest cooking; meals that you will love to eat and love to serve to family and friends. None of the photography has been staged, every photo was taken just before the food was eaten, so again there is honesty in the way it is presented.

Most of the recipes are cooked using the more gentle, indirect barbecue method, positioning food away from the fire, thus reducing the risk of creating a bitter flavour caused by over-charring or burning.

So, whether you want to cook outside on your barbecue or indoors in your kitchen, there will be something in this book for you. I hope you enjoy recreating some of these recipes as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you.