Cookbook Review: The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook

You know how I love a cookbook right? Well obviously I can't turn down the opportunity to review a new one. 

Yeo Valley Family Farm's "The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook" is written by Sarah Mayor who is the daughter of the couple who started Yeo Valley back in 1961. Her parents Roger and Mary Mead started out with some cows and a few sheep and opened a tea room. The story goes that the clotted cream they made for the tea room resulted in lots of skimmed milk being left over so they decided to try making yoghurt and that is how Yeo Valley has come to be the largest organic business in the UK. If you didn't know, you can actually visit Yeo Valley and visit their tea room along with their organic gardens.

The book starts with a good introduction and is split into sections, the recipes in which don't always have a strong dairy-base you may or may not be pleased to know. The sections include The Dairy, The Farmhouse Kitchen, The Veg Garden, The Farmyard, The Pastures, The Woods Hedgerows Fields & Streams and The Fruit Garden. Some might find the section organisation a little irksome as they are based on where the recipe originates from rather than the type of dish so you'll find desserts and bakes all over the place, rather than in once place.

Many of the recipes are traditional and what I would call home cooking which is perfect for the majority of us who are just that - home cooks! Some of the recipes can look quite daunting at first glance, with long ingredient lists and wordy methods however the recipes really aren't complicated and many of the ingredients required are what I would call store cupboard essentials.  

There's quite a few recipes suitable for vegetarians but being a book from the countryside and a working farm, there's a fair few meat and game recipes too so if you're looking for a cookbook with a strong veggie emphasis, this may not be for you however don't completely dismiss it as there are some gorgeous sounding recipes in here.

The book itself is very well presented with good quality paper (I'm always a fan of matt pages in a cookbook) and really nice photography, both lifestyle and of the food itself, with each recipe having a good colour photograph of the end result - almost a must for a great cookbook in my opinion.

There are lots of things I am looking forward to trying out namely; 

• Blue Cheese & Leek Tart in Cheesy Oatmeal Pastry
• Deep Filled Nutmeg & Custard Tart
• Somerset Cider, Honey, Walnut & Raisin Bread
• Herby Scotch Eggs with Sage & Lemon
• Sumatran Lamb Curry
• Spinach, Wild Garlic & Filo Pie

So many yummy things to try but I'll start with the filo pie I think. I had something similar in a vegetarian restaurant recently and it was delish so I'd love to recreate that.

The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook is available to buy now.