Aimee reviews~ Table For Two by Bre Graham
Everybody knows the appeal of a good cookbook, and this is no exception. With it’s stylish font, two-tone cream and red minimalist illustration, and the charming subtitle for this cookbook proudly written at the top: ‘Recipes for the ones you love’. This is a cookbook any lover of food would be proud to own – and show off on your coffee table.
Before I dive into the recipes, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the genius cover design. I will admit that it was the subtitle of this book and it’s playfully illustrated cover that initially drew me in. The front features a table full of food and wine and a happily burning candle. This is a table inviting the reader to sit, take a sip, and share in delicious home-made food. Flip the book over, and discover on the back cover the very same table, glasses now empty, and with only a few stray tomatoes left uneaten. Anybody who has ever cooked for somebody they love with know what this means – an evening of good conversation and good food, leaving all at that table well-fed and warm of heart.
This is what this book by Bre Graham aims to recreate. Every recipe is for somebody you love. Whether it’s a mother, a best friend, a lover, a sibling, or somebody else entirely – this is food to nourish your body and your soul.
This book is broken into two parts – Easy To Impress and Just To Delight.
Easy To Impress is full of everyday recipes for when you’re worn out after work, and have forgotten that your partner is coming over with a bottle of wine, a filling breakfast for a visiting sibling, or an emergencies wholesome meal for a heartbroken best friend. Brown Butter and Safe Scrambled Eggs. Baked Feta with Honey and Thyme. And for dessert? A warm and beautifully spiced apple and blackberry Comfort Crumble. These are … well… doable, essential recipes to pour your heart into that still wow at the dinner table. Nothing overly complicated, but packed full of flavour bound to impress any loved one.
Just To Delight are those recipes to make the night magic. It’s the fancy dinner plates, shining the silverware, and ironing the tablecloth cookery. It’s the in-laws coming over unexpectedly! It’s over the top, but no-stress. Down-to-earth, but more elevated: we’ll start with Florence Buns (excellent with fresh tomatoes and cheese, or salami if you’re a meat-eater) for breakfast, Crab, Fennel, and Saffron Capellini pasta for lunch, and Fig Leaf and White Peach Parfait for something sweet. These are meals to toast health to, to share big news over, and to make memories with. Don’t worry, though. Despite the slightly more high-dining feel of these dishes, Bre Graham has every cook’s back. She speaks of the Importance of Oysters and explains how to shuck an oyster, reassures you about her own collapsing chocolate cake mishaps, and guides you through seasonal produce so that you can make the most of your ingredients. Who doesn’t want to humble-brag over a freshly cooked homemade meal that the ingredients are all seasonal, don’t you know?
The cookbook market is often oversaturated and loud. But this quietly powerful book is well-deserving of a spot on your kitchen counter, ready to get covered with crumbs, sauces, and stray splashes of wine. At the heart of this cookbook is love. Every time you cook for a loved one, you put love into that meal. You put a plate of food before them, and that action says I love you. These recipes lean into that and celebrate it. I know this is a collection I will return to again and again – always with love. I know that when words fail, a big bowl of Table For Two’s Carbonara will do.