Hi! Fiona here again,
Hang on, hang on-before you make start guffawing into your cup of tea-it's not me that the headline refers to, but the brilliant new recipe book for Miles Platting, Ancoats and Collyhurst!
'Manchester Tart and Other Recipes' is a book that celebrates our area and has great cooking tips, suggestions and recipes that lots of people will already be familiar with. The book contains lots of tempting photos of the recipes and also celebrates the area with some gorgeous shots-all taken locally.
The book has been produced by two community artists-Rae Story and Alison Hilton, who gathered the recipes and took the photos. The project itself is a great example of organizations working together: Zest and Have Your Say Magazine worked together with members of a local coffee morning as well as some of the youth groups in the area.
We had loads of fun at the cooking sessions, which were held at Church of the Apostles. People brought their recipes along and cooked together, sharing ideas, information and food. There are traditional favorites like hot pot and of course Manchester Tart, but the book also includes some great ideas for soups and different ways to cook vegetables.
We hope that the book will be simple to use as well as being a useful resource-as it contains info about fresh ingredients that people can get hold of locally. We hope that the focus on recipes that people will be familiar with might encourage people to try the new recipes themselves and may be spark an interest in cooking or creating new recipes. All the recipes are easy to follow step-by-step guides that hopefully even the most inexperienced would-be-chef could produce at home.
Encouragingly there's already been lots of positive feedback for the book, from people who have tried and loved some of the recipes (I personally recommend the poppy seed cake!!) to others who haven't cooked for ages but have been inspired to create!
We hope to use the book for some more cook and taste sessions around the area-if you're interested in taking part-please contact me (see below) Who knows you may be the star of the next recipe book!
The book was funded through the Big Lottery and is available locally on the Herbie van at Miles Platting Library, Urbis, Cornerhouse and through Fiona at Zest. The price is £6.99 - for have Your Say members there is a generous discount. The proceeds will benefit future production of this fabulous magazine you're reading.
For more info about the recipe book, or any other Zest activities please contact me (Fiona) On 0161 277 8816
