Jo Seagar's Cook School is attached to her fabulous cafe and shop in Oxford, Canterbury, and it's incredibly successful, being booked out at least nine months ahead of time. In her cook school Jo teaches how to make a variety of impressive dishes really easily sticking to her philosophy of ‘Minimum effort for maximum effect’.

This book gathers together all of those recipes plus the tips and tricks and information you need to make them successfully and packages them all in one gorgeous book. The recipes are arranged by course and include delicious things like caper berries in crispy cheese pastry, blueberry lemon friands, red wine risotto with rocket and blue cheese, tofu, mushroom and kumara salad, one pot chicken with spinach, lentils and lemon, sneaky homemade creme brulee and mini Florentine bites.

Featuring wonderful photography by Jae Frew, this book will become a much-loved and well-thumbed staple of the cook book shelf.

Softcover with Plastic Sleeve

SAMPLE RECIPES

Aubergine & Capsicum Parmigiana (pictured left)
Ingredients
4 large red capsicums
olive oil spray
3 large aubergines
1 batch rich tomato sauce, or if in a rush use canned tomato paste
2 cups grated tasty cheese
½ cup finely grated parmesan
freshly ground black pepper

Method
Quarter, core and deseed the capsicums. Spray the skin side with oil and grill or place on BBQ for 5 – 6 minutes until the skin chars. Place in a plastic bag, seal and cool. When cool, rub the skins off.

Cut the aubergine length ways into thick slices. Spray with oil then trill or BBQ for 6 – 8 minutes each side. Cool.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Spray a 20 × 30 cm lasagna dish with non-stick baking spray. Spoon a quarter of the tomato sauce inot the base of the dish. Layer the capsicum and aubergine slices and the tasty cheese… with lots of freshly ground black pepper. Finish with the parmesan cheese and another grind of pepper. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately or store in the fridge to reheat later. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread.

Kumara & Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (pictured left)
This is like a carrot cake with a unique kumara flavour.

Ingredients
3 ½ cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon
3 ½ cups brown sugar
1 ½ cups sultanas
1 ½ cups walnuts
5 cups grated golden kumara, about 2 large kumara
5 eggs
350 ml oil
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
grated rind of 3 oranges
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray a large deep 28 – 30 cm spring form cake tin with non-stick baking spray and line the base with non-stick baking paper.

Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix in the grated kumara. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, oil, orange juice and rind together then mix into the dry ingredients. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes, then turn the oven down to 160°C and bake a further 30 – 35 minutes, until pulling away from the sides of the tin and cooked in the middles when tested with a cake skewer. Turn out and cool on a wire rack. Frost when cold.

For the frosting –
400 g cream cheese, not softened variety
100 g butter, softened to room temperature
grated rind of 2 oranges
4 cups, approximately, icing sugar

Beat all ingredients together until whipped smooth and a good spreading consistency, then frost the top of the cake. Can chopped nuts can be sprinkled over if desired.