The Cottage Kitchen: Cozy Kitchen in the English Countryside

Forsberg’s first cookbook is a charming ode to her English cottage, which inspired her My Cottage Kitchen blog. A professional food and lifestyle photographer raised in Norway, Forsberg embraced the local markets near her adopted home in the Wiltshire countryside and settled there to cook. Her travels throughout Europe are reflected in her recipes, but the heaviest influences are her Norwegian childhood and her new life in England. Many of her family recipes are included, such as a warm salmon, mint, and potato salad and Norwegian pork belly with mustard coleslaw. Her mother’s presence is strongly felt throughout this homey—if at times precious—book, with recipes for her elderflower fritters; a comforting sour-cream porridge; and a frothy concoction of sugar, egg whites, and cranberries called “Troll Cream” that her father enjoyed every year on his birthday. She updates some traditional English nursery food, including a truffled vegetable toad-in-the-hole; foie gras and kidney bruschetta with parsley; and a Campari citrus marmalade. Unique soup recipes stand out, such as kale and almond soup, Norwegian yellow pea soup with thyme, and potato soup with smoked salmon. Rounding out this eclectic collection are elegant yet homey recipes as varied as tomato tarte tatin with burrata, black pudding with scallops and caviar, and a wild rabbit and snail stew. Forsberg has presented a delightful selection of comforting and hearty recipes. (Oct.)