Hey, Hey, Donna!

[Shinboners]

For the Donna Hay fans, she's got a new cookbook out:

It's called "No Time To Cook", and the RRP is $AUD 40.00

If you love to eat delicious, simple food, but have no time to cook, Donna Hay's sumptuous new book is the answer to your prayers.

Time poor and tired from a busy day – but don't want take away? No problem, look at the yummy options of Assembled Dinners.

Nothing much in the pantry, no time to do a proper shop? Take heart from the simple combinations in Donna' Fast Flavours chapter which needs a few ingredients, a grill pan or a barbecue, and a few minutes to let intense flavours unfold

Hate the thought of washing up pans and pots? The One Pot chapter lets you prepare gastronomic delights in one pan and One Dish serves up flavour combinations for dinner in a single dish.

No good at planning for later? Turn to Donna's chapter on Freezing with flair, something she's re–discovering as working mum.

There's all this plus cheat's notes, hints on styling which still let you make simple special, plenty of short cuts and of course the mouth–watering photography you expect from the world's leading cookbook writer.

[Syrah]

Looks interesting. I love Donna Hay magazines, but I never make the recipes.

[TheCulinaryLibrary]

Styling is great but the recipes leave a lot to be desired. More like a commercial Journo than a chef.

[violetfox]

Styling is great but the recipes leave a lot to be desired. More like a commercial Journo than a chef.

It's pretty easy to dismiss these as being by "just a food stylist" but I have found quite a few recipes and especially menus in them that are handy in a busy week and quite tasty. Personally, I find them to be quite far ahead of anything by, say, Rachel Ray or Sandra Lee - both of whom have never had a single recipe that I find remotely interesting.

[nickrey]

I'd agree with TheCulinaryLibrary. Have tried a few recipes and they always lacked depth and complexity of flavour. I suspect the same could be said of the other two cooks you mentioned, perhaps more so. As TCL and I are both based in Australia, we may have seen similar recipes previously and found Donna Hay's recipes more commonplace and less interesting in their own right than you may have.

I could look at her pictures all day though. Her food styling work with marie claire has had a major influence around the world. I was looking at Delores Custer's (2010) Food Styling book recently and she credited much of what happened in food styling in the 2000s to the work of Australian food stylists and particularly to the work of Donna Hay.

[gap]

It's pretty easy to dismiss these as being by "just a food stylist" but I have found quite a few recipes and especially menus in them that are handy in a busy week and quite tasty.

For me that's the key. I'm not sure Donna Hay is necessarily aiming for depth and compelxity of flavour. I know both my wife and her sister regularily use her recipes at the end of a busy day to whip up something that looks good and is tasty, but can be done in a manageable amount of time.