Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite Recipes from the F Word Cookery Book Review

Gordon Ramsay is a British celebrity chef who is known for his hard working approach and no nonsense attitude. Ramsay was already making a stir in foodie circles when he began his television career which in turn has led to a large number of cookery books. Ramsay’s award winning television series’ include The F Word and Hell’s Kitchen. These days he has restaurants internationally and splits his time between homes in LA and London.

The book features recipes that fall into the following categories:

Healthy breakfast

Healthy brunch/lunch

Healthy working lunch

Healthy barbecues

Healthy supers

Healthy kids

Healthy entertaining

Healthy desserts

The book also has a section called healthy basics and a useful index.

Ramsay introduces the book by explaining that he developed an interest in healthy eating several years ago in the year 2000 when his father in law signed him up for the London Marathon. He also explains that the life of a chef is an unhealthy one; they need to pick at food all day, and have no time to exercise. In typical Ramsay style he refuses to be pigeon holed into that stereotype and states that with effort we can all make changes to improve our diets

However, he is keen to point out that this is not a diet book, it is a celebration of healthy food without jeopardizing taste and flavor and that choosing the right ingredients is the core to healthy eating. He advised that balance and moderation are key and that he does not believe in cutting out butter and cream completely and he believes enjoyment of food is part of a healthy life.

Before moving onto the recipe sections there is a useful page giving brief descriptions of healthy cooking methods where Ramsay advises about cooking by steam, poaching, stir-fry, griddle, roast, sauté and braising.

His breakfast section includes 5 ways with oats, fruit based breakfasts, healthy English breakfast, herb omelette and stuffed mushrooms.

Brunch and lunch recipes include healthy soups, smoked trout salad, a great healthy Cesar salad and a section on advice about five a day. Working lunch’s includes soups, salads and 5 ways with oily fish and finishes with a page listing ideas for healthy snacks.

Moving onto Sunday Lunch this begins with baked sea bass with lemon couscous with the by-line “healthy white fish – low in fat, high in protein and B vitamins.” Ramsay also covers options such as filet of beef, venison pie and rack of lamb and an interesting choice of glazed gammon with pineapple salsa which is easy, impressive and delicious.

The barbecue section gives recipes for fish, chicken, burger and kebabs, includes 5 ways with tomatoes and offers some recipes for salads and dressings to go with the barbecue.

The suppers section is packed with a cornucopia of internationally inspired recipes and ideas to create delicious healthy options.

Of course we all want our kids to be healthy and the Ramsay children are a credit to their father’s healthy eating and lifestyle influence. Here Ramsay begins with a section he calls Lunch Box Dippers and Dunkers where he gives base recipes for a pate and puree that are ideal for dipping raw vegetable sticks into for an interesting lunch, before moving onto recipes for fish fillets, turkey brochettes, chicken burghers, stir fried duck and pasta and egg dishes.

Interestingly the health entertaining section is where the addition of 5 ways with leafy greens is situated as who’d have thought of green leafy vegetables as being a great choice for entertaining? But here he gives 15 inspirational, interesting recipes for easy, healthy and importantly, impressively unusual entertaining choices to present to your guests.

The dessert recipes are a presentation of delicious, exciting and surprisingly healthy dessert choices including ricotta cheesecake with orange and cinnamon or Pavlova with roasted raspberry fool and includes 5 ways with summer berries.

Finally, Ramsay gives the reader base recipes for healthy stocks and the book ends with a useful index.

In common with other cookery books by Gordon Ramsay this book is a 10” x 8.5” (27cm x 21cm) hardback book of 256 pages, with the paper being thick almost card like. There are plenty of full size color photographs, but not for every dish.

The hardback and the dust cover feature the same photograph on the front of Gordon Ramsay with some kale and a montage of photos on the rear one of Ramsay and the rest of photos from inside the book of some of the recipes featured.

The recipes are all laid out the same way with the ingredients in a narrower column down the left hand side of the page and the instructions with clear, large headings taking up two thirds of the page on the right hand side. The instructions are without exception clear and easy to follow and no special equipment is needed for the recipes.

The easy to follow style means that anyone can cook interesting and unusual healthy meals in their home kitchen.

The review author has tried several of the recipes and adapted others and can vouch that all, always with great success. This is an interesting and informative book, featuring a collection of recipes by a world renowned Michelin star chef and is the type of book that would suit anyone.

Recipes that I have followed faithfully and used several times include the Baked Sea bass and I buy the fish scaled and gutted as recommended in the book. This makes a surprisingly easy dish that utilizes some of my favorite ingredients being herbs, black pepper and lemon. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes. How it works as a dinner party meal is that the fish is taken to the table whole and then quartered and easily served, it looks and smells lovely. Serve with the couscous in the recipe and a tossed salad all in bowls on the table for guests to help themselves.

Another favorite is the marinated halibut, this needs some forward planning to marinade the fish, but it is well worth the effort. Following the recipe and serving with spiced aubergines makes a spicy, unusual fish dish, serving with rice and salad works well too.

A regular favorite is the dessert Pavlova with roasted rhubarb fool, see photo above. I tend to make the Pavlova at the weekend when I am baking and then pick some rhubarb from the garden and make the fool and put them together for a lovely mid-week dessert. I follow this recipe faithfully and it is fail-safe. The sweetness of the Pavlova and the tartness of the rhubarb tempered by the smoothness of the fool sauce ensures this is a lovely end to a meal.

Some others, I have used for inspiration or tweaked to my own needs, what is great about the style of this book is the easy way the instructions are laid out.

A really useful cookery book in a great easy to follow format.

Whilst all photos are taken by the author, they are taken of the book being reviewed and the copyright belongs to Gordon Ramsay chef and Lisa Barber original photographer.

Quah E, (2008), Healthy Appetite Recipes from the F Word, Quadrille Publishing Limited, Italy. Cover.

Ramsay G, (2008), Healthy Appetite Recipes from the F Word, Quadrille Publishing Limited, Italy. P 7