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Midnight Chicken
Midnight Chicken: & Other Recipes Worth Living For | Ella Risbridger
25 posts | 7 read | 13 to read
Recipes that reveal the life-changing happiness of cooking There are lots of ways to start a story, but this one begins with a chicken... There was a time when, for Ella Risbridger, the world had become overwhelming. Sounds were too loud, colours were too bright, everyone moved too fast. One night she found herself lying on her kitchen floor, wondering if she would ever get up and it was the thought of a chicken, of roasting it, and of eating it, that got her to her feet and made her want to be alive. Midnight Chicken is a cookbook. Or, at least, you'll flick through these pages and find recipes so inviting that you will head straight for the kitchen: roast garlic and tomato soup, uplifting chilli-lemon spaghetti, charred leek lasagne, squash skillet pie, spicy fish finger sandwiches and burnt-butter brownies. It's the kind of cooking you can do a little bit drunk, that is probably better if you've got a bottle of wine open and a hunk of bread to mop up the sauce. But if you settle down and read it with a cup of tea (or a glass of that wine), you'll also discover that it's an annotated list of things worth living for: a manifesto of moments worth living for. This is a cookbook to make you fall in love with the world again.
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review
Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

As a vegan reviewing a cookbook where the first recipe and the title are a chicken dish, I feel confident in saying, this book is for more people than it might first appear. My relationship status with food these days is 'it's complicated', but there's something about the simple joy in cooking and eating - no dietary recommendations, no shame about indulgence, this book hit the right tone for me. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as a food memoir primarily, because it is mostly recipes. But the interstitials are talking about the author's life, their struggles, their loves, and above all the comfort that food can bring. Sprinkled in a few book recommendations as well. However you choose to describe it, I recommend reading food memoirs and cookbooks only while snacking (on something book friendly) or having just finished a meal, 3mo
Robotswithpersonality 3/? because inevitably something will make you hungry. I love the decision to illustrate the book rather than provide photos of the dishes, it just adds some thing to the warm, handcrafted mood.
As with so many things, it'a also a matter of personal taste: the author clearly favours umami tang and mentions fennel on multiple occasions. Neither are really my bag. I can go for salty and creamy as tastes and there's a lot of room for that here,
3mo
Robotswithpersonality 4/4 though the salt and cream is regularly Parmesan. Butter and eggs are large proponents as well. So yeah, vegans will have a better time if they go in for the pleasure of sharing joy over food, than necessarily looking for recipes to convert.

⚠️attempted suicide, mental health concerns
3mo
6 likes3 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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Well, damn! 💅🏻🥧

Texreader 😂😂 3mo
TheBookHippie I love it. 3mo
9 likes2 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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Robotswithpersonality
This post contains spoilers
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I'm putting a spoiler warning on this one because I'm not certain the language wouldn't be triggering to those with mental health concerns or a history of disordered eating, but it felt too important in its message not to quote.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Do the open flames and food and drink make me irrationally nervous for this two dimensional representation of books? Yes. Does this drawing seem to hold all the key components for a good time? Also yes.

Dilara Yes to all this, but also, why the raw onion?🤔 3mo
Robotswithpersonality @Dilara My brain interpreted that as a head of garlic, and garlic usually leads to good things. ☺️ 3mo
12 likes2 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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As a lover of green olives and green things, I must now go find this poem. 💚

Robotswithpersonality Evidently it's called Marblehead from Love, An Index (2012) 3mo
dabbe I'm munching on some green olives right now! 💚🫒❤️ 3mo
10 likes2 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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...more then toast...

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Robotswithpersonality
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As someone with a rural childhood and a necessarily urban adulthood: this hits HARD.

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Robotswithpersonality
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The. Visual. 🤤 🫐

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Robotswithpersonality
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Phonetic spelling: it does fun things to my brain. 😵‍💫☺️

6 likes2 stack adds
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mcipher
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Happy Jolabokaflod - @Deblovestoread thank you SO MUCH for the perfect #JolabokaflodSwap2023 gift. I sat down and immediately cracked the book and started reading. 😂 I‘ve been dying to read this one!

Deblovestoread Yay! I had not heard of this book until your list and was intrigued when it was in my hands. I‘ll be curious to hear your thoughts. Merry Christmas! 10mo
38 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Teresereading
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There are lots of ways to start a story, but this one begins with a chicken.
#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

ShyBookOwl Lol 11mo
20 likes1 comment
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Teresereading
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There are lots of ways to start a story, but this one begins with a chicken.
#firstlinefridays #firstlinefriday
@ShyBookOwl

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Twocougs
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Pickpick

What a lovely book. It‘s a cookbook but with stories. Ella says it‘s really a book about moments to live for. So excited to start trying these recipes!

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DebinHawaii
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Pickpick

Dec/Jan pick for my bi-monthly virtual foodie book club is part cookbook, part memoir with gorgeous watercolor illustrations. The author got herself out of a serious depression by focusing on cooking, food & rediscovering her zest for life. I ended up not making a recipe from the book & instead made a slow cooker low-effort but fully loaded potato soup inspired by the pocket & lid potato (She‘s a Brit) recipe mentions in the book. Recipe link ⬇️

AmyG Looks delicious. 3y
Bookzombie That looks yummy!!! 3y
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DebinHawaii
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It‘s definitely been a week😬& I‘m happy to be home on the couch tonight. A co-worker grabbed poke bowls for lunch & since I taught a class at another location & the chef fed us, I brought my poke bowl (ponzu salmon & ahi & green onion) home for dinner.😋

The book is an upcoming selection for my virtual foodie book club. It was on sale for Amazon Prime Days & so I splurged a bit & it arrived today. It‘s a memoir/cookbook mashup & it‘s gorgeous.💙

LeahBergen What a wonderfully vibrant photo! 3y
SamAnne Oh, I love a good poke. 😁 Hard to find where I live. I eat it like it's going out of style when I'm in Hawaii. 3y
DebinHawaii @LeahBergen Thank you-lots of bright colors to work with! 😉🌈 3y
DebinHawaii @SamAnne Yes! Good poke is the best! Fish 🐟 🍚🤗 3y
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Tamra
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Pickpick

This book is beautiful and reads like a memoir. The acknowledgements will break your heart. 😢

But, only few of the recipes are of interest so I won‘t be adding it to my stash.

Cathythoughts Looks lovely ❤️ 4y
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SW-T
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Pickpick

A love letter to food, surviving grief, celebrating friends and family, and using what you have to make something special that doesn‘t require fancy equipment or excessive time. A beautiful book about food, cooking, mental health, and so much more. (Requires some conversions for American readers, but worth it.)

For a more eloquent review:
https://www.nigella.com/cookbook-corner/midnight-chicken-by-ella-risbridger

#cookbook #cookbookaddict

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BookladyOnTheMove
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Today I cooked the title recipe from this book. I just can't stop thinking about how beautifully it is written. How much love and tenderness are put not only into the recipes, but into the stories they tell. I'm only sorry I did not take a picture of the lovely chickens. I could see how sharing it with someone you love could help you get up off the floor and keep going for one more day. #cookbooks
#worthlivingfor