Helen Cullen’s Favourite Recipe Book: Neantóg Cookbook: Gaby’s Favourite Recipes

 There are inevitably very personal reasons why a cookbook becomes a favourite – often they are linked to families and the passing down of knowledge between generations. I am no exception to this instinct for the preservation of culinary rituals, but I also have the distinctive pleasure that my favourite cookbook was written by my mother-in-law, Gaby Wieland.

 Three months after my husband and I met, I received a signed copy of the Neantóg Cookbook with a simple dedication - Happy Cooking – and that’s what I’ve been doing with it as my guide for over a decade. Gaby inherited her love of cooking with fresh produce from local markets from her grandmother in Frankfurt, and now we have inherited that same passion for sustainable cooking from her. Attempting to recreate my husband’s favourite family meals could have been intimidating but the tone of Gaby’s writing is so friendly and encouraging that I always felt I was just being gently guided along. My in-laws are German but have lived in Sligo since the 80s and so this cookbook has allowed me to experiment with Germanic traditional recipes and connect with their culture.

 Long before it was mainstream, Gaby’s cookbook offered delicious recipes to accommodate dietary requirements and a host of gorgeous vegetarian and vegan meals, so, whenever we have friends over for dinner, it is always to Gaby I turn for inspiration. This cookbook shows you how to embrace cooking that is nourishing for the body and soul – wholesome meals that never compromise on taste but maximise on goodness.

 And every time I pour a bowl of Spicy Pumpkin, Ginger and Apple Soup, pick elderberries to make Elderflower Lemonade, make a batch of Gaby’s Barley Burgers and Tomato Sauce or have the aroma of Oat Coconut cookies wafting in the kitchen we feel we have a little bit of home with us in England. Happy Cooking.