From a well-stocked larder to flipping Argentinian pizzas, making an a-mezze-ing spread of Palestinian delights to creating craic-ing dishes from chaos, this year’s Blasta Books series introduces you to more new voices from Ireland’s diverse culinary scene.
As a mum of three with a zero-waste wedding and catering event company, Orla McAndrew understands that time and money are precious commodities – and a well-stocked larder is her secret weapon to creating quick, easy and nutritious meals. Whether you are feeding a family, revolving around busy work schedules or keeping to a tight budget, BLASTA BOOKS #13: LARDER [January] will help you fill your pantry, fridge and freezer with the useful staples you need to make good food fast. With 100 quick and easy recipes, LARDER takes you through Orla’s list of essentials, providing inspiration for 30 hero ingredients, with delicious ideas for ‘dinner in 10 minutes’ fixes, tips to reduce food waste and inspiration to help learn how to cook more intuitively.
Facundo Rodulfo and Pam Neumann are the dynamic duo behind Tango Street Food, Ireland’s first and only Argentinian food market. Born in Buenos Aires, Facundo and Pam wanted to share not only the flavours of their homeland, but also their love of fostering cultural awareness and togetherness through food. In BLASTA BOOKS #14: TANGO [May], Facundo and Pam showcase a fusion of Argentine and Italian street food-style dishes. Each recipe is a testament to the power of food to transcend borders, connect people and create community. From their famous beef empanadas and stuffed pizzas to family favourites such as Argentine shepherd’s pie and sweet Quince pie, TANGO brings a fresh new way of sharing Argentinian food culture to everyone’s table.
Nestled amongst the southern streets and river walls of Cork City is the award-winning Palestinian Café Izz, run by beloved couple Izz and Eman Alkarajeh. Serving top-quality, organic Palestinian food, including the always popular manaeesh, steaming fresh pittas, traditional homemade desserts and rich coffee, Café Izz has become a much-loved destination in the heart of Cork’s food community. In #15: JIBRIN [July], named after Eman’s family hometown in Palestine, Izz and Eman share recipes that will take you on a culinary journey of their homeland, with recipes including stuffed pickled aubergines (makdous), perfectly tender roast chicken (musakhan), bite-size dumplings (shishbarak) and the syrupy, cheese-stuffed pastry cake nabulsi kunafa.
And in Blasta Books’ final release of the year, food writer Aoife McElwain shows how even the messiest cook can go from chaos to craic in the kitchen. With two dozen simple recipes interspersed with musings on how to harness the joy of cooking, #16: MESSY [November] is for anyone who’s tired of striving for perfection on a plate, who naturally finds order in disorder or whose inner critic follows them into the kitchen. There really is no need to be stress-y when you can embrace the MESSY.
Blasta Books launched in 2022 as an imprint of boutique Irish publisher Nine Bean Rows. They are to cookbooks what street food is to restaurants: they give people a fun, accessible and affordable way to eat exciting food.
Blasta Books Series
After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2021 that saw publisher Kristin Jensen achieve her target in just a few days, Blasta Books was created to connect people through food and stories and prioritise new, unpublished voices in Ireland.
They are little books with big voices.
