Anna Gare is one of Australia’s most popular female cooks. I remember watching her on The Best in Australia and always loving her cooking style.
Did you ever watch it?

Anna Gare co-starred with celebrity chefs Ben O’Donoghue and Darren Simpson. Each each episode, they’d go head to head with their recipe version of a theme and then their dishes were judged by people in another room. These people would eat, critique but didn’t know which chef had prepared which dish. A season tally was kept. See I told you I love to watch cooking shows ;-)

Since then, Anna has become well known globally for her role as presenter and judge on Junior Masterchef and most recently for co-presenting The Great Australian Bake-Off – one of my most favourite shows of 2013.

Now why am I going on about Anna Gare? Well, I was recently sent a copy of Anna Gare’s new book called '’eat in'’ to look through, try out and share with you. I know that a lot of you are into recipes and cooking, just like I am.



“eat in : the best food is made at home” is in my mind, absolutely true. Sure it’s nice to go out to eat at restaurants, but you never quite know what is in your meal. The best food IS made at home. You source your ingredients, cook it, feed your family and know full well what you’ve just served it good.

This book is a feast for the eyes. Bright, glossy colourful pictures inspire me to get into the kitchen and cook. I don’t know about you, but for me, beautifully photographed dishes on the pages of a cook book are a sure winner.

The collection of recipes has chapters for everyone: Good Morning starts; light Lovely Lunches; no-fuss Feeding Family and Friends; sensational Salads; Sweet Things and a chapter dedicated to all the mums and dads who scramble into action when asked ‘What’s for dinner Mum?’.
Anna gives you plenty of hints and tips for shopping and meal planning as well as down to earth advice that will be welcomed by hungry people everywhere.

I went through the book over a few days, while eating breakfast. On about the 3rd day I suggested to hubby, how does Mexican Pulled-Pork Shoulder  for dinner sound? His eyes lit up. He is a man who appreciates pulled pork, unlike anyone I have ever met… well, I think his older brother is a close second.

Well I tried it the other night and have to say that this recipe is surely a crowd pleaser. It serves a lot of people. It has a long list of ingredients (mainly because of the herbs and spices) but is fast to put together. It cooks slowly in the oven, warming up the kitchen and making it smell incredible.





I made the Mexican Pulled-Pork Shoulder. I changed up the recipe a little to exclude the chilli’s (because the kids hate spicey foods) and the cloves (because every time my mother used to cook with cloves I’d always get one of my plate and accidentally bite into it).

Here is it, just before I put it in a low oven for 3 hours.



The recipe calls for a bigger pork shoulder than I used, so I changed the measurements to accommodate; ie less stock, less tomatoes, no wine and less beans.

Honestly, it was delicious. So, so, good. Everyone ate it. Along with the pork, I served the Deconstructed Guacamole (also in the cook book). The beans (at the bottom which you can’t see) were yummy and even little miss fussy liked them.

There was so much pork left over, so the next day, I made a pulled pork pizza for lunch. Tomato passata on the base with pulled pork and topped with cheese. So good and the flavours were even better the next day.





If you enjoy home cooking, family friendly food and fun recipes (goat tagine anyone?) this is certainly a book to add to your home library. I have enjoyed what I’ve made so far and look forward to making more delicious dishes from this book.

Published: 25 September 2013
ISBN: 9781742663890
Printed: Murdoch Books
Cover: Flexibound, 208 pages
Price: $39.99