Nine Bean Rows Books (2026)

01/11/2025

SAMHAIN

We're completely in love with the chapter openers from The Kai Cookbook by , beautifully shot by .

27/10/2025

Need something to keep the kids busy this midterm break? Get them cooking!

We've shared two recipes from Now You're Cooking by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox on our website (link in bio):
💛 Cookie croissants
💛 Our kinda famous chicken curry

from NOW YOU'RE COOKING: 70 Recipes That Kids Can Make by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox, out now!

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16/10/2025

ERNIE’S APPLE, BROWN BUTTER & WHISKEY CARAMEL CAKE

Every autumn, Ernie makes a handwritten sign for every Irish apple variety with a quirky way to describe them. It’s little things like this that make my day as I walk to work. For 14 years, I’ve walked past Ernie’s shop, yelling ‘good morning’ to him. Ernie knows I’ll be working late into the night, so he’ll yell back, ‘Good morning, good evening and goodnight!’ Before he opened his shop, Ernie used to be a chef, and a good one at that, so he understands the day-to-day grind.

From THE KAI COOKBOOK: A Love Letter to the West of Ireland by Jess Murphy

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09/10/2025

Sweetcorn fritters

This is an old-school Kiwi classic, first made famous in the Edmonds Cookery Book, then by the late Australian legend and brunch king, Bill Granger. We use creamed corn in New Zealand, but you can’t buy that in Ireland, so I use fresh corn on the cob.
When Kai opened for brunch, this was a late-summer favourite. We made thousands of these bad boys, and when I say we, I mean me and Hannah, my sous chef, kitchen wife and wing woman. Between the two of us, I think we could have fed the whole world in those three hours of service. These fritters were such a staple for some of the pregnant women who used to come to Kai for brunch that we even nicknamed one of their babies Sweetcorn Fritter Baby.

From THE KAI COOKBOOK: A Love Letter to the West of Ireland by Jess Murphy , out now!

04/10/2025

The recipe for Sally's smoked haddock croquettes was literally made for blustery days like today.

"Sally Barnes is the GOAT of fish smoking. I’ve learned more about fish from Sally than I have in all the books I’ve read about fish. This little dish is something I make on a cold winter night and think of Sally down in West Cork, all warm and snug in front of her Stanley range while the wind blows in off the Atlantic and we all watch Instagram stories of yet another car floating away in the car park at Salthill that always floods. But Kai and our tiny house in the West have thick walls and we have Sally’s smoked haddock croquettes to keep us warm and well fed. We love you, Sally Barnes."

From THE KAI COOKBOOK: A Love Letter to the West of Ireland by Jess Murphy , out now!

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25/09/2025

THE KAI COOKBOOK OUT NOW!

The Kai Cookbook is the long-awaited collection of 100 of the Galway restaurant’s best-loved dishes, from the legendary Kai fish fingers that they can’t take off the menu to showstopper cakes from the irresistible daily line-up on the bar.

Kai is the Māori word for food, and Jess and Dave Murphy opened the door to their award-winning restaurant in 2011 with a simple formula: high-quality produce, sourced locally and cooked intelligently. What’s in season will be on your plate.

Part cookbook, part love letter to Jess’s adopted home in the West of Ireland, these recipes and recollections, all told in Jess’s distinctive voice, will capture your heart, just like this little restaurant has done to all who have eaten there.

The Kai Cookbook: A Love Letter to the West of Ireland by Jess Murphy , with a foreword by Diana Henry , is out now in all good bookshops and independent retailers around Ireland and beyond.

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23/09/2025

SPAGHETTI AGLIO E OLIO

If you ask Lily Mae what her favourite recipe to cook is from Now You're Cooking, she'll tell you it's spaghetti aglio e olio. Once kids have learned how to cook spaghetti, this is an easy level-up.

Now You're Cooking: 70 Recipes That Kids Can Make by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox is out now.

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19/09/2025

📣ANNOUNCING IN GOOD TASTE📣

It’s never been a better time to be a food lover. We binge Bake Off, follow foodie influencers, queue for trending hotspots and scroll endlessly for ideas on what to cook next.

But for all this appetite, how much do we really know about what goes on behind the scenes with our food? And what can we really do to change things?

That’s where this book comes in.

In Good Taste: What Shapes What We Eat and Drink - and Why It Matters is a guide to the issues shaping our edible world today. It’s not exhaustive and it’s not meant to be preachy – it’s a starting point to help us see the bigger picture and find our place in it.

Starting with a bird’s eye view of how the food system works (and why it urgently needs transforming), the book then covers:

🍎THE PLAYERS: Who holds the power, makes decisions and to what extent, and what food policy means for our everyday lives.

🍎THE PEOPLE: How global trade and colonisation created inequality and continue to shape what we eat – and who gets left behind.

🍎THE PLANET: How we got here and what’s at stake for the environment and the climate.

🍎POSITIVE, PRACTICAL CHANGE: Tangible ways food lovers can make an impact with what’s on our plates and beyond.

If enough of us take an interest, we become powerful ingredients in making a difference in what matters in food and drink today.

IN GOOD TASTE by Mallika Basu is out 22 January 2026. Pre-order now at the link in bio.

08/09/2025

What’s better than school lunchbox inspiration? Getting the kids to make it themselves!

That’s the whole idea behind Now You’re Cooking!, with 70 recipes that kids can make, giving them the skills and confidence to learn that cooking is something anyone can do – at any age.

📚Turkey nugget ciabattas
📚Five-a-day lunchbox muffins
📚Apple and banana oat bakes
📚Mini cheese scones
📚Smoked salmon & cream cheese pinwheels
📚Pesto rosso
📚Jambons
📚Pork & apple sausage rolls
📚Mini quiches
📚Creamy, crunchy pasta salad

Now You're Cooking! by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox is out now at the link in bio and in all good bookshops.

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25/08/2025

Did you see Jolene and Lily Mae making their kinda famous chicken curry on Ireland AM last week? And why is it kinda famous, you ask? Because they’ve cooked it on the telly!

We’ve shared the recipe for you (or rather, your kids!) to try:

Serves 4

1 medium white onion
1 garlic clove
1 red pepper
4 chicken fillets
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
50ml water
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk or 300ml cream

FOR THE CURRY PASTE:
2 tablespoons medium curry powder
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 tablespoon mango chutney
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin

TO SERVE:
boiled rice

TO GARNISH:
fresh coriander or parsley leaves

1. Peel the onion, then cut it into slices. Peel and grate the garlic. Slice the red pepper. Use clean kitchen scissors to cut the chicken fillets into strips.

2. To make the homemade curry paste, put the curry powder, tomato purée, mango chutney, mixed spice, turmeric and cumin in a small bowl and mix together.

3. Put the oil in a saucepan, then put the pan on a medium heat on the hob. Let the oil warm up for a few minutes, then add the onion and garlic and cook 1 minute to give them a head start. Add the red pepper and chicken strips, then add the curry paste and the water and stir together. Cook for 5 minutes. It will smell amazing.

4. Pour in the coconut milk or cream and cover the pan with a lid. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.

5. Cook the rice while the curry simmers.

6. Serve the curry with the perfect boiled rice. To garnish, scatter over a few fresh coriander or parsley leaves.

From Now You're Cooking! 70 Recipes That Kids Can Make by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox, out now!

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21/08/2025

NOW YOU'RE COOKING - OUT NOW!

Jolene Cox is an award-winning food writer on a mission to teach kids how to cook real food they’ll love to eat.

Her daughter, Lily Mae, is 11. They’ve been cooking together ever since Lily Mae could sit up in a feeding chair.

Jolene launched the Family Cooking Club (a weekly online cook-along showing kids how to make delicious meals) with Lily Mae in 2019 and soon discovered that the kids engaged more when encouraged to take the lead.

Jolene and Lily Mae have put everything they’ve learned since then into Now You’re Cooking!, a cookbook with kids at its centre. They speak directly to kids, sharing all their clever tips and tricks and 70 tried-and-tested recipes appropriate for kids aged 5 to 12.

Beginning with basics like perfect mashed potatoes, cracking egg-fried rice and a classic tomato sauce, Jolene and Lily Mae then share their favourites for breakfast, lunch, after-school fuel, tray bakes and one-pot wonders, epic eats and sweet treats that every kid will enjoy.

More than that, Jolene and Lily Mae want to show kids that cooking is something anyone can do at any age. Whether you’re boiling an egg for the first time or ready to level up your knife skills, now you’re cooking!

Get your copy on our website (link in bio), in all good bookshops and various indie retailers.

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11/07/2025

OUTDOOR PINTS

You know what it’s like when you get a glimpse of summer in Ireland. Sure, where else would you want to be? It’s not just great for drying but great for pints too. When the sun is splitting the stones, especially midweek, it simply feels rude not to go for a pint. If you’ve been in any city centre when the good weather hits, you’ll be familiar with the sight of people pouring out onto pavements, sitting on kerbs, standing in groups blocking footpaths and altogether delighted with themselves. When the sun shines, we will sit, stand or perch anywhere there’s no shade. And when a proper heatwave hits, it’s beer garden frenzy. We can’t get to the pub quickly enough, nabbing picnic tables soon to be littered with empty glasses and the sunscreen we forget to put on.

An rud is annamh is iontach, as they say (what’s rare is wonderful). Because let’s face it, the dry, sunny weather that suits outdoor pints is not always guaranteed in Ireland, which is why we go so crazy for it when it happens.

From A COMPENDIUM OF IRISH PINTS by Ali Dunworth , available at the link in bio.

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Nine Bean Rows Books