Donna Hay's 'Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt'
Donna Hay's latest cookbook, 'Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt,' published by Fourth Estate at £23 on Amazon.co.uk, is absolute summer food porn. Liberally illustrated with pictures of Hay's own seaside home, the book is full of roses and covetable vintage tableware. Hay, Australia's answer to Delia Smith, brings a free and easy approach to cooking with a bent for flavoursome, easy-on-the-eye dishes. Nothing's difficult, and she talks you through recipes like a friend. Her unscrupulous short cuts, like cheat's ice creams that combine shop-bought ice cream with frozen fruit, are delicious. For £200, real groupies can buy a Donna Hay hamper from Fortnum & Mason with her favourite ingredients, plus the book.
Ella Risbridger's 'The Kitchen Book'
If the success of a cookbook can be measured by the filthiness of the pages, then 'The Kitchen Book' by Ella Risbridger, published by Fourth Estate at £21 on Amazon.co.uk, is already a winner. There is no one who writes more invitingly about food, cajoling you into trying delicious assemblies. Her recipes are easy and delicious, but it's the inviting prefaces that draw you in. Her little essay persuading you that a bowl of radishes in ice cold water with butter is all you really want to eat is billed as 'Radishes for Company.' Also, she suggests you serve roast potatoes at a party.
Dara Klein's 'La Trattoria'
Dara Klein's restaurant, Tiella on Columbia Road, is already a hit, and 'La Trattoria,' published by Ebury at £23 on Amazon.co.uk, is the book of the restaurant and her family's culinary adventures. Subtitled 'Intuitive Italian Cooking,' this is a reassuringly classic account of the whole tradition of the trattoria, from bar snacks to desserts. There are lots of old favourites, including ribollita (bread and vegetable soup), caponata (aubergine and tomato), and zabaglione (boozy custard). These staples are popular for a reason — they're what you want to eat.
Theo Randall's 'The Italian Table'
Another homage to Italy comes from Theo Randall, who offers 100 irresistible recipes in 'The Italian Table,' published by Quadrille at £17.24 on Amazon.co.uk, with the most inviting photography. Many are very simple — asparagus with fried eggs and parmesan, say — and the pasta dishes are terrifically inviting, though the filled ones need a pasta machine. Excellent desserts, too. Randall has a natural affinity with the simplicity of the best Italian cooking and a feel for the regional character of dishes. His recipe for porchetta is delicious.
Mark Williams' 'The Coastal Forager'
Mark Williams' 'The Coastal Forager,' published by Skittledog at £28 on Blackwells.co.uk, is subtitled 'Wild Maritime Food to Preserve, Cook and Eat.' While the reviewer hasn't yet tried the recipes, the book is a helpful guide to identifying and cooking with seaweed, covering umpteen varieties, harvesting, and cooking. It also includes sections on plants and fruits that flourish near the sea, such as Alexanders and sea buckthorn. The lovely painted illustrations by Sofia Iva and photographs make identification easy. This is a guide to responsible foraging, with a section on shellfish — apparently limpets are tasty.
Bernadette Worndl's 'Viennese Bakery'
'Viennese Bakery' by Bernadette Worndl, published by DK at £18.85 on Amazon.co.uk, is a really good collection of recipes for Viennese cakes and pastry, the kind you'd get in the best cafés. There is nothing more heavenly than cakes like these. The book has the lot: Sachertorte, strudels, yeasted plum cake, Esterhazy cake. Some are complex, lots are easy, and many evoke Austria's imperial past and its grand culinary traditions.
Niki Segnit's 'Lateral Cooking'
'Lateral Cooking' by Niki Segnit, published by Bloomsbury at £20 on Amazon.co.uk, is a sequel to her fabulous 'Flavour Thesaurus.' It is based on a series of starting points that, once familiar, prove almost infinitely adaptable. A simple bread dough gets you quickly to pizza and croissants and umpteen variants. A batter mix gives you pancakes, then Yorkshire puddings and so on to churros. Each basic recipe is followed by suggestions for taking it further. This is not just a genius cookbook, it's also a hoot to read — the author is authoritative and funny. It could be the cookbook of the year.
