A blistering summer is hardly the time when you want to be in the kitchen, but it is, very much, when you want to eat something light and delicious.
You can’t go wrong, obviously, with Elizabeth David’s Summer Cooking (£10.89, Amazon.co.uk), but there are several new and inviting possibilities out there to try.
'Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt' by Donna Hay, published by Fourth Estate
Absolute summer food porn, this is liberally illustrated with pictures of Donna Hay’s own seaside home, full of roses and covetable vintage tableware. Hay is Australia’s answer to Delia Smith, with a free and easy approach to cooking and a bent for flavoursome, easy-on-the-eye dishes.
Nothing’s difficult and she talks you through recipes like a friend. I like her unscrupulous short cuts; her cheat’s ice creams combine shop-bought ice cream with frozen fruit. Yum. For £200, real groupies can buy a Donna Hay hamper from Fortnum & Mason with her favourite ingredients, plus the book.
Buy now £23.00, Amazon.co.uk
'The Kitchen Book' by Ella Risbridger, published by Fourth Estate
If the success of a cookbook can be measured by the filthiness of the pages then this, from Ella Risbridger, is already a winner. There is no one who writes more invitingly about food, cajoling you into trying this delicious assembly or that.
And her recipes are indeed 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, how can you not like a girl who suggests you serve roast potatoes at a party?
Buy now £21.00, Amazon.co.uk
'La Trattoria' by Dara Klein, published by Ebury
Dara Klein’s restaurant, Tiella on Columbia Road, is already a hit and here 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). But you know what? These staples are popular for a reason — they’re what you want to eat.
Buy now £23.00, Amazon.co.uk
'The Italian Table' by Theo Randall, published by Quadrille
Another homage to Italy comes from Theo Randall, who offers 100 irresistible recipes 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.
Buy now £17.24, Amazon.co.uk
'The Coastal Forager' by Mark Williams, published by Skittledog
Let me fess up; I haven’t actually tried out this excellent book — subtitled Wild Maritime Food to Preserve, Cook and Eat — yet, because I won’t be anywhere near the sea until August.
But I’ve been wanting for ages to be able to identify and cook with seaweed, and this is a really helpful guide to identifying the umpteen varieties, harvesting them and cooking with them. It’s not just seaweed, though is there anything more fashionable than dulse? There are sections on the plants and fruits that flourish near the sea, including Alexanders and sea buckthorn.
The lovely painted illustrations by Sofia Iva and photographs make identification easy. This is in fact a guide to responsible foraging. There’s also a section on shellfish… apparently limpets are tasty. When I next go to the beach it will be with purpose, a bucket and a copy of The Coastal Forager.
Buy now £28.00, Blackwells.co.uk
'Viennese Bakery' by Bernadette Worndl, published by DK
Oh boy, I’ve been waiting a long time for this, 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.
Bernadette Worndl’s Viennese Bakery 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. The Empress Elisabeth never told the Austria-Hungarians to go and eat cake because they didn’t need telling.
Buy now £18.85, Amazon.co.uk
'Lateral Cooking' by Niki Segnit, published by Bloomsbury
This is a sequel to Niki Segnit’s fabulous Flavour Thesaurus and is based on “a series of starting points which, once you’re familiar with them, will prove almost infinitely adaptable”. So, 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 a series of suggestions for taking it further. It all makes resounding sense. This is not just a genius cookbook, it’s also a hoot to read… our author is authoritative and funny. The cookbook of the year.
Buy now £20.00, Amazon.co.uk
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