Whether you are looking for new ways to cook with staples like potatoes and cabbage, wanting to expand your pantry with ingredients like dried lime, or ready to travel through food to explore new culinary delights, there will be something here to enliven your taste buds, and warm your Autumn days.

Travel across Eastern Europe with some humble vegetables. In Kapusta, Alissa Timoshkina celebrates five key vegetables — cabbage, beetroot, potato, carrot and mushrooms. This is cooking that has affordability, seasonality, sustainability and, above all, great flavor at its heart. The cabbage that stays in the back of the fridge will come to the fore, and new recipes for potatoes are always popular, while the colour and earthy flavours of beetroot can set off any dish. Add in a chapter on pickles and ferments and a dive into dumplings you’ll be well immersed in culinary joys of Eastern Europe.

Maryam Jillani started a food blog in 2017 to highlight the diverse cuisine of Pakistan. Sharing borders with Afghanistan, China, India, and Iran, and a history of migration and trade has ensured an exciting cuisine — abundant in spices with a variety of ingredients and cooking techniques. From home cooking to restaurants and the pleasure of the street stand, Jillani explores the regions from the coast to the highlands giving us a comprehensive survey of Pakistan’s food as well as wonderful story-telling. Packed with recipes from pantry staples to snacks and breads, vegetable, fish and meat dishes, as well as sweets and drinks, this one will fill a gap on your shelves.
"This is the Pakistani cookbook I've been waiting for! A mouthwatering celebration of a beautiful country. These recipes and stories will warm your heart." —Yasmin Khan, author of Zaitoun, Ripe Figs, and The Saffron Tales

If the name Noor Murad sounds familiar, that’s because she’s been involved with the Ottolenghi kitchen and contributed to the ‘Test Kitchen’ books, as well as Flavour and Falastin. In Lugma she draws on her Bahrani family heritage as well as influences from the wider Levantine cooking pot. Bold in flavours, with innovative recipes Noor blends comfort home cooking with fresh ideas perfectly. Here you will find black limes, elaborate rice dishes, abundant herbs, as well as the delights of sour and sweet.

"I adore this book. It's personal, beautifully written — Noor's voice draws you in and holds you there — and the recipes are absolutely glorious." — Diana Henry

In this new Phaidon classic be immersed in the warmth and beauty of the Balearic Islands. Classic Mediterrean ingredients — olive oil, fish, seafood, garlic, tomatoes — combine with practices and recipes passed down through generations. Koehler delves into the food traditions, local markets, and rich cultural history of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera. The result is a cookbook packed with information and over 150 recipes for pleasurable home cooking and eating.

In Pranzo Guy Mirabella delves into his Sicilian heritage. Here you will find the gusto of Italian pastas and sauces, alongside herbs and spices, and ingredients like kolhrabi and prickly pear.

Seasonal and sumptuous, Mirabella conveys his zest for food, art, and life in the pages of Pranzo. Designed with a playful eye, the book is a treat and the recipes infused with nourishment and pleasure.

In Umai: Recipes from a Japanese Home Kitchen you have precision alongside the simple and relaxed. Discover unfussy lunch dishes and favorite family meals. Find recipes that are a joy to make together and to share. Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares guides you through her home kitchen and out onto the streets to experience food is both serene and exhilarating.
From dumplings to fungi to matcha cookies, you will find accessible recipes that will delight and sooth in the making and the eating.
”A vibrant exploration of Japanese cuisine with beautiful writing and exciting recipes to nourish the soul.” —Ixta Belfrage

As I was fixing the puncture on the delivery bike last week, I remembered the last puncture event. It was December and I was in the process of making the Christmas cakes (yes, multiple, and yes, a bit late to the party for a good aging — saying that, my recipe is delicious straight away or well in advance. Thank you Lois Daish!). There was going to be a social media post. Hashtag #whatbooksellersdointheweekend. Alas, December had more pressing matters, like book enquiries and chasing stock, in the ascendant. Anyway, the cakes are eaten, the punctures fixed, but the idea of sustaining treats is still very much on the agenda. For years now, I’ve made at least 2 fruit-filled cakes: one to eat and get you through December and the other for the festive season quietly waiting its turn.
A cake in the tin is a promise of a sit-down and a cup of tea, or a piquantly paired coffee if spice is the taste game. (Top recommended coffee match is the Cardamom Cake recipe from Magnus Nilsson’s The Nordic Baking Book. And our coffee of choice KUSH Port Blend). But back to the point of this post. Puddings et al. , not punctures. If a tinful of cake is a promise, a pudding is the cherry on top.

Belgian culinary historian Regula Ysewijn’s cookbooks are a delightful, and wonderfully informative! From the nifty titles to the contents, to the results. The Belgian writer and photographer focuses on food and social history of Britain and the Low Countries. Pride and Pudding is a history of British puddings (both savoury and sweet), Oats from the North, Wheat from the South is focused on British baking, and Dark Rye and Honey Cake covers festive baking of the Low Countries.* The books are packed with recipes, history and great photogrpahy (her own) and charming illustrations.

In Dark Rye and Honey Cake enjoy Regula’s Waffles for breakfast, a rich Kramiek loaf for morning tea, find out about the Earl of Laetare, partake in a Flemish pancake, and find delight in a special apple cheesy tart.

Pride and Pudding — so many good things, Let’s start with Syllabub — even the word is delcious! Quinces are rippening on the tree, so try that intricate pastry pie — it looks divine. Icecream without a machine? And break out your molds! Filled with recipes, processes, hints, history and joy.

*She’s also produced the recipes for The Officail Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook and more recently, The Official Bridgerton Cookbook.

Cookbooks come in many guises. From your go-to favourite every day to special-occasion-feasting recipe books. From reference books which give you the science of cooking and definitive descriptions of ingredients, to those that talk food and eating. They all excite our interest in food and give us more cooking knowledge. These four recent books all combine witty, informative and passionate writing with recipes and food experiences, celebrating the pleasure of food in life, and lives in food!

Australian dedicated, almost obsessive, foodie Virginia Trioli delivers lively asides and joyful reflections with A Bit on the Side. Here you will find the sweet, the sour, the bitter and the sharp, all infused with delight. A Bit on the Side revels in the small moments: the sauces that make the dish, the joy of the perfect side salad, the local ingredient and the bits stuffed inside. Dotted with recipes, foodie hints and plenty of storytelling Trioli celebrates the small bursts of flavour that give life joy and meaning.
'A humorous reminder that the smallest things often carry the biggest rewards.' BONNIE GARMUS
'Utterly delightful. Trioli's passion for life - and food, glorious food - crackles through every joyous page. A book so rare and so bloody well done.' TRENT DALTON
'Each page is full of zest, wit and joy; Virginia writes like an angel.' CHLOE HOOPER

What could be better? Art, cuisine, and famous writers! The Bloomsbury Group fostered a fresh, creative and vital way of living that encouraged debate and communication ('only connect'), as often as not across the dining table. Gathered at these tables were many of the great figures in art, literature and economics in the early twentieth century: E. M. Forster, Roger Fry, J. M. Keynes, Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf, among many others. The Bloomsbury Cookbook - Recipes for Life, Love and Art is part cookbook, part social and cultural history. Generously illustrated with artworks and photographs, filled with menus and recipes this is perfect for lovers of food, literature, art, and history.

 'I need this book!' - Nigella Lawson
'Glorious ... a feast of eccentric detail' - New Statesman
'A window onto Bloomsbury via recipes, grocery lists, pantries, kitchens and, above all, dining tables' - Virginia Nicholson

Restuarant critic and award-winning writer Jay Rayner’s first cookbook! With sixty recipes that take their inspiration from restaurants dishes served across the UK and further afield, Nights Out at Home includes a cheat's version of the Ivy's famed crispy duck salad, the brown butter and sage flatbreads from Manchester's Erst, miso-glazed aubergine from Freak Scene, and instructions for making the cult tandoori lamb chops from the legendary Tayyabs in London's Whitechapel — a recipe which has never before been written down. Seasoned with stories from Jay's life as a restaurant critic, and written with warmth, wit and the blessing, and often help, of the chefs themselves, Nights Out at Home is a celebration of good food and great eating experiences, filled with irresistible dishes to inspire all cooks.

'Jay has a way with words, but he's also a dab hand in the kitchen. This book is not just a collection of food memories but also of recipes that make you want to roll up your sleeves and start cooking' MICHEL ROUX

A unique work of literary and culinary joie de vivre, part food memoir, part recipe book, French Cooking for One is Michèle Roberts' first cookbook, and a personal and quirky take on Édouard de Pomiane's ten-minute cooking classic. Once a food writer for the New Statesman, Roberts was born in 1949 and raised in a bilingual French-English household, learning to cook from her French grandparents in Normandy. Her love of food and cookery has always shone through in her novels and short stories.
From quick bites for busy days to sumptuous main courses for those who enjoy spending more time in the kitchen, the focus throughout this book is on dishes that are simple and fun to prepare, and results that are mouthwatering to contemplate and, of course, to eat. With over 160 delicious recipes, the majority of which are vegetarian, combined with piquant storytelling and feminist wit, French Cooking for One is a working cook's book with French flair, bursting with life and illustrated with the author's original ink drawings, full of charm and humour.

The festive season is the time for good food and good company. In some households, along with the holiday feasting at Christmas and New Year, there are summer birthdays! So baking is in demand, and while the kitchen may be hot, the temperature is perfect for raising doughs and keeping butters soft. While we can fall back on our true and tested recipes, it’s also wonderful to bring new friends to the mixing bowl. And what better companion than Magnus Nilsson and his Nordic Baking Book. I never feel confident baking cakes, so there is always a degree of trepidation, especially when it is a special birthday. Delving into Nilsson’s book, his recipes and writing about baking, are both precise and relaxed. The sense of humour dotted through the writing and the sureness of approach adds confidence to your baking. I turned to the sponge recipes (of which there are several), read through his explainer on types of cake, and took his advice choosing his go-to recipe for layer cakes. The sponge batter was generous, so I made three, rather than two small sponges, without thinking about the consequences. The planned 3-layer cake became 5! So double the macaroon and more syrup to keep the cake moist! I retreated to the true and tested for the macaroon layers (an excellent Lois Daish recipe), and concocted my own orange and cardamom syrup. (A citrus-flavoured cake was requested.) My vanilla custard cream wasn’t perfect, but good enough.

There is something quite delightful about designing a cake and stacking the elements of a layer cake. And when it all comes together, depsite the trepidation pre-making and the fear of the cake slanting sideways or collapsing post-assembly, it is quite a thing to behold, as well as eat!

Orange & Cardamom Layer Cake

Sliced and not collasped!

We use Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s cookbooks frequently at home — her recipes are very user-friendly and her methods and proportions guarantee perfect and delicious dishes that immediately become favourites.

”Every meal is something to celebrate — a casual gathering with friends, a weeknight dinner, a long birthday lunch in the garden. It doesn't matter what the occasion, there is an unspoken joy in sharing food with others.”

This collection of recipes includes a guide to creating menus for any occasion, from a celebration of summer produce to pure comfort food in cooler weather, a simple family dinner to a relaxed lunch with friends. Julia pairs ingredients in harmonious and delicious ways, with recipes for every season.

• Other books by Julia Busuttil Nishimura.

We can dispatch to anywhere in Aotearoa by overnight courier, or have books ready to collect from our door in Church Street, Whakatū.

There are new cookbooks this week from some of your favourite cookbook people — the ones who are the best reassuring company in the kitchen and who lead you to new dishes and new flavours.

COMFORT by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh

Ottolenghi's first brand-new major cookbook since the era-defining SIMPLE and FLAVOUR. With over 100 irresistible recipes alongside stories of childhood and home, this is comfort food, Ottolenghi-style.
Ottolenghi brings his inspiring, flavour-forward approach to comfort cooking, delivering new classics that taste of home. A bowl of pasta becomes Caramelised Onion Orecchiette with Hazelnuts & Crispy Sage, a warming soup is Cheesy Bread Soup with Savoy Cabbage & Cavolo Nero, and a plate of mash is transformed into Garlicky Aligot Potato with Leeks & Thyme.
Weaving memories of childhood and travel with over 100 recipes, COMFORT is a celebration of food and home - of the connections we make as we cook, and pass on from generation to generation.

DINNER: 120 vegan and vegetarian dishes for the most important meal of the day by Meera Sodha

“The ability to put a good dinner on the table has become my superpower and I want it to be yours too.,” says Meera Sodha, who has previously brought us the loved cookbooks East and Fresh India.
Dinner is a fresh and joyful celebration of the power of a good meal all created to answer the question: What's for dinner? in an exciting and delicious way. Discover 120 vibrant, easy-to-make vegetarian and vegan main dishes bursting with flavour, including baked butter paneer, kimchi and tomato spaghetti, and aubergines roasted in satay sauce. There are also mouthwatering desserts, such as coconut and cardamom dream cake and bubble tea ice cream, and exciting side dishes, such as salt and vinegar potato salad and asparagus and cashew thoran.
From quick-cook recipes to one-pan wonders and delectable dishes you can just bung in the oven and leave to look after themselves, Dinner is an essential companion for the most important meal of the day.

THAT GREEN OLIVE by Olivia Moore

Everyone has a food story — the recipes and ingredients they've grown up with and grown used to.
In That Green Olive, recipe creator and Aotearoa foodie Olivia Moore shares her story, and shares how to find joy in the kitchen by mixing things up a little.
Drawing inspiration from kiwi classics, restaurants and Olivia's lakeside hometown — with recipes for venison sausages and candied trout — That Green Olive gives you the choice to be a little bit fancy, whether it's beer and gruyere scones or a tasty nduja moussaka.
These are cosy snacks, dinners and desserts designed to inspire and devour, whether you are cooking for yourself, your family or friends.

Having an expert on hand in the kitchen is a bonus. If you don’t have a resident chef, you could try the next best thing: a cookbook about cooking and everything you need to know.

Food historian and home cook Bee Wilson brings us her first recipe book, The Secret of Cooking. And with the subtitle, ‘recipes for an easier life in the kitchen’, you feel at ease with Wilson straight away. With chapters on pots and pans, knives, the joys of the box grater — your essential tools, and getting the most from your ingredients, discovering what element is missing in your dish, and finding easy solutions, there is knowledge galore. Delving into her bank of food knowledge and drawing from some of her favourite food writers, this is not only informative but packed with recipes, from sauces to treats and everyday wonders, across a wide range of culinary styles. This excellent book, compiled from a lifetime’s experience of preparing, eating, thinking and writing about food, realigns even a sophisticated cook’s basic approaches and ingredients, and makes life in the kitchen simpler, more enjoyable, and always satisfyingly productive.

What the critics say: “Reading The Secret of Cooking is like sitting in a warm kitchen with an exceptionally articulate friend.” —Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, authors of Honey & Co.
”A genuinely game-changing cookbook. There’s not a kitchen that should be without a copy” —Nigella Lawson

Enjoy simple cooking at its best with Jeremy Lee’s Cooking: Simply and Well, For One or Many. For everything that’s great about potatoes, aspargaus, and beans, for the love of food — whether it’s a pie or a hearty dish, smoked treats or restortaive soups — you will find something to love here. In Lee’s wonderful turn of phrase, childhood memories, cooking experiences and joyous explorations, the pages are alive with inspiration and musings. There’s a whole chapter on the potato, alongside one on salsify, and you can get to the heart of the matter with offal and nut it out with the walnut. This beautifully produced book is idosyncratic and bursting with food goodness.

What the critics say: “I worship Jeremy Lee. Not just the best cook, he’s also the jolliest, most joyous host, in person, and on the page.” —Olivia Laing
”Jeremy Lee is not only an expectional chef, but an exceptional write. One of the most beautiful cookery books I have ever seen.” —Rcahel Roddy
”Jeremy Lee masters the alchemy of food writing: insighful, witty, encouraging, patient, wise.” —Charlie Porter

Welcome to winter. Feeling like the days are a bit bleak? Maybe you need a ray of sunshine in your kitchen. Sometimes books arrive in clusters. Just in the door at VOLUME are some lovely sunshine-inducing Mediterranean cookbooks. We think these could bring cheer to your kitchen and your palate.

Portico is Leah Koenig’s excellent survey of Roman Jewish cooking. It’s a love letter to Rome, the flavours and the atmosphere, and Koenig’s recipes expertly reflect this wonderful blend of cultures. So whether you are feeling like something hearty — Stuffed Pasta in Broth (Carcioncini in Brodo), or sweet — Fried Almond Pastries with Orange Syrup (Burik Belluz), there will be something here to please the tastebuds.

Melbourne food writer Ella Mittas takes us on a trip to Greece and Turkey in Ela! Ela! This is local cuisine at its best with a focus on four distinct places: Istanbul, Alacati, Crete and Melbourne. It’s an exploration of Mittas’s own cultural heritage and her cooking adventures working in the mountains and by the sea. Discover Kisir, Briam, and her all-time favourite dessert, Galaktoboureko.

Staying with the theme of cultural roots, there’s a new book from the excellent Georgina Hayden. In Greekish, Hayden brings us everyday recipes with all the vibrance of Greek cuisine and the simplicity of cooking at home. Her recipes are a joy to use and even more joyful to eat. Her previous book, Taverna, is a firm favourite in our household. There are handy V, DF and GF markers for easy reference and the recipes range from snacks — Filo-wrapped Feta with Spiced Honey ; to feasts — Pumpkin and Feta Kataifi Pie; to sweet treats — Baklava Riccotta Semifreddo. Delicious.

Back to Italy, Wild Figs and Fennel, is a beuatifully presented delight. It’s a seasonal culinary journey through the sun-soaked landscapes of Italy sure to please. In the Winter section there’s the always popular Spaghetti Puttanesca, Lemon and Wild Fennel Polpette and the wonderfully named Ricotta Cloudballs. Packed with recipes for everyday and special occasions.

Sebze is a celebration of vegetarian Turkish cooking. Here you will find Kahvati (all day breakfast), Meze and Salata, Sokak Yemekleri (street food) as well as breads, mains, pickles, and sweets. Everything looks and sounds delicious. Winter garden favourites could be Pazih Lebeniye Corbasi (Yoghurt Soup with Chickpeas and Swiss Chard), Pazih, Cevizli Eriste (Eriste Noodles with Chard, Walnuts and Crumbly Cheese), or Firinda Sebzeli Karnabahar Mucveri (it’s a baked cauliflower dish!).

Here they are! Some tempting bargains from our wonderful cookbook shelves. There’s plenty to savour here. Try a new cuisine, mix your own drinks, revitalise your sourdough, be creative with an innovative chef, grow your own spices, or take a philosophical walk with the humble potato!

If you think the tasting plate below looks delicious, enter here for more culinary treats!

Quince Philosopher

A kava bowl of quinces had been glowing beautifully in the living room, but now it was time to act. Recently I found some ancient jelly in the cupboard. Quince circa 2002. It looked fine, as in no mildewy mouldy stuff, but it’s incredibly dark red,in fact probably black. Consuming this doesn’t seem likely, but it did remind me how delcious quince jelly is. Saturday it rained. Perfect for hot work at the stove. Reaching for Kylee Newton’s The Modern Preserver revealed not only a lovely jelly recipe (Quince and Cardamom), but also Membrillo (paste). I had enough quinces for both, so grabbed a sharpish knife and some muscle power, and began. This was a two-day job, as the recipe required an overnight straining for the jelly liquid. (In fact, this wasn’t necessary, as most of the juice drained through almost at once.)

While the first batch was cooking, I flexed my muscles for the peeling and coring of the remaining quinces. This is when you need to focus on the end result! We once made Quince Paste for Christmas gifting and I remember it, rightly or wrongly, being quite a process. This Membrillo recipe included lemion peel and vanilla and smelt wonderful smimmering away gently. The quinces changed colour to a beautiful rich yellow, ready to whizz into that soft puree. And then it was back on the stove! And plenty of stirring. Making this again, I would cook the quinces for a bit longer in each stage. I stuck with the recipe timing, but whether it was the type of quince or our sluggish element, I didn’t quite capture the glowing red of the jelly as you will see below. Anyway the fruit was soft and the fragrance wonderful, and ready for the final slow slow bake in the oven. The tempature instruction being: your lowest possible setting!

Here I broke the rules a little, and spooned my puree into small paper cases, thinking they would make good serving sizes. And half a round is perfect for snack! (That lovely plate is made by Esther. @ceramicsbyesther). And the Membrillo is delicous. Definitely worth the effort.

And so to the next day’s work! The jam pan (inherited from my nana) came out of the bottom cupboard to do its hard work. More boiling and stirring! It required a stool nearby for resting. While the recipe indicated 20 minutes of gentle boiling (once the liquid had come to the boil), I almost doubled the time (possibly the result of our timid element) keeping a close eye on that terrible disappoinment called burning! (It didn’t burn.) I wanted a firm jelly, but not rubbery, and watching closely, testing frequently, and noting the changes in consistancy and colour, was worthwhile. I like this recipe. The cardamom is subtle and the small amount of lemon juice takes the edge off the sweetness, but not by much. The colour of quince jelly is divine. A glowingly satisfying result.

Postscript: We did eat dinner. It was a yellow theme. Pumpkin season. Hurrah for $4 Crowns!

This tasty dish from one of my favourite Ottolenghi’s: Flavour. Cinnamon, star anise, a little heat with chilli and black pepper, pumpkin and onions roasted, on a bed of tomato-infused couscous and layered with spinach from the garden. Perfect for autumn.

Every purchase of a cookbook from VOLUME during April goes in the draw to win a copy of Portico by Leah Koenig.

Buy a cookbook during April and go in the draw to win a copy of Leah Koenig's superb new book, Portico: Cooking and feasting in Rome's Jewish kitchen. Every cookbook you buy gets you another entry in the draw.

• Start browsing the cookbooks now!

• Look inside Portico. 

The end of the year and a fresh season for cooking always brings a flurry of new publications. Here are some new cookbooks on our shelves at VOLUME. From everything you need to know about rice to everything you need to know about cooking, to flavours that make you happy, and food to nourish body and soul.

Phaidon produces wonderful comprehensive volumes on specific cuisines. New from their stable is The Korean Cookbook. In typical fashion, there are masses of recipes (over 350) and expert knowledge of cooking techniques, ingredients and pantry staples, and food history. Definitive and authentic.

Sri Owen’s The Rice Book, first published 30 years ago, has been reissued with a new forward by Bee Wilson. It brings together renowned food writer Sri Owen's extensive travels and years of research with recipes for biryanis, risottos, pilafs, and paellas from Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and beyond. A stunning book with updated information and a further 20 new recipes, this is an award-winning classic. Winner of the André Simon Award and One of OFM's 50 Best Cookbooks of All Time.

From San Franscico’s popular Rintaro comes a hip and stylish collection of Japanese izakaya recipes for your home kitchen. Rintaro features straightforward and delicious recipes: dashimaki tamago, gyoza, and homemade udon as well as such delights as a towering melon parfait with bright melon jellies.  This is food that tastes both like Japan and California – not fusion food but the food that you’d expect if the Bay Area were a region of Japan. Idiosyncratic and packed with comforting, tasty delights.

Start Here: With stellar reviews, this is an ideal book for anyone starting in the kitchen or for anyone who wants to improve their cooking. Sohla El-Waylly explains the hows and whys of cooking, introducing the fundamental skills that you need to become a more intuitive, inventive cook. Sohla El-Waylly explains the hows and whys of cooking, introducing the fundamental skills that you need to become a more intuitive, inventive cook. Start Here is a standout— a one-stop resource packed with practical advice and scientific background, helpful tips, and an almost endless assortment of recipe variations.

Looking to spice up your cooking, sisters Maria and Eva Konecsny — the founders of Gewurzhaus — will introduce you to their favourite spices. In Kindred, there’s excellent information about food pairing your spices, how to use them, and how much to use. The recipes are drawn from their German heritage and reflect their love of shared food. Kindred embraces home and kin celebrating the special moments as well as everyday nourishment.

And here’s something irresistible. From the author of Persiana and Persiana Everyday, comes Flavour. Another delicious collection of recipes. Nigella Lawson says it perfectly: “Sabrina Ghayour's Middle-Eastern plus food is all flavour, no fuss - and makes me very, very happy”. For Middle Eastern and Persian food with a twist, Sabrina Ghayour is golden excellence.

*These are not the small red plums mentioned, but another variety waiting to be processed. The plum season continues….

It’s been a summer of trying out new recipes and different cuisines. The abundance of fresh vegetables and heavily laden fruit trees (what a year for plums!) has had me looking for fresh ideas. If you haven’t tried the baked plum recipe in SWEET (by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh), this is highly recommended. (It’s the fruit accompaniment to the Almond Butter Cake.). It worked for our small red plums and our small tart yellow plums. And was delicious on its own or with a little crème fraîche or yoghurt. I was surprised to see a fancy New Zealand-inspired Louise Cake recipe. A very nice, but usually hardly exciting traditional cake given a successful uplift to become a celebratory standout. I haven’t delved into this cookbook much (yet) as some of the recipes looked complicated, but, in fact, I was surprised by the clarity of instructions, and while some of the recipes have several steps (this is not quick after-work baking), it’s not at all daunting — great for delving in on your days off or for special occasions. Saying that, there are also biscuits and moreish snacks. And the aforementioned plums are quick to prepare and even quicker to eat.

If you are looking for a perfect gift for the wine connoisseur or a book to add to your reference library, here is a tasting of new, forthcoming, and interesting titles.

Provocative and irreverent, A Vintner’s Tale is the story of change and innovation in one of New Zealand’s notable industries and an important record of the people who made the world take notice. Written by wine industry veteran Peter Hubscher.

From our southern clime neighbour, a look at the last two decades of Austalian wine making is articulated in Alternative Reality. Max Allen, lecturer in Wine Studies at Melbourne University, award-winning journalist and writer, long-time contributor to Gourmet Traveller Magazine, covers the ground with key people and key moments, along with comprehensive information about more than 150 alternative grape varieties currently grown in Australia and what the wines made from these grapes taste like.

Highly regarded writer Jon Bonné’s lastest book is a tempting and atttractive two volume pleasure. The comprehensive and authoritative The New French Wine takes readers on a tour through every wine region of France, featuring some 800 producers and more than 7,000 wines, plus evocative photography and maps, as well as the incisive narrative and compelling storytelling that has earned Jon Bonné accolades and legions of fans in the wine world.

In Adventures of Rose Wine in Provence discover the history of rosé — known for its gorgeous spectrum of pale pink colors, its aromatic and fruity flavor, and its growing success. Travel through Provence along the Rosé Road, from St. Tropez to St. Barts and beyond; enjoy stories and portraits alongside stunning photographs of Provence's magnificent shores and chateaus and to the places where rosé is celebrated from the luxurious Hotel Eden Rock to historic Club 55.

For something ecclectic and erudite, knowledgable wine writer Neal Martin has produced a singular book, The Complete Bordeaux Vintage Guide 1870-2020 . “..brillaint…addictively dip-in-able…already an indispensable classic reference book." - Victoria Moore, The Telegraph

Staying with bordeaux, this guide to 35 wineries is a must. Bordeaux 1855 is comprehensive and lavishly illustrated and includes detailed maps. Perfect for wine aficionados planning a trip to France as well as wine-loving armchair travelers.

Interested in history and cultural consideration vis-a-vis wine? Then these will appeal:

Rod Phillip’s French Wine is a history of wine in France: from Etruscan, Greek, and Roman imports and the adoption of wine by beer-drinking Gauls to its present status within the global marketplace. “It's a book to read for its unstoppable torrent of fascinating and often surprising details." —Andrew Jefford, Decanter

In Wine: A Cultural History  art historian John Varriano ranges across literature and art, religion and rituals, celebrations and social occassions, medicine and the wine industry, to explore the cultural impact of the both beloved and critiqued beverage.

A recent addition to the excellent ‘Object Lessons’ series is Meg Bernhard’s Wine. Drawing from science, religion, literature, and memoir, Benhard meditates on the power structures bound up with making and drinking this ancient, intoxicating beverage.

Click through on the links to find out more about these new and recent wine titles. Order via our website volumebooks.online or simply email us with your requests.

These Swedish Solbullar, or ‘Sun Buns’ are just one of our innumerable favourites from THE NORDIC BAKING BOOK by Magnus Nilsson. The sweet cardamom buns are filled with vanilla cream and rolled in granulated sugar. Perfect with coffee.

This wonderful book contains recipes for hundreds of Scandinavian cakes, breads, pastries and biscuits, with regional variations and Nilsson’s personable and illuminating commentary. It is an inexhaustible encyclopedia of pleasures.

I never imagined that I would be a great fan of pies, but Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s pastry is perfect every time (ditto her focaccia bread recipes) — just the right proportions and clear instructions for getting the right texture for your dough. In Ostro, the Leek and Potato Pie is now a regular dish (and it doesn’t matter what cheese you have — I have used cheddar, feta, a combo of parmesan, and others, and it’s always delicious and well-received). This photo essay features a recipe from her second book, A Year of Simple Family Food.

The pumpkin pie is surprisingly light — with a flakey buttery pastry —  and tasty (herbs and spices, as well as filling). And it looks excellent — that wonderful orange glow. Simple and budget-conscious ingredients. For this version, I reduced the butter content without losing any integrity in the pastry (it fluffed up beautifully as it cooked) and used walnuts in place of pinenuts. The earthy flavour of these nuts was a perfect accompaniment to the pumpkin. The garden hasn’t delivered the free-sprouting mint yet, so the herb choice for last night was oregano — a gift of a very large sprig that just keeps giving — which has added aromatic depth to our winter dishes this year. Not sure whether you want to make a pie from scratch? We highly recommend Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s cookbooks. Her recipes have revolutionised our savoury pastry making.

The first volume of Niki Segnit’s FLAVOUR THESAURUS has a special place on our kitchen bookcase, and we consult it often, either because we are wondering how ingredients can go together (or not) in something we are about to make, or just because Segnit’s wit, wisdom and snide comments make the book endlessly dippable and a good way to spend those few minutes waiting for the dish to be ‘done’. Segnit introduces us to an ingredient and then ‘cross-references’ it with a whole range of other ingredients, describing the effects and resonances of that combination or flavour collision. Deeply researched and packed with notes, The Flavour Thesaurus is the perfect guide to cooking something exactly the way you want it to be, whether you are a kitchen novice or an experienced chef. It is also a way of avoiding disasters (or at least of going into them with your eyes open). We have had the first volume for years, and now we are delighted with the NEW second volume, which adds another 92 mostly plant-based flavours and over 800 more entries — double the delight!

• The Flavour Thesaurus (1).

• The Flavour Thesaurus: More flavours (2).

• Segnit’s Lateral Cooking is also a brilliant and original aid to understanding and innovating food.

With so much of our personal and collective cultures revolving around a dinner plate, our appetite for reading about food (and its place in our lives and in the lives of others) is insatiable.

Essayist, poet, and pie lover Kate Lebo is inspired by twenty-six fruits. She expertly blends the culinary, medical, and personal in The Book of Difficult Fruit. A is for Aronia, M is for Medlar, and Q is for Quince. Claudia Roden describes it as “ A beautiful, fascinating read full of surprises – a real pleasure.”

What did we eat and when did we eat it? Over the ten chapters of Food: The history of taste, food historian covers the history of food from the hunter-gathers and first farmers to the evolution of the restaurant and the contemporary volume of choice from fast food to slow cooking. Want to know the food fashions of the Renaissance, what they ate during the Industrial Revolution, or the ancient diets of Greece and Rome, this is your book.

Ah, honey! Thinking about getting some bees? Read this delightful account of two men who decide to become beekeepers, learning about nature and about themselves in the process. Inspiring Liquid Gold . “A great book. Painstakingly researched, but humorous, sensitive and full of wisdom. I'm on the verge of getting some bees as a consequence of reading the book.” - Chris Stewart, author of Driving Over Lemons

My First Popsicle is as much an ode to food and emotion as it is to life. A collection of essays edited by actor Zosia Mamet. Contributors include David Sedaris, Patti Smith, Jia Tolentino, and Ruth Reichl. The Kirkus review gave it a thumbs up for gifting. “Most of the essays capture an isolated moment in time, making the book perfect for reading in short, leisurely spurts..the book is an appealing reminder of the power of food...A good gift for foodies." -Kirkus

First Catch is a beautifully written appreciation of making a meal. Stand next to Thom Eagle in the kitchen as he muses on the very best way to coax flavour out of an onion (slowly, and with more care than you might expect), or considers the crucial role of salt in the creation of the perfect assembly for early green shoots and leaves. “A one-off, the kind of food book that I believed was no longer being published ... when I reached the last page, I went back to the beginning.” —Bee Wilson, The Times

Bill Buford's Dirt is a vivid, hilarious, intimate account of his five-year odyssey in French cuisine. Never mind that he spoke no French, had no formal training, knew no one in Lyon, and his wife and twin toddlers lived in New York. A feast of a book. “Buford is excellent company - candid, self-deprecating and insatiably, omnivorously interested... [I] wolfed it down.“ - Orlando Bird, Telegraph

Cooking is thinking! Small Fires is an electrifying, innovative memoir. Rebecca May Johnson rewrites the kitchen as a vital source of knowledge and revelation. Drawing on insights from ten years spent thinking through cooking, she explores the radical openness of the recipe text, the liberating constraint of apron strings, and the transformative intimacies of shared meals. Excellent food writing. 'One of the most original food books I've ever read, at once intelligent and sensuous, witty, provoking and truly delicious, a radical feast of flavours and ideas.' - Olivia Laing

In The Kitchen is a thoughtful and inventive book of essays highlighting our personal relationships with food. Rachel Roddy traces an alternative personal history through the cookers in her life; Rebecca May Johnson considers the radical potential of finger food; Ruby Tandoh discovers a new way of thinking about flavour through the work of writer Doreen Fernandez; and Yemisi Aribisala remembers a love affair in which food failed as a language.

• Some other books of food writing.

Sunday afternoon:
Thomas makes cinnamon buns from THE NORDIC BAKING BOOK by Magnus Nilsson.

This wonderful book contains recipes for many of the things I remember my Danish grandmother making (and me eating) when I was a child, but also hundreds of other cakes, breads, pastries and biscuits, with regional vartiations and Nilsson’s personable and illuminating commentary. We use the book frequently. On Sunday afternoon I made cinnamon buns, even though we still had cardamom cake (also from that book) left from Saturday.

…and Æbleskiver for breakfast!

Nilsson’s The Nordic Cookbook (which we also have) is similarly comprehensive, and provides insight into a wider swathe of Scandinavian food culture, with, again, hundreds of recipes and variations (and many more dishes from Farmor’s repertoire).

The blue glass bowl featured here belonged to my Greek Cypriot grandmother, Maria. It reminds me of sitting at her table eating feta, olives and the best sesame-coated biscuits ever, while the scent of slow-cooking food and spices particular to Cypriot cuisine permeated the air.

Ingredients at the ready for Louvana Me Marathos — budget conscious, with a delicious result!

TAVERNA: Recipes from a Cypriot kitchen by Georgina Hayden — reviewed by STELLA

I have a few Greek cookbooks, but this one I love the best. Partly, because it’s Cypriot cuisine and partly because I’ve become enamoured with several dishes from Taverna.  The one that had me hooked straight away was the Louvana Me Marathos (yellow split pea and wild fennel soup) - so delicious and hearty, especially with a poached egg on top (vegan without). Perfect for any time of the year, and I can recommend it for a hearty winter supper, as well as refreshing summer fare. The lemon gives it zing, while the creamy texture of the split peas and rice is the ultimate comfort eating.
My father made the best keftedes — soft and flavoursome — so I’m always looking to replicate the texture (in my own pescatarian way). Georgina Hayden’s Fish Keftedes in Mustard and Dill are both delicate, creamy and indulgent — and flexible. You can swap out the fish type and adjust the quantity without any major repercussions, and the dill can be swapped for fennel. There are several keftedes recipes — three vegetable (including aubergine, of course) and pork. There are the slow-baked lamb and moussaka dishes which look just like my Yaya’s cooking right down to the enamel dishes, as well as the familiar traditional sweet pastries. In Taverna, Hayden draws on these favourites but also brings a contemporary twist to many of the dishes, making them lighter and less time-consuming to make. If you have apples, make the simple cake Milopita. Oranges? Portokalopita — a delicious sticky citrus wonder with shredded filo and yoghurt. But my favourites in this book remain tilted towards the savoury and everyday. Greek Cypriot cuisine is notable for its blend of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences, with plenty of fish and vegetarian choices. From simple fare to feasts, this is a cookbook to enjoy for its recipes as well as Georgina Hayden’s island and family stories.