The Best Cookbooks
The gift that keeps on giving...
Here's our roundup of the best, whether you're on the hunt for a gift for the foodie in your life or need some inspiration for non-boring and tasteful recipes we've got you...
1. Planted
As Marcus Wareing's executive chef at Tredwells, winner of AA's London Restaurant of the year, Chantelle is clearly very talented. In Planted she offers an abundance of tasty, restaurant-quality vegan recipes to make at home. Her recipes may look high-end, but they are easy to create in your kitchen and will impress even the most devoted meat- and cheese-lovers. This is not a book about veganism, it is about fantastic and tasty food, made without animal products. It celebrates produce, seasonality and food that tastes good!
by Chantelle Nicholson £19.49
2. Honey & Co.
Brought to you by the award-winning chefs behind the Honey & Co, empire, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich present delicious Middle Eastern dishes that are easy to make and a pleasure to serve.
'Just the sort of food I want to eat: welcoming, abundant, and with as much heart as flavour.' Nigella Lawson
by Sarit Packer £14.78
3. Simple
Everything you love about Ottolenghi, made simple. Bursting with colourful photography, Ottolenghi showcases Yotam's standout dishes that will suit whatever type of cooking you find easy - whether that's getting wonderful food on the table in under 30 minutes, using just one pot to make a delicious meal, or a flavoursome dish that can be prepared ahead then served when you're ready. These brilliant, flavour-forward dishes are all SIMPLE in at least one (but very often more than one) way.
by Ottolenghi £14.59
4. Pollen Street
In the cookbook for his flagship restaurant, Jason Atherton's brought together eighty of his favourite Pollen Street Social recipes. Opening in 2011, Pollen Street Social was awarded a coveted Michelin star just six months after opening, and the accolades and awards have continued ever since, these pages highlight exactly why. This cookbook is bound to inspire elaborate dinner parties.
by Jason Atherton £35.51
5. Slow
In a world where we have less time, Gizzi Erskine breathes new life into the idea of 'slow'. Embrace technique, understand the stories behind your ingredients and learn to savour the art of cooking again. The result of a life-long affair with food, slow shows you how to braise, bake, poach and roast to truly make the most of every flavour. From nourishing stews, melt-in-the-mouth roasts and indulgent puddings, to simple guides to making your own pasta, noodles, dumplings and pastry, each recipe tells the story of Gizzi's passion for food that's worth waiting for.
by Gizzi Erskine £14.74
6. Missoni Family Cookbook
While Missoni clothes have been handed down by fashionistas since the 1970s and are covetable and prized, Francesco Maccapani Missoni, the son of designer Angela Missoni, feels the same way about the family's distinctive recipes. For the first time, The Missoni Family Cookbook chronicles the Missoni culinary tradition, making these delicious, well-guarded family recipes available to home cook. One for the coffee table or the stylish foodie in your life, you can now be at home- and a tavola-with the Missonis.
by Francesco Maccapani Missoni £38
7. How to eat a peach
Diana Henry is a food writer (currently the Sunday Telegraph's), journalist and broadcaster. Over several unmissable volumes, Diana has established herself as one of Britain's leading food writers hoovering up awards and accolades as she goes. From her early childhood habit of recording delicious recipes in exercise books, How to Eat a Peach, is the supreme fusion of taste and memory. The food will take you places, from an afternoon at the seaside in Brittany to a sultry evening eating mezze in Istanbul. This cookbook is a luxuriant, foodie paradise, as beautifully written as the results it promises.
'Everything Diana Henry cooks I want to eat.' - Yotam Ottolenghi
by Diana Henry £19.99
8. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Quite simply an essential, this beautiful, approachable book captures how it should feel to cook: full of exploration, spontaneity and joy. Whether you want to balance your vinaigrette, perfectly caramelise your roasted vegetables or braise meltingly tender stews, if you can train yourself to recognise the proper balance between salt, fat and acid, then apply the right kind of heat, you'll churn out sophisticated fare and Samin's canon of 100 essential recipes and their dozens of variations will teach you how - if you've watched her accompanying Netflix documentary series, you'll know just how aspiring she can be for anyone wanting to be a better cook!
by Samin Nosrat £18.84
