Neil Sowerby recommends five more fascinating food books for serious cooks.
Verdura â Vegetables Italian Style by Viana La Place (Grub Street pb, £12.95)
Reissue of a much loved classic that influenced the cooks at the legendary River Cafe s well as the Nineties generation of questing home cooks. Fresh ingredients simply cooked is the timeless mantra. From artichokes and radicchio to the more arcane chayote and cardoons, itâs a voyage of exploration se firmly in the Italian canon of pizzas and pastas, risottos and soups. Particularly inviting are the puds such as grilled figs with honey and walnuts and lemon granita ad brioche.
Jekkaâs Herb Cookbook by Jekka McVicar (Ebury Press, hb £25)
Creative use of herbs is all the rage this summer. The Sunday Times did a âHerbs are the new rock and roll featureâ? the other week, name-dropping this beautifully illustrated tome. Jekka McVicar (Jamie Oliverâs favourite grower, he penned the introduction) offers 250 original recipes using the top 50 varieties from her Gloucestershire gardens. Sauteed chicken with lovage and cider, anyone?
Spices Salts and Aromatics in The English Kitchen by Elizabeth David (Grub Street, hb £12.99)
The Great Gourmet Guru, who introduced sun-starved post-War Britain to all things Med in the kitchen veered off into more abstruse scholarly realms later. This the bridging point, where through ingredients such as nutmeg, cardamom and juniper, she points up the influence of centuries of oriental trade on British cooking. Spiced brisket, brawn, sweet fruit pickles to Raj versions of curry in a fascinating miscellany, the first of several David reissues by the foodie publishing house Grub Street. Coming up in September is her comprehensive English Bread and Yeast Cookery (£14.99)
Manzanilla by Christopher Fielden and Javier Hidalgo (Grub Street, hb £14.99)
An original this time from Grub Street. A veteran wine writer and the creator of Spainâs finest Manzanilla combine to define the essence of this freshest and most delicate sherry type. It is made from grapes grown around the exotic Andalusian port of Sanlucar de Barrameida, from where Columbus set sail to discover America. Aficionados can detect the salty tang of the estuary in Manzanilla. Whatever, it is suddenly a very fashionable drink in Spain.
Eat Up! by Charles Campion (Kyle Cathie hb £16.99)
Subtitled Seeking Out The Best of British Home Cooking, this is a slight but occasionally illuminating journey away from a world dominated by glossy celebrity chefs on the one hand and the grim alternative of convenience and junk food. The London Evening Standard food writer ventures beyond the capital for a quirky series of meals with independent-minded home cooks. I particularly like the Otley chap with a brewery in his tiny cellar who serves venison casseroled in IPA.
