AN OCTOBER TREASURE TROVE OF BOOKS FOR  BON VIVANTS

This is an exciting time of the year in the book world as books designed for the Christmas market start pouring into the bookshops. And of course many of them are about food and wine. Those to cross my desk so far, and I know there are more to follow, include the following:

 KITCHEN

Recipes from the heart of the home

Nigella Lawson

Chatto &Windus - $75

Yes a new title from the goddess of the kitchen, the divine Nigella. And it is filled with gorgeous recipes, two of which I have made already to great critical acclaim!
Sadly Nigella and her publishers do not allow excerpts unless one pays large sums of money for the privilge and as this blog earns me not a cent I am not prepared to pay so I can't share the two dishes I made. Just for the record though they were Pappardelle with butternut & blue cheese, and Tomato curry with coconut rice - both totally delicious with a call from family for me to make them again soon.

As Nigella put it herself - “…this book is simply the story of my love affair with the kitchen. Whatever the opposite of the currently still fashionable genre, the misery memoir, might be, this is it: a comfort chronicle.”

She has clearly had a busy year. Not only has she launched her sexy new Nigella App which went to the top spot in the paid-for Lifestyle Apps chart in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Nigella is back with this major new cookbook, and companion, 13-part BBC TV series coming soon to Prime Television. The book is on sale from 15 October and the TV series airs soon after. Can't wait.

Informative and engaging, ‘Kitchen’, (running to almost 500 pages) offers food for both cooks and eaters that is comforting but always seductive, nostalgic but with a modern twist, from “express” style recipes for the time-strapped, hectic week or leisurely slow-cook dishes, or for those special occasions..

As well as offering the reader a mouth watering array of new recipes, both comforting and exciting - from clams with chorizo to Guinness gingerbread, from Asian braised beef to flourless chocolate lime cake, from Pasta alla Genovese to Venetian carrot cake - Nigella rounds up her kitchen kit must-haves (telling us, too, what equipment we don’t need, some interesting inclusions here) and highlights individual ingredients - both basic essentials and modern-day life-savers.
 I found her introduction interesting and useful, and loved her Kitchen confidential section in which she provides tips, shortcuts and habits she has either inherited or acquired during the course of her cooking life.

But above all, Nigella reminds us how much pleasure there is to be had in real food, and in creating simple recipes to make life less complicated.
I am a known fan of course but I reckon this may be the biggest seller among the large number of excellent cookbooks being published over the next two months. I read it from cover to cover. It is not cheap of course so if your budget doesn't stretch this far see if you can't let it be known it would make a very acceptable Christmas gift. It really is a beautiful book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nigella Lawson is the author of bestselling books - How to Eat, How to be a Domestic Goddess (British Book Awards 2001), Nigella Bites (WHSmith Award 2002) Forever Summer, Feast, Nigella Express (no. 1 bestseller with over 1 million sales) and Nigella Christmas - which, together with her successful TV series and her recent iPhone App, Nigella Quick Collection, have made hers a household name around the world.
She lives in London with her family.

PINOT NOIR
The New Zealand Story
John Saker with photography by Aaron McLean
Random House - $50

The Pinot story is a fascinating one and who better to tell it than long-time Pinot Noir devotee and wine expert, John Saker.

His new and lavishly illustrated (I exaggerate not) book Pinot Noir - The New Zealand Story, with stunning photography from award-winner Aaron Mclean, was published 1 October, and Saker argues the case for his beloved Pinot Noir most convincingly and eloquently.

He is the first to admit that Pinot Noir is a little underwhelming to look at: “The dark blue berries are so small, far less imposing than the larger, fit-to-burst orbs you see with ripe Sauvignon Blanc.”
But, it’s all of its other qualities that make this grape so beguiling and so endlessly fascinating says Saker. It’s moody, it’s temperamental and it’s unreliable. “The North Americans call it the ‘heartbreak’ grape.”

We learn that Pinot Noir’s story is full of irony. Often described as an ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’, its contradictions evoke a great deal of discussion, debate and passion.
Its skin is paper-thin, yet Pinot Noir is intolerant of any climate that’s not cool or marginal. Too much sun and heat drains the grape of its aromatic charm and finesse. It ripens early, but doesn’t like to be rushed in the process. It also doesn’t abide high yields so this is why Pinot is more expensive than other varietals: “A typical yield for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is 12 tonnes per hectare; for still Pinot Noir it is 5 tonnes per hectare.”

Pinot Noir is a very complex drink indeed says Saker. Its genetic make-up is breathtaking: “The grape has close to 30,000 genes compared to the human total of 20,000 to 25,000.
It’s also genetically unstable which is a double-edged sword for the grape. “It mutates with spectacular ease in the vineyard Pinot Gris, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc, are all mutations of Pinot Noir”.

New Zealand is an increasingly important player in the Pinot Noir world, and the pace of this growth has been little short of staggering. In the space of a couple of decades the country became a South Pacific stronghold for the grape and its attendant culture. Importantly, it showed that the local industry wasn’t a one-trick pony, based around Marlborough’s vast holding pens of Sauvignon Blanc. Pinot Noir - Burgundy’s demanding, delicate, revered red grape - has added a new layer of sophistication to New Zealand wine.

Wellington-based John Saker deftly navigates this rich territory. He takes readers on a journey, delving deep into the grape’s Old World origins. He then traces the grape’s early introduction here and its rebirth in the late 1970s when New Zealand began to emerge as a serious player in the global pinot scene.

(Pic left, Chard Farm Vineyard, Central Otago)

Finally, John mooches about our five Pinot-strong regions, singling out the producers in each region who have impressed him consistently with their track record and passion: “There is many a rattling good Pinot out there; the vignerons who interest me most are digging deeper into themselves and their land for the real loot."
I liked this comment too - "Some of New Zealand's most devoted and enquiring producers are to be found in Canterbury."

This is an exceptionally beautiful book with a most absorbing and engaging text and I tip my hat to the author and photographer, as well as to the designer, Athena Sommerfeld, and the publishing team at Random House for a job brilliantly executed.. Everyone serious about wine should have a copy of  Pinot Noir on their bookshelf.


About the author:

From Wellington, John’s worked in journalism, advertising and for the past 20 years as a freelance writer. He became NZ Herald wine columnist in 2005, he’s currently the NZ wine writer for Cuisine magazine and his first book, ‘How to drink a glass of wine’ was a popular seller.  He represented New Zealand as Tall Black, captaining the 1984 side.



THE COOK'S HERB GARDEN REVISITED
THE COOK'S SALAD GARDEN REVISITED
Mary Browne, Helen Leach, Nancy Tichborne
Craig Potton Publishing - both $45

Two scrummy and pratical books orginally published a decade or more ago that have been updated and revised bringing great gardening advice along with excellent cooking ideas and recipes.
The multi-talented  Keedwell sisters, Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne, are three South Islanders who have cooked and gardened together since childhood. Pic right below - Helen, Nancy & Mary

Their books contain practical advice on every step from ground prepararion to harvesting and then cooking. Both books will have a wide appeal but I see them of particular interest to those living in city apartments or on a small sections who have limited space but still want to get their hands in the soil and grow their own veges and herbs.
The photographs and illustrations for their books have always come from the sisters themselves and these new titles are no exception. The pics below from the book shoe sage in photograh and drawn form .

 

THE COOK & THE BAKER
Sensational recipes from Mark McDonough & Dean Brettschneider
Random House - $45.00

The Cook & the Baker showcases stylish, gutsy food from cook and food entrepreneur, Mark McDonough, the owner of highly successful Zarbo Deli and Café in Newmarket and Global Baker Dean Brettschneider, judge of Nestlé New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker.

Together they have assembled this collection of delicious recipes for the home chef – breads, entrées, mains, desserts, cakes, cookies and pastries. Each recipe is crammed full of flavour and colour from fabulous fresh ingredients, herbs and spices. There are plenty of international influences, and the recipes are all approachable and achievable at home. From everyday meals to special occasions, there are recipes here for everyone.

In The Cook & The Baker, their first collaboration in print, McDonough and Brettschneider create dishes that are tasty and flavoursome, enabling the reader to prepare food with punch, maximum flavour and eye-appeal without the need for blood, sweat and tears.

The Cook & the Baker is fresh looking and easy to use, featuring delectable recipes and beautiful photography — a perfect gift for any foodie. Brettschneider and McDonough will feature in an upcoming television series to screen on Food TV in October, also titled The Cook & The Baker, which will take viewers behind the scenes of the making of the cookbook. Should be great TV.

About the authors:

Dean Brettschneider is a professional baker and patissier. After completing his apprenticeship in New Zealand he worked in the US, Britain, Europe and the Middle East, gaining experience in all areas of the baking and patisserie world. Today, Dean is regarded as one of the best bakers on the planet. Following some years based in Shanghai, Dean is now working from Denmark and Britain, but still visits New Zealand regularly throughout each year and has bakery interests in Auckland and Shanghai. Dean’s previous baking books have won World Food Media Awards and Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Dean also appears as judge of the successful television series Nestlé New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker and in many other television programmes that promote baking excellence.

Mark McDonough owns Zarbo, one of the first big delicatessans in Auckland to offer a large range of local and imported food products and fresh cafe meals. Zarbo won Cafe of the Year in Michael Guy’s Cafe magazine in 2008. Mark started in the hospitality industry as a university student, as a way of paying the bills, but then found it was more fun than studying. Although he has never trained formally as a chef, Mark has the main prerequisite: a deep-seated love of food and an understanding of flavour combinations. Mark lives in Auckland with his wife, Cushla, and two children, Felix and Olive. Mark’s previous books have all been top sellers and reprinted several times.