April 2012 Cook Books

Wanaka: Earth to Heaven at Whare Kea

Myer & Mckay & Myer, HB, $75

Winner of 2012 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for Best Wine & Food Cookbook.  

Louise and Martyn Myer have been coming to Wanaka from Australia for 25 years, and they made a huge commitment to the district when they built their elegant Whare Kea Lodge there fifteen years ago. This lovely inn makes it possible for overseas guests to immerse themselves in the Wanaka experience, including visiting the Myers' chalet perched high on a peak in the Southern Alps, looking straight across to Mt Aspiring. Whare Kea is a lodge with a difference: sure, it's luxurious, but guests are really encouraged to get out and experience the outdoors. This book is the Myers gift to the region they have come to love, and a celebration of the local people who have become their friends and who make it special. With 65 recipes from the spectacular Whare Kea kitchen and outstanding photography by Kieran Scott, this is the book Wanaka has been waiting for - and truly deserves. Buy now

My Grandmother's Kitchen

by Laura Clarke & Claire Wallace, HB, $59.99

My Grandmother's Kitchen is more than just a cookbook. It celebrates the lives of grandmothers from around the world and shares their special recipes for life as well as the delicious food that has been passed down through generations.
Full of inspirational stories, hard-won words of wisdom, stunning photography and delicious global cuisine, My Grandmother's Kitchen® also allows you to write your own ending - with a chapter devoted to preserving the life, wisdom and recipes of a special grandmother or mother in your own life to keep for future generations.
Grandmothers are arguably the best cooks in the world and inside you will find a selection of secret, home made recipes from all over the world that you can make at home.
Amid the tales of joy and heartbreak, droughts and floods, famine and plenty and war and celebration, one truth shines through - love is always the answer. And nothing shows love like a grandmothers cooking. Buy now
 

Food You Can't Say No To

by Tamasin Day-Lewis, HB, $45

Here is a book filled with good things, some of which you will find familiar but with an original twist, others are entirely new and exciting. Some are special purely because of their unabashed simplicity, using a few of the very best ingredients and disarmingly easy to perfect. Tamasin's philosophy is all about making the most of foods, especially ingredients in season, rather than spending extravagantly.

If you're in need of inspiring new supper ideas, try the Roquefort, celery, potato, red onion and walnut pie; or a comforting Salmon and scallop chowder, smoky with bacon and flecked with tarragon; or uplifting Potato gnocchi with spring asparagus, tomatoes, green olives and mascarpone. Resist, if you can, a light whisked Sponge topped with vanilla and lemon scented mascarpone and yogurt. This is food you will enjoy cooking: effortless but special, indulgent yet practical, totally, utterly irresistible. Buy now

Good Harvest: Recipes from the Gardens of Rural Women NZ

TP, $34.99

Is your garden bursting with tomatoes or overrun with pumpkins? Are your feijoa or lemon trees dripping with fruit? What on earth do you do with all this fantastic extra produce? A Good Harvest: Recipes from the gardens of Rural Women New Zealand shows you how to make the most of an abundance of seasonal fruit and vegetables. Practical, easy to use and utterly dependable, these recipes from the collections of members of Rural Women New Zealand include chutneys, jams and pickles, marinades and pie filllings, sauces, cakes and biscuits and more. Step-by-step instructions on bottling, freezing and other preserving methods are clear and easy to follow. A Good Harvest also includes plenty of gardening information, to help readers achieve the bumper crop in the first place. Ilustrated with images of rural life, A Good Harvest also includes tips and comments from rural kitchens around the country. A fabulous follow-up to A Good Spread (pub 2010), it's a compendium of classic recipes, cooked by real women and handed down the generations. Buy now

Saved by Cake

by Marian Keyes, HB, $37

Saved by Cake gives an extremely honest account of Marian Keyes' recent battle with depression, and how baking has helped her. A complete novice in the kitchen, Marian decided to bake a cake for a friend and that was it - she realized that baking was what she needed to do in order to get her through each day. And so she baked, and she wrote her recipes down, and little by little the depression has started to lift, along with her sponges . . . With chapters on cupcakes, cheesecakes, meringues and macaroons, chocolate cakes, fruit cakes and favourite classics, Marian's recipes are aimed firmly at beginner bakers, offering hints and tips to help along the way. Never patronizing, always honest and witty, accessible and full of fun, the bakes and cakes that Marian serves up in this cookbook will put a smile on your face and make you happy. From her Consistently Reliable Cupcakes and Very Chocolately Macaroons, to the ease of her Fridge-set Honeycomb Cheesecake, you will want to have a go at making all of Marian's recipes. The shoe and handbag biscuits particularly. Very covetable. Very Marian. Buy now

Super Natural Every Day

by Heidi Swanson, PB, $29.99

Heidi Swanson's approach to cooking whole, natural foods has earned her a global following. From her Northern California kitchen, she introduced us to a less-processed world of cooking and eating. In Super Natural Every Day, Heidi helps us make nutritionally packed meals part of our daily repertoire by sharing a sumptuous collection of nearly 100 of her go-to recipes. These are the dishes that Heidi returns to again and again because they're approachable, good for the body, and just plain delicious. This stylish cookbook is equal parts inspiration and instruction, showing us how to create a welcoming table filled with nourishing food for friends and family. The flavourful vegetarian recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, treats, and drinks are quick to the table but tasty enough to linger over. Gorgeously illustrated with over 100 photos that showcase the engaging rhythms of Heidi's culinary life and travels, Super Natural Every Day reveals the beauty of uncomplicated food prepared well and reflects a realistic yet gourmet approach to a healthy and sophisticated natural foods lifestyle.  Buy now