Cookbooks

Two pie cookbooks landed on my desk recently: Comfort Pie by Scottish writer Kathryn Hawkins (New Holland), and Pie (Penguin) by New Zealander Dean Brettschneider, who styles himself the Global Baker. Both contain information about and recipes for pastry, tips on making pies and even a little history of this ancient means of cooking.

As the title suggests, Comfort Pie is more about home-style cooking, although there are plenty of adventurous recipes like speha, a Lebanese open filo pie made with lamb and pomegranate seeds, or m'hanncha, a Moroccan "snake" pie filled with nuts and dates and coiled like a snake, as well as more traditional venison, chicken, fruit, cheese and vegetable pies in many forms. Unfortunately its index is basic.

Brettschneider (who owned a South Dunedin bakery for a few years in the 1990s) has more "cheffy" recipes, as well as some traditional ones,

often with a characteristic twist - fish with leek and chorizo, two varieties of Cornish pasties, sweet and spicy veal, pork and macadamia nut tart, a shepherd's pie with a topping of crisp herbed potatoes instead of mash, and bacon, curried egg and ricotta pie. It has a good index allowing you to find recipes for any ingredient you might have.

Both are smartly produced with mouthwatering photographs - if only pastry wasn't so full of fat!

At only 21, Sam Stern is a celebrity chef and author of six cookbooks. His latest, Virgin to Veteran: How to get cooking with confidence (Quadrille) aims to get beginner cooks, whether teenagers or adults, cooking. He starts with the virgin kitchen set up with the gear you will need, how to store

things and simple techniques like deseeding chillies, crushing garlic, skinning tomatoes, roasting peppers and suchlike. There is lots of additional information about nutrition, storage, saving time and other tips, all funkily presented.

Recipes cover the range of meals, nibbles, desserts and cakes, everything from how to roast pork, make a proper fish pie, whip up a frittata or onion marmalade, to assembling Thai beef salad, baking apple pie, and impressing friends with raspberry vodka sorbet. Recommended for someone leaving home who needs a complete cookbook or anyone wanting to get their cooking skills up a notch or two.