No-fuss, practical fare from Australian chef

When chefs try to do basic home-style food, they often fail dismally, but Australian Andrew Telford manages to be both down-to-earth and homely, practical and helpful in The Basics: A really useful cookbook (Allen and Unwin, pbk, $40).

Once you get past the lack of glossy illustrations and the plain Courier typeface, it's full of simple everyday recipes, from nicoise salad to cooking whole fish, from meat loaf to apple pie, but best of all is the page of hints and variations alongside each recipe.

There's also a section of base recipes for stocks, pastries, and staples, as well as information about ingredients, fruit, vegetable, cheeses, meats, flours, oils, cooking for people with allergies and intolerances, kitchen equipment, cooking techniques and other useful bits and pieces.

It's a book for those who like information without fuss. A really useful book, especially for someone starting out cooking.

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Many cookbooks aimed at people with diabetes feature Western foods, so dietitian Magdalin Cheong and chef Daniel Yeo of Singapore have compiled A Cookbook For Diabetics (Marshall Cavendish, pbk, $28) for those who prefer Asian flavours.

Many of the recipes will have broad appeal, like spicy coriander and parsley chicken, but some, like double-boiled frog leg soup may be too specialised for many New Zealanders.

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Afternoon Tea Parties by Susannah Blake (Ryland Peters and Small, hbk, $50) caught my imagination with its menus, recipes and evocative photographs of afternoon-tea spreads, from a classic English tea with Darjeeling, finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, butter cookies and lemon drizzle cake, to a tropical tea with punch, chicken satay, fruit skewers, spice biscuits and pineapple cake.

Each themed menu includes a tea or related drink, a savoury, biscuits and cake. Afternoon teas are making a comeback, along with our rediscovered delight in baking and this light-hearted book, with an old-fashioned feel but a modern touch, may inspire some leisurely afternoon-tea parties.

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Clodagh McKenna's The Irish Farmers' Market Cookbook (Collins, pbk, $35) may be from the other side of the world, but the produce she features is familiar to us in southern New Zealand - potatoes, cabbage, beans, carrots, beetroot, apples, pears, bacon, pasta, cheeses - and the recipes translate well to our way of cooking.

They reflect traditional Irish food - soda bread, Irish stew, baked apples, as well as simple contemporary dishes such as beetroot, goat's cheese and walnut salad, or slow-roasted lamb shanks with fresh ginger, apricots, tomatoes and couscous, and will appeal to those who like honest, local food.

The author, who presents a television show, also profiles Irish food heroes from the many farmers markets around the Emerald Isle.