Variety of additions for cook's bookshelf

A delightful variety of cookbooks that would be a welcome addition to any aspiring cook's kitchen.

Pizza, especially if it's a good one, is a favourite with almost everyone, so a book on the subject by the world pizza champion, Australian chef John Lanzafame, Pizza modo mio (Murdoch, pbk, $40) is welcome.

His philosophy is to make a thin, crisp crust, and concentrate on one flavour, not pile on a lot of different ones.

His recipes include both traditional pizzas such as margherita, pepperoni and puttanesca, as well as his own creations "modo mio" such as spinach, feta and olive, pumpkin, and variations such as calzone (stuffed pizza) and pizza pies.

A book to reawaken enthusiasm for a great simple, but often bastardised dish.

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Making a risotto is one of the most calming, sensuous, satisfying cooking experiences Maxine Clark knows, she says in the introduction to Risotto: with vegetables, seafood, meat and more (Ryland Peters and Small, pbk, $30).

Risotto, like pizza, is an Italian all-in-one dish that has spread around the world, a thick, creamy dish that can be eaten in many ways, but is best made fresh, and, as her recipes demonstrate, can be made in many different flavours and variations.

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As much a photographic book as a recipe book, Summertime (Penguin, pbk, $40) combines two of the most popular book genres.

Light summery recipes by Rodney Greaves and photographs of New Zealand summer scenes, many of them beach or lake scenes, make it idyllic browsing.

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Murdoch is producing a new series of ingredient-based books, Providore. The first two, The Baker and The Butcher (hbk, $45 each) are by Leanne Kitchen.

She gives useful information in the introductions, and the recipes vary from traditional to interesting ones that beg you to get into the kitchen and try - sardine and silverbeet wholemeal pizza, carrot and hazelnut cake, mocha waffles with espresso syrup, warm pork salad with blue cheese croutons, Circassian chicken stuffed with walnuts.

Look out for the next two, The Dairy and The Greengrocer, out in the next few months.

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While many cookbooks are expensive, there are several smaller little books with enticing recipes.

One is 200 Make Ahead Dishes by Sara Lewis (Hamlyn, pbk, $17). Dishes that can be cooked ahead range from the usual suspects of soups, braises and pies to soufflés that can be cooked from frozen.

 

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Penguin have published a series of "bibles", small books of recipes on a theme.

Slow Food Bible and Vegetarian Bible (pbk, $20 each) are recent issues, both by Margaret Barca; the former big on slow-cooked meat dishes, the vegetarian one with dishes including grains and pulses, pasta and noodles, eggs and cheese, tofu, soups, salads and, of course, vegetable dishes.

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The Australian Women's Weekly also has fat little recipe books: Stew: braises and casseroles, and Roast: classic and contemporary (ACP, pbk, $23 each).

 

Both include fish and vegetable recipes as well as meat, which makes them more broadly useful.

 

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Cookbooks that explore a regional cuisine are usually fascinating, as is Theodore Kyriakou's A Culinary Voyage around the Greek Islands (Quadrille, hbk, $55).

The Greek cook explores the diversity and inventiveness of island food, based on frugality and limited ingredients - seafood, vegetables, herbs, and perhaps a bit of meat from time to time.

A delicious and inspiring book.

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People who enjoy Wellington chef Martin Bosely's stylish recipes in the Listener may want his new book, Martin Bosley Cooks (Random House, pbk, $45) which collects his columns together.