Rewarding baking projects, fermenting skills, a fresh look at leftovers… Whatever your kitchen resolutions are for 2024, find inspiration in Mark Diacono’s pick of useful new cookbooks
Recipe I can’t wait to make: Ham, cabbage, apple and mustard gratin (above).
I didn’t know that… The delicious crispy crust on the bottom of a paella is known as socarrat.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
SECOND HELPINGS
Food writer (and delicious. health writer) Sue Quinn is widely admired for deeply researched and tested books, and this may be her best yet. Focusing on innovative ways to use leftovers, fridge odds and ends, and tail-ends of packets, the 100 recipes are a celebration of what otherwise might not get used. There are ‘master’ recipes (such as risotto) to adapt to what’s at hand, as well as everything from handy tricks (including whipped flavoured butters) to mains such as lemony yogurt pasta with (leftover) chicken and za’atar. I particularly liked the emphasis on generating leftovers intentionally – roasting double batches – as a way of saving energy and part-preparing the next meal. As Quinn says, “Framing a dish around food that needs using up is a helpful guide” to creating delicious meals. Saving money and wasting less never tasted so good.
Quadrille £18.99, out 11 January; photographs by Facundo Bustamante
BAKING FOR PLEASURE
Pastry chef and Junior Bake Off presenter Ravneet Gill’s third book oozes with enthusiasm and appeal. With over 80 recipes for everything from weekend bakes to dinner party pieces to savoury bakes, the emphasis is on cooking for pleasure, enriched with Gill’s familiar accessibility (learn more about her on p20 and see her exclusive recipe on p66).
The ’nduja puff pastry sausage rolls made my weekend and the malted chocolate and peanut loaf was finished off in a day. This is a super-helpful book, with good baking advice and widely available ingredients. It inspires you to bake, then rewards your efforts.
Recipe I can’t wait to make: Brown butter and honey baked tart (below).
I didn’t know that… Saffron in rice pudding is so good.
Pavilion £26; photographs by Mike Tsang
SMALL PLEASURES
Ryan Riley is the co-founder of Life Kitchen, a not-for-profit cookery school for those whose sense of taste has been affected by cancer or Covid. His second book focuses on flavoursome recipes that – as their chapters promise – comfort (I’m looking at you, harissa baked camembert)
