4 Cookbooks We're Loving This Spring
Healthy, time-saving, delicious recipes for Spring and Summer
There's something about the arrival of Spring that means we get our cooking mojo back. All the fresh produce that starts hitting the shelves and markets, the chance to eat outside and go for picnics, means it's a perfect time to hunt down some new cookbooks for inspiration.
Here are four that we're loving at the moment, including one that has become an absolute go-to on busy weekday evenings.
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
This is a lovely book that is more a memoir told through recipes than a straightforward cookbook. The author talks about the different roles food has played in her life, including when grieving for her father. It's beautifully written and contains the best recipe for a chocolate torte we've ever used. Honestly, this cake is incredible - it's deceptively easy to make but tastes unbelievably good. Perfect to take along to dinner with friends or for a special occasion.
Wizenberg explains her thoughts about our relationship with cooking in her introduction: 'When we fall in love with a certain dish, I think that's what we're often responding to: that something else behind the fork or the spoon, the familiar story that food tells.' This is a book to savour.
The Modern Cook's Year by Anna Jones
As long-standing fans of Anna Jones we were thrilled to get our hands on her latest. Based around the seasons, this cookbook is crammed full of vibrant, healthy, tasty and easy vegetarian recipes. What we love, as well as how delicious everything is, is how she gives you charts with different elements of dishes that you can adapt according to what's in your cupboard, or what you fancy eating.
Simple by Diana Henry
Diana Henry is the food writer for The Telegraph newspaper and has published 10 cookbooks to date. Her philosophy (like the title) is simple: we can all cook; we just need inspiration and ideas. This book is full of easy, faultless, recipes that draw on tastes and ingredients from all around the world.
Simple food doesn't need to be plain, and Henry's fuss-free recipes are the kind of cooking that just needs a bit of assembling and bunging in the oven. Whether you need ideas for work night suppers or food for friends, this book has you covered. And it even matches our napkins, so double win.
The Green Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer
Oh goodness, this book! It's the most-used cookbook in our kitchen, thanks to its brilliant concept: all the dishes can be cooked in one tin. The recipes use fresh, easy-to-source ingredients for all seasons, but come into their own as Spring/ Summer offer up their natural bounty. From quick meals to those that are easy to prepare and need longer in the oven, there's something for every occasion in here. And the genius is that it's easy, completely delicious and there's hardly any washing up!
You can increase the quantities to feed more, or to plan ahead and create weekday lunches. Every dish we've made from this book has been a success. Go get it and see what all the fuss is about.
What are your go-to cookbooks for Spring/ Summer? The table linens in these photographs can be found here and here.
