QUICK COOKING by Mary Berry (BBC Books, $60)
Lemon pants. White jacket and whiter teeth. Helmet hair and actual helmet. The photo of Mary Berry clutching a mustachioed Italian on the back of a Vespa is, perhaps, the best advertisement you'll ever see for home cooking. There she is - the 83-year-old British Bake Off legend - grinning maniacally, full of joy and speedy pasta dinners. Berry has written more than 75 cook books and this one (off the back of a new television series) doesn't break any especially new gourmet ground but the quick prep times will be a boon to mid-week menu planning. (The images of Berry rocking lipstick-red slacks et al are the icing on the white chocolate and hazelnut traybake).
LEON: FAST VEGAN by Rebecca Seal, Chantal Symons and John Vincent (Hachette, $55)
The other week I marinated very thin strips of salt-baked carrot in liquid smoke, lemon juice and olive oil. I strained a dollop of almond milk yoghurt and flavoured the thickened mass with capers, red onion and salt. I served this "cream cheese" and "salmon" on discs of telegraph cucumber. Not one of my dinner guests realised they were eating vegan. If the dish looked a bit 80s, the recipe was pure 2019. This is the year plant-based eating goes mainstream (witness the new pea protein Magnum icecream) and if you want to cook like the cool kids, get this book. Leon is a British restaurant chain that boasts "naturally fast food". Its 10-point manifesto won't be everyone's cup of soy latte (use herbs as medicine, etc) but its recipes are accessible and tasty. A smattering of great faux foods - like aubergine "meatballs" and aforementioned salmon - sit alongside delicious staples and a tonne of really useful tips for vegan cooking. Chickpea flour instead of eggs in your weekend french toast? Strange, but true.
THE 5-MINUTE SALAD LUNCHBOX by Alexander Hart (Smith Street Books, $28.99)
January was for salads. So is February through December, thanks to this handy, 52-recipe compendium of lunchbox ideas. One of its salad categories is "zoodle", a word that should not be used by anybody over the age of 6, but stay with me, because the actual noodle section includes some pretty yummy suggestions for cold ramen and soba. Most of the salads have a protein component - meat, cheese, nuts, pulses and more - so would work as a complete meal. You'd probably need some supermarket pre-cut (the horror!) vege to guarantee a prep time under five minutes and if you're going to do that you might as well just buy a salad. Best, perhaps, to treat these recipes as an inspirational starting point. Nothing will convince me broccoli "rice" is a good idea but late summer peaches, chicken and bulghur wheat with a maple cider dressing is on my Must-Do list.
