At My Table, Nigella Lawson's 12th cookbook, is subtitled "A Celebration of Home Cooking." Yet all of her books to date have celebrated her joy in being an untrained home cook who brings "pleasure, comfort and flavor to life," and in her new book, she does it again. Relaxed and inspiring, our enduring Domestic Goddess just lets the recipes roll—no chapters, no breaks. One recipe leads to another in a fabulous culinary continuum: Golden Egg Curry follows an Easy Egg Tortilla Pie; Radiatori with Sausage and Saffron flows into a recipe for garlicky Meatballs with Orzo; stress-free Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder leads to complexly flavored Pork with Prunes, Olives and Capers; and a Sunken Chocolate Amaretto Cake sits beside Double Chocolate and Pumpkin Seed Cookies. Lawson's clear and explicit instructions, infused with her enthusiasm, underscore the Nigellian mantra: "Life is complicated; cooking doesn't have to be."

AT HOME IN VENICE
Skye McAlpine moved to Venice when she was 6 years old, and her happiest memories center on food. Life in her parents' home played out around the dining table, and she continues the family tradition in her own household, which she shares with her husband and son. She guides us through the recipes Venetians have passed down for generations and cook in their own homes in A Table in Venice: Recipes from My Home, which includes more than 150 gorgeous photos and evocative reminiscences galore. The dishes McAlpine cooks over and over again are as romantic and exotic as the legendary canaled city itself. From an astoundingly easy, astoundingly good classic Bigoli (or Spaghetti) in Salsa, made in minutes with onions and anchovies, to subtly sweet Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins or a verdant Garden Pea and Pancetta Risotto, this is simple, fragrantly fresh, colorful food that's always veramente Veneziano.

TOP PICK IN COOKBOOKS
There was a time when lettuce + dressing = salad, when even the idea of a salad cookbook would have seemed a bit odd. But times have changed, and Saladish: A Crunchier, Grainier, Herbier, Heartier, Tastier Way with Vegetables, Ilene Rosen's imaginative ode to all salads great and small, is proof positive that a salad cookbook can take you places you've never been before, make your taste buds sing and set a new standard for creative combinations. This fabulous book will rev up your repertoire and recharge your "saladish" sensibilities. The former savory chef at New York's ever-popular City Bakery, Rosen has arranged the more than 80 recipes in her book by season, though you'll probably want to make many of these salads—like bright and bracing Gem Lettuces, Avocado, and Tomatillo with Buttermilk Dressing; Tex-Mex Cornbread Salad; Cucumbers with Black Sesame Seeds and tangy Sweet Lime Vinegar; and Baby Carrots with Carrot-Top Pesto—throughout the year. A natural innovator and experimenter, Rosen will send you on an exciting salad journey.

 

This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Chef Rosen, an alum of New York's City Bakery, presents "saladish" meals featuring combinations of seasonal produce, hearty grains, and vibrant dressings. Most are plant-based, meaning vegetables and tofu appear more often than eggs and smoked trout. While browsing recipes such as sourdough bread salad, toasted broccoli with curry leaves and coconut, and Korean rice cakes with kimchi dressing and crispy shallots, readers will discover a variety of technical tips. These range from choose-your-style charts for dressing up plain vegetables to practical cutting diagrams. VERDICT Highly recommended for fans of grain bowls, meal-sized salads, and meatless meals.