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15 gift-worthy cookbooks to give as gifts this Christmas

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Gift-worthy cookbooks to give as gifts this Christmas

The cookbooks to give as gifts this Christmas

What to give at Christmas? Books make for perfect presents. And for the home cooks in your life – cookbooks are the gifts of choice.

We’ve picked out the latest cookbooks that your loved ones will love – whether it’s to use over and over again or just to adorn the coffee table. Pair it with a rolling pin, apron, a nice bottle of wine, or a homemade food & drink gift, and that’s one item less on your Christmas to-do list.

Our list of cookbooks as gifts spans notable newcomers, cult-favourite food-blogs-turned-books, and award-winning tomes from renowned chefs that reimagine the culinary landscape. Some are bestsellers, some hidden gems, and some plucked from our own thoughtfully stocked kitchens at home.

Explore our pick of gift-worthy cookbooks to give as gifts to everyone on your list (or to buy for yourself) in 2021.

Food and Wellness

The Sobell House Vegetarian Cook Book
by Tim Wraith

Sobell House publishes second cookbook with vegeterian recipes from celebrities and local chefs

Published to raise awareness and funds for Oxfordshire’s Sobell House Hospice, Food & Wellness is a collection of over 30 recipes from a wide range of celebrities and local chefs. The book features well-known faces, including Rick Stein, Mel Giedroyc and Paul Chahidi, alongside Oxfordshire eateries that hold Sobell House close to their hearts.

All the recipes in this book are vegetarian, and many are also vegan. It showcases the diversity of plant-based food with dishes such as Twice-Baked Cheese Soufflé, Bengali Dhal, Burrata with Broad Bean Pesto, Rhubarb & Pistachio Tart, Gluten-Free Pizza Wraps and many more.

Published: 08 November 2022

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Cooking

Simply and Well, for One or Many
by Jeremy Lee

Cooking by Jeremy Lee

From a lifetime of cooking with some of the UK’s greatest chefs – as well as lessons from his cookery teacher mother’s brilliant home cooking – this book is about good food honed from good ingredients, whether that be some great potatoes, asparagus or some berries. It is they that invariably and best spark the idea of what to cook for supper.

The cookbook is brimming with stories, wit, infectious joy for food and indispensable advice. It is brilliantly illustrated by John Broadley and photographed by Elena Heatherwick and will surely be one of the most distinctive cook books published for years from the renowned chef Jeremy Lee. The book is a masterclass in simply things done well.

Published: 01 September 2022

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Together

Memorable Meals Made Easy
by Jamie Oliver

Together: Memorable Meals Made Easy by Jamie Oliver

Being with our loved ones has never felt so important, and great food is the perfect excuse to get together. Each chapter features a meal – from Curry Night to Last-Minute Feast, Garden Lunch to Autumnal Fare – with a simple, achievable menu that can be mostly prepped ahead.

Jamie’s Together also helps to take the stress out of cooking by arming you with tips, tricks and hacks to stay organised and get ahead of the game. Inspirational but practical, Together is about comfort, celebration, creating new memories and, above all, sharing fantastic food.

Published: 02 September 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Med: A Cookbook

by Claudia Roden

Med: A Cookbook by Claudia Roden

Claudia Roden is credited with revolutionising Western attitudes to Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food. Over thirty years on from her first Mediterranean cookbook, Claudia shares the sun-soaked simplicity of the Mediterranean with new recipes for effortless, everyday cooking.

This is how Claudia cooks for friends and family – always putting flavour first, beautiful ingredients, fuss-free cooking, relaxed eating. From Provence to the Levant, Andalusia to Morocco, explore the many and varied flavours of the Mediterranean as Claudia shares a life’s worth of travelling and stories along with the food she cooks now.

Published: 02 September 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Rick Stein at Home

Recipes, Memories and Stories from a Food Lover’s Kitchen
by Rick Stein

Rick Stein at Home: Recipes, Memories and Stories from a Food Lover's Kitchen

Rick Stein has spent his life travelling the world in search of cooking perfection – from France and Italy to Australia and the far east – and inspiring millions of food lovers with the results. In Rick Stein At Home, he takes us into the rhythms and rituals of his home cooking.

In his first book, to celebrate his all-time favourite home-cooked meals, Rick shares over 100 recipes, including many from his recent Cornwall series. Sharing the dishes he most loves to cook for family and friends throughout the year, Rick takes you inside his home kitchen, unlike he’s done in any previous book.

Published: 16 September 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

At Home

My favourite recipes for family & friends
by Monica Galetti

At Home: My favourite recipes for family & friends Monica Galetti

Monica Galetti’s career has taken her from her home in Samoa and New Zealand to the professional kitchens of London. Her new cookbook, ‘At Home’, showcases the easy, everyday dishes she enjoys at home, with family and friends, using simple ingredients that everyone will enjoy.

From breakfast time and midweek suppers to celebrations, gatherings and the perfect Sunday lunch, ‘At Home’ is a celebration of great home cooking. There are even chapters for Family Get-Togethers and Holiday Favourites.

Published: 30 September 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love

by Yotam Ottolenghi & Noor Murad

Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love

Whether they’re conjuring up new recipes or cooking for themselves at home, the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen team do what we all do: they raid their kitchens. But then, they turn whatever they find into approachable creations with an ‘Ottolenghi’ twist.

For the first time, the team welcome us into their creative space. This book is all about feeding ourselves and our families, with less stress and less fuss, but with all the ‘wow’ of an Ottolenghi meal. It’s a notebook to scribble on and add to – to take its ethos and make it your own.

Published: 30 September 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Peter Bakes

100+ Irresistible Recipes for Teatime Treats, Showstopper Cakes, Yummy Puddings and More
by Peter Sawkins

Peter Bakes by Peter Sawkins

When Peter Sawkins became the youngest ever winner of the Great British Bake Off in 2020, it was a landmark moment on a journey that began when he started baking flapjacks and shortbread aged five.

In his debut cookbook, Peter reveals his trademark tricks to baking success. With easy-to-follow recipes, he shares everything from bakes for beginners to celebratory showstoppers…and, of course, all with a gluten-free option.

From his Cranachan Cake and Christmas Croquembouche to Apple Galette and Mini Carrot Cakes, Peter’s flair for flavour and passion for baking make this a book you will turn to again and again.

Published: 07 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

The Hairy Bikers’ Everyday Winners

Over 100 simple and delicious recipes to fire up your favourites!
by Hairy Bikers

The Hairy Bikers’ Everyday Winners  Over 100 simple and delicious recipes to fire up your favourites!

Big flavours. Good ingredients. Uncomplicated food. That’s what Si King and Dave Myers, AKA the Hairy Bikers, are known and loved for. Now the kings of comfort, and the nation’s favourite cooking duo, bring you everyday cooking at its best.

For this book, Si and Dave have conducted a survey to ask you, their fans, what you all love to eat at home. You answered in your thousands, sharing so many great ideas for go-to dinners, puddings and bakes.

Inspired by these, the Bikers have created 100 new triple-tested recipes for easy and delicious ways to elevate these everyday family favourites into taste sensations. From hearty roasts to mouth-watering curries, speedy stir-fries to easy-to-cook pasta and pies, and irresistible puds and bakes.

Published: 14 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Christmas at River Cottage

by Lucy Brazier

 

Christmas at River Cottage by Lucy Brazier

Christmas at River Cottage encapsulates the very best that the season has to offer, guiding you from the autumn equinox through advent and Christmas and merrily into the new year with inspiration, traditions and indispensable recipes for every festive occasion.

Honed over years, these recipes are rooted in the River Cottage foundations of tradition, seasonality and sustainability. And accompanying all of this are tips from Lucy and Hugh on planning ahead, making natural decorations, effortlessly feeding a crowd and orchestrating the great Christmas Dinner so you’ll also be able to find the magic along the way.

Published: 14 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

A Cook’s Book

by Nigel Slater

A Cook’s Book: The Essential Nigel Slater with over 200 recipes by Nigel Slater

From the first jam tart Nigel made with his mum standing on a chair trying to reach the Aga through to what he is cooking now, this is the ultimate Nigel Slater collection brimming with over 200 recipes.

He writes about how his cooking has changed from discovering the best way to roast a chicken to the trick to smoky, smooth aubergine mash. These are the favourite recipes Nigel Slater cooks at home every day, the heart and soul of his cooking.

Published: 14 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Ramsay in 10

Delicious Recipes Made in a Flash
by Gordon Ramsay

Ramsay in 10: Delicious Recipes Made in a Flash by Gordon Ramsay

Inspired by his YouTube series, you’ll be challenged to get creative in the kitchen and learn how to cook impressive, flavoursome dishes in no time.

Whether you’re looking to excite the whole family with a tasty One Pan Pumpkin Pasta or some Chicken Souvlaki, or you need something super quick to assemble, like Microwave Sticky Toffee Pudding – these are recipes guaranteed to become instant classics.

Plus, with each time you cook, you’ll get faster and faster with Gordon’s shortcuts to speed up your cooking, reduce your prep times and get the very best from simple, fresh ingredients.

Published: 14 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Love to Cook

by Mary Berry

Love to Cook: 120 joyful recipes from my new BBC series by Mary Berry

In this brand-new tie-in book to the BBC series, Love to Cook, Mary Berry will help you see your meals in an entirely new light. Every recipe is infused with her love of simple home cooking and fresh ingredients that feed the body and mind.

Whether you’re trying your hand at Mary’s fragrant Kashmiri chicken curry or baking her mouth-watering Lemon limoncello pavlova, it’s hard to beat the unique pleasure of making a dish from scratch and enjoying food with family and friends.

Published: 28 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Nadiya’s Fast Flavours

by Nadiya Hussain

Nadiya’s Fast Flavours by Nadiya Hussain

Known for her bold and surprising flavour combinations, Nadiya loves to throw the rulebook out of the window and is always adding her signature twist to classic recipes. Now she makes it easy for everyone to do the same

With a host of everyday recipes that are guaranteed to send taste buds into overdrive, Nadiya’s Fast Flavours will bring the excitement back into daily meals, with all the recipes she cooks on her hit BBC2 programme and more besides.

Published: 28 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

Baking with Fortitude

by Dee Rettali

Baking with Fortitude by Dee Rettali

Dee Rettali is an artisan baker who, over a lifetime of baking, has honed her recipes to bring out intense flavour using forgotten craftsmanship. Dee’s cakes, created for her bakery – Fortitude Bakehouse in London – are a world away from generic cakes loaded with sugar or artificial flavours.

Her most groundbreaking technique is to use a sourdough-like starter in her baking. Another flavour-building process she has developed is to ferment the batter itself before baking. This is a cutting-edge way of baking, and at the same time, it has antecedents in Dee’s past. This book brings this back to life in a thoroughly modern way.

Published: 28 October 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

30 Minute Mowgli by Nisha Katona

Fast Easy Indian from the Mowgli Home Kitchen
by Nisha Katona

30 Minute Mowgli by Nisha Katona

This is the food Nisha Katona cooks at home: punchy, delicious and taking you from couch to curry in 30 minutes or less. As always with Nisha’s dishes, the focus is on big, bold flavours – achieved in these recipes with speed, simplicity and improvisation to avoid waste.

It’s the way Nisha cooks every day, and it’s the way her grandmother and great-grandmother cooked with their small coal-fired stoves on Varanasi verandas. This is food for real life: tasty and nutritious meals to whip up without fuss while juggling home, work and family.

Published: 09 November 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

World Food: Paris

Heritage Recipes for Classic Home Cooking
by James Oseland

World Food Paris by James Oseland

Paris has long been synonymous with the best in dining. But until now, no single book has explained why this city continues to matter so much to food lovers. Enter World Food: Paris, which goes beyond the bistros and creperies to celebrate Paris as it is now: a modern, global city where cooks of all stripes are reimagining a glorious culinary tradition.

A collection of stories, 75 recipes, and vibrant photography depicting the best round-up from Paris’s culinary scene. This mouthwatering, eye-opening jaunt through the gastronomic capital of the world includes visits to world-renowned restaurants, hidden gems off the beaten path, classic and modern Parisian cuisine, and so much more.

Published: 16 November 2021

Buy it on:
amazon.co.uk Blackwells Waterstones

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