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by Ina Garten

Garten’s latest includes instructions for preparing dishes to serve immediately, as well as notes on how to make them ahead of time. But her plan-ahead versions aren’t only about convenience; she believes they actually taste better when prepped in advance. The book is quintessentially Ina: food that’s not fussy, yet still special and delicious. I’ve already made her baked farro & butternut squash, which gets a blast of salty depth from applewood-smoked bacon and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Others I’m looking forward to trying: pear & parsnip gratin, French chicken pot pies, and lemon ginger molasses cake. NICOLE SPRINKLE

$35. crownpublishing.com/imprint/clarkson-potter.

Indian for Everyone: 
The Home Cook’s Guide to Traditional Favorites

by Anupy Singla

Making Indian food may very well be a home cook’s most anxiety-ridden challenge. There’s the ghee, the hard-to-find ingredients, all those spices. Indian food really does boil down to the spice mixes, or masalas, and this book offers seven of them. But perhaps this book’s biggest selling point is Singla’s heavy use of a slow cooker, as well as her healthy alternatives to things like ghee and vegetable oil. Jump into this book with a simple North Indian curry if you’re a beginner, or, if you’re more advanced, a multi-step recipe like Punjabi chili chicken. Bonus: Fun mash-ups like Indian sloppy Joes. NS

$35. agatepublishing.com/surrey.

Greg Atkinson’s 
In Season: 
Culinary Adventures of a Pacific 
Northwest Chef

This reissue of the 1997 classic by Pacific Northwest culinary pioneer Greg Atkinson, owner and chef of Restaurant Marche on Bainbridge Island, is a celebration of the seasons and an honest, lovely homage to Atkinson’s time as a young chef and father exploring the region—particularly the San Juan Islands. Each recipe, from simple halibut stew with spring vegetables to forest-mushroom Napoleons, is accompanied by an essay by Atkinson explaining its provenance. Thoroughly practical for home cooks as well as a love letter to home, it’s updated with new, gorgeous color photography. NS

$22.95. sasquatchbooks.com.

The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone 
by Deborah Madison

This update on the 1997 classic will still be welcome in any kitchen, vegan to omnivore. Recipes now reflect new knowledge of cooking oils (like coconut and avocado), post-’90s food trends like kale and truffles, and the rise of plant-based eating with many clearly marked vegan entries. 200 new recipes help fill the rest of the near-700-page volume, with chapters prefaced by time-tested techniques, tips, and food facts. Its tasteful cover jacket, along with Madison’s indispensable tricks of the trade, make this cookbook an excellent gift for the discriminating home cook looking to taste and explore the plentiful possibilities of plant-based cooking. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

$40. crownpublishing.com/imprint/ten-speed-press.

A Boat, a Whale & 
A Walrus: Menus and 
Stories

by Renee Erickson

Laid out in one of my favorite cookbook formats—by seasonal menus—this book celebrates events in the life of Seattle chef and restaurateur Renee Erickson. I also love the “Methods” section, which underscores her philosophy, incorporating everything from why she likes charring food and toasting spices to how to choose olive oil and eat food at room temperature. Wedged among these are recipes for delectables like herring butter toasts, roasted side of halibut, and strawberry-jam tart. A “Holiday Supper” includes a standing rib roast with horseradish cream and lacinato kale gratin, while a “Wintry Brunch” menu has, among other things, Boat Street’s Cream Scones. NS

$40. 
sasquatchbooks.com.

Baking Chez Moi: 
Recipes From My 
Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere

by Dorie Greenspan

No holiday season is complete without a baking book, and this year’s stunner is by renowned baker and author Dorie Greenspan. Known for her elegant, often labor-intensive French patisserie, Greenspan has finally written about the kind of desserts real French people make. You’ll find things like Apple Weekend Cake from Normandy and a brown-sugar tart. The book is divided into seven chapters, including Fancy Cakes and Tarts and Galettes. But it wouldn’t be Greenspan without a challenge or two from a renowned French pastry shop—like Hugo & Victor’s Grapefruit Tart. With a lemon-almond cream and a grapefruit cremeux, Greenspan calls it “a miracle.” NS

$40. hmhco.com.

North: The New 
Nordic Cuisine of Iceland

by Gunnar Karl Gislason & Jody Eddy

Perhaps the year’s most gorgeous and ambitious cookbook, North is written by the chef of one of Iceland’s most renowned restaurants. Dill, with its lake views, onsite garden, and wild-bird preserve, is a backdrop to world-class cuisine via a seven-course menu. For a Seattle cook, there is much affinity: poached cod cheeks with rutabaga puree and dill powder, or cured arctic char, buttered potatoes, mixed salad, and smoked fresh cheese could have easily been conjured up from our region’s culinary resources. As pristine as the Icelandic landscape, this cookbook introduces you thoroughly to a country’s culinary history. NS

$40. crownpublishing.com/imprint/ten-speed-press.

Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking From London’s Ottolenghi

by Yotam Ottolenghi

This colorful volume forever dispels the notion that British cooking is boiled and bland. The Israeli-born restaurateur infuses vegetable-based dishes with the flavors of the Middle East, incorporating elements of many of the other cuisines of culturally rich London. The result is a blend of sweet, savory, rich, tangy, austere, bright, and nothing less than exotic. Recipes like roasted Brussels sprouts with pomelo and star anise and squash with labneh and pickled-walnut salsa will delight and impress—with less prep than you might expect. The book’s gorgeous color photographs prove these dishes are as pleasing to the eye as to the palate. GE

$35. crownpublishing.com/imprint/ten-speed-press.

Slow Cooker Revolution Volume 2: The Easy Prep Edition

by America’s Test Kitchen

Everyone is slow cooker-happy lately. I’ve received at least five cookbooks about the method in the past year alone. While sexier ones are available, you can’t go wrong with one from the team that tests the hell out of recipes. And contrary to popular belief—that you can’t screw up anything cooked in a slow cooker—I’ve often found recipes that call for long, slow cooking that aren’t in fact suited to this style. But you can bravely forge ahead with this obsessively tested cookbook and enjoy meals like Tex-Mex meatloaf, lemony chicken with artichokes and capers, and fudgie brownie wedges. NS

$26.95. americastestkitchen.com.

Prune

by Gabrielle Hamilton

It was 1999 when Gabrielle Hamilton and her all-female staff opened Prune in New York City. Early on she served deep-fried sweetbreads, cold pate sandwiches, pork butt, and braised beef tongue. Soon after, Mario Batali would gain major acclaim for putting offal and other formerly distasteful parts of animals on the menu—but Hamilton started it all at her cozy East Village restaurant. Here are all of those comforting but deeply inspired recipes, written as they are in Hamilton’s personal cookbook—full of jotted notes in the margins, stains, and pink highlighter. At last, this is the cookbook we’ve all been waiting for. NS

$45. randomhouse.com.

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