Roll out the pastry to a rectangle 30cm x 23cm. (That is pretty much the size of a roll of ready-made puff pastry.) Using a 12cm-diameter template (a saucer or small plate or large cookie cutter), cut four rounds of pastry. Place each on a lightly floured baking sheet (lined with baking parchment if you wish). Score a wide rim around the outside of each one about 1cm in from the edge – I use a 10cm cutter for this – taking care not to cut right through the pastry. If you are using fresh apricots, halve and stone them, then put them in a small saucepan, add the sugar and enough water to just cover the fruit and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes till the fruit is soft and tender. The apricots must be so soft you could crush them between your fingers. Drain them. The culinary heritage of the original Americans is one that often goes unexplored, but itshouldn’tbecause these dishes are alive and shared by Native Americans all over the country today. There is something – and this is the point really – that goes hand-in-hand with making something to eat, that transcends putting the finished dish on the table. Cooking is about making yourself something to eat and sharing food with others but is also about the quiet moments of joy to be had along the way. Watching the progress of dinner as you stir onions in a pan, at first crisp, white and pungent – you may have shed a tear – then slowly becoming translucent gold, darkening to bronze, all the time becoming softer, sweeter. Take them too far though, and the sweet onions will turn bitter. And that is where a good recipe comes in and partly the point of what I do; to guide a new cook towards a pleasing dinner and, for those who have been cooking for years, to share a recipe they may not know.

Put the cream cheese and caster sugar in the bowl of a food mixer and beat for a few seconds until mixed. Grate the lemon zest into the cheese, then add the vanilla extract. Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Weekby Isa Chandra MoskowitzIn Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, the whole focus on baked desserts and we love each and every one of them and we think you will too. Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdomby Deborah Madison

If you want to cook amazing Thai food, and you should, this is the ultimate guide to everything in Thai cookery. Vegetables are the coming trend in food but they can be immensely improved by the right preparation and cooking. Set the oven at 180C fan/gas mark 6. Scrub the potatoes and cut them in half lengthways, then into long wedges. Toss them in the groundnut oil, then place in a roasting tin in a single layer, with as much space as possible between them. Roast for about 45 minutes, turning them over halfway through. They should be crisp and deep gold.You can find The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Artsby Judith Choate and The French Culinary Instituteonline. Dear Jodie, Annabel was SUPER! We couldn’t have wished for a more easy going person to have in the midst of a very chaotic house/kitchen! Lunch was absolutely delicious and Annabel executed it all with such ease. Thank you, thank you for sorting us out so last minute. Hugely grateful to you.” Charlotte, Oxfordshire You can find The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africaby Marcus Samuelssononline. Many modern consumers were never taught to do this and Cara Mangini is ready to be by your side and make everything green!

You can find Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cookingby Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobsonline. The word “crave” can carry the whiff of junk food devoured in times of stress or sadness. Ed Smith reframes it as the food our body – for any number of reasons – needs and wants. His introduction outlines six main “flavour profiles” we crave, including fresh and fragrant, chilli and heat, cheesy and creamy – and why. These flavour profiles become colour-coded chapters, their recipes precision engineered to hit their mark. Think three citrus salad; sriracha and lemon linguine with chilli pangrattato; cheesy polenta. CF While the lentils cook, peel the potatoes and sweet potatoes, then steam or boil until tender. This is best done separately as they cook at different times. Drain and mash them together with a vegetable masher or food mixer. Add the butter, chopped parsley, and salt and pepper, and set aside.It has a hilarious yesteryear vibe to it but for our money, there is no better cake maker in the world than Anne Byrne. Hey Jodie, thank you so much for organising Hannah to come so last minute, she was amazing last night! Delish” Yanika, Surrey

More than just an exploration of Israeli food; this is about the food created when cultures intermingle and sometimes clash. The actor Stanley Tucci is a famously charming man and in Taste, his belly-led memoir, he has written an utterly charming book. Happily, it is short on actorly anecdote and long on tips and recipes for the rustic pasta dishes that he grew up with as an Italian American in upstate New York, as well as the stories that underpin them. JR There’snothing more American than barbecue and no-one should approach barbecue without a copy of this book in hand. At Book A Cook we provide cooks for all occasions, whether you are celebrating and having a special event, would like a full-time cook or would like freshly cooked food delivered to your door.

You can find In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World: A Cookbookby GabrieleGalimbertionline.