christmas cookbooks

This year I got three very good but very different cookbooks and I am only now really getting round to trying out some of their recipes.

The Two Greedy Italians satisfies my love of all things Italian and contains a recipe combining two of my favourite ingredients - broccoli and anchovies.

Casa Moro gives me Sam and Sam Clark's second book of middle eastern inspired food. I find their recipes very light and refreshing even though I often find this style of food heavy in restaurants. One of my favourite recipes is Turlu Turlu from their first book. I have already given the Moroccan eggs a go and I can see them becoming a staple supper dish - or indulgent late Sunday breakfast.

Larousse Gastronomique satisfies my inner geek - discovering the history of food and the practices that surround how produce moves from field to table.

It also gives me a new source of recipes to test, try and become favourites. Christmas and New Year this year were wonderful because it is the first one in the new house and with my amazing new kitchen but I was so busy on the run up that I stuck to recipes and meals I knew well. So now I want to do a bit of culinary exploration.

I also want to come up with some good dishes as my London colleagues will be up in Scotland in March and will be visiting me. I have spent a lot of time working in our London office recently and I have been taken care of in great style by many of my colleagues. Now that they will be up in Glasgow for our annual conference I have the chance to repay the favour. So the search is on.