L ASMA’S INDIAN KITCHEN BY ASMA KHAN

QUADRILLE, £25

EBURY, £25

For years I’ve been teasing Yotam Ottolenghi about his long lists of ingredients. Embarking on one of his recipes, I generally have to have a lie-down once I get everything out of the cupboard. This book is “Ottolenghi-doable” – the same scintillating flavours, but dishes you can cook with ease (some will still think it isn’t that “simple”, but they’re the people who want to stick a ready meal in the microwave). Roast aubergine with curried yogurt and chicken with caraway and cranberry stuffing will become staples in my house and the variations on baked rice are fantastic.

LVINTAGE CLASSICS, £14.99

This is a 20th -anniversary edition of Lawson’s first book, and it’s clear that How to Eat hasn’t dated at all. The recipes are terrific – and there are many classics – but it’s the writing (Lawson says in the introduction that she wants to be a long conversation, for the reader to feel that she is standing with them) that makes this book so remarkable. A lifetime of cooking knowledge and culinary observations are communicated in a warm, sure, sincere voice. It’s like having a long conversation with your most enthusiastic and erudite foodloving friend. I’m giving it to every 20 year-old I know.

L

Eat as a canapé or plonk a big platter of them in the middle of the table instead of a starter, in which case you’ll have enough for six or so people. Don’t add more than a couple of peppercorns to each – they are powerful. You can “posh them up” with salmon eggs or caviar, real or pretend. Souschef.co.uk does a range.

Preheat the oven to 180C/ Gas 4 (although the exact temperature doesn’t matter, so you can cook the artichokes with something else you have in the oven).

Scrub the artichokes clean, dry on a tea towel and spread in a roasting tin. Rub with half the oil, and bake for around 30 minutes until tender all the way through.

Cut the artichokes in half and scoop out the middle, leaving a shell around 2mm thick. The little bit of scooped-out flesh can be added to mashed potatoes or just blended with hot stock and cream to make a blissful cuppa soup for one.

Brush the insides of the artichoke shells with the rest of the oil and return to the oven for another 20 to 30 minutes, until lightly brown and beginning to crisp.

Remove from the oven – they will crisp up further as they cool (you can do this a day ahead and store them in an airtight container).

Fill the cooled skins with crème fraîche – a teaspoon will do the job but a piping bag gives Bake-off worthy results.

Scatter each with dill fronds and a couple of pink peppercorns, plus salmon eggs or “caviar” if you like.