COOK BEAUTIFUL

ATHENA CALDERONE, ABRAMS, $65

Food tastes better when it’s beautiful and made with love and serving a considered meal nourishes more than our bodies. The author says it’s not just what is on our plate that counts, it’s how we plate it. In another writer’s hands this could be a recipe for style over substance, but it isn’t. In her pan-seared tangy brussels sprouts, the single red chilli not only provides a note of heat, but a visual pop against the seared greens. Ginger, vanilla bean and rhubarb galette celebrates the beauty of imperfection, of letting ingredients do what they are meant to do – think craggy rustic pastry softened by a pool of melting vanilla ice cream.