THE SPANISH HOME KITCHEN

JOSÉ PIZARRO, HARDIE GRANT, $60

I’ve always loved José’s cookbooks, but unlike his earlier books this is not his restaurant food. It is instead the food he grew up with. In this book he travels to his mother’s kitchen in Talaván, a tiny farming village in central-western Spain, to rediscover recipes that have been passed down in his family. Although I didn’t have Iberico pork, the shoulder slow-cooked in a rich tomato sauce with zesty couscous was almost enough to transport me to a rural family home in Extremadura.