Holidays are time for cookbooks

Are you the type of person who reads cookbooks like fiction? Do you take them to bed with you? Are they full of Post-its marking must-do recipes? Are food writers and cookbook authors your foodie heroes?

If so, this is your season. The fall and holiday onslaught of important cooking titles is upon us. We sifted through the tasty glut to pick out cookbooks that offered good reads and good recipes. These publications also might be a gift for your favorite home cook or baker.

Go forth and cook!

One Big Table, by Molly O'Neill (Simon & Schuster, $50).

Former New York Times Magazine food columnist Molly O'Neill spent nearly 10 years traversing the country, discovering the melting pot that is American cuisine. Some 600 recipes from home cooks, chefs, farmers, and fishermen show there's plenty of good eating in the United States, as well as some long-standing food traditions and customs that have helped make our country what it is.

Foodie bonus: There are recipes for such standards as pot roast, cole slaw, and tortilla soup, but you'll also find ones for Makah Indian Slow-Cooked Salmon, The Saffron King's Persian Kebabs, and Anne Friend Thacher's Pixie Tangerine Cookies.

Radically Simple, by Rozanne Gold (Rodale, $35).

This book's subtitle, Brilliant Flavors with Breathtaking Ease, says it all. Bestselling cookbook author Rozanne Gold is known for extracting maximum flavor from food while using minimal ingredients. This time she ups the ante by simplifying directions in the 325 recipes; all are written in 140 words or less. Flavor practically oozes from the pages in such recipes as 3-Minute Wasabi Salmon, Beet Soup with Lemon Creme Fraiche, and Buttery Oatcakes. Many soups go together in 5 minutes, salads in 10.

Foodie bonus: Gold's recipe called An Opinionated Way to Roast a Chicken uses no salt or pepper in roasting, yet produces a bird that's golden, moist and delicious.

The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, by the editors at America's Test Kitchen (America's Test Kitchen, $34.95).

This book's editors challenged themselves to take a hard look at favorite recipes and make them both tasty and healthful. Family-friendly recipes are compiled in a ring-bound book with plenty of photos of finished dishes as well as culinary techniques. From Black Bean Soup and Chicken Enchiladas to Zucchini Bread and Key Lime Pie, these recipes prove you can eat well while moderating calories and fat; nutritional information is included for every recipe.

Foodie bonus: Make-ahead tips accompany nearly all the recipes; test kitchen tips help ensure cooking success; testing notes offer tips on the best choice in kitchen equipment.

The Good Housekeeping Cookbook, by the editors of Good Housekeeping magazine (Hearst Books/Sterling, $35).

How do you improve on a classic like The Good Housekeeping Cookbook? By updating it, but keeping intact what makes the book a best-seller. In honor of Good Housekeeping magazine's 125th anniversary, the newest edition of this classic contains 1,275 recipes, with 240 new ones. Chapters on canning and freezing and holiday celebrations as well as cooking tips, food safety techniques, and nutritional information make this a basic for every kitchen. We're eager to try recipes such as Chicken Tagine and Butternut Squash Ravioli.

Foodie bonus: Thankfully, this book still contains classics like Blondies, Basic Mashed Potatoes, and Deviled Eggs that no one wants to do without.

1001 Ways to Cook Southern, by Southern Living (Oxmoor House, $41.95).

If you love Southern food (and frankly, who doesn't?), you won't want to pass this one up. As this hefty 928-page book shows, no one knows Southern cooking like Southern Living magazine. A comprehensive guide to the wonderful world of Southern food, this cookbook, with 150 food photos, offers more than 1,000 recipes tested in Southern Living's test kitchen over the past 40 years. These are recipes that feed the soul -- pimento cheese, pound cake, shrimp remoulade, and fried chicken.

Foodie bonus: Learn how to properly season a cast-iron skillet, something no proper Southern kitchen should ever be without.

Bon Appetit Desserts, by Barbara Fairchild (Andrews McMeel, $40).

At nearly 700 pages, this dessert door-stopper announces boldly that it takes the meal's finale seriously. We'd expect nothing less from Bon Appetit, whose editors have pored through more than 50 years of sweet stuff to select the 600 recipes in this handsome volume that will appeal to both the novice and the baking pro. With desserts enjoying the spotlight in the cooking world, the book's timing is perfect for getting your sweet-on or gifting your favorite sugar fanatic.

Foodie bonus: Lavished with how-to illustrations and gorgeous photography, the book leads users by the hand to learn and understand techniques so that your finished desserts look just like a magazine's, and taste great.

What to Cook and How to Cook It, by Jane Hornby (Phaidon Press, $39.95).

Every home cook should have several go-to recipes that are familiar crowd pleasers. Jane Hornby gives you 100 classics -- eggs Benedict, huevos rancheros, risotto, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti Carbonara, barbecue ribs, pizza, chicken tikka, eggplant parmigiana, beef stew with dumplings, apple pie, chocolate brownies, and sticky toffee pudding -- and every recipe's a winner. Hornby has written a cookbook that acts like a kitchen fairy godmother -- your own helpful pal standing right beside you over the stove, offering encouragement every step of the way. It's how all cookbooks should act.

Foodie bonus: With more than 850 photographs, the book offers an average of eight photos per recipe. From beginning to end, each recipe is lavished with visual attention. Image, clearly, is everything.

Michael Chiarello's Bottega, by Michael Chiarello (Chronicle Books, $40).

You can practically feel the wine-misted winds when opening Chiarello's new cookbook, which features recipes from his Bottega restaurant in California's Napa Valley. Chiarello has six other cookbooks under his belt, so it's safe to say he knows what he's doing. Bottega's pages are filled with vivid recipes not shy in flavor or seasoning. This is bold Italian food graced with refinement and white-tablecloth-restaurant techniques.

Foodie bonus: His porchetta recipe makes you wish you had an oven big enough to cook a 32-pound suckling pig. Not all recipes are this daunting, but many are aimed at the more advanced home cook.

At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, by Madhur Jaffrey (Knopf, $35).

Our favorite Indian chef began her career not as a classically trained chef but a classically trained actress. It was only while attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London that she learned how to cook, eventually becoming a worldwide authority in Asian cooking. Jaffrey has taken us on a passage to India before, and her new cookbook continues her journey of showing that flavorful Indian cooking is accessible to all home cooks. Jaffrey has simplified this collection of beautiful recipes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Foodie bonus: Jaffrey provides plenty of "starters" that can be used to make whole meals.

Plenty, by Diana Henry (Mitchell Beazley, $29.99).

In these days of lean, there's still hope for plenty. Author Diana Henry makes the case that while we're all making do with less, we can still bring joy to the table. It's a good mantra for these uncertain times when comfort foods please and less expensive cuts rule. Henry unleashes a cornucopia of ideas and recipes that are flavorful and filling and can feed big crowds. She takes you by the hand and guides you to buying better food and using it well. Fresh vegetables, seasonal produce, beans, grains, and lesser cuts provide good meals. Plenty of them.

Paella

31/2 ounces Spanish chorizo

2 teaspoons light olive oil

6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

2 onions

3 cloves garlic

2 red bell peppers

2 cups paella or risotto rice

1 teaspoon smoked or regular paprika

Generous pinch saffron threads, about 1/2 teaspoon

Scant 1/2 cup white wine

4 cups chicken or fresh broth

6 small cleaned squid (optional)

11 ounces mussels

12 large shell-on uncooked shrimp, with heads on or off

1 handful frozen baby peas

1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Thinly slice the chorizo. Put a large frying pan or flameproof casserole (or a paella pan if you have one) over medium heat, then add the oil.

After 30 seconds, add the chorizo. Fry for 5 minutes, until golden all over and the chorizo has released its red oil. Remove from the pan and set aside. While the chorizo cooks, cut the chicken into bite-size chunks.

Add the chicken to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and fry for 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden.

While the chicken cools, finely slice or chop the onion and garlic. Seed the peppers and cut them into chunky slices. Add the onion, garlic, and peppers to the chicken, stir, then cook gently for 10 minutes, until the onions and peppers are softened.

Add the rice and turn up the heat. Stir well to coat with the oil, then add the paprika, saffron, wine, and broth, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer the rice for 20 minutes, or until it is nearly soft. Stir several times as it cooks.

Meanwhile, slice the squid tubes into thick rings, if using. Leave the tentacles whole. Scrub the mussels and pull any stringy threads away from them. Tap any open mussels sharply on the work surface. Any that don't close after a few seconds must be discarded.

Add the shrimp to the pan, tucking them into what sauce is left around the rice. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes; then scatter the squid, mussels, peas, and chorizo over the top. Cover and cook for another 2 minutes, or until the mussels have opened and the squid has turned from translucent to white. The rice will have absorbed the broth.

Discard any mussels that haven't opened. Roughly chop the parsley leaves, then sprinkle over the paella, which is best served in the pan right on the table. Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over paella.

Yield: 6 servings.

Source: From What to Cook: How to Cook It by Jane Hornby