5 of our favourite new cookbooks

Sicily-raised Francesco Mattana, an Insta sensation @our_cookingjourney, explores Sardinia’s food in this beautiful book. The book’s subheading is “Live to 100”, so you might have to make his Live to 100 Minestrone then. Or perhaps the Couscous from Carloforte? Or street-food fave, the Sausage and onion sandwich.

As Malaysian-born Ping Coombes, the winner of British MasterChef Champion of Champions in 2022, notes in this book, rice was revered in her household. So much so, she believed her uncle when he told her if she didn’t eat every grain in her bowl, she’d end up with a spotty boyfriend. The more than 100 recipes in this book are a homage to rice, with everything from Braised chilli and coconut caramel chicken to Crispy Bangkok eggs and Kimchi fried rice.

Australian by birth with an Italian nonna, Melanie Lionello is a cook and nutritionist. She approaches food with her Italian heritage and focus on healthy eating using affordable, everyday ingredients. “Wholesome. Fast. Low cost” is her motto. Tuscan tomato and bread soup, Bechamel, broad bean and pasta bake and Sicilian tuna polpette are just some of her delicious recipes.

Another Australian MasterChef alumni, Emelia’s first love is baking. This is her third book on the subject and it’s just as good as the first two, with sensations like the Vietnamese coffee flan, Tiramisu cake and the incredible Pandan and toasted coconut Swiss roll.

A great gift for Wes Anderson fans, this calls itself a “superbly unconventional cookbook” in which “you’ll embark on a wondrous culinary adventure”. Get the recipe for Classic tarte tatin as made by the Tatin sisters in The French Dispatch, Boggis’s hen-fruit breakfast is something The Fantastic Mr Fox character would approve of, or how about Margot’s birthday cupcakes from The Royal Tenenbaums?