News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

With the temperature dropping and the Summer season of home maintenance well and truly over, we bring you winter warming cookbooks and a selection of gardening books to peruse for ideas for your Winter garden!

Delia Smith’s winter collection / illustrations by Flo Bailey.
“A collection of recipes for wintertime, featuring ingredients from a progression of winter produce from October to April. Both meat and vegetarian dishes are included, and many of them reflect the influence of French, Italian, Spanish and oriental flavours and ideas.” (Amazon)

Winter on the farm / Matthew Evans ; photography by Alan Benson.
“Join chef, food critic and author Matthew Evans as he embraces winter with more than 85 warming recipes – from Winter Potato and Bacon Soup, and Stout, Beef Shin and Mushroom Pie to an exceptionally delicious Kentish Cherry and Elderflower Fruit Pudding. Winter on the Farm is the ultimate guide to cooking nourishing and hearty food, and will inspire you to create these rich, wonderful flavours as soon as you feel a winter chill in the air.” (Library Catalogue)

Best winter plants / Stefan Buczacki ; special photography Andrew Lawson.
“Gardening expert Stefan Buczacki presents advice and information on growing the best winter plants. A reference for both beginning and expert gardeners about all aspects of plant care from propogation and pruning, to problem solving.” (Amazon)

Winter house / Charlotte Moss ; written with Jennifer Cegielski ; photographs by Jason Dewey.
“One of America’s top interior designers presents a beautifully illustrated guidebook for creating a comfortable, inviting winter home. With 200 color photographs.” (Syndetics summary)

Growing year round : vegetables, fruit, herbs / Dennis Greville.
“Dennis Greville is respected internationally for his plant and garden photography and is New Zealand’s most published gardening author and photographer. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned gardener, growing year round will encourage and inspire you, with practical advice that will help you achieve optimum results in your garden, whatever its size, climatic conditions and soil type. Dennis provides readily accessible information and tips on how to do things better. These easy to follow ideas will enable you to take charge of your garden and its productivity.” (Fishpond) Includes seasonal recipes.

Seasons in my house and garden / written and photographed by Holly Kerr Forsyth.
“In her latest outing, beloved gardening writer Holly Kerr Forsyth takes readers from her garden into the home and kitchen. Season by season, and month by month, Holly shares her gardening secrets and hard-won wisdom from years in the garden. Inside the house, Holly offers ideas on how to transform the produce into beautiful dishes, as well as tips for flower arranging, table setting, and more. Fully illustrated throughout, and with useful identifying pictures for flowers and produce, Seasons in My Garden is the perfect companion for gardeners experienced and novice, homemakers and keen cooks.” (Global Books)

Winter in the Alps : food by the fireside / Manuela Darling-Gansser ; photography by Simon Griffiths.
“Take a culinary journey from the peaks of St. Moritz down to the glittering streets of Zurich–home to some of the most delicious food in all of Europe–in this attractive cookbook of Alpine cuisine. Be tempted by Cloud Souffle, Pappardelle with Duck Ragu, melt-in-your-mouth Spatzle, Rosti, and Creamy Zabaione; sip warming Gluhwein and roast chestnuts over the open fire and be transported to the enchanting heart of continental Europe during winter. Showcasing the culture, lifestyle, and food of this remarkably diverse region, this beautifully illustrated book is a stunning depiction of the unique cuisine and breathtaking beauty of the Alps.” (Syndetics summary)

The winter garden : structure, planting and romance in the garden in winter / Eluned Price, photographs by Clive Nichols.
“After the exuberance of summer, the garden in its winter transformation is every gardener’s greatest challenge. The Winter Garden looks at the ways of creating a garden that is beautiful in adversity, when the weather is cold and inclement. With the loss of the rich colours of autumn, it explores the importance of shape and form, of choosing trees as much for their leafless winter frosts as for their summer foliage and textures. Using beautiful and varied gardens as examples, it looks at ways of shaping the garden with topiary, trellis and tunnels, of providing form with architectural planting, of using statuary, urns and tubs. This beautifully illustrated book explores what it is that makes the winter garden magical, unpacking the aesthetic thrill that goes with the sight of the ghostly white arcs of bramble or the flaming wands of dogwood, the clean frame of yew hedging or the filigree of interlaced leafless branches.” (Amazon)

What to eat now : the best of autumn and winter eating / Valentine Warner ; photographs by Howard Sooley.
“In ‘What to eat now : the best of autumn and winter eating’ Valentine Warner take us on a mouth-watering journey seeking out the foods and ingredients the colder months have to offer. In this seasonal guide Valentine shows how autumn’s meat, including lamb, pork, duck and partridge, is often roasted, braised or served in stews and pies. Fish is found in batter, soup, on toast and quickly fried. There are rich dairy dishes and an abundance of vegetable dishes using beetroot, cabbage, sweetcorn, pumpkins and so much more. This is a book for the inquisitive eater with the recipes that are both simple and satisfying. Most of all with Valentine’s engaging style, it promises to bring a little pleasure into your kitchen and joy to your table.” (Amazon)

Taste of New Zealand winter / Robyn Martin.
“A recipe book for the winter months, illustrated with full colour photograph. The chapters range from ’stock pot saviours’ and ‘fireside meals’ through ‘hot and hearty’ and ‘things to make on rainy days’ to ‘winter puds’. It is a companion book to Taste of New Zealand Summer. The author is food editor of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly.” (Syndetics summary)