The Home Cookbook

With more than 300 recipes, arranged by meal times (Breakfast, Elevenses, Lunch, Tea, Supper), The Home Cookbook is a celebration of British domestic cooking as it has evolved over the centuries and still exists - especially in the countryside. The food that Monty and Sarah Don eat at home at Ivington is more in the tradition of the Women's Institute than the celebrity chefs. They try to eat food that is as local as possible (often harvested from the back garden) and has a good story. Their book is full of things that you really want to eat - roasts and warming puddings for the winter, the most delicious salads and lightest fools for the summer; recipes that use timeless, thrifty farmhouse techniques such as baking, stewing, braising, salting, pickling, bottling and freezing. In short: good, honest home cooking. Monty Don is a national treasure, and was the much loved presenter of BBC Gardeners' World for five years.