How to eat a peach: Menus, stories and places (Diana Henry Cookbooks)

Diana Henry needs no introduction to those who cook (and read) for pleasure. This, her 10th or 11th (I've lost track of all in my collection) is likely her most intimate book, telling the stories of menus and travels. The 100-odd recipes are divided by season and arranged in easy-to-do menus evoking a very clear perception of place. The recipes are clear, easy to follow and function well: the four I've cooked in the 2 weeks since my copy arrived all had spectacular flavour with minimal fuss. Last night's crepes with salted caramel & sautéed apples a perfect ending to an early-winter meal; the autumnal fig cake over the weekend a precise bit of mastery to a non-baker. The leg of lamb with green herbs & garlic managed to do what I thought was not possible: improve on our local lamb's natural flavours. Photographs are clear and the home-cooked versions look near identical to what is shown. Even if you're not the cook at home, this is well worth buying - Mrs Henry's writings alone make it a very worthwhile read. In the words of TS Eliot:: "we shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the very first time." Her sense of place, through time and food and menu, is exquisite.

“In an outdoor restaurant on our last night, diners at a neighbouring table were given a bowl of peaches for dessert. They halved, pitted and sliced them, dropped the fruit into glasses and added cold moscato. They left them to macerate for a while. Then they ate the slices, now flavoured with the wine, and drank the wine, now imbued with the peaches. I didn’t just think this was a great idea (though it is), I was bowled over that something so simple was considered as desirable as a slaved-over bit of patisserie.” Thus Diana Henry explains the story behind the title. Ms Henry is a master (mistress?) of the combination of the simple and the exotic and flavoursome, and even on a first read I think this new book is going to rank among her best, and something of a return to her finest form. Some of her more recent books – don’t get me wrong, they’re very good cookbooks - I thought began to play the numbers game a bit more and perhaps “sacrificed” a certain level of (average) quality for quantity. Look on your bookshelf and see how thick “Food From Plenty” and “Simple” are in comparison to the earlier “Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons” and “Roast Figs, Sugar Snow”. So here we are stepping back a little and are being somewhat more selective, concentrating a bit more on quality, with recipes grouped by theme. The theme is around time and place; each of the 25 sections is a menu of 4 or 5 items for a meal which evokes both a particular season of the year and a particular place – it might be by the Bosphorus in Istanbul, before the evening’s passeggiata in Naples, or simply a Sunday lunch at home. This is a cookbook to enjoy leafing through, but more importantly, this will be a cookbook to actually cook from. And cook from a lot.

I bought this for my partner, who is a big foodie and a massive Diana Henry fan. I've found the writing and the production of the book to be excellent, and the recipes mostly very good as well - some haven't worked as well as I'd have hoped, although I have to take the blame for some of that! Still, I felt some of the instructions could have been slightly clearer. Other than that, a brilliant cookbook!

Love Diana Henry, love her recipes and love the way she writes about food. My favourite books of hers were always food from plenty and Crazy water but this new one is definitely up there fighting for first place. It's a beautiful book full of beautiful stories and delicious recipes. So far I've made the gnudi, apricot tart, corn cakes, spaghetti & shellfish, spatchcocked chicken with pangrattato, ceviche, and several of the cocktails and puddings. Everything has been delicious! I will probably end up making about 90% of the recipes from this book and that is quite rare in a cookbook.

The frigging cover feels like a PEACH!!! Initial sensorial delights aside, the book is marvellous! Such brilliant recipes and it will be one of those cookbooks that will end up having food splatters, dog-eared pages with scribbles over it. It is presented as different menus according to seasons, with beautiful photography and lots of stories to go with them. I love Diana Henry anyway; 'Simple' is one of my most used cookbooks- I love it so much I preordered this, and whereas Simple is slightly more every-day cooking, a lot of these recipes will require a bit more planning but lots of simple things as well.

I love Diana Henry and have a lot of her books. Her recipes are simple, delicious and always work. This book is beautiful and full of lovely descriptions of the meals that have influenced her cooking style, but the recipes are a little disappointing. There's not much in here that I actually fancy cooking – and as I have cooked literally every single recipe from her Simple book, I am a bit surprised. It's still a lovely book to look through and read, but not the most helpful for use in the kitchen.

Diana Henry is one of the best food writers ever; if not the best. Her writing is warm and evocative, you feel the sun on your skin; the foreboding of the grey Borbeaux skies; the frenetic, bewilderment that is Naples and how the spawns the food. The food descriptions are just perfect, your mouth will water and your tummy will rumble, the menus are as much a delight to read as the short stories that go along with each one. This is a cool book you can sit and devour anytime, not just when you want to cook. I’m slightly besotted.

Some times a cook book is about format. This book by Diana Henry is a collection of menus divided in to summer and winter. Diana has a easy going prose style and the introductions add to the books recipes. As always Diana has produced a collection that has something for everyone. The recipes are inventive and have that "Oh that looks interesting" appeal. This is as good a modern cookery book as you could want with light inventive food a winner!

This has been on my list since first reading of it in GoodFood and Olive Magazines when first published. Dove in for a 'taste' and, after only one menu, it is now my guilty pleasure reading. Each menu is fascinating and has me thinking of friends & family with whom I want to savour the experience. Diana Henry's writing is wonderful and brings scents and tastes to mind as one reads. The titular peach is an important piece of one such and it's all one can do to not drool on the pages. I know for sure this will be on my list for summer 2022. PS I don't know who's idea it was, but the book covers even feel like a peach.

Amazing book. And love the cover...

Just perfection, beautiful well balanced menus. Thoughtful explanation and instructions, an absolute delight.

My forever favorite cookbook.