The summer cookbook season is not as robust as the fall-winter one. Still, the number of exhilarating titles just out or imminent in the coming months is enough to make you want to blast your stove, heat be damned.
“Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora” (out now)
Immigrants are always having to change how they cook in their adopted country, and some of the world’s best, most creative dishes come from that acclimatization. Food writer Khushbu Shah knows this from personal experience, and her debut cookbook, “Amrikan“, is a celebration of the ways in which Indian immigrants and their families spin new gold. Rice Krispies treats with candied fennel; saag paneer in a frittata and a lasagna; butter chicken pizza: You get the (delicious) idea.
“Kismet: Bright, Fresh, Vegetable-Loving Recipes” (out now)
Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson, the owners of Kismet and Kismet Rotisserie in Los Angeles, revel in the stellar produce of Southern California and a flavor-influence oval that runs from the Levant and Middle East to North Africa to southern Europe. So in the pair’s new cookbook, feta is marinated with garlic and coriander seeds then served with dates and shaved onions laced with rose water, and chicken thighs are roasted with paprika and grapefruit. There are chapters on labneh and tahini, and vegetables predictably play a starring role. Big flavors prevail.
“Verdura: 10 Vegetables, 100 Italian Recipes” (out now)
There is a special corner of cooking heaven reserved for authors who offer readers the ability to do the most with the least. Discipline breeds resourcefulness, and Theo Randall conjures that welcome approach in his ode to a double-handful of vegetables. Eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes, beans, winter squash and potatoes: The centerpieces of so much seasonal Italian cooking, each with their own battery of complementary recipes to showcase their versatility.
“Dolci! American Baking with an Italian Accent” (out now)
Malted tiramisu; mocha-orange whoopie pies; amaro root beer floats: The way baker Renato Poliafito considers Italian food is through an American lens. “Dolci!” is a handy compendium of familiar dishes upended and reconsidered.
“Freezer Door Cocktails: 75 Cocktails That Are Ready When You Are” (July 2)
Oh, dear, does one ever need a freezer cocktail in the dead of summer. J.M. Hirsch to the slushy rescue! A frozen espresso martini, Bloody Mary, and buttered rum. Many a classic cocktail makes an appearance in the book. The blessed trickery of Hirsch’s tome is its reverse-engineering, which enables you to conjure the essence of your favorite cocktails but in a replicable frozen fashion.
“Africali: Recipes from My Jikoni” (Aug. 13)
Kiano Moju’s debut cookbook sits at the intersection of Nigerian, Kenyan and American cooking. Moju grew up in California with a Nigerian father and a Kenyan mother. There are recipes for chapos (garlic-butter chapati), showing the influence of Indian emigration on the African continent, and peri-peri butter, a chile-kicked spread that upends the notion that peri-peri was born in Portugal. Hint: It was not.
“Latin-ish: More Than 100 Recipes Celebrating American Latino Cuisines” (Aug. 20)
The United States is merely one country in the Americas. But what happens to Latin American food when it’s transplanted to the United States is the objective of this debut cookbook from Marisel Salazar. Born in Panama, Salazar dissects the origins of distinctly American dishes like Arkansas tamales, San Antonio migas and plantain upside down cake. She, of course, provides recipes, too.
“Dac Biet: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook” (Aug. 27)
Chef and cooking instructor Nini Nguyen is a child of both Vietnamese immigrants and of New Orleans. Of course her first cookbook is called “Dac Biet,” which means “extra special” in Vietnamese. Whether from her fine dining training or from the singular way her Vietnamese heritage and New Orleanian roots intersect, Nguyen’s recipes are lively, traditional and bursting with flavor and innovation.