“…this book is simply the story of my love affair with the kitchen. Whatever the opposite of the currently still fashionable genre, the misery memoir, might be, this is it: a comfort chronicle.”

Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home is Nigella’s first book since seasonal bestseller, Nigella Christmas, was published in 2008.  In true Nigella style, Kitchen is about the food we eat now, the way we eat and live today; feel-good food from the most important room in the house.

Informative and engaging, Kitchen offers food for both cooks and eaters that is comforting but always seductive, nostalgic but with a modern twist, from “express” style recipes for the time-strapped, hectic week or leisurely slow-cook dishes for weekends and special occasions. It answers everyday cooking quandaries – from how to rustle up a meal for friends in moments to what to do about those black bananas – and since real cooking is so often about leftovers, Nigella makes “leftovers right”, by showing us how to morph one recipe into another, from ham hocks to peas soups and pastries, braised chicken to Chinatown salad.

As well as offering the reader an array of inspired new recipes – from clams with chorizo to Guinness gingerbread – Nigella rounds up her no-nonsense kitchen kit must-haves in the way of equipment and magical standby ingredients.  Above all, she reminds the reader how much pleasure there is to be had in real food and in reclaiming the traditional rhythms of the kitchen.