Home Food: 100 Recipes to Comfort and Connect

Hercules (Summer Kitchens) shares recipes designed to spark “the feeling of comfort... and memories of meals shared with those we love” in a standout collection that feels like a warm culinary embrace. Born in Ukraine, Hercules immigrated first to Cyprus and then to the U.K., with a stop in Italy along the way; here, she pays homage to the places that have shaped her in such recipes as a Cypriot salad and a Sicilian pasta sauce. A chapter on migration includes a plov rice casserole that Uzbeki neighbors taught her paternal grandmother how to make and a salad of wild garlic. Surefire comfort food options include broth with meat dumplings and a classic roast chicken with “punched” potatoes flattened by hand, while excellent vegetarian dishes, such as an Azerbaijani-inspired saffron broth with “meatballs” made of chickpeas, rice, and dried apricots, abound. There are also plenty of inventive flavor combinations, including feta and grape muffins, and tiramisu made with Lithuanian buckwheat cake in place of ladyfingers. QR codes throughout link to videos showcasing the more challenging techniques. Hercules again proves herself to be one of the great narrative recipe writers, and her distinctive voice provides reassuring and occasionally self-deprecating guidance. Intimate and informative, funny and thoughtful, and never anything less than genuine, this is a treasure. (Dec.)