Lean cookbook serves up a delicious treat

Andre Burgener has been immersed in all things food since she took over the making of the family's lunch box sandwiches aged eight (her mom could make a mean creme brulee and a staggering souffle, but could never butter the bread all the way to the edges.

COOKING THE BOOKS

ON FIRST fearful sighting, the cookbook recently passed along to me for possible review had me sniggering and scoffing, and throwing it aside without even opening the thing.

For some reason it beckoned to me later, and of course the lesson was, "never judge a book by its you-know-what".

Who could blame me though?

First it was the worrying title, Clean & Lean Diet Cookbook. Then the cover pictures of renowned (apparently) Australian celebrity trainer James Duigan and his bikini-clad wife Christiane in tanning mode, taking up more space than the lone food picture.

All very disheartening.

Further, pictures of James rock climbing, pretty Christiane in white bikini again, and Elle McPherson (in, yes, white bikini) vouching for James, started to induce nausea. But, once I got into the recipes and the advice, well, I'm almost embarrassed to say that I think this is one of the best cookbooks of its kind.

When he's not rock climbing sans safety harness, James is quite a sensible chap: this is no extreme nutter diet prescription, and in fact the "diet" aspect is cunningly disguised by the delicious ideas.

Buckwheat blueberry pancakes for breakfast, squash and ginger soup for lunch, Balinese steamed fish for dinner.

Published by Kyle Books, 2012. R216

SWEET TALKING

IN THE late 1990s, I loved and adored Charlie Trotter. I think perhaps everyone in the food industry worshipped at the altar of the super-obsessive Chicago chef.

We all spent too much money on the enormous books, spent entire weekends cooking one complex dish. And then we all got over Mr Trotter quite quickly: the food was just impossible to make without a 12-chef brigade in the wings.

But the man could cook like a god. And the separate constituent parts of the dishes were always - still are - sublime.

Use the books like that - I discovered years later - and you're away.

This incredible Pear Caramel Sauce initially partnered a thousand-step chocolate-ginger-truffle tart, but the sauce turned out to be the star. It's quite brilliant just thrown (warm) at a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

For two cups of sauce: 1 cup sugar / ¼ cup orange juice, heated / ¼ cup butter / pulp of one vanilla bean / ¼ cup heavy cream / 10 firm pears, peeled, cored and cut into about eight or 10 chunky pieces.

How: Cook sugar over medium-low heat until it starts to caramelise. Stir to get even browning. Add orange juice and stir until combined. Ignore splutters and blobs. Add all remaining ingredients and cook for 10 minutes, stirring gently, until sauce comes together and is thickened. Can be made a few days ahead and reheated.