Lucy's Kitchen: Signature Recipes and Culinary Secrets

Globe and Mail columnist Lucy Waverman invites us into her kitchen to learn the secrets to being a great cook.

Lucy Waverman is one of the best-known food writers in the country. Her popular, long-running column in the Saturday Globe and Mail and her contributions to Food & Drink magazine have gained her a huge, faithful audience who rely on her recipes because they are foolproof. Lucy spent many years running a highly successful cooking school, giving her an innate understanding of people's needs in the kitchen. Based on the questions her Globe readers ask, she started to realize that there was an entire generation (or two) of food-savvy people out there who hadn't learned to cook the same way their mothers had. For whatever reason, some of us have missed out on learning the basics of great cooking - details that can turn a meal into something memorable.

We're not talking about the secret to an impressive soufflé or lobster bisque - save that for later. But everyone should know how to fold in an egg white, stir a risotto, and roast the perfect chicken, and Lucy's Kitchen will show you how. Accented by renowned food photographer Rob Fiocca's beautiful full-colour imagery throughout, this is the book we've all been waiting for.

In the casual yet elegant style she's known for, Lucy applies her incredible teaching skills to showing us how easy it is to create fantastic meals, whether they be for a simple evening for two or a night of entertaining a crowd. Seamlessly woven into the more than 250 impossible-to-resist recipes are the tips, techniques and information on ingredients you need to feel confident whipping up such wonders as Smoked Salmon Nori Roll, Lemon-Scented Roasted Lamb, Smashed Red Potatoes with Garlic Chips or a Chocolate Mousse with Saffron Foam.

In Lucy's Kitchen you will blossom into the fabulous cook you always knew you could be.

"This is a compilation of Lucy's favourite recipes, tips, techniques and hints that will help beginner cooks look accomplished and savvy cooks become better."
-Bonnie Stern, The National Post

"None of the recipes here are complicated - some are sublimely simple. . .but each one has a sophistication born of years of being a hands-on cook."
-The Province (Vancouver)

"Lucy's Kitchen. . .will be a boon for everyone from the absolute beginner to the savvy home chef"
-Times Colonist (Victoria)

"Known for her wonderful knack with flavours and user-friendly recipes, she has written a lovely combination of classics and cutting-edge creations…. Long-time fans of Waverman's, new and experienced cooks alike will be equally delighted with this latest collection of tantalizing recipes."
-Peterborough Examiner

"Lucy's Kitchen is a combination of simple recipes that cooks of all levels will easily be able to create in their homes. A variety of ingredients and cooking techniques, combined with helpful tips and hints, means this cookbook earns a place in your kitchen."
-LeslieBeck.com

"Lucy's home cooking is a magical blend of the simple and sophisticated, informed by her love of international travel and her Scottish roots. In what is probably her most personal book, Lucy celebrates the kitchen as the heart of her home. She also embraces another part of her past - as a cooking teacher - in highlighting the various techniques and ingredients integral to bringing meals to the table quickly and tastefully every day. Rob Fiocca's glorious photography adds another element of pleasure to a book we will reach for again and again."
-The Cook Book Store website

Lucy Waverman is a Cordon Bleu - trained chef and the award-winning author of eight cookbooks, including Dinner Tonight and Home for Dinner. Her food column, "The Home Chef," appears every Saturday in the Globe and Mail, and she is also the Food Editor of the LCBO's Food & Drink. Her most recent book, A Matter of Taste (with James Chatto), was shortlisted for a James Beard Award and won the Gold Medal at Cuisine Canada's 2005 culinary cookbook awards. From 1972 to 1990, Lucy owned and directed The Cooking School, a Toronto school devoted to the teaching of good cooking. She was the food expert for CityTV's Cityline for twelve years and still appears regularly on television and radio shows across Canada and the United States.