Cookbooks are gifts that keep giving

<p>To provide inspiration into the new year, we've chosen a half-dozen North Bay cookbooks as gift suggestions -- plus one classic cookbook from the past -- for your kitchen-savvy family and friends.</p><p>A cookbook can serve as a souvenir of a recent trip to Wine Country as well as an enticement to return for another visit.</p><p>And at the very least, they will bring the flavors of Wine Country home to the hearth.</p><p>1. Christine Hanna's "The Winemaker Cooks: Menus, Parties and Pairings" (Chronicle Books, 2010)</p><p>As a wife, mother and president of Hanna Winery &amp; Vineyards, Chris Hanna leads a busy life. But she's never too busy to cook healthy Mediterranean food for her family and friends with fresh produce from the garden.</p><p>In her first cookbook, Hanna shares her simple and accessible recipes for all kinds of seasonal celebrations as well as her casual Wine Country lifestyle, replete with homegrown food and wine.</p><p>2. Michael Chiarello's "Bottega: Bold Italian Flavors from the Heart of California's Wine Country" (Chronicle Books, 2010)</p><p>For his seventh cookbook, Chiarello provides a close-up of his latest venture -- Bottega Restaurant in Yountville -- and once again proves his passion for reinventing Italian classics.</p><p>While some of the recipes are surprising simple, such as Solo Shrimp Pasta and Arrosto of Duroc Pork with Roasted Heirloom Apples, others are more challenging and may be best experienced as a guest at Bottega.</p><p>3. Connie Green and Sarah Scott's "The Wild Table: Seasonal Foraged Food and Recipes" (Viking Studio, 2010)</p><p>Aimed at the adventurous eater, this unusual cookbook features mouth-watering recipes for more than 40 wild mushrooms and plants, from chanterelles and porcinis to wild fennel and ramps.</p><p>Wine Forest Mushrooms hunter Connie Green and culinary consultant Sarah Scott both live and work in Napa Valley, so it's not surprising that the book includes quite a few Napa Valley chefs, from Thomas Keller (who wrote the foreword) to Hiro Sone (who shared a recipe for Matsutake mushrooms).</p><p>Most of the recipes -- such as the Porcini Panini with Teleme and Caramelized Onions -- are quite accessible, and the photography is stunning.</p><p>4. Marissa Guggiana's "Primal Cuts: Cooking with America's Best Butchers" (Welcome Books, 2010)</p><p>The lost art of butchery is being revived by a bevy of young chefs, farmers and meat purveyors eager to sharpen their skills.</p><p>Among these is Marissa Guggiana of Sonoma Direct in Petaluma, a fourth-generation meat purveyor who traveled the country to interview 50 nose-to-tail butchers about their personal stories, techniques and recipes.</p><p>The book includes lots of North Bay notables, from Taylor Boetticher of the Fatted Calf in Napa to Ari Rosen of Scopa in Healdsburg, who tell their own stories.</p><p>Although this modern meat bible offers lots of practical tips and recipes, its greatest strength may be the insight it gives into our evolving philosophy of food.</p><p>5. Grace Young's "Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge" (Simon &amp; Schuster, 2010)</p><p>Young, who grew up in San Francisco, examines the diaspora of the simple stir-fry technique, which has enabled generations of Chinese around the world to eat well with great economy.</p><p>Like "Primal Cuts," the book tells the fascinating stories of real people and includes dishes from Singapore to Astoria, Malaysia to the Mississippi Delta.</p><p>Among these is a recipe for Singapore Noodles from Mei Ibach of Santa Rosa, who learned to cook the spice-laden "Nyonya" cuisine -- a hybrid of Chinese and Malay cooking -- in her native Malaysia.</p><p>6. Alice Medrich's "Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies" (Artisan, 2010)</p><p>Berkeley's chocolate guru organized her latest cookie cookbook by texture -- from chewy to crunchy -- and along the way, she reinvented many of her own cookie classics.</p><p>If you're craving a chunky cookie, you can go straight to the "chunky" chapter, but you can also search for cookies by other means: quick-and-easy, whole grain, dairy-free, and less fat.</p><p>Make a batch of cookies and package them up with this baking bible, and you'll make someone very happy indeed.</p><p>7. And something from the past: Judy Rodgers' "The Zuni Cafe Cookbook" (W. W. Norton &amp; Co., 2002) has gained a well-deserved fan club over the years, thanks to the Zuni Cafe chef/owners's reputation for simple, honest food.</p><p>The Chez Panisse alumna shares her secret for gently dressing a salad with her hands and salting chicken a day ahead of time, along with her signature recipe for Roast Chicken and Panzanella (Tuscan bread salad).</p><p>-- Diane Peterson</p>