Seafood and summer specials

Rick Stein's Seafood Odyssey (BBC Worldwide Limited, $85) The first indication a cookbook is good is if it makes you want to try some of the recipes. This book passes the test with flying colours. Host of a BBC television series on seafood, owner of a seafood restaurant in England, and award-winner for two previous books, English Seafood Cookery and Taste Of The Sea, Stein obviously knows his subject well and his enthusiasm shows. The book includes recipes from different areas of the world, including India, Australia, the United States and Europe. But it's clearly written with the English cook in mind.

The recipes are well-presented, with full-page colour photos of some of the finished dishes. Some require only a few ingredients and simple techniques, and most can be made in well under an hour. He usually suggests alternatives if you can't find the fish selected, although writing: 'this dish is also great with small mackerel, hooked out of the sea on a warm summer's evening, just off Gulland Island, to the west of Stepper Point and Padstow' is stretching it a bit for most of us.

Recipes are eclectic, as is the range of seafood. There are even recipes that call for canned fish.

Le Cordon Bleu - Summer (Periplus Editions, $55) On a hot summer day, the last thing anyone wants to do is slave over a hot stove. Le Cordon Bleu's Summer cookbook offers great alternatives for the harried cook, who would rather be outdoors.

It's a slim volume - 64 pages offering only 29 recipes, each accompanied by a large colour photo. Dishes rank from 'easy' to 'a little more care needed' or 'more care needed'. In other words, nothing very taxing. There's nothing too brilliant or exciting here - just basic recipes that make the most of fresh, seasonal ingredients. An experienced cook can take many of the recipes as the starting point for more creative dishes.

There are a good number of salads, from the ubiquitous Caesar to a more complex pan-fried duck breast with citrus. Many salads and starters are substantial enough to be served on their own. Some main courses are a bit heavy for hot, humid Hong Kong: lamb cutlets with pea fritters and garlic cream sauce is not a dish many people will want to eat, much less prepare, in this weather. Lighter and more refreshing are the salmon with shallot and coriander vinaigrette, and tiger prawns with sauteed capsicums.