Recipe of the Month

Let us acclaim a brilliant work of food writing. Diana Henry's "Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons" is a magnificent, truly infectious cookbook, with scintillating prose and some to-die-for food.

First time we opened it, we went straight into the kitchen and cooked Middle Eastern Orange Cake with Marmalade and Orange Flower Cream, then we did the grilled aubergines with mint, then we made some fantastic savoury fritelle di ricotta, the lightest ricotta and spinach dumplings. All food to die for, and described in prose as dazzling as this: "Cumin. seeds smell of earth and life: fresh sweat, sex, dust, maleness", or what about this description of the scents early in the morning in Provence: "It's worth disturbing even the deepest of sleeps to take in that 6am scent of grass and herbs as they begin to warm. Of all the smells in the world - wild strawberries, bacon sarnies, the sweet bready scent of a baby's head - this is my favourite".

That is simple poetry, we think - the sweet bready scent of a baby's head - tactile, beautifully observed, and it marks Ms Henry out as a major talent, and makes this the must-have book of the autumn. Jason Lowe's fantastic photographs are pitched just right to suit this lush, sensual text, and are the cherry on a wonderful cake.

"Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons" is published by Mitchell Beazley at £20stg.

Middle Eastern Orange Cake with Marmalade and Orange Flower Cream

Serves 8

1 orange
3 eggs
250g (9oz) caster sugar
55g (2oz) plain flour, sifted
5ml (1 tsp) baking powder
200g (7oz) freshly ground almonds
icing sugar for dusting

For the Cream

55g (2oz) fine-shred orange marmalade
125g (4and a half oz) mascarpone cheese
30ml (2 tablespoons) Greek yoghurt
icing sugar to taste
5ml (1teaspoon) orange flower water

1. Put the orange in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for an hour. Cut the orange in half, remove the pips, and purée the rest of the fruit in a food processor.

2. Grease a 20cm (8in) spring-form tin and line with greaseproof paper. Beat the eggs and sugar together until they're pale and thick. Fold in the flour, baking powder, almonds and orange puree. Pour into the tin and bake in an oven preheated to 180ºC (350ºF) Gas mark 4 for about an hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Turn the cake out to cool.

3. To make the cream, melt the marmalade in a small pan. Let it cool slightly, but don't let it sset, then mix it with the mascarpone and yoghurt. Add icing sugar to taste and the orange flower water.

4. Sift icing sugar over the cake, and serve with the marmalade cream.

Savoury Fritelle de Ricotta

Serves 4 as a lunch with salad, 8 as a starter

500g (1lb 2oz) spinach
250g (9oz) ricotta cheese
30g (a good 1oz) plain flour
75g (2 and three quarter oz) Parmesan, grated
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
groundnut oil for deep-frying
flour for dusting

1. De-stalk and wash the spinach and cook it in the water that clings to it. It will take about 4 minutes in a covered saucepan over a medium heat.

2. Drain the spinach well then squeeze out the excess moisture. Put it together with all the other ingredients, apart from the oil, and mix in the food processor using the pulse button (or chop the spinach and mix everything by hand if you prefer). Taste and adjust the seasoning.

3. Lightly flour your hands and form the mixture into little dumplings - just a little smaller than golf balls. Slightly flatten them and put them on floured baking sheets or plates. Chill these well in the fridge.

4. Cook the fritters at the last minute, deep-frying them in about 16cm (6 and a quarter in) hot oil until they are deep golden bwoen. The oil has to be hot, or the fritters will fall apart, but not too hot, or they will burn on the outside before they are hot in the middle. The recipe gives you enough mixture to have a few disasters before you get the oil to the optimum temperature.

5. Drain the fritters on absorbent kitchen paper and serve immediately.

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