Nigel Slater: Tender

I admire a lot of British chefs. What I especially appreciate about Nigel Slater is he is not just a brilliant cook but also a beautiful writer. It's like one of those special offers in the supermarket:
Buy one, get one free. You buy a cookery book and you get literature for free:) This is his latest book which Father Christmas kindly delivered on Christmas Eve.....

http://www.nigelslater.com/tender.asp

And here is a sample of his writing (the first and last paragraphs of the introduction to the first volume):

"I keep lists. Some copied into notebooks in neat italic script in blue-black ink, others scribbled almost illegibly in soft pencil on the back of an old envelope. Most remain in my head. There is the usual inventory of things I need to do, of course, but also less urgent lists, those of books to read or read again, music to find, plants to secure for the garden, and letters to be written (few of which will ever see the light of day). One list that has remained in my head is that of favourite scents, the catalogue of smells I find particularly evocative or uplifting. Snow (yes, I believe it has a smell), dim sum, old books, cardamom, beeswax, moss, warm flapjacks, a freshly snapped runner bean, a roasting chicken, a fleeting whiff of white narcissi on a freezing winter’s day.....

....Right now I have come in from the vegetable patch – a romantic mingling of vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers – and feel elated. There is an unusual abundance, even for midsummer, and a sense of energy in the garden. I have just picked the first tomatoes of the year. Tiny green-shouldered Sungold, no bigger than a Malteser. They are sweet-sharp and burst refreshingly in my mouth. Almost best of all is the deep, herbal scent of tomato leaves on my fingers. Another one for my list."

All that and more before you get to the first recipe.....