Marlene van der Westhuizen, celebrated author of Delectable and Sumptuous, shares her favourite recipes for decadent dinners with friends and family in this accessible little book. There are recipes for formal dinners around a beautifully laid table with all your best cutlery and glassware, but also for casual meals served in front of the fire on a cold winter's evening. You can choose to tackle the stuffed shoulder of lamb, or the wonderfully simple, but delicious, tagliolini with pine nuts, sage and lemon. Marlene makes the romance of French cooking accessible to all South African cooks.

The recipes in this book can be used every day of the week for that one main course we cook daily, whether we’re cooking for the family or entertaining our friends. Divided into just three chapters – Meat, Poultry and Seafood – the recipes range from well-known classics to modern dishes, many with a Continental influence. All are prepared with the author’s flair for home-cooked, hearty and delicious meals.

Plate would make the perfect house-warming gift for those relatively inexperienced in the kitchen, but even seasoned cooks will find inspiration.

Crisp light, a profusion of wild flowers, and an astonishing choice of fresh produce – it is spring in the medieval village of Charroux in the Allier department of France, where Marlene van der Westhuizen invites you to steal a glimpse into the inner workings of her fiftieth cooking class.

Along with 80 new recipes (including Fillets de sole Bonne Femme, Early Autumn chicken and Apple blinis) follow Marlene and her class as they lift the veil on the understated glamour of French country cooking, eating and living.

Learn how to navigate food markets, bargain for beautiful antiques, cook and present glorious meals, and enjoy every aspect of life in a French village with grace and charm. Then start saving to join Marlene in France yourself …

Delectable is more than just a cookery book; it's about good living as much as it is about good food. Author Marlene van der Westhuizen uses her love of France and French country cooking to infuse local dishes with a particularly European flavour. The food she cooks is not haute cuisine – you will not find in this book small portions of foreign dishes with strange ingredients. On the contrary, Marlene cooks South African food (and dishes up enough to satisfy a South African appetite), but with a rural french twist. Delectable contains over 80 recipes and more than twice as many photographs, showcasing the scenery of the french countryside, detail of ancient french villages, the colour and vitality of markets and antique fairs, and, of course, the food! Recipes are interspersed with little-known treasures from the South African wine industry, ensuring that your table is laid with the food and drink of the gods. And just like the recipes, the layout and format of the book are simple, sleek, and easy-to-use, and heavyweight art-coated paper has been used to ensure that the photographs depict the french countryside as vividly as possible.

The bright yellow sunflowers in the fields around Charroux, the smell of roasting chestnuts, rich onion soup, a classic salad Nicoise, cassoulet or pot au feu, fennel and endive, lemn tarts, malva pudding and the wild food of the places where I live ... Walks down narrow country lanes, wild beaches and cobbled streets ... Times with special people over simple meals ... This I want to share with you. Marlene van der Westhuizen More wonderful recipes from Marlene van der Westhuizen's French cooking school.

Marlene van der Westhuizen, celebrated author of Delectable and Sumptuous, shares her favourite recipes for long lazy lunches with friends and family in this accessible little book. There are recipes for summer lunches in the garden and winter lunches in front of the fire, a casual kitchen lunch with family or a romantic lunch on the Victorian balcony of her home. Whether you choose the mackerel and sweet potato fishcakes or the applecider glazed onion tart, your guests will be delighted. Marlene makes the romance of French cooking accessible to all South African cooks.