What Katie Ate: Recipes and Other Bits & Pieces

In a visual age, food stylists have redefined the way we eat, and cookbooks with vivid, original imagery such as this one stand out from the pack. Commercial food and lifestyle photographer Davies built her fan base with a blog that chronicles her meals and work, and her debut book gives readers a tangible record—part recipe collection, part scrapbook, laden with sumptuous color and extravagant, full-page layouts. Davies’s approach is seasonal and earthy, with many dishes reflecting her Irish heritage (Katie’s fish pie with crunchy bacon and leek topping) and now Aussie hometown (mini beef and bacon meat pies. Even so, there are flashes of global inspiration, such as a Vietnamese salad with crispy pork belly and spiced lamb pizza with mint yogurt dressing, and multiple dishes recreated from travel memories. Davies takes a bold approach in mixing flavor profiles and textures in dishes like roasted pepita and watercress salad with a fried duck egg, and rhubarb, mascarpone, and hazelnut tartlets, but in the end it’s her aesthetic sensibility—nostalgic yet modern, composed yet organic—that makes this cookbook feel like a fresh revelation. Color photos. (Oct.)