Assemble: Sensational Food Made Simple - Tapa blanda

"Assemble" talks about the art of producing delicious food with very little effort. Annabel Langbein draws on a global palette of flavours to create great dishes without complicated or time-consuming methods. The emphasis is on choosing the freshest ingredients and using quality convenience foods to best advantage so that meal preparation becomes more a matter of assembly than lengthy preparation. Taking a fresh ingredient and a simple method she presents a range of exciting dishes: grilled fish can be glazed with chilli and lime, can be served Mediterranean-style with aromatic basil oil or richly flavoured with Japanese miso; whichever way, it takes just minutes to prepare and minutes to cook. A simple sponge, bought or home-made, provides a springboard for a double-layer cake filled with strawberries and cream, a creamy tiramisu or a range of fruity sponge puddings.

Annabel Langbein is the internationally recognised author of twelve cookbooks and to date her books have been published in nine languages. She has gained a huge following for her down-to-earth style of cooking which is fresh and light and based round seasonal ingredients and sustainable food production. She is based in New Zealand but spends much of the year travelling the world for culinary inspiration.