Ancient grains make for hearty, healthy, interesting fare and this cookbook is loaded with a spectrum of colourful ideas for creating wholesome, appealing meals using them to their full advantage.

I fell in love with the ancient grain farro in Tuscany a few years ago and welcome ways of incorporating it into meals, from soups to salads to pilafs. Maria Speck's Ancient Grains Modern Meals showcases farro with honey roasted grapes, or in a stew of fire-roasted tomatoes and eggplant. I am also drawn to a riff on summer tabouli made with farro instead of bulghur wheat, more toothsome and rustic, a satisfying vegetarian meal replete with whole grains, vegetables and even some tangy feta if you so choose.

After I finished drooling over the farro recipes, I browsed some more and fell hard for the quinoa and barley offerings in Speck's beautiful book. I come to quinoa a bit late in the game, only just getting into it, enjoying pairing it with hot peppers, sweet fruit and fresh vegetables, frequently all at the same time. What think you of cumin-scented quinoa with red beets? Or lemon quinoa with currants, dill and zucchini? These are combinations that will thrill and delight you all winter long, offering comfort and health, which essentially equals well-being.

Barley makes a memorable appearance with figs and a grown-up tarragon-lemon dressing. It is also featured in a stew with lentils, mushrooms and dill, classic, timeless, but with the added surprise of fresh apples thrown into the mix. This is a book of innovation and inspiration, new ways of using ancient grains to nourish you and entertain simultaneously.

I am happy to report that meat does make an appearance as well, lamb burgers with bulgur and mint, exploiting the time-honoured flavours of Turkey with cumin and Aleppo pepper, plus the kick of garlic-spiked yogurt. For the perfect pantry-based concoction, when hunger strikes and your imagination wanes, try spicy spaghetti with carmelized onions, anchovies and tuna, all ingredients commonly kept as staples in our kitchens. No fancy wizardry here, just well thought out solutions to dinner dilemnas, presented with flair and love.

Barley Salad with Figs and Tarragon-Lemon Dressing from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

Barley: 2 cups water; 3/4 cup pearl barley; 1 2"x1" strip lemon zest; 3 peppercorns; pinch of fine sea salt.

Salad: 1 lemon; 1/4 cup chopped dried figs; 2 stalks celery, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4" pieces, about 1 cup; 1/2 cup finely chopped green onions, white and light green parts (about 4); 1/2 cup chopped tangy apple (Granny Smith is a good choice); 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil; 3 tsp. honey; 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt; 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; 2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon (use any herb you like if tarragon is not available; I think dill or thyme would be lovely here); 2 tbsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.

To prepare barley, bring water, barley, zest, peppercorns and salt to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Decrease heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook until barley is tender but still slightly chewy, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 5 - 10 minutes. Drain remaining liquid and transfer barley to large serving bowl to cool. Remove zest and peppercorns.

To prepare the salad, finely grate zest of the lemon until you have 2 tsp. Cut lemon in half and squeeze to get 2 tbsp. juice. Place dried figs in a small bowl and stir in 1 tbsp. of lemon juice. Set aside. Add the celery, green onions and apple to the serving bowl with the barley.

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, remaining 1 tbsp. lemon juice, zest and honey. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning to suit you. Stir in half of the tarragaon and half of the parsely.

To finish, add the plumped figs with any juices to the barley mixture and drizzle on the dressing. Mix to combine. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Toss again, sprinkle with remaining herbs, and serve.

Serves 4.

It is rare to find a book that sings out to me with page after page of beautiful, inspired creations that I must rush off and produce. Often, a cookbook will offer merely a recipe or two that appeals to me, but not so here. I find myself wrapped up in each and every dish, imagining it on my table, wishing it into existence. This is a book to embrace on a daily basis.

Other cookbooks I cannot live without? Here are some of my favourites:

Moosewood taught me to love cooking, back in the hippy days of my past, where I was seduced by the intoxicating flavours of the world so thoughtfully presented here. I still follow Katzen's directions for guacamole, hummus and babaganouj:

Everyone has recipes, but these are the BEST recipes, where the editors have made all the mistakes in their test kitchens to save you making those mistakes in yours. You could spend the rest of your life cooking from the international recipes and never be at a loss for a great meal:

Italian food is a staple in my diet, food I must have, often. Lidia Bastianich has it figured out, just the way I like it, authentic, real, simple, wonderful. I could cook from this book every day of my life and never grow tired of these timeless dishes:

What's for dessert? There has to be something, right? Life is short and it should also be sweet. So, make sure your sweet eating is great. Everything in this book is excellent, worthy of your time and worth the calories!

Swiss chard is here, my garden teeming with it in rainbow hues. Given my quinoa-centric state of mind, what better pairing can I dream up than the two together? It works!! A gentle saute of sliced chard stalks, plus the chopped leaves and lots of garlic make for an ideal quinoa partner, the grain being a blank canvas to which one can riff in many ways. Swiss chard also speaks to me of raisins and pine nuts, so they make an appearance here too, a warm side dish, a cooled down salad, a leftover to bring to work for lunch.

Let's start by cooking the quinoa. You can boil it like pasta in salted water and drain it when it blooms and softens, a little tail, the germ, emerging from each grain. Place the drained quinoa back into the cooking pot, cover with a clean tea towel and let it sit for 5 minutes. Fluff and serve. Another method for cooking quinoa is to cook one part quinoa to two parts water, covered, for 12 - 15 minutes, until done. Fluff, cover, let sit for 5 minutes, and serve. Both methods work well, so prepare your quinoa according to your preference.

When cooked quinoa is destined for a salad, it is a good idea to dry it out so that the grains remain separate. Thanks to Bob's Red Mill Cookbook for this important pointer. Spread your cooked quinoa onto a baking sheet to cool and dry. You can store cooked quinoa in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Now for the fun, where inspiration, flavour and texture arrive on the scene. Take a large bunch of Swiss chard, rainbow coloured, if possible. Wash the stalks and leaves and pat them dry delicately. It is OK if some water clings to the chard. Snip off the leaves and chop them coarsely. Set aside. Slice the stalks thinly. In a large pan, warm two teaspoons of olive oil and saute the sliced stalks until beginning to soften, about 10 minutes. Add in the chopped chard leaves and 2 - 3 plump cloves of crushed garlic. Cook until softened, tender and fragrant. The Swiss chard will have wilted and cooked down to a mere skeleton of its former, bulky self. Season with salt and pepper and a few gratings of whole nutmeg. Let the chard cool and add it to the cooked quinoa along with a handful of golden raisins and another handful of toasted pine nuts. You may want to dress the salad lightly with a lemony vinaigrette, or just some fruity olive oil and a splash of fresh lemon juice. Finish the salad off with a flourish of fresh herbs, whatever is fresh and abundant in your garden or market. Mint is awfully nice here as is Italian parsley or chives. If you cannot decide on one herb, use a combination. There is no right or wrong here, just the desires of your palate to follow.

Enjoy this delightful creation as a light lunch with a bowl of soup, with some flatbreads and cheese, or as a side to some protein. It keeps very well in the fridge for few days and will nourish your mind and body with its healthful goodness.

Can't get enough of quinoa? Read on:

It's summer time and the living is easy. Someone said that once. It makes sense to me. It's time to bask in the kaleidoscope of colours at the produce stands. And then time to come home and put together something to eat that is fresh and fast. I did just that. The blueberries were plump and tempting, a perfect mango beckoned with its heady perfume, firm stalks of corn awaited discovery. Long, thin beans, bold peppers, slim green onions, I found them all today and made this bright delight to enjoy with some grilled wild salmon.

Let's start with the quinoa and what one does with it. There are different techniques for cooking quinoa and I am going with this one from trusty Saveur magazine.

How to Cook Quinoa Perfectly
adapted from www.saveur.com

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well and drained; 1 tsp. salt

In a 4-litre pot, bring 6 cups of water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil. Add quinoa and simmer 12-15 minutes until tender and grains have bloomed. Remove from heat and drain quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. Set sieve back over empty pot, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rest 15 minutes. Serves 4 people.

Quinoa Salad

Next, if you would like to construct a summer salad, you need some vegetables. I used about a cup and a half each of fresh green beans, cut into small pieces, cherry tomatoes, quartered and fresh corn kernals. I cooked the green beans and the corn until tender and drained them well. Tossed them into the bowl of quinoa I had waiting on the side along with the tomatoes, seeds pressed out lightly, by the way. I toasted a cup of sliced almonds and included them in my creation along with about 6 green onions, sliced into small rounds and two jalapenos, diced, for a hit of heat. Fruit and quinoa get along beautifully and I was after some big time colour, so in went a mango, diced and about 3/4 cup of fresh blueberries. I made a simple dressing with almond oil, fresh lemon juice and the zest of that same lemon, adding salt and pepper, a bit of cayenne and a pinch of raw sugar to taste. The only thing missing was a big handful of fresh herbs from my garden, mint, chives and oregano, adding lush freshness and speckles of green.

My quinoa creation was a perky foil for the rich, delicate meat of the wild salmon, cutting the density of the fish with bursts of fruit and a friendly jolt of peppery heat. It is a salad I will play with and adapt all summer long, as the fruit season delivers its wares. I am looking forward to tender, young zucchini, diced and gently cooked. Corn will continue to appear and will get better as the summer progresses, as will peppers and beans. Parsley and dill, cilantro and thyme, all will play roles.

Keep your summer meals easy and fresh: