Add the finely chopped garlic cloves and sprigs of rosemary and cook over a low heat until soft, this will take about five minutes.Add the cannellini beans, salt and pepper to taste and stir well to evenly coat with oil. But I discovered its real magic when I came back to London: the finished dishes taste as though one is eating in Italy.GRILLED BREAD WITH ROSEMARY-SCENTED WHITE BEAN PUREEServes 43 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil3 garlic cloves, finely chopped2 rosemary sprigs, finely chopped400g/14oz cooked cannellini beanssalt and pepper4 thick slices ciabatta bread2 garlic cloves, halved1 ripe tomato, finely dicedextra olive oil to drizzleHeat the olive oil in a saucepan. One of them, who is Italian, Ursula Ferrigno, has only to step down the stairs from the top-floor flat. Another, Livvy Mason, comes in by train from Berwick- upon-Tweed, 300 miles away, staying with London friends. A third, Victoria Blashford-Snell (if the name's familiar, that's because her father John is the explorer) comes up from Wiltshire every week.All the cooks except one, Eric Treuille, are women. In the Portobello Road vicinity around the bookshop, in Blenheim Crescent, Eric is a Pied Piper figure followed by children who know him as Eric the Cooker. He gives free classes (sponsored by the flour people Allinson) to classes of seven children as young as three to five in the bookshop This is another feature of Books for Cooks.

An upstairs room has been converted into a neat and modern demonstration kitchen accommodating 25.What are they, these cooks? Professional amateurs or amateur professionals? They come in off the street, see what's going on, their imagination is fired, they beg to be involved, and off they go. Their inspiration, of course, is the feast of cookbooks that surround them them, 8,000 mint titles written by the world's best cookery writers and chefs. Ask them their favourites, and these are the names which tumble out: British stars such as Claudia Roden, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, Marco Pierre White, Simon Hopkinson, Nigel Slater, Alastair Little, Richard Whittington; Americans such as Alice Waters, Patricia Wells, Sheila Lukins, Richard Olney, Anna Thomas; Australians Stephanie Campbell and Donna Hay; and many authors representing world cuisines, Anna del Conte on Italy, Sri Owen on Indonesia, Anissa Helou on the Lebanon, Vatcharin Bhumichitr on Thailand, Julie Sahni and Camellia Panjabi on India.The bookshop has been a mecca to food professionals for 16 years, when Heidi Lascelles opened it. Stir the soy, mirin, honey, chilli and garlic together and pour over the chicken to coat well. Heat three tablespoons of the oil in a heavy frying pan or wok Fry the chicken until golden brown, about five minutes.

Turn the chicken over, pour in the marinade and fry for another 10 minutes or until cooked through Remove and keep warm. Add the remaining oil and stir-fry the greens until wilted, about three minutes. Slice the chicken across on the diagonal and arrange on warmed plates with the greens. Spoon over the pan juices and serve.From New Food, Jill Dupleix; hardback, pounds 19.99.Verdura was the first book I took to my home in Italy, where I fell in love with the simplicity of the recipes that so beautifully combine fresh, natural ingredients. But this isn't just a glossy, empty-headed-and-hearted designer book; in addition to being a truly useful collection of modern and traditional classics that has a proper place in everybody's kitchen, Jill talks real sense about cooking, eating and living in today's world.SOY CHICKEN WITH BAK CHOIServes 44 bak choi, quartered lengthways2 tablespoons soy sauce2 tablespoons mirin1 tablespoon honey1 garlic clove, finely chopped1 red chilli, finely chopped4 boned and skinned free-range chicken breasts4 tablespoons sunflower oilA quick word about ingredients: mirin is a sweet rice wine, use sherry if you can't find it; bak choi is a Chinese cabbage with white stalks and green leaves, but spring greens, broccoli florets, spinach or shredded Savoy cabbage are all excellent too - and those need no blanching.Blanch the bak choi in boiling water for one minute, then drain. The bold design and bright photography straightaway get your tastebuds jumping around and make you want to go into the kitchen and cook. A book rich in living and learning.I have chosen soffrito as the sample recipe and I quote verbatim from the book.

Although it is simplicity itself to make, it is supremely useful. I keep a jar of it in my fridge (it keeps for two to three days); I use it as a base in soups, sauces, casseroles, omelettes and so on, and it imparts a lovely colour and wonderful taste to the finished dish."The Italian soffrito normally consists of a little handful of fragrant herbs - parsley, dill, thyme, savoury, rosemary - and aromatic vegetables - onion, leek, garlic, carrot - very finely chopped, simmered in oil before the meat, beans, fish or whatever is added, the moment they start to colour."From Honey from a Weed, Patience Gray; hardback, pounds 17.50, paperback, pounds 10.99.Jill Dupleix's New Food is a book for your eyes, mind and stomach. This is available free (send a stamp and an address, or an sae) from Books for Cooks, 4 Blenheim Crescent, London Wll INN; tel 0171 221 1992; fax 0171 221 1517.HEIDI LASCELLE'S FAVOURITE BOOKS AND RECIPESIf I had to choose one book alone, it would be Patience Gray's Honey from a Weed. And every time I do open it, I am re-awakened to the real significance of food in our lives, for food is not only about appetite, but sustenance, healing, nature, sharing, nourishment and celebration. It is a cookbook of the utmost beauty, lyrically written and entrancingly illustrated - when I see it lying on the table at home, the cover design alone makes me go and pick it up. A new, bigger, better volume of recipes with colour illustrations is planned, along with other ventures, such as a book on bread by Ursula Ferrigno and Eric Treuille, and a guide to cookery schools and wine courses in Britain.Heidi Lascelles has all but stepped down, beating a retreat to her home in Tuscany, but she remains the owner, coming in for a week every month to inspire and comfort her "brood".After 16 years in the business, Heidi Lascelles' staff asked her which were her favourite books.

They are extracted, right, from their new, entertaining, 16-page Books for Cooks Newsletter and Workshop List. The most famous old girl is the former manager, Clarissa Dickson Wright who, with Jennifer Paterson, is one of the inimitable Two Fat Ladies.Then Books for Cooks moved into producing their own cookbook. Rosie Kindersley (daughter of the publisher Peter of Dorling Kindersley), who had become the new manager, linked up with Frenchman Eric Treuille, together with their in-house cooks, to produce an anthology of 75 recipes from the pick of the year's books, as tested in the kitchen.A useful idea, the recipes being adapted and written in a conforming style, moderating flights of fancy, substituting strange ingredients where necessary, translating the mystifying American measures by volume (by measuring cup), and above all adding comments, (admiring) critiques, stories and insights of their own.They have produced three such annual books now, in paperback, sold at the staggeringly modest price of pounds 3.99. The chief contributing cooks have been Victoria Blashford- Snell, Jennifer Joyce, Ursula Ferrigno, Sophie Braimbridge, Patricia Collins and Celia Brooks Brown.Most of the cooks develop themes of their own, teaching cookery classes, writing books, running catering companies. We had better declare an interest; Annie also writes for ISM, the Independent Saturday magazine.The onus on one person cooking was considered too great and a roster system evolved.