Forget chocolate — give a book for Easter

A box of free-range local eggs and a book filled with recipes that call for fresh eggs is a far more meaningful gift - it's healthier too. Top of my list this Easter is the Bride & Groom Cookbook, by Gayle Pirie and John Clark (Bonner Books, £25 hardback). It is beautifully designed and even includes a plate on the opening pages for the bride and groom's names to appear, along with the date of the wedding. The book is designed to help newlyweds cope with the business of cooking and eating together as they build up a store of happy memories centred on the dinner table.

Gayle Pirie and John Clark have drawn on their experiences as restaurant chefs and their shared history as a married couple. Their book makes the perfect wedding gift, as this talented couple know the joys of cooking, of creating a meal for someone they love, and of working together in a domestic kitchen.

The Bride & Groom Cookbook contains 150 recipes but first it provides information about setting up a kitchen, detailing the essential equipment and the ingredients needed for the larder, refrigerator and freezer. The classic recipes that follow are all illustrated with the most glorious photographs and include both cooking and preparation times, making this a very practical wedding present, especially if you combine this gift with a box of basic provisions that a can go straight into that shared larder.

Camellia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries of India (Kyle Cathie Ltd, £14.99 paperback) with its DVD and mouthwatering illustrations, is far more than a just a recipe book. This is a book which would appeal to novice cooks and those who believe they can turn out a good curry. Before she begins the recipe section, Camellia discusses the philosophy of Indian cuisine and explains why each taste is accredited with a specific therapeutic action.

Her curry recipes call for a lot of ingredients, but once you have stocked your larder with the basics this will not be a problem. Besides, if you make up a gift box of mixed spices to go with this book, the recipient of this gift can begin cooking straight away, starting perhaps with egg kurma on page 138, which is simply delicious and so easy to produce.

The Big Book of Wok, by Nicola Graimes (Duncan Baird Publishers, £12.99 paperback) is the key to making healthy meals that are quick to prepare and very, very tasty. Owning a wok is not compulsory - this book works well for those who wish to use a large frying pan instead. However, as woks are such versatile pieces of equipment, most people reading this book will probably end up buying one.

Nicola begins by providing recipes for the various pastes that will flavour the dishes, such as laksa, jungle curry, Thai green curry and rempeh, which are all prepared in a food processor or blender. Once these have been made, the sky's the limit. Mouthwatering flavours are assured. Using the wok to make warm oriental salads, or vegetable side dishes such as spinach with shredded coconut to go alongside the main dish, the book will help you to turn a simple supper party into a gourmet treat. For those who would like to cook an egg dish for the Easter period, the Sri Lankan egg curry on page 189, which takes just 30 minutes to prepare and cook, is ideal. The Chinese scrambled egg with red pepper on page 209 makes for a great Easter dish, too. This is the perfect gift for cooks looking to expand their repertoire and experiment with some exciting and challenging new flavour combinations.

Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen (Artisan, £30 hardback) calls for a measurement conversion table as the recipes are written for a US audience used to adding their ingredients in cups. However, it's such a remarkable publication it really does warrant a mention.

This is a book for cooks who are looking for novel ways of garnishing their dishes and turning their meals into works of art. It's also for the cook who wants to puree and cook scallops so that they resemble fluffy scrambled eggs, or dice and dress tomatoes so that they look and taste almost like a steak tartare. Everyday ingredients such as tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions can be transformed from the ordinary into the extraordinary by following Michel's step by step instructions. It's the sort of cook book that really does inspire the cook to use ingredients as an artist would use a palate of colours.

For vegetarians, there's Paola Gavin's Mediterranean Vegetarian Cooking (Metro, £12.99 paperback) with its wealth of unusual recipes, such as cabbage strudel from Croatia, panettone pudding from Italy and pumpkin couscous from Morocco.

One of Italy's most revered authors, Biba Caggiano - whose popular books on Italian cooking are widely respected - has just published Biba's Italy (Artisan, £20 hardback), which combines her extensive knowledge and love of Italian cookery with her natural flair for bringing this cuisine to life. In this book she brings together the very best food from Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan and Venice. The 100 recipes range from time-honoured, home-cooked traditional dishes to restaurant classics.

You can get closer to home, if you wish, with Great British Menu Cookbook (DK, £20) to accompany the BBC2 programme of the same name which began this week. It features recipes by last year's regional winners who have returned to face a new challenge. However, if you feel Easter simply wouldn't be Easter without chocolate, then go for Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes by Caroline Jeremy (Kyle Cathie Ltd, £14.99 paperback), a simply scrumptious collection of recipes for the chocoholic in your life.