Some cookbooks are tools -- practical things meant to be used hard in the kitchen. Others are more like reference works, to be stored on the shelf until needed.

Diana Henry's new release is more like a coffee table book of poetry, starting with the title, lowercased on the cover, "roast figs sugar snow," printed over a painterly photograph of two lush purple figs.

As she begins her introduction, "For me, food is as much to do with the imagination as it is with flavor. A dish is more than a collection of ingredients. It comes from somewhere, contains tastes that make you think of sun or snow ... "

The book, subtitled "Winter Food to Warm the Soul," initially was published in 2005 in the United Kingdom by Mitchell Beazley. This North American softcover edition ($19.99) comes out just in time for the season it so evocatively captures.

We may not be as familiar with her, but in the U.K. Ms. Henry is a famous foodie -- the food columnist for the Standard Telegraph in London (and the Guild of Food Writers' 2007 Cookery Journalist of the Year) with three other cookbooks under her belt. Earlier this year, she caught my eye with the release, by Ten Speed Press, of a similar softback, "Pure Simple Cooking: Effortless Meals Every Day" ($21.95). It surprised me in fact, when I compared the two, that "roast figs sugar snow" is by a different publisher and a different photographer (but "Pure Simple" originally was published in Great Britain in 2007 by Mitchell Beazley. which also published her popular "Gastropub Cookbook" and her first, "Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons").

This new cold-weather issue -- her ode to the season of slow cooking and speeded-up appetite -- is especially sumptuous, including artwork by Jayson Lowe. The very first page presents a snowy forest scene with a long quote from "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, one of the best food writers ever. The passage is Pa telling Laura about "sugar snow" -- the kind of snow on which you pour maple syrup to make candy. As Ms. Henry writes about later in the book, she's actually visited Vermont to experience this magic that she read about as a girl in Northern Ireland.

"Sugar-on-Snow" is in fact one of the recipes in the book, in which the well-read and well-traveled Ms. Henry waxes sweetly and romantically about winter food traditions like this -- providing recipes for everything from fall fruits to game, from both sides of the Atlantic, with a focus on local flavor.

As she notes, "I worry about what the 'Mediterraneanisation' of cooking is doing to the native home-cooking of many countries." But she has found and shares many true treats, from Damson Cheese (a firm jellylike fruit puree to slice and eat with savory food once common in Britain) to Quebecois Mussel Chowder with Cod and Cider.

Chapters -- sprinkled with excerpts from poems and other quotations -- are organized not by course but by main ingredients, including: "Gathering In: Chestnuts, Hazelnuts, Walnuts and Pecans," "Earthy Pleasures: Pumpkin, Winter Squash, Beans and Lentils," "Tales from the Hunt: Game and Wild Mushrooms," and "Of Wood and Smoke: Smoked Food."

Each has a lovely introduction by Ms. Henry, who also writes some great head notes on the recipes, such as the one for Beef Pie with Wild Mushrooms and Claret:

"Unashamedly old-fashioned, you can make men fall in love with you with this pie," she explains. "It seems to have even greater seductive powers than a good cleavage."

The British/European flavor is a delicious touch. The "From Bush and Bog" chapter gives recipes for cranberries, blackberries, sloes and rose hips, including one for Danish Christmas Rice Pudding with Berry Compote and Bramble Cranachan, a Scottish oat cobbler.

I want to try those and many other recipes, having spent a couple of early fall weekends playing with this book and the bounty of the season.

The recipes I made aren't necessarily the most economical, nor the healthiest in the modern-day nutritional sense. But each of them deliciously captured for me some essences -- of place and of past -- of fall and winter.

Ms. Henry's advice? Embrace the cold dark months as do the Scandinavians, who have a term, hygge, that describes the warming effect of a hot cup of coffee and homemade pastry -- cozy, warming, life-affirming.

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PG tested

As Diana Henry writes, "The cranberries look beautifully jewel-like on this cake."

• 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 2 pounds pears (4 to 6)
• 5 ounces cranberries
• 3 ounces shelled pecans
• For the cake
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 2 large eggs, separated
• Drop vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and sugar in a heavy-bottomed frying pan, about 10 to 12 inches in diameter, over low heat. Peel and core the pears and cut them into slices, about 1/2-inch thick, and place them on top of the butter and sugar. Cook these over a gentle heat until just tender, then turn the heat up and cook them until lightly caramelized. Scatter the cranberries and pecans on top and gently mix all the fruit around.

For the cake, cream the butter and sugar and add the egg yolks in a mixer and drop of vanilla. Mix in half the flour along with the baking powder. Add the milk and then the other half of the flour. Mix until smooth.

Beat the egg whites until they form medium peaks and, working quickly, fold into the cake mix with a large spoon.

Spread the batter over the pears and bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out -- but no longer, or the caramelized fruit will stick to the pan. If this does happen, carefully lever the pears off the pan and lay them on to the cake with their dark, caramelized side upwards.

Serves 10.

-- "roast figs sugar snow" by Diana Henry
(Mitchell Beazley, 2009, $19.99)

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PG tested

"Even the idea of this dish makes me yearn for October, it is so full of strong, sweet autumnal flavors and colors," writes Diana Henry, who notes, "Instead of roasting pheasant, you could just saute pheasant breasts, deglaze the pan, and proceed as in the recipe."

I used one plump two-plus-pound Canadian farm-raised pheasant that I got at John McGinnis & Co. in Castle Shannon, and quinces -- wonderfully aromatic quinces -- from Paul's Orchard, which sells them while they last at the Original Farmers Night Market in South Fayette (you also can find them at Whole Foods). My quince may have been too ripe and wound up too smooshy to slice and fry, but it was still phenomenally delicious.

-- Bob Batz Jr.

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter;
• 2 oven-ready pheasants, about 1 pound 3 ounces each
• Salt and pepper
• 1 quince
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons mild honey such as wildflower or heather
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 cups pheasant or strong chicken stock
• 2 1/2 teaspoons superfine sugar
• 3 1/2 ounces blackberries (about 12 good-size blackberries)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy cooking pot in which the pheasant will sit snugly. Brown the birds all over, season well, and roast in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, basting well every so often with the cooking juices.

Quarter the quince and remove the core. Cover with the wine and add 2 tablespoons of the honey. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer and cook the quince until tender -- about 20 minutes.

When the pheasant is cooked, remove it from the pot and keep warm. Pour the fat and cooking juices from the pot into a dish and separate the fat by spooning it off. Discard the fat. Add the remaining honey to the pan and cook until you can just smell it caramelizing; this happens quickly, so be careful. Pour on the vinegar ---- the mixture will spit a little but don't worry. Add the stock, the cooking liquor from the quince, and the skimmed cooking juices. Reduce until slightly syrupy.

Slice the cooked quinces. Melt the rest of the butter in a frying pan, sprinkle on half of the sugar, and cook the slices on both sides just to brown them. Add the blackberries and turn around in the buttery juices to heat a little, adding the rest of the sugar. Be careful not to squash the blackberries or the juices will stain the quinces.

Carve or joint the pheasant and serve with a little of the sauce, laying slices of quince and a few blackberries alongside each serving.

Serves 4.

-- "roast figs sugar snow" by Diana Henry
(Mitchell Beazley, 2009, $19.99)

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PG tested

I agree with Diana Henry, who writes, "Pumpkins and winter squash are great in tarts. It's that mixture of the sweet and the salty in savory pumpkin pies that really gets me."

I made this in a pie pan and would use a little less gorgonzola next time, as a little goes a long way. The recipe makes one large pie or tart or 6 small ones.

• For the pastry
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
• Good pinch salt
• A little very cold water
• For the filling
• 1 pound pumpkin or winter squash, such as butternut
• Olive oil
• 1 pound fresh spinach
• 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 2 ounces parmesan, grated
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• 7 ounces gorgonzola

For the pastry, put the flour, butter, and salt into the food processor and, using the plastic blade, process the mixture until it resembles bread crumbs. Add just enough water to make the pastry come together.

Wrap it in tin foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for about half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut your pumpkin from top to bottom into broad slices, remove the inner stringy bits and seeds, and peel.

Brush lightly with olive oil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until just tender. Destalk and wash the spinach. Put it into a large saucepan, cover, and wilt in the water left clinging to it (about 4 minutes over a medium heat). Drain well and leave to cool.

Make the custard by mixing together the whole eggs, egg yolk, cream, and parmesan. Season well. Roll out the rested pastry and line a tart pan 9 inches in diameter and 11/2 inches deep.

Chill for another 30 minutes (or just stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes). Prick the bottom of the tart and bake blind -- line the pastry with grease-proof paper and put ceramic baking beans or ordinary dried beans on top -- in the preheated oven for 7 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook for another 4 minutes.

Cut the pumpkin into small slices, about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch thick. Squeeze every last bit of water from the spinach and chop it up. Season both of these and add some freshly grated nutmeg to the spinach. Spread the spinach over the bottom of the tart case, then add the slices of pumpkin and dot with nuggets of gorgonzola. Pour the custard mixture over the tart and bake, again at 350, for 40 minutes for 1 large pie and 25 to 30 minutes for smaller ones, or until the pastry is golden. Leave for 10 minutes to let the custard finish cooking and set a little once you have taken it out of the oven.

Serves 6.

-- "roast figs sugar snow" by Diana Henry
(Mitchell Beazley, 2009, $19.99)