This is one of an imaginative series of small books, each of which offers a charming seasonal dinner menu. There is a confident, thoughtful unpredictability about them which we greatly admire. It’s not every cookbook which cites Sol Lewitt, Leon Trotsky, and Mario Vargas Llosa, but they all have a place here.

They truly are small (5" x 7", 36 pages), but composed with care. Author Brian Voll is a home cook who enjoys having friends over to give himself an excuse to step outside his usual boundaries.

Menu No. 7 invites you to prepare:

• Mezcal and passion fruit cocktail
• Polvo à lagareiro, in which octopus replaces the more common cod in bacalhau à lagareiro
• Grilled sweet potatoes
• Cherry tomato salad
• Grilled chicken with green sauce
• Preserved lemon bars
• Fina estampa, a pisco-based drink inspired by a visit to Lima