Legends in the Kitchen – Compiled by Mrs. Howard Keel and Linda F. Radke

Legends in the Kitchen, Celebrity Recipes For A Cause – Compiled by Mrs. Howard Keel and Linda F. Radke with a forward by Stephanie Powers.  Legends in the Kitchen is a book that is raising money for charity.  The charity is the Motion Picture and Television Fund – a non- profit organization that serves the people in the entertainment industry.  (Visit mptvfund.org for more info on the non-profit.)

Recipes in the book are provided by friends of the Keels that are in the entertainment industry.  Quite a few are part of Judy Keel’s own family recipes, then there are recipes provided by the stars we know, and those who are new to us, but not to the industry.  Recipes have been provided by James Arness, Stephanie Powers, John Hart and many of the Dallas (television show) Clan.  Most have a little passage telling us where the recipe came from or what inspired it.  Peppered through out are appropriate quotes from some famous people like Erma Bombeck (“I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage”), Meryl Streep and Homer Simpson (“Give me liberty or OOOOO a jelly donut”.  Let me tell you that Howard Keel, was one of my favorite actors and my favorite musical of all time is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in which he starred. Judy Keel went to Ringling School of Art, but instead of becoming a commercial artist, she found happiness with Howard Keel.  Howard and Judy Keel were known for their participation in Charities and Charity Events so it’s very appropriate for her to produce this book.  Linda Radke is the head of the book publishing company – Five Star Publications.  She is also the author of The Economical Guide to Self-Publishing and was named Book Marketer of the Year by Book Publicists of Southern California. 

The recipes are pretty easy family recipes that anyone can make.  I tried out “My Grande Emma’s Lemon Cake Pudding” that was very tasty.  Some of the recipes are basic like “Great Guac Guacamole” by Beau Bridges (I love a great guacamole recipe), “Herb Chicken” by John Hart, and “Garlic Bread” by Fern Fitzgerald but there are others that I’ve never seen before like “Crunchy Pie” by Betty White, “You Don’t Have To Be Jewish Casserole” by Joyce Foy and “Jerky Chicken” by Judy Keel. 

Judy Keel is looking for more recipe donations for the next book, so if you know anyone or if you’re famous (not me) and have something to contribute drop her a line through Five Star Publications.  My suggestion is to better identify some of the contributors because I didn’t know who they all were.  I really love the quotes though, so don’t lose them.  I recommend this book and my grade is a B.  There is a 24 percent discount if you order the book through their online site.

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The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen

Never one to be overly impressed with Vegan foods, Tal Ronnen has made an impact in my thinking.  Tal Ronnen wrote the Conscious Cook – Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change The Way You Eat.  Tal Ronnen’s book while talking about the benefits of veganism, also shows how to make delicious, and yet totally meat and dairy free. The book is filled with beautiful color photos, and recipes, Tal also interviews with vegan innovators, the discoverers of powerhouse foods and has guest chefs.

Tal Ronnen lists his larder, and throughout the book lets you in on all his favorite ingredients to work with, whether it be a grain, vegetable, herbs or greens.  Plus you learn about the fake foods like Gardein chicken – it’s not real chicken.  We actually bought a package of it when we were shopping, we’re going to try it out.

My favorite thing that I learned is about making cream out of nuts.  Plus you can take it a step further and make cheese, or whipped cream.  If you’re allergic to dairy, it’s amazing that you can still make a cool cheese cake without any cream cheese.  I made some cashew cream, just to see how it worked.  The cream wasn’t bursting with flavor, but it had a decent thickness and texture.

I like that Tal Ronnen uses some of the same ingredients in more than one place.  If you buy something in the store you want to use it in more than one recipe.  The cashew cream is used quite a few places.  I think I can get enough ideas for how to make substitutions in regular meals so that they are vegan.  That said, I’m not a vegan, and not likely to become one, but maybe I’ll lean a little further towards healthy vegan meals sometimes. 

One of the best interviews is with Don McKinley, the Quinoa Smuggler.  They discuss all about how quinoa was brought into the US from the Andes and how it’s grown here.  Most interesting is the fact that we can grow quinoa, but we can’t get seed because our days in the US aren’t  long enough, since we’re further away from the equator. So they import it from Bolivia. Throughout the book there are interesting conversations, so it’s not just a cookbook.

 

My grade for the book is an A+.  It’s very well written and the recipes are very clear with wonderful photos.

 

Cashew Cream

2 cups raw cashews rinsed very well ( Whole foods has tons of different raw nuts)

Put cashews in a bowl and add cold water to cover them.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate over night.

Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water.  Place in blender with enough cold water to cover by 1 inch.  Blend on high for several minutes until very smooth. (If you’re not using a professional high speed blender such as Vita-Mix, which creates an ultra smooth cream, strain the cashew cream through a fine mesh sieve.) To make thick cashew creams which some of the recipes in this book call for, simply reduce the amount of water for the blender, so that the water just covers the cashews.

Here’s a YouTube with Tal Ronnen making a scaloppini using Gardein.

 

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Book Suggestions for the Cookerati 2009 Holiday Gift Guide

Gadgets, and tools are great gifts, but cool ideas and inspiration come from great books too.  I like to give books out, though sometimes I have a hard time parting with the ones I like best.  I’ve got a few choice suggestions for you and I hope whatever books you choose – whether they’re from the list or not, they help to inspire you throughout the new year.  Cooking should be an adventure, we should all step out of our comfort zones and tryout something new for us. First I want to admit, that I haven’t tried a recipe out of every book like I usually do, due to lack of time. I will however, try to get to that and let you know about how the recipe turned out at a later time.  I will tell you honestly how I feel about the book as a gift though based on what I like in a cook book.

• My Picks. - My two top picks for books are The Seasons On Henry’s Farm, and New England Soup Factory Cookbook.

The first book is not really a cookbook. It’s more about your food, and the constant planning, planting and picking that goes on in a farm, specifically Henry’s Farm.  The book The Seasons On Henry’s Farm – A Year of Food and Life on a Sustainable Farm by Terra Brockman was a fascinating peak inside the lives of Henry Brockman, brother to Terra Brockman and the entire Brockman family (including Terra) as they work Henry’s farm for a whole year.  The book starts out talking about the soil and whether they will get the garlic in, and ends the next fall talking once again about whether they’ll be able to get the garlic in the ground in a small space of time when the ground dries out enough to plant, but hasn’t frozen yet. In between, we learn about preparing the vegetables that are going to the market, planning the farm market stands, gathering vegetables for the csa and the downtime  of taking a nap in the truck on the way to the market for an extra hour of sleep. The winter time is still very filled with work, building the hoop houses for planting the seeds early in the year in order to have a head start on the other gardens.  Then into the Spring and the Olympic summer gardening where they’re racing against time and daylight to get everything done during their heaviest producing part of the growing season.

Throughout the book Terra has sprinkled some family recipes to go with the produce they grow.  I love how she defines the vegetables and fruit that are a little too ripe, or have a bad spot as forus.  They save it for themselves, clean it up and use whatever they can.  This part always reminded me of my grandmother’s toy and card store – the toys with the broken boxes, or having a missing piece (nothing important) or a ripped lid, became forus also. Terra Brockman has a way of describing what she sees, smells and feels as she works the farm, that makes you fall in love and yet feel all the aches at the end of the day from all the hard work.  It’s not a book that romanticizes the garden, but it makes you know how they feel about the land they work.  The Brockmans don’t use the chemicals for pesticides, or fertilizers, they encourage you to bring your own bags for your groceries, and try to find ways to work things out for the long run betterment, not the quick fix. 

The farm is family run, and family is such and important part of this book.  Terra tells about her father and his physical health issues that plague him, about the death of her grandmother, and her relationships with her siblings.  It’s important to see how important even the kids are to the farm and how much of an impact it has when they go back to school at the end of the summer, but also how even the smallest can do small things to help out – big things too.

My words for describing this book are so inadequate for how I feel about it.  I want to own this book, and keep it forever, but also share every word, it’s that good.  Terra Brockman is such a gifted writer.  My Grade – A and two dozen pluses wouldn’t be enough.  This book is a treasure.

 

New England Soup Factory Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes from the Nation’s Best Purveyor of Fine Soup by Marjorie Drucker and Clara Silversteinis a great book too.  Soup is a staple in my home and it’s one of my favorite meals to prepare. This book is very well laid out, starting with the basics of broth making.  It has all the favorites when it comes to soup, like chicken, tomato, chowders, all the soups you would expect.  Then of course there is the pumpkin soups, the bisques, the vegetarian soups – soups different enough to feel like you’re really trying something new. The last part of the book deals with sides, and sandwiches, because soup needs a little something on the side.  The photos are fantastic and drool worthy, the pages glossy and the book nicely laid out.  Here’s something –  I made the Pumpkin and White Bean soup.  My idea of what this soup would taste like was no where close to the actual results.  This soup raised our expectations to a to a higher level, seriously. These people are the experts at developing the flavor of soup. My grade A+

 

• Baking - I have two baking books on my list. Baking Books should be an essential in every person’s library.

The Baking Answer Book – Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face, Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask by Lauren Chattman . I liked this book, though I only got to see a pre-published copy that was a little rough looking.  However, the important part of the book had to do with every baking problem you can think of.  It is laid out in a question and answer form, but also it is divided into sections. The sections are ingredients, equipment, science for bakers, know your oven, and then into all the different type of baking products – quick breads, cookies, cakes, pies, etc, and ending with metrics and high altitude baking. Each section addresses the basics of that section and gives a recipe.  Sprinkled throughout are drawings.

Baking to me is more science than the other forms of cooking and more precise in the order, quantity, and quality of ingredients, as well in which ingredients to use. Sometimes you can follow directions – and still somehow end up with a different product than intended.  This book will help you see where you went wrong and how to correct any issues.  That’s the real value in this book, figuring out how to make it come out perfectly the next time.  My grade B +.

 

The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book: Great Dairy-, Egg-, and Nut-Free Treats for the Whole Family by Kelly Rudnicki  The title pretty much covers it.  These are baking recipes that don’t use dairy, egg or nuts.  It basically takes the recipes you love and substitutes for those ingredients you need to avoid. I actually like that it shows us how to redo blueberry bread, or pizza, or cookies.  Kids are wary of strange looking meals and foods.  If a kid has an allergy, sometimes they feel alienated from others.  If you provide baked goods that look like what they have in their own homes, they won’t think twice about eating it. I’m serious, I’ve made plenty of meals the kids just rolled their eyes at.  Soft cover book, with beautiful glossy pics.  My grade A.

 

• Elegance and Entertaining – these books are for making meals that you would serve when you want to create something with a wow factor or maybe you just like to look at food creations with a wow factor.  The sales of each of these books will benefit a charity of their choice.

Park Avenue Potluck Celebrations: Entertaining at Home with New York’s Savviest Hostesses Compiled by Florence Fabricant and the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.   The recipes in this are organized by holidays.  First you get a menu, lovely table setting pictures, and then each recipe in the menu along with a little paragraph about the special remembrance when this menu item was made and some personal serving suggestions. While the book exudes Elegance and Entertaining, the recipes look reasonable and not too difficult to prepare, using ingredients from your local grocery store.  This is a nice size hard cover book, with lovely pictures and very clear directions.  There are pictures, but I wish there were more. It focuses more on the table settings than the food.  Sprinkled throughout are entertaining tips, and ideas.  The sales of this book benefits Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Society.  My grade A-.

 

The Bryant Family Vineyard Recipes From Great Chefs and Friends by Barbara Bryant and Betsy Fentress – This is more of a coffee table size book than a regular cookbook. I love that every recipe is paired with a wine, so you know exactly what to serve.  All of the recipes were provided by acclaimed chefs and friends, inspired by the Cabernet Sauvignon that the Bryant Family Vineyard is known for.

First produced in 1992, the Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys the reputation of a "cult favorite" among wine connoisseurs and has a waiting list of over 6,000. As Park B. Smith of Veritas Restaurant noted in the foreword: "All of the chefs who have contributed to this book are artisans of their vocation. Their culinary delights are best appreciated, however, when teamed with the art of a winemaker. Food and wine are natural complements to one another." The Bryant Family Vineyard Cookbook helps readers achieve the ideal marriage of food and wine with helpful information on pairing each dish with a complementary wine.

The recipes are well laid out and anyone can prepare them.  Great vineyard and wine pictures throughout.  Lovely recipes, good for entertaining.  I didn’t count, but I think there is a high percentage that involve mushrooms.  So if you like mushrooms, this is definitely the book for you, they aren’t in the desserts though. No pictures of the actual food to judge by, which is a negative for me, but the book is really a quality book. Some of the proceeds will be donated to the Bowery Mission. Great Gift for the wine, fine food and mushroom connoisseur.  My grade B +.

 

Elegant Entertaining Seasonal Recipes From the American Ambassador’s Residence in Paris. - This is definitely a coffee table book.  It combines the history of the American Embassy with the idea of entertaining in France with French Chefs.  Plenty of the Residence pictures, plenty of food and entertaining pictures.  The book is organized by holidays and it describes all of the different traditions with a French twist to the menu.  These recipes are  elegantly prepared, and displayed using out of the ordinary ingredients.  Nice book for someone who likes history and traditions along with French/American cooking.  My grade A-

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Put a Zing in Your Holiday Party Season with Partida Tequila and Spice & Ice

Tequila is one of our favorite basics for our movie night cocktails.  Recently we tried some Partida Tequila and we think it’s delicious (is that a good word for alcohol?). It really has a clean smooth taste, and has a waaarrrrmmmm in your belly, mmmmm.

Partida Tequila  is made from blue agave that it gets from one place,  it’s very own Partida Estate in the heart of Mexico’s historic Tequila region. Partida Estate is a family plantation who have been growing blue agave for several generation. The heart of the agave plant – la pina is baked slowly and gently for 20 hours, then distilled twice – not steam blasted. These agaves are used to create four tequilas: Blanco (not aged), Reposado (aged 6 months), Anejo (aged 18 months) and Extra Anejo Elegante (aged 36 months).

Partida also has an Blue Agave Nectar they produce that is 100 percent made from blue agave plants and is organic.  Blue Agave Nectar is a sweetener made from the blue agave plant, similar to honey, only lighter tasting and it has a lower glycemic index than other sweeteners.  My son uses agave nectar with his peanut butter instead of honey because it gives a little more sweetness similar to honey – and it doesn’t crystallize like honey (but maybe that’s just ours). 

 

 

 

So here I had this great tequila –  that I used to make Margaritas – plus I had this book to review called Spice & Ice by Kara Newman, what a great pairing.  I’m not big on heat in everything but this book is really a neat recipe book for making spicy cocktails.  Some of the ingredients are different from what you might have sitting around, but there are quite a few that use Reposado or Anejo Tequila, so I thought it was a perfect fit. 

  As the author of the High Spirits column for Chile Pepper magazine, Kara Newman is the perfect coach for crafting beverages that bite.  She offers spicy spins on classic cocktails, including Wasabi-tinis, Jumpin’ Juleps, Blackberry-Poblano Margaritas and Spiced Tangerine Caipirinhas.  Serve Hot Flashes at your next party with the girls.  Get seriously hot under the collar with a sweet/piquant Peppadew Cocktail, a Sangria Scorcher, or The Bloody Scary.  Next time you’ve got a crew of jaded cocktail enthusiasts to satiate, steam up the punch bowl with Spicy Pisco Punch.       

 

 

 

 

 

Funny true story.  I made the Dragonfire Cocktail twice.  The first time I wasn’t sure about the heat so when I put the pepper in the tequila, the first drink was made after it soaked for 2 hours.  My husband and I drank it, no problem a little heat it was fun.  Then I let the pepper sit in the rest of the batch of jalapeno infused tequila (I used a different pepper, I didn’t have a jalapeno available) for days.  I made up the Dragonfire Cocktail again took a itty bitty sip and boy that sucker was hot.  So I brought it to my dear husband  and asked him to take a small sip.  He took a sip, but not an itty bitty one like he should have – and gasped and coughed and drank water. I asked what he thought and he said unbearable.  Letting it sit for days might not be the way to go for us. 

I am keeping the Partida Tequila for us, we like margaritas and other drinks with Tequila plus Partida Tequila is amazingly good.  Spice & Ice is going to be a gift for my niece.  She made her mother a cayenne pepper chocolate cake for her birthday, and then made one for the family for Thanksgiving.  I think she’d get such a kick out of this book that I’m going to stick it in her Christmas gift bag. She’ll forgive the re-gifting because she’ll love the book. This book was very well put together, with lots of fun cocktails.  My grade A, but you have to like heat.

 

Dragonfire

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces jalapeno infused (vodka or) tequila (see below)
• 1 ounce triple sec
• 1 ounce orange juice
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 1 lime wedge for garnish(optional)

Mix together the tequila, triple sec, and orange and lime juices in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.  Shake, strain into a tall glass, and garnish with the lime wedge.

 

Jalapeno Infused Tequila

2 cups Tequila ( Preferably Reposado Tequila)

1 to 2 hot peppers, washed and cut lengthwise

Combine the ingredients in a small container with a lid.  Steep for as little as 2 hours and as long as two days, until desired heat is achieved.  Strain with a fine mesh sieve, cover tightly.

 

 

If you don’t like spice, here’s a Partida Margarita Recipe for you.

Partida Margarita with 100% Organic Agave Nectar

• 1 1/2 ounces Partida Tequila
• 1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
• 3/4 ounce Partida Agave Nectar (to taste)
• 3/4 ounce pure water

Shake all ingredients with ice in standard bar shaker. Taste, Add additional lime juice if you prefer more tartness; add more agave nectar for more sweetness;  serve in glass on rocks.  No garnish, no salt.

 

Disclaimer: Both Spice & Ice and Partida Tequila were given to me to review.  The opinions expressed are my own.  No payment received, no warranty implied.

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The New Thanksgiving Table By Diane Morgan

I love Diane Morgan’s Cookbooks.  The New Thanksgiving Table An American Celebration of Family, Friends, and Food takes your holiday dinner and elevates it to a whole new level.  We had our Thanksgiving dinner with the relatives this past weekend and I made one of the easiest dishes – Deviled Eggs with Capers and Wild Smoked Salmon and also one of the more difficult and time consuming – Pumpkin Lasagna.  In both cases the directions were very clear and easy to follow.

Diane covers every category from appetizers all the way through dessert. There are no less than 5 whole turkey recipes , plus a turkey breast, a ham and for vegetarians, we have pumpkin lasagna.  She describes all the steps involved in producing the perfect turkey, including several brining and gravy recipes, plus spatchcock, but no deep frying.   Then when dinner is over, there is a whole section with leftover turkey recipes. 

This book has the recipes that takes Thanksgiving up a notch. It raises your regular appetizers, turkey, salads, side dishes and desserts to a higher level.  A reasonably reached higher level of exquisiteness. In other words, she uses regular ingredients, and cooking methods to create a dish that’s a little bit more, without going out of your comfort zone.  While it took a good amount of time to make the pumpkin lasagna, nothing in the directions was above my ability.  The most time consuming was cutting up the pumpkin. 

There were plenty of pictures to judge your results by. The hard cover book with glossy photos makes it a visual treat.  I liked just paging through the book and trying not to drool too much.  My contribution to the big family gathering was terrific.  It turned out so well, that I’m making it again for a smaller family dinner on Thanksgiving day, that way my daughter will get to try it.

My recommendation A+++.   By the way you’ll love The Christmas Table -Recipes and Crafts to Create Your Own Holiday Tradition too!

 

The New Thanksgiving Table was given to me for a review.  The review’s my honest opinion.  That’s all.

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Italian Cookbook Roundup

The Silver Spoon Pasta (Silver Spoon Book)   and La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy are the titles of two books packed full of Italian recipes.  Both of these books are being published in English for the first time and both are a compilation of Italian recipes with many contributors, not one author.  While there are many similarities, the books are very different in many ways.

The dishes are easy to follow with lots of nice photos so you can see what the finished product will look like.  I like that the recipes are divided by pasta type so that if you have one type of pasta, you can easily flip through a few pages to figure out what you want to do with it.  Most of the recipes have the prep time and cooking times listed making it easy to judge how long it will take to create your meal.  Directions for preparing and making your own basic pasta dough are included and referred to in some of the dishes. I’ve never made my own pasta, and even though the book gives directions, I’m not sure if it’s enough for me to feel that inspired.

There are 360 recipes which range from Carbora to Elbow Macaroni with Pumpkin and Radicchio to Spaghetti with Shrimp and Globe Artichokes. Last night I made Fettuccine with Chicken and Almonds that turned out great.  Not a bit left over it was so delicious.

This would make a great gift for a college student, my husband, any cook.  My Grade A-.  

 

• La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy – is a workhorse.  There aren’t any glossy pictures – or any photos at all.  The recipes aren’t smashed together but they run one right after another, even starting on the bottom of one page and ending at the top of another.  This book is packed to the gills with recipes. 
  

  A little over fifty years ago, a group of Italians passionate about preserving Italy’s culinary heritage banded together and formed the Accademia Italiana della Cucina. Their primary goal was to collect and document the rich and varied cuisine of Italy’s twenty regions. In 2001 the Academy gathered 2,000 recipes, collected by their delegates over the years, and compiled them in one single volume and published it in Italy to great success. Now, for the first time, LA CUCINA: THE REGIONAL COOKING OF ITALY is being published in the English language.

The book is divided into  antipasto pizza and sauces,soups, pasta polenta and rice, fish,  meat and poultry, vegetables, cheese dishes and desserts.  Further, each section is divided by region.  This book has many recipes that are different by one or a few ingredients based on the region it comes from. There are five or six recipes for Beef Stew alone.  I have to say that I really enjoyed looking at this book, not just because of the recipes, but also because of the history sprinkled throughout. 

This book isn’t totally functional.  Some of these recipes can’t be made because the ingredients are difficult to find.  Really difficult.  Like Horsemeat difficult.  I swear, but they explain that the recipe came about during war.  The horses were killed in a battle, and in order not to waste the horses, they ate them.  Which is cool in that I’m a big believer in not wasting.  I know, it sounds gross, but the book is cool.  There’s also at least one recipe for donkey and another for goat though there aren’t a lot of those recipes.

Quite a few selections are slight variations on one recipe depending on the region it came from. The back of the book has different indexes to help you decide whether you want to pick a recipe based on region or by ingredient.  You can definitely prepare great meals with this book. 

I don’t think this is the college kid gift book, or a book for a newbie.  This book is for someone who enjoys the history of recipes, the small nuances that represent the different regions of Italy.  If my Dad were alive, this would be the book for him.  My sister in law would get a kick out of it too and maybe even my niece the chef. My grade A for fun, B+ for functionality and because you can’t hold it up too long before your arms go numb. 

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Guilano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta

Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes sounds too good to be true.  Thirty minutes and easy are two words we love to hear when it comes to preparing dinner.  My husband and son are particularly challenge when it comes to preparing food.  They like to use the pasta that comes in a box with orange powdered cheese flavored stuff, though they can and have prepared homemade spaghetti sauce.  Their cooking skills are limited, and while they could come up with a different meal every night of the week, the next week would probably be the same exact ones as the first week.  I was excited with the quick and easy, very excited as a matter of fact. 

The recipes in the book did seem easy, basic, but interesting to the palate.  I wondered if they really were 30 minute recipes.  For the first dinner from this book, I chose Spaghetti Carbonara.  I followed the recipe exactly, working at lightening speed and no stopping to breathe.  Yes, it can be done in 30 minutes, but only because I worked very quickly.  Spaghetti Carbonara was a relatively easy recipe too, but I was the cook, so I wasn’t sure if my opinion could be trusted.

The second recipe we chose to try was Spaghetti with Cauliflower and Pancetta.  This time I wanted my husband to do the cooking.  If he can follow the recipes, then they truly are easy recipes.  He calls himself a newbie, because his cooking experiences are limited, though his usual repertoire makes a decent meal.  There was some cursing and gnashing of teeth, but I think it had more to do with the organization of the kitchen drawers than the recipe.  We chose this recipe because we bought cauliflower at a farm stand sale and had it available.  Thirty minutes went by quickly, but dinner took a little longer to prepare, closer to 45 or 55 minutes.  My husband wasn’t rushing, but that was probably a good thing. The food was delicious and my husband felt he could do it again.

Our assessment:

1. Thirty minutes might be pushing it, but can be accomplished if you know what you are doing and have mise en place.

2. The food is a little under seasoned.  Maybe that’s a time trade off, but a few more herbs and spices would be good, though simplicity was appreciated.

3. Drawback – most recipes ask you to prepare a whole pound of pasta for the meal.  We think a whole pound is a bit much for serving 4 people. 

3. Easy – yes!

4. Clear – yes!

5. We recommend this for a busy parent, a newbie or a college student. 

6. We will definitely use this book.

 

I like that these recipes are using items normally found in the home pantry and very easily found in the grocery store.  In the early part of the book, Hazan discusses the different types of pastas, and the sauces that work best with them. Also, he lists what you should keep in your pantry to help out with these quick easy recipes. The recipes include pasta soups, vegetarian pastas, seafood pastas and meat pastas.

 

My grade A- , my husband gave it a B.

 

Disclosure:  Guilano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta 100 Quick Easy Recipes was provided to me in order to do this review. The honest opinions provided are my own, and my husband’s . 

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Win a Copy of the Everything Cookies and Browies Cookbook (& Bonus Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe)

• Full disclosure: Marye Audet  sent me a copy of her cookbook to review
• Full disclosure 2: Marye Audet is a good friend of mine.
• Full disclosure 3: I would have bought this book anyway because Marye’s recipes rock.

I have in my hot little hands, Marye Audet’s new “Everything Cookes and Brownies” cookbook. While I hesitate to call it the cookie Bible, it comes close. This is no mere recipe book. Included are tips, tricks and hints for bakers of all levels.  And the recipes? They rock hard.

Yesterday my son and I whipped up a batch of Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies. I picked these cookies because I’m not a fan of almond extract flavoring. I figured it Marye’s recipe could produce a cookie that wasn’t overpowered by phony almond, the book would be a winner.

I’m happy to report that the cookies were delicious and not too almondy extract-y at all. In fact, they didn’t last. They were simple to make, perfect for a 7 year old and his mom on a rainy day.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients – Yields 48 Cookies

• 1/3 cup peanut oil
• 1/3 cup unsalted buter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried cherries

Instructions.

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease cookie pans.
2. Cream together oil, butter, egg, sugars, almond extract and vanilla
3. Stir together dry ingredients, beat into butter mixture
4. Fold in nuts, chips and cherries
5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on prepared baking sheets. Bake 10 – 12 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from the pan.

Think you’d like to try this recipe and others? Here’s your chance to win Marye Audet’s “Everything Cookies and Brownies” Cookbook. Simply tell us your top 3 reasons to send you the cookbook. One word comments or comments that indicate you haven’t read this post at all won’t be included.

Contest ends Sunday, November 1st.

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Notes on Cooking – Review and Giveaway

Notes on Cooking – A Short Guide to an Essential Craft by Lauren Braun Costello and Russell Reich is a great cool little book with lots of cooking tips, hints, guidelines and rules, but not a recipe book at all. The book is small looking, but packed with pages and pages of sensible rules, some you may know and others might not occur to you.

My favorite rule is one that never occurred to anyone in my family growing up, but you hear over and over on food network and other cooking shows. 

Let Meat Rest-After any meat is cooked, allow it to come to rest for at least ten minutes so that the internal juices redistribute evenly before carving. If carved immediately from the oven, all the concentrated juices run from the meat, making what could have been very juicy meat, dry and tough.

Here’s a rule my daughter has trouble with because she never leaves enough time:

Never Frost A Cake Before It Has Cooled Completely -  Frosting added to a hot cake melts or separates.  Cool a cake on a rack after it has been removed from the pan. Let air circulate on all its sides for at least an hour, then frost it. An exception: frost a warm – not hot- cake to achieve a glaze-like effect.

There are guidelines for meat, dairy, recipes in general, poultry, produce and even repairing food.  He says don’t mess with the recipe… until you can do it right, then experiment with it.  There are 217 notes to help you become a better cook.  The book also features a recommended equipment list, an annotated reading list, suggestions for food pairings, and more.

My suggestion – I need a couple more books – one for my daughter and one for my son when they move out into their own kitchens. Because of it’s small size, this book would make a great stocking stuffer for someone in your family soon to venture out into their own kitchen.  College students or anyone moving into their first apartment and even people who have quite a bit of experience with cooking could use this book. This would also make a great hostess gift, or housewarming gift. Remember – no pictures, no recipes, just notes.

 

The Giveaway:

We’re giving away a copy of Notes on Cooking – A Short Guide to an Essential Craft by Lauren Braun Costello and Russell Reich.

• US residents
• Contest ends October 16, 2009 Midnight, EST.
• One comment per person
• In the comment, tell us one rule you would like to share with us that you follow with your cooking.  Try not to repeat another person’s rule if you can.

One extra entry (only one)

for tweeting – leave a comment with the link.

*Disclosure – I was given the book Notes on Cooking – A Short Guide to an Essential Craft by Lauren Braun Costello and Russell Reich to review.  No monetary payment was given.  This review is my honest opinion and no warranty is implied or given.

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300 Big & Bold Barbecue & Grilling Recipes by Karen Adler and Judith Fertig

I have to say even though it doesn’t have enough pictures, I like this book.  I like it a lot.  I’m not very experienced at grilling so I’ve been reading the book to get ideas on preparation, grilling, flavors, etc. Karen Adler and Judith Fertig seem to speak my language when explaining how to do what in this book.  This is really a recipe book, but the first chapter is devoted to grilling and what the different terms mean and how to do it. For example smoking on a grill or if you aren’t using charcoal, how to do it on a gas grill.  Different specialty equipment is discussed as well as interesting methods to cook on the grill – like wrapping in grape leaves.

This is definitely a recipe books.  It starts out with rubs, spices and sauces.  You learn which ones go with what types of meat for the best combinations.  Then we start with the different fish and meats by section. There are even specialty meats like rabbit and Persian Grilled Quail Breasts.  Now don’t think they forgot the grilled fruits and veggies because they didn’t.  It’s all there even grilled soups salads and sandwiches – though they left out the grilled brownies.  Each section has a bunch of recipes so you can definitely find one that suits your taste buds.

My recommendation – if you want to become a grill meister, this would be a good book to start with.  My grade is an A. This book has come in handy for us, and I’m eager to try grilling everything in sight.  Summer is not only half over, you can jump in at any time.

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