The Book: Mexico: The Cookbook is the latest in Phaidon’s line of beautiful, country-specific recipe compendiums. I reviewed Thailand: The Cookbook earlier this year, and was excited to see that a Peruvian book will be released in the spring. All of these books offer a very different experience than most of the cookbooks being released today. They’re short on prose – no recipe headnotes or historical sidebars – and while the pictures that are included are lovely, they’re not the focus of the books. What these books lack in personality, however, they make up for with sheer thoroughness – Mexico clocks in at over 600 recipes. That volume of recipes means that there will definitely be something new and different to try for everyone who picks up this book. Besides the comprehensiveness, the biggest draw of these books for me is the authenticity – each recipe is tied to a specific region of the country and uses very traditional ingredients and techniques. In the kitchen, that translates to authentic home-style dishes and a deeper understanding of how different cooking techniques can truly open up new flavors. I was a little frustrated with the quality of editing in this book. While I’m sure it’s a massive project to edit a book with 600+ recipes in it, I tried four different recipes for this post and all of them had issues with clarity of instruction and ingredients, to the point of listing ingredients that are never used, and, the opposite, calling for ingredients that aren’t listed. Confident cooks will be fine adapting as they go, but just a warning to those who get frustrated by a lack of clarity in recipes. Other than that, I’m excited to have added this book to my shelf, and I’m sure it will be one of my primary references for Mexican home-cooking.

The Food: The team behind Mexico: The Cookbook, has joined forces with the folks at Casa Noble tequila to promote a great cookbook and a great tequila in one shot (no pun intended). Casa Noble offers crystal, anejo, and reposado tequilas, in addition to single-barrel versions of their anejo and reposado. All the tequilas are produced using traditional methods, and aged in French white oak to create a complexity of flavor that elevates the drink above most lower-end brands. Since tequila is my drink of choice most any night, I was eager to try a new brand and do a little boozy cooking. Although tequila tasting is definitely not an art I’ve mastered, I did take a few little sips (not shots, I promise!) of the reposado without anything to distract from the tequila itself – it’s very smooth, and I picked up a certain fruitiness while Trevor got mostly vanilla. The tasting notes also mention chocolate, citrus, and butter, but I don’t think my tequila palate is advanced enough to pick up on those.

There are about a dozen recipes in this book that call for tequila, including an amazing-sounding recipe for shrimp marinated in sangria and tequila then served in mole sauce, and a tequila-based drink I’d never heard of before, the lagartija. But the recipe that was calling my name the strongest last weekend was the Slow-Cooked Pork in Tequila. It’s a fairly simple recipe, calling for pork butt and ribs to be cooked slowly on the stove-top in a chili sauce, then finished up with a quick simmer in tequila. The book recommends serving it with “Pot Beans” and rice, so I made both those recipes as well. And even though it may not be traditional, I decided to make a Michoacan Avocado Salsa to serve with the pork and rice and beans, for a little punch of brightness and color. The combination of the four dishes? Phenomenal. I’m not exaggerating. It was everything I crave in good Mexican food – a little heat, a rich sauce, a certain heartiness, and brightness from the salsa. It tasted like something I could have eaten for dinner in a hole-in-the-wall family restaurant, cooked by a little old abuela. I was particularly enamored with the beans, which could not have been simpler but were incredibly creamy and flavorful. This meal left me so excited to keep cooking from this book – loving four out of four recipes is a pretty good hit rate.

The Giveaway: Casa Noble and Phaidon have generously offered to give away an additional copy of Mexico: The Cookbook, to one Katie at the Kitchen Door reader. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below, telling me about your favorite cooking/eating experience involving either tequila or authentic Mexican cuisine (or both!). By entering the giveaway, you are agreeing to the official rules:

• No purchase necessary
• Void where prohibited
• One entry per household, and only entries addressing the question above will be considered!
• The sponsors of this giveaway are Phaidon and Casa Noble.
• The estimated retail value of the book is $50
• The odds of winning will depend on the number of entries received
• This contest is only open to U.S. Citizens over the age of 18
• The contest will open today, December 10th, 2014 at posting time, and will close at 11PM EST on Friday, December 19th, 2014
• One winner will be selected randomly and contacted via email (so please leave an accurate email address!). If I do not hear from the winner within 48 hours, the winner forfeits their prize and an alternate winner will be chosen.
• I will post the winner here by Friday, January 2nd, 2015

Recipe Shortlist: Duck in Green Pumpkin Seed Sauce; Short Ribs in Chili and Coffee Sauce; Lamb in Cider Sauce; Goat Stew; Green Chile Soup with Corn; Divorced Eggs; Tuna with Chipotle Crust; Plantain-Stuffed Chiles; Corn Cake with Eggnog Sauce; Mexican Bloody Mary; Caramel Gelatin with Drunken Sauce

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Mexico: The Cookbook, a bottle of tequila, and reimbursement for ingredients from Casa Noble and Phaidon. I was not otherwise compensated for this review and all opinions are honest and my own.

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Slow-Cooked Pork in Tequila

Recipe adapted from Mexico: The Cookbook. Serves 6.

Note: I’ve written the recipe as we’ve made it, which used significantly less chiles than the original, which called for 200g. I’ve also included some other notes and clarifications that aren’t in the original.

• 50g mixed dried chiles (preferably a mix of cascabel, ancho, and jalapeno)
• 3 TBS of canola oil, duck fat, or lard
• 1 1/2 lb. pork butt, diced into 1 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 lb. pork ribs, meat cut from bones and diced into 1 inch cubes
• sea salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large white onion, cut into chunks
• 4 TBS tequila
• white rice, to serve
• prepared pinto beans, to serve
• Michoacan Avocado Salsa, to serve (recipe below)

1. Boil a pot of water and pour about 3 cups of boiling water over the chiles in a heatproof bowl. Let steep until chiles are soft and water is a deep red, about 15 minutes.
2. Heat the oil or fat in a large saucepan. Add the pork butt and pork rib meat and cook over medium-high heat, stirring and turning frequently until evenly browned. Season with salt.
3. Place the chiles, the chile soaking water, the cumin seeds, oregano, garlic, and onion into a blender and blend on high until smooth. Strain into a bowl, then add the sauce to the pork. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender and has absorbed most of the sauce. If the sauce begins to look dry at any point, add water.
4. Add the tequila to the pan and continue to simmer, without the lid, for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and serve with rice, beans, and avocado salsa.

Michoacan Avocado Salsa

Recipe adapted from Mexico: The Cookbook. Makes about 1 cup.

• 3 tomatillos, papery husks and stems removed
• 3 serrano chiles
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large avocado, peeled and pitted
• 2 TBS finely chopped cilantro
• sea salt, to taste

1. Remove the seeds from 2 of the chiles and the stems from all 3. Put the tomatillos and chiles into a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer the tomatillos and the chiles to a food processor. Add the garlic to the food processor and process until combined. Add the avocado flesh to the food processor and process until smooth. Stir in the cilantro and season to taste with salt.

The post Book Club: Mexico: The Cookbook // Slow-Cooked Pork in Tequila, and a Giveaway! appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The Book: I  have a special book review for you today, one that involves a lot of cheese, an anniversary, and an awesome giveaway (scroll down for details). Although I’m not from Philly, I’m thrilled to be helping Philly-institution DiBruno Bros. celebrate their 75th anniversary as well as their first book, DiBruno Bros. House of Cheese: A Guide to Wedges, Recipes, and Pairings. DiBruno Bros. is a gourmet market specializing in high-end cheeses and cured meats, as well as other specialty food products. Family owned and operated, its the kind of gourmet culinary institution that’s worth supporting and preserving. Their only brick and mortar locations are in Philadelphia, but the rest of us can enjoy their delicious products by purchasing them through their online store.

Last year, DiBruno Bros. released their first book, House of Cheese, in partnership with blogger Tenaya Darlington, author of Madame Fromage. The bulk of the book is composed of descriptions of various cheeses, separated into 10 categories, from “Free Spirits” to “Pierced Punks.” The descriptions of each cheese are quirky and engaging – I’ve never heard cheese described with such personality and detail! – and each includes a series of food and drink pairings for that particular cheese. Tenaya writes with a subtle sense of humor that had me cracking a smile at descriptions like “full of wild, fatty-licious stink – prepare yourself for the smell of boiled peanuts, pick-up truck exhaust, and bare feet [Cato Corner Farm’s Hooligan]” and “wrapped in walnut leaves and aged in mountain caves, it’s the sort of cheese you want everyone to see that you’re eating [Foja de Noce].” Interspersed throughout the descriptions are notes and anecdotes about making, serving, and eating cheese, cheese board suggestions, and simple recipes for appetizers to serve with your cheese. The themed cheese boards with pairings will ensure that you really impress your guests at your next party – I, for one, will be trying the “fireside party” board when the weather turns colder, which includes Truffle Tremor paired with roasted chestnuts and Stilton paired with dark chocolate. Yum. All told, the book is both pleasantly engaging and very informative, covering a much broader range of cheeses than I expected to find. The next time I step up to the cheese counter, I’ll certainly have done my research about what I really want to try.

The Food: While there’s only a handful of recipes included in House of Cheese (the focus is more on the cheese descriptions and pairings), I don’t like publishing book reviews without at least giving you a taste of whatever recipes there are, so I decided to make the Goat Cheese Terrine with Fig Jam and Pesto. Like most of the recipes in the book, it’s very simple to pull together – it only took me about 10 minutes to whip up – and the results are really lovely. I’m not sure I would have naturally come up with the combination of pesto and fig jam, but the sweet and herbal flavors are tied together well by the layer of goat cheese in between. This is the kind of appetizer that disappears in no time at a party, the sort of thing that draws everyone into the same room to stand around the table and nibble on cheese-covered crackers and chat. It takes a little bit of patience to get the cheese to spread out evenly, but that’s the only part that is even remotely tricky. Even my least culinary friends could handle this one.

Congratulations to Victoria C on winning this giveaway! Enjoy your goodies :-)

The Giveaway: I’m not the only one who gets a great new cookbook and a gorgeous cheese gift basket – one lucky reader will get one, too! The gift basket includes a few different cheeses, some tasty snacks to serve with your cheese (like addictive Black Lava Cashews), and a $25 gift card to DiBruno Bros. for you to try something new. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below letting me know a) what your favorite kind of cheese is, and b) what your favorite cheese-centric recipe is. If you don’t win here, keep your eyes on Dine and Dish, All Day I Dream About Food, and Kitchen Confidante in the coming weeks for more chances to win. By entering the giveaway, you are agreeing to the official rules as listed below:

• No purchase necessary
• Void where prohibited
• One entry per household, and only entries answering the question above will be considered!
• The sponsor of this giveaway is DiBruno Bros.
• The estimated retail value of the book and gift basket is $150
• The odds of winning will depend on the number of entries received
• This contest is only open to U.S. Citizens over the age of 18
• The contest will open today, July 23rd, 2014 at posting time, and will close at 11PM EST on Wednesday, July 30th, 2014
• One winner will be selected randomly and contacted via email (so please leave an accurate email address!). If I do not hear from the winner within 48 hours, the winner forfeits their prize and an alternate winner will be chosen.
• I will post the winner here by Friday, August 8th, 2014

Recipe Shortlist: Manchego and Marcona Almond Pesto; Pickled Feta with Olives and Strawberries; Baked Brie with Pears and Apricots; Semolina Crackers with Sea Salt; Lavender Mustard; Zeke’s Bacon Maple Grilled Cheese; Tomato and Pancetta Strata

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DiBruno Bros. sent me a copy of House as Cheese, as well as a 75th anniversary gift basket free of charge for this post. I was not otherwise compensated, and all opinions are my own.

Goat Cheese Terrine with Fig Jam and Pesto

Recipe reprinted from DiBruno Bros. House of Cheese courtesy of DiBruno Bros. and Running Press. Serves 8-12 as an appetizer.

• 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 pound soft fresh goat cheese, such as Capricho de Cabra, at room temperature
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 c. basil pesto
• 3/4 c. fig jam
• 1/2 c. walnuts or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

1. Line the inside of a very deep 4-cup bowl with plastic wrap, allowing the edges to drape over the sides. Cream the butter and fresh goat cheese in a mixing bowl for 3 minutes, until fluffy. Add a dash of salt and pepper, to taste.
2. Spoon one-third of the goat cheese into the plastic-lined bowl, and spread it evenly with a spatula to form your first layer. Top this with a layer of pesto (using up the entire 1/2 cup), but don’t spread it all the way to the edge (it will seep out on its own), followed by a second layer of goat cheese (there will be three total). Top the second layer of goat cheese with a layer of fig jam, followed by a final tier of goat cheese.
3. Cover the dish with a layer of plastic wrap. Chill for 2 to 4 hours, or until set. Before serving, remove the top layer of plastic wrap and invert the bowl onto a plate (you may need to tug at the plastic wrap to get the terrine to fall out of the bowl), then remove the bowl and the plastic liner. Garnish with the toasted nuts. Serve with baguette rounds or crackers.

The post Book Club: DiBruno Bros. House of Cheese – Review and Giveaway! appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

A few weeks back, Corningware reached out to see if I’d be interested in checking out their new line of bakeware, CWColor, and creating a recipe inspired by the fun new pieces in the line. Intrigued, and always on the lookout for dishes that can add a pop of color to my photographs, I agreed. I received four casserole dishes that nest neatly together: a small yellow dish, a medium-sized red dish, and two larger blue dishes (you can actually see the blue dish in my recent Maftool post, if you’d like). I really do like the colors – they strike just the right balance between brights and pastels, adding a fun, modern splash of brightness to my kitchen. I’ve been craving a good homemade dessert recently, so I knew that I wanted to use the dishes to bake something sweet, but still colorful and spring-like. Strawberries were the obvious choice, but I just made strawberry-rhubarb meringue pie a few weeks ago, so it needed to be more creative than that. Brainstorming with Trevor, he brought up the blueberry and white chocolate bread pudding I made last summer, and the idea quickly planted itself in my head and grew into this amazing strawberry-bourbon bread pudding with white chocolate sauce.

This recipe is one that gives a whole lot more than it takes. It’s quick to assemble – a few minutes to chop up the bread and the strawberries, a minute to whisk together cream, eggs and vanilla, a minute to measure out the sugar and bourbon and pour them over the strawberries, and two minutes while the pudding is in the oven to melt a little white chocolate for the sauce. All simple steps, but when you open the oven and pull out that bread pudding, redolent of bourbon and vanilla and roasted strawberries, and drizzle the warm white chocolate sauce over the top, even you will find it hard to believe how easy it was to make such an intoxicating dessert. Yes, it’s full of vices – booze and gluten and dairy and sugar – but it’s good to eat something sinful every once in a while.

Sometimes when I’m blogging late at night, which, let’s be honest, is most of the time that I’m blogging, I find myself standing in the kitchen bent over the island, with the only light in the room my photo lightbox, brightly illuminating whatever dish I’ve just finished photographing. My camera is put down on the counter, and I stand there, fork in hand, finally testing the finished product. I usually only take a few bites before kicking back into gear for clean-up, but sometimes, when I’m really tired, and whatever I’ve made is really good, and the light is directing all my remaining focus and energy into the little space between me and the food, I stand for what seems like forever, slowly taking bite after bite, pondering just how much I really enjoy food. Truly. It’s such a pleasure. This bread pudding was one of those dishes, a dish to savor. Who knew bakeware could create such inspiration?

Giveaway now closed! Congrats to Danielle Taj on winning!

Giveaway details: Corningware has offered to send one Katie at the Kitchen Door reader a casserole set of their new CWColor products. To enter, leave a comment below letting me know what spring baking you have planned this month. By entering, you are agreeing to the official rules as listed here:

• No purchase necessary
• Void where prohibited
• One entry per household, and only entries answering the question above will be considered!
• The sponsor of this giveaway is Corningware
  
• The estimated retail value of the Corningware bakeware is $50
• The odds of winning will depend on the number of entries received
• This contest is only open to U.S. Citizens over the age of 18
• The contest will open today, April 10th, 2014 at posting time, and will close at 11PM EST on Thursday, April 17th, 2014
• One winner will be selected randomly and contacted via email (so please leave an accurate email address!). If I do not hear from the winner within 48 hours, the winner forfeits their prize and an alternate winner will be chosen.
• I will post the winner here by Friday, April 25th

Disclosure: I received product and compensation for recipe ingredients from Corningware in exchange for writing this post. I was not otherwise compensated and all thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

Strawberry-Bourbon Bread Pudding with White Chocolate Sauce

Inspired by Taste of Home. Serves 4-6.

• 3/4 c. heavy cream, divided
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 c. 1-inch bread cubes, from a soft homemade loaf such as pullman or challah, about 1/2 lb. in total
• 2 c. quartered fresh strawberries
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. bourbon
• butter for greasing the pan
• 1/2 c. white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk 1/2 cup of the heavy cream, the vanilla, the salt, and the eggs together in a large bowl until fully combined. Add the bread cubes and toss with the cream mixture until the bread is fully coated. Set aside and let sit for at least 15 and up to 45 minutes so that the bread soaks up the cream.
2. Toss the quartered strawberries with the sugar and the bourbon until well mixed. Set aside and let sit for 15-30 minutes until the berries are very juicy. Combine the berry and bread mixtures in one bowl and stir to thoroughly mix.
3. Grease a 1.5 qt baking dish with butter. Add the bread pudding mixture to the pan, and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 35 minutes, or until bread is golden brown, custard is semi-set, and juices are bubbling. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Pudding can be served warm, at room temperature, or chilled.
4. Just before serving, add the remaining 1/4 c. of heavy cream and the white chocolate chips to a small saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring, just until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat immediately and pour the warm sauce over the bread pudding.

The post CW Color Bakeware Giveaway // Strawberry-Bourbon Bread Pudding with White Chocolate Sauce appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’ve been writing about my favorite cookbooks pretty much since I started this blog, but I started writing cookbook reviews in earnest – reaching out to publishers, keeping track of new releases, etc. – only last fall. Since then, I’ve written about 35 cookbooks, 26 of which were released in 2013. My shelves are getting crowded. Since there are new cookbooks coming out seemingly everyday, I want to take a moment to revisit my five favorite books from this year, so they don’t get lost in the fray and buried under newer books without being properly utilized. And, thanks to the very generous people at Taunton Press, Quirk Books, and Rizzoli, one reader will win a copy of all five books, a little holiday present from us to you. Giveaway details are at the end of this post, but first, the books! (In no particular order, choosing my favorite five was hard enough).

The Chef’s Collaborative – I was so pleasantly surprised by The Chef’s Collaborative, which contains a collection of recipes from over 100 of America’s best restaurant chefs. The recipes are universally creative, and all celebrate truly local, seasonal produce from all over the country – from quinces and fava beans to fiddleheads and wild crab apples. The food in this book is exciting and packed with unique flavors, but the restaurant-quality recipes are brought down to a level that’s accessible for most experienced home cooks.

Recipes to try: Thai Pork Sliders with Pickled Cucumbers and Sriracha Aioli; Broccoli-Cheddar Hush-Puppies; Chestnut Waffles with Roasted Apples and Cream; Wild Ramp and Farmstead Cheese Strata with Roasted Tomato Wine Butter; Smoked Rabbit and Andouille Gumbo

Vegetarian Everyday – This is my new go-to cookbook when I’m craving something simple and light that will still taste good. So far the recipes that David and Luise, the talented couple behind the blog Green Kitchen Stories, have included in this book have not disappointed. A few of the recipes from this book have already become standbys in my kitchen, the truest testament to how good a cookbook is, especially during busy weeks when I need to get healthy eating checked off quickly. Many of the recipes in this book are not only vegetarian, but vegan and gluten-free as well, making it the perfect book for someone transitioning, or considering transitioning, to one of these lifestyles.

Recipes to try: Quinoa, Cauliflower, and Ramp Cakes; Baked Blackberry Oatmeal; Roasted Tomato and Chickpea Soup; Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafels; Orange-Kissed Seed Crackers; Savory Tacos with Corn and Mango Filling

Le Pigeon – This big gorgeous book from Le Pigeon, the restaurant in Portland, is one of many chef/restaurant books that came out this fall. Despite many of the recipes being fabulously complicated, I find myself wanting to step up to the challenge because the flavors are just so intense and good. Be prepared to find a lot of recipes for less popular types (squab, rabbit, pheasant) and cuts (liver, tongue, brains) of meat, and definitely look elsewhere for vegetarian food.

Recipes to try: Fried Lamb with Green Garlic Risotto and Pickled Fennel; Smoked Rabbit Pie with Cheddar and Mustard Ice Cream; Creamed Rabbit with Polenta and Black Truffles; Lamb Shepherd’s Pie with Curry Mash

Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season – So much of our food-culture centers around using local, seasonal ingredients to maximize flavor, but often we forget to carry this through to dessert. This book counteracts that, providing elegant, modern, and truly seasonal dessert recipes for fall, winter, spring, and summer. It’s a beautiful and subdued book, and it will be the one I turn to for the perfect way to finish off a dinner party in any season.

Recipes to try: Pumpkin Milk Chocolate Pie with a Gingersnap Crust; Pumpkin-Maple Ice Cream; Chestnut-Chocolate Layer Cake; Cocoa-Lavender Cream Puffs; Peach and Sweet Corn Ice Cream Cake; Plum-Poppy Seed Kolache

Winter Cocktails – Although we’ve only had this book for two months, it’s already hard to imagine what we would do without its inspiration on cold winter nights (answer: drink less). There are so many great cocktail recipes in here that some nights it’s hard to decide which one we want to try next, or whether we should just repeat one of our new favorites. Some cocktails are served hot, others are rich and creamy, and still others are served in big, sparkling batches of punch, so no matter your taste, you’re sure to find a few new favorites here.

Recipes to try: Burnt Sugar Hot Buttered Rum; Nutella Melt with Frangelico; Applejack Hot Toddy; Pumpkin-Bourbon Eggnog; Chocolate Stout Affagato

Giveaway Details!

Congrats to Trish of JellyBones on winning these books! And thank you everyone for entering… I loved reading your Christmas wishlists, and I hope everyone has a peaceful and joyful Christmas! xo, Katie

I’ve teamed up with Quirk Books, Taunton Press, and Rizzoli to send a copy of each of my 5 favorite cookbooks from this year to one reader. To enter, leave a comment below letting me know what you most want for Christmas/the holidays this year. By entering, you are agreeing to the official rules as listed here:

• No purchase necessary
• Void where prohibited
• One entry per household, and only entries answering the question above will be considered!
• The sponsors of this giveaway are Katie at the Kitchen Door, Quirk Books, Taunton Press, and Rizzoli
  
• The estimated retail value of this giveaway is $178 USD
• The odds of winning will depend on the number of entries received
• This contest is only open to U.S. Citizens over the age of 18
• The contest will open today, December 11th at posting time, and will close at 11PM EST on Friday, December 20th, 2013
• One winner will be selected randomly and contacted via email (so please leave an accurate email address!). If I do not hear from the winner within 48 hours, the winner forfeits their prize and an alternate winner will be chosen.
• I will post the winner here by Friday, January 3rd.

Please spread the word on twitter and facebook, too!

All 2013 Reviews:

Every Grain of Rice – authentic Chinese home-cooking
Breakfast for Dinner – sweet and savory breakfast combinations re-purposed for dinnertime
The Little Paris Kitchen – classic French cooking made simple enough for every day by TV star Rachel Khoo
Sicilia in Cucina – gorgeous, dual-language cookbook focused on the regional flavors of Sicily
Venezia in Cucina – sister book to Sicilia in Cucina, but focused on Venice
Vegetable Literacy – highly informative vegetable cookbook/encyclopedia, a great resource for enthusiastic kitchen gardeners
The Chef’s Collaborative – creative recipes from a number of chefs celebrating local, seasonal produce
Home Made Summer – a sequel to Home Made and Home Made Winter, packed with simple, summery recipes that make the most of the season’s bounty
Try This At Home – a fun introduction to molecular gastronomy techniques through the ever creative eyes of Top-Chef Winner Richard Blais
Cooking with Flowers – full of sweet recipes that can be made from the flowers in your neighborhood, like lilacs, marigolds, and daylilies
Vegetarian Everyday – healthy, creative recipes from the couple behind Green Kitchen Stories
The Southern Vegetarian – favorite Southern comfort food classics turned vegetarian by the folks at The Chubby Vegetarian
Le Pain Quotidien – simple soups, salads, breads, and desserts from the well-loved Belgian chain
Live Fire – ambitious live-fire cooking projects that range from roasting an entire lamb on an iron cross to stuffing burgers with blue cheese to throw on your grill
True Brews – a great, accessible introduction to brewing your own soda, kombucha, kefir, cider, beer, mead, sake, and fruit wine
Le Petit Paris – a cute little book of classic sweet and savory French dishes, miniaturized for your next cocktail party
Wild Rosemary & Lemon Cake – regional Italian cookbook focused on the flavors of the Amalfi coast
Vedge – creative, playful vegan recipes from Philadelphia’s popular restaurant of the same
Full of Flavor – a whimsical cookbook that builds intense flavor around 18 key ingredients
Le Pigeon – ambitious but amazing recipes for cooking meat of all sorts, from lamb tongue to eel to bison
Pickles, Pigs, and Whiskey – a journey through Southern food in many forms, from home pickling and meat curing to making a perfect gumbo
Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season – gorgeous, unique desserts that make the most of each season’s best fruits, nuts, and vegetables
Winter Cocktails – warm toddies, creamy eggnogs, festive punches, and everything else you need to get you through the colder months
Bountiful – produce-heavy, garden-inspired recipe from Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple
Melt – macaroni and cheese taken to extremes you would never have thought of, in the best way possible
The Craft Beer Cookbook – all your favorite comfort food recipes infused with the flavors of craft beers, from beer expert Jackie of The Beeroness

The post Top 5 Cookbooks of 2013, A Holiday Giveaway! appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Rachel Wang on winning!

September is “Better Breakfast Month,” and although it seems that somehow the month is almost over, I think celebrating breakfast is something worth doing. When the California Almond Board asked if I’d like to help them celebrate, I said yes – I love breakfast, and I think it’s important to make time to eat a filling and healthy meal first thing in the morning. So they sent me some almonds and almond butter (and they’ll do the same for one of you, see the giveaway details at the end of this post!), and I whipped up some almondy waffles to keep me full and happy.

Weekend breakfasts are a time when I can find myself over-indulging. I just love breakfast foods – eggs and bacon, fruit smoothies, waffles, french toast, cheesy grits, bagel sandwiches, stuffed crepes, leftover apple pie (does that count as a breakfast food?) – and sometimes it can be tempting to eat a little bit of everything. I decided to make one of my favorite indulgent breakfasts, waffles and maple syrup, a little bit healthier by replacing half of the flour with ground almonds, and swapping out the maple syrup for some lightly sweetened stewed apples (disregard the ice cream in the photo, that didn’t make anyone any healthier… but oh man was it good). The waffles turned out great – airy and slightly almondy with crispy edges. They were a little drier than my usual recipe, but I felt good about the extra protein and fiber I was getting from a meal that is typically an excuse to gorge on empty calories. And the flavor of the cinnamon, almonds, and apples were so autumnal – the perfect thing to eat on your porch on a sunny Saturday morning.

The Almond Board also shared some other ideas for quick and filling breakfasts. Some of them I’d heard before, but some were brand new – and really good – ideas. Some of my favorites?

• Satisfy your sweet tooth with a second breakfast “sundae” treat. Swirl a tablespoon of almond butter and a teaspoon of sweetened cocoa into oatmeal; top with fresh fruit and some warm skim milk and you’ll have a breakfast that will surely keep you company till lunch.
• Weekday french toast: Beat an egg along with a dash of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Dip a slice of 100% whole grain toast bread into the egg mixture and cook on the stovetop in a nonstick pan. Top with sliced almonds, warm berries or sliced banana for an easy way to enjoy a hot, well-rounded breakfast.
• Raise a glass to a refreshing way to start the day with this unique, really tasty smoothie: in a blender combine 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 baked sweet potato, 1/2 banana, 1 tablespoon of almond butter and 3 ice cubes. Blend together and you’ll be off to a smooth start with the natural sweetness of the banana and sweet potato, both potassium powerhouses!

Giveaway details: The California Almond Board has offered to send one of you a Better Breakfast Starter Kit, with one pound of whole almonds, one pound of sliced almonds, one jar of almond butter, a reusable insulated travel pouch for breakfasts on-the-go, and one $20 Visa gift card to buy anything else that makes your breakfast better. To enter, leave a comment below letting me know what your favorite way to make your breakfast a little bit healthier is. By entering, you are agreeing to the official rules as listed here:

• No purchase necessary
• Void where prohibited
• One entry per household, and only entries answering the question above will be considered!
• The sponsor of this giveaway is the California Almond Board
  
• The estimated retail value of the Better Breakfast Starter Kit is $50
• The odds of winning will depend on the number of entries received
• This contest is only open to U.S. Citizens over the age of 18
• The contest will open today, September 29th at posting time, and will close at 11PM EST on Friday, October 4th, 2013
• One winner will be selected randomly and contacted via email (so please leave an accurate email address!). If I do not hear from the winner within 48 hours, the winner forfeits their prize and an alternate winner will be chosen.
• I will post the winner here by Friday, October 11th.

Disclaimer: California Almond Board sent me a Better Breakfast Starter Kit to create this recipe, and is the host of this giveaway. I was not otherwise compensated. 

Cinnamon-Almond Waffles

Serves 4.

• 1 c. sliced almonds
• 1 c. AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil
• pinch cream of tartar

1. Place the sliced almonds in a food processor or blender. Pulse for 2-3 seconds at a time until the almonds have a consistency finer than cornmeal (if you blend for too long, the almonds will eventually turn into almond butter, which is way pulsing them is better). Sift the almond flour through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium mixing bowl, placing any almond pieces that are too large to go through the sieve back into the food processor to be re-processed. Continue until you have 3/4 cup of almond flour.
2. Add the AP flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, and salt to the almond flour, and whisk until evenly combined. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks until pale yellow and thick. Add the milk and the almond extract and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to this batter, and stir until fully mixed, then whisk in the vegetable oil.
4. In a large, clean bowl, beat the egg yolks until they are frothy, then sprinkle with a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to beat until they form stiff, shiny peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, stirring as few times as possible to incorporate the egg whites without deflating them. Preheat and prepare your waffle iron, then cook the waffles on it according to manufacturer instructions. Serve hot with apple pie topping (recipe below) and ice cream if you’re feeling indulgent.

Apple Pie Topping

Makes about 2 cups.

• 2 large apples, such as Honeycrisp, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 TBS cinnamon
• 2 TBS water
• 1/3 c. sliced almonds

1. Add the apple pieces, sugar, cinnamon, and water to a small saucepan, and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the apples have started to soften and the sugar has thickened into a loose caramel. Add the almonds and cook 1 minute longer, then remove from heat and serve over waffles or ice cream.

The post Better Breakfast Month and Giveaway // Cinnamon-Almond Waffles with Apple Pie Topping appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I have something really exciting to introduce to you today – and an equally exciting giveaway to go along with it. A few months ago, Kelli from Blue Apron Meals reached out to ask if I’d be interested in reviewing their weekly meal service. I was hesitant at first – I mean, I write a food blog after all, half the fun is in coming up with my own recipes to share with you! But as I thought more about it, I realized that Blue Apron might be just what some of you are looking for. In particular, I was thinking about all my 20-something friends just setting out on their own – the ones who tell me they want to learn how to cook but don’t know where to start, the ones who ask me what they can make that’s both healthy and easy, and the ones who just don’t have the time to think about what to make and when they’re going to get groceries and how to carry them back to their apartments. So I decided to give it a try – and to give one of you the chance to try it out for yourself, as well.

So how does Blue Apron work? It’s easy. They send you a box full of pre-measured, clearly labeled ingredients, along with three recipe cards. Each box has enough to make three meals with two servings each, and the cost is $10 per person per meal (so, a $60 weekly minimum). The only ingredients you need to supply are olive oil, salt, and pepper – everything else comes with the box, including tiny bottles of maple syrup, little containers with pats of butter, and pre-measured spices. You can choose either the vegetarian or meat and fish box, and all that’s left for you to do is cook! You will need to know some basic techniques (peeling, chopping, searing), and to have a basic set of kitchen implements (I needed a cutting board, knife, pot with lid, saute pan, roasting pan, and zester/grater for this week’s meals), but the instructions are clear and each step is illustrated with photographs.

My experience using Blue Apron Meals was very positive. I got to try three tasty, healthy meals – Minute Steaks with Picadillo Sauce and Yellow Rice, Chicken with White Beans, Escarole, and Meyer Lemon, and Maple and Ginger Glazed Salmon with Watercress Parsnip Salad (you can find the full recipes for any dish, which would be easy to recreate even without the service, on Blue Apron’s site). Each dish took between 30 and 50 minutes from start to finish, and all were generously portioned (I got 3 full meals out of the steaks). The best parts of the service for me? Not having to go to the grocery store, not having to decide what to cook and find a recipe, being able to turn your order on or off based on that week’s meals (which are announced ahead of time), and knowing that the meals are healthy and balanced. And although I received this week’s box for free, I think the service is affordable. If I were to have made three meals with different proteins – steak, chicken, and salmon – I would have spent close to $30 on the meat alone, especially since it’s hard to buy proteins in a size appropriate for a single meal.

That being said, there is always room for improvement. While the meals are tasty and home-cooked, they are not as exciting as the typical dinner I make at home – in each dish, I was left wanting a little bit more contrast of flavors – more olives and raisins in the Spanish rice, more seasoning on the chicken, more oranges for the watercress salad. (My friends and family will be shocked to hear that I thought the salmon was actually the best dish, since I’ve long been a self-proclaimed seafood hater! So here’s to expanding horizons.) Also, the ingredients were high quality, but I was a teeny bit put off to find a few small snails in the watercress. Harmless, I know, and they do tell you to wash all your veggies, but it still made me a touch squeamish.

The bottom line: Overall, I would heartily recommend Blue Apron Meals, especially for those of you who want to cook more at home but either don’t have time or don’t know where to start. I’m considering signing up so that for weeks when I know ahead of time that I’ll be crazy busy, I can turn this on and know that healthy, tasty meals for the week will be taken care of.

Giveaway details: Blue Apron has generously offered to send one reader a week’s worth of meals (that’s 3 meals at 2 servings each)! Unfortunately, this giveaway is only open to readers within their current delivery range (CT, DE, IL, IN, KY, MA, ME, MD, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, VA, VT, WV and some parts of AL, AR, GA, IA, MI, MO, MS, NC, SC, WI… for a more precise definition of whether or not you’re eligible, see their delivery map). Directions for how to enter the giveaway are:

1. Mandatory Entry: visit Blue Apron’s recipe book then come back here and leave me a comment letting me know which recent recipe you think sounds the best.
2. Additional Entry #1: Like both Blue Apron Meals and Katie at the Kitchen Door on facebook, then return here and leave a comment letting me know you did so.
3. Additional Entry #2: Follow @BlueApronMeals and @Kitchen_Door on twitter, tweet “Win a week’s worth of healthy and tasty meals from @BlueApronMeals and @Kitchen_Door via http://wp.me/pMUN2-Yj”, then come back here and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

That’s all! The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 at midnight, at which point I will randomly select a winner. Good luck to everyone.

Disclaimer: I received a week’s worth of meals from Blue Apron free of charge, and they are hosting this giveaway. All opinions are my own, and I was not otherwise compensated to write this post.

The post Blue Apron Meals – Review and Giveaway appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Update: Giveaway now closed! Congrats to Andrea on winning the book (sorry, Mom, maybe next time!). Thanks to everyone for entering and leaving your favorite dishes – I have so many great Japanese recipes to try now – sounds like katsu curry and okonimyaki are must tries.

I don’t cook a lot of Asian food.  Sure, your occasional super-Americanized stir-fried rice, or a little chicken cooked in soy sauce, but rarely anything traditional.  It’s out of my comfort zone.  I have a lot of friends who are enamored with various Asian cultures, or who are part of an Asian culture and still very much tied to their family’s traditions and roots, but I’ve always been more drawn to Western food cultures – Italian, French, Irish, Polish, Czech.  It’s more accessible to me – closer to home.

This is precisely why Nancy Hachisu’s beautiful new cookbook “Japanese Farm Food” was such a wonderfully eye-opening book for me.  Just the introduction is full of new information – the best type of miso to buy for everyday use, how to grind tofu, and what, exactly, a suribashi is (it’s basically a grooved mortar and pestle for grinding seeds and nuts, if you’re wondering).  In fact, there were so many new words and ingredients and techniques in the opening chapter that I was almost a little intimidated.

I shouldn’t have worried – simplicity turned out not to be a problem.  Many of the recipes are simple, some shockingly so – like “edamame and sea salt,” or “raw egg on hot rice,” both of which are exactly what they sound like.  This level of simplicity is typically not my cup of tea in cookbooks – as someone who spends a lot of time cooking and thinking about cooking, I don’t need a book to instruct me in truly simple preparations.  However, in this book it seems appropriate.  Japanese food is simple by nature, and it is in preparing the simplest meals that technique truly counts.  There are also plenty of recipes a bit more complicated, like Chicken and Miso Meatballs or Egg Custard Squares with Crab and Spinach.  Some ingredients, such as yuzu, miso, and fresh wasabi, may be hard to find, but once you’ve sourced them, they’re used over and over again.

For anyone who grows their own vegetables or frequently finds themselves with an abundance of produce, you will find many new ways to prepare them in this book – a major plus.  Between Fried Eggplant Halves with Sweet Miso, Smashed Cucumber Pickles with Garlic, and Zucchini Coins with Roasted Sesame, I’ve taken plenty of notes on what to do with next year’s end-of-summer produce.  I should also note that the recipes in this book are intrinsically healthy, as much of traditional Japanese cuisine is.  Very few recipes call for dairy or wheat, the majority are vegetable based, and the techniques are such that the ingredients maintain most of their nutritious qualities.  If you’re looking to change your diet and lifestyle (and you like Japanese food, of course), this book may be a great source of inspiration.

But this book is not just about the food.  A big part of its charm are the short vignettes, little glimpses into Nancy and Tadaaki’s life in their Japanese farmhouse.  At first it seemed strange to me that the stories were somewhat disconnected, and not a continuous tale of Nancy’s integration into Japanese life, but I think they ended up being my favorite part.  The wannabe farmer buried inside me loved imagining the first taste of a fresh pecan grown from seed 20 years earlier, or of midsummer edamame just pulled from the bush, served hot and salty with a cold beer, the way Americans might enjoy corn on the cob.  I think any armchair traveler with the slightest interest in Japan will revel in this book.

This is a book that was very clearly assembled with a lot of thought and love.  It is not haphazardly thrown together, nor is it repeating material and recipes that those of us who consume food literature at a rapid pace have seen a hundred times.  But before I can truly condone any cookbook, I have to test out a few recipes to see if they’re worthwhile.  In this case, I started with the homemade ramen.  Ramen is a food so steeped in mystique and tradition, I was curious to see how it would turn out at home.  The answer?  Worth every minute of the 3-hour preparation.  The long-simmered chicken broth is clear and nourishing, the home rolled noodles puffy and tender, the half-boiled egg creamy and full of the broth’s flavor.  It is exactly what I want to be slurping on any cold and dreary afternoon. It definitely takes some planning ahead, and the noodles were a little bit tricky to work with, but I would absolutely make it again on a lazy Saturday.  I still have a few more recipes to test, but so far, this book passes the recipe test.

The bottom line: Japanese Farm Food is a ground-up introduction to traditional Japanese food, packed with simple, technique-focused recipes.  Nancy’s voice is strong and her stories intimate – resulting in a beautiful book that is clearly a labor of love.  I’d strongly recommend it to anyone looking to expand their repertoire of healthful (or vegetarian) recipes, learn new methods for cooking fresh produce, or to anyone with any interest in the culture and food of Japan.

Giveaway:  Thanks to the folks over at Andrews McMeel Publishing, I’m giving away one copy of Japanese Farm Food.  To enter, leave a comment below, answering the question: What is your favorite Japanese (or generally Asian, if you’ve never had Japanese food) dish?  Have you ever made Japanese food at home?  (P.s. I loved hearing your answers about your favorite winter dish – seems a lot of you love beef stew and chicken pot pie!)  For one additional entry, you can subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door via email or RSS, and leave a separate comment letting me know you have (you can also do this if you’re already a subscriber).  One winner will be picked at random at midnight on Friday, November 2nd.  Be sure to include your email in the comment form so I can get in touch with you!  If the winner doesn’t respond to me within 48 hours, they forfeit their winnings and I will pick a second winner.  US only, apologies to my international readers! Giveaway now closed!

Disclaimer: I was sent a free review copy of Japanese Farm Food by the publisher, Andrews McMeel, but all thoughts and opinions shared here are honest and my own.

Ramen at Home

Recipe from Japanese Farm Food, by Nancy Hachisu.  Serves 4.

For the broth:

• 2 carrots, cut into 1 inch lengths
• 2 small Japanese leeks, or 4 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1 inch lengths
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 bone-in chicken thighs (or 8 wings)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 TBS rapeseed or sesame oil

For the noodles:

• 2 TBS sesame oil
• 2 c. flour
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 egg yolks, at room temperature

For the toppings:

• 4 eggs
• 1 small bunch chopped bitter greens, such as bok choy or kale
• 3 TBS finely chopped Japanese leeks or scallions
• 1 sheet nori, cut into eights
• Soy sauce, miso, or sea salt (to taste)

1. Make the broth.  Preheat the oven to 450°F.  Place carrots, leeks/scallions, ginger, and chicken thighs in a roasting pan, and toss with salt and oil.  Roast for 40 minutes.  Pour chicken, veggies, and all the juices into a large stockpot, and cover with 16 cups of cold water.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.  After 1 hour, remove the lid.  Take out 2 of the chicken thighs and place in a small bowl.  Cover the thighs with hot broth and let cool to room temperature, then shred.  Continue simmering the remaining broth for another 30-60 minutes, until it is reduced to about 8 cups.  Strain broth into a clean pot and keep warm over low heat.  Discard vegetables and remaining chicken thighs.
2. Make the noodles: mix 2 TBS of the sesame oil into the flour with your fingers until it is crumbly.  Add eggs and egg yolks and stir with your hand until incorporated, then knead on a flat, clean surface for 5 minutes until the dough is pliable but stiff.  The dough takes some force to really work it into a pliable piece.  Let dough rest 10 minutes.
3. Roll out the noodle dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch using a pasta machine or a heavy rolling pin.  Cut into noodles by hand or using pasta machine.  Nancy recommends skinny linguine-shaped noodles, but we made thick ones because the dough wasn’t workable enough to make the smaller noodles – the thick ones worked great for us!
4. Prepare the toppings: bring a large pot of water to a boil over high-heat.  Add the eggs and boil for exactly 7 minutes, then remove with a strainer and place directly into a bowl of ice-cold water.  Let cool, then peel.  In the boiling water, blanch the bitter greens until just tender, then add to the cold water with the eggs.  Keep the water boiling – you will use it to cook your noodles just before serving.
5. Once the broth, noodles, and toppings are ready, prepare the bowls: add a small amount of miso, soy sauce, or salt to each bowl (according to diner’s preference) and pour a ladelful of hot broth over the seasoning.  Stir the broth into the seasoning.  Divide the shredded chicken amongst the bowls.  Drop the noodles into the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes – they will float up to the top when they are done.  Remove the noodles with a strainer and divide among the bowls.  Top off each bowl with a few more ladlefuls of hot broth, 1 egg cut into halves, a handful of the cooked grens, some of the nori pieces, and a sprinkling of scallions.  Serve very hot, with extra seasoning as desired.

The post Cookbook Review and Giveaway: Japanese Farm Food appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Update: Congratulations to Amanda of Something Savory on winning the giveaway!  Please contact me with your information so I can send the book.

There are a lot of great cookbooks coming out this fall.  And I mean a lot.  Like, so many that Eater had to split up their fall cookbook preview into two parts due to post size restrictions.  As an avid cookbook devourer, blogger, and all around food dork, this is pretty exciting to me.  Even more exciting?  The fact that I have a stack of these cookbooks on my bedside table to review – and a few to giveaway to you.  I hope you don’t mind a bit of a cookbook and recipe frenzy here for the next few weeks!

First up is Home Made Winter, released as a follow-up to Yvette Van Boven’s wildly popular cookbook, Home Made.  Full of warming Irish, French, and Dutch recipes, this book has arrived just in time for what seems like it may be a long, cold winter – at least here in New England.  It’s a whimsical, playful tribute to the sorts of hearty, made-with-love foods that get those of us that live in colder, darker, Northern climes through the winter.  This playful spirit is set as early as possible – on the copyright page, which is covered with doodles and a “welcome cocktail” to draw you into the book.  Throughout the book various recipes are drawn out and illustrated rather than typed and photographed, which I think is cute – and a good way to remember to not take cooking too seriously.

Recipe-wise, I like this book.  There is a pretty broad range of time commitments, levels of difficulty, healthiness, and flavors represented here.  Some examples: homemade apple cider made in your food processor (time consuming), quinoa apple cake (healthy), rarebits with pear and blue cheese (easy, bad for you).  But even the time-consuming recipes are un-fussy, which appeals to me – home cooking never needs to be pretentious (even if sometimes it’s fun to be a little pretentious about it).  I’m also a fan of the comforting Irish classics Yvette included – dishes I’ve read about but never had the opportunity to try, like steak and kidney pie, bannock bread with devonshire cream, and colcannon.  Yvette’s French and Dutch roots are represented too (tartiflette, gevulde speculaas), but the Irish recipes stuck out to me the most.

Design-wise, I both like and dislike this book.  The thing I love about it is the fun – the sketches, notes, paper cut-outs, and overall friendliness of the design.  What I’m not so crazy about is the photographic style, which is not really my speed.  The photographs are a bit too, well, wintry and realistic for me – many are shot indoors with that characteristic yellow overhead light glow, some are fuzzy and blurred, others are of dark, gray, wintry landscapes – no pristine snowscapes here.  On the one hand, it’s appropriate – it truly brings to life the feeling of winter, being stuck inside, wishing it wasn’t so grey for so long, and finding comfort around the warm light of the kitchen table.  I’m sure this was deliberate, and it’s done well.  But I find that whole aesthetic kind of depressing – I typically want opening a cookbook to be an escape to somewhere beautiful and inspiring and filled with light, not a reminder of where I already am.  Now, this is not a comment on the skill of the photographer (who is also Yvette’s husband) – there are many photographs in the book that are beautifully shot and lit – it’s just a stylistic choice that doesn’t draw me in.

The first recipe I tested from this book was the Daube Provençale – a French beef stew simmered long and slow in red wine, citrus, and olives.  I served it over super-creamy garlic mashed potatoes, and it was as scrumptious as it sounds.  The beef was fall-apart tender and packed with flavor, and the wine-y notes and salty olives made it stand out from other traditional beef stew recipes.  It was also easy (although it takes some planning ahead), so I’ll for sure be making it again!

The bottom line:  Home Made Winter is a fun, accessible cookbook packed with comforting, cold-weather recipes.  The recipes are a mix of traditional and innovative – I think there’s probably a little something for everyone in here.

Giveaway:  Thanks to the folks over at Abrams Books, I’m giving away one copy of Home Made Winter.  To enter, leave a comment below, answering the question: What is your very favorite winter weather recipe?  For one additional entry, you can subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door via email or RSS, and leave a separate comment letting me know you have (you can also do this if you’re already a subscriber).  One winner will be picked at random on Wednesday, October 24th.  Be sure to include your email in the comment form so I can get in touch with you!  If the winner doesn’t respond to me within 48 hours, they forfeit their winnings and I will pick a second winner.  US only, apologies to my international readers! Giveaway is now closed!

A final note – lucky for us, (spoiler alert!), we haven’t seen the last of Yvette – she tells us in the introduction to Winter that Home Made Summer will be released sometime in the not too distant future.  In the meantime, enjoy this delicious French beef stew, enter the giveaway, and look out for two more recipes from the book to be posted here over the next week!

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: A review copy of Home Made Winter was provided to me free of charge by Abrams Books.  I was not compensated for writing this review, and all thoughts and opinions are honest and my own!

More like this…

Pomegranate-Glazed Lamb Chops

Beef, Mushroom, and Ale Pot Pie

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Potato Gnocchi

Daube Provençale (French Beef Stew with Red Wine)

Recipe from Home Made Winter, by Yvette van Boven.  Serves 8.

A note on the orange/grapefruit: Several people have been disappointed in the orange flavor that leaving the rind in the stew gives – if you are concerned, consider omitting it. I found that, when using a grapefruit, leaving the entire grapefruit in the stew gave it a slightly bitter aftertaste (a reader using grapefruit as well found the same thing). Although not mentioned in Yvette’s original recipe, I’d recommend separately adding the zest of the grapefruit and the fruit of the grapefruit to the stew, avoiding the bitter pith. 

• 3 lb stew beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 (750-ml) bottle Cote du Rhone [I used Bordeaux and it was fine, but Yvette recommends Cote du Rhone, Vacqueyras, Gigondas, or Minervois]
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 orange, washed well and cut into 8 wedges [I substituted grapefruit]
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into rings
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
• olive oil
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• 3 1/2 oz. pitted black olives

1. Season meat with salt and pepper on all sides.  Place meat in a big bowl with wine, thyme, bay leaves, carrots, orange, onion, and garlic.  Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 12 hours, and preferably 24 hours.
2. Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a large stockpot.  Remove the meat from the marinade and brown the pieces in the oil on all sides.  Pour the marinade (including the oranges, bay leaves, etc.) over the meat and bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes, skimming any foam from the surface.  Lower the heat to a simmer, stir in the tomato paste, and add 4 1/2 c. water.  Cover, and let stew on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. 15 minutes before the stew is ready, add the pitted olives.  Let cook for 15 minutes on medium heat without the lid to thicken the stew.
4. Serve over mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Serves 6-8.

• 6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• salt
• 8 cloves garlic, cut in quarters
• 1/2 c. heavy cream

1. Place cubed potatoes in a large saucepan.  Cover with cold water, salt liberally, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, skimming starch foam from top occasionally and checking to keep from boiling over – lower heat if necessary.  Drain potatoes and place in a blender.
2. Return saucepan to heat, lower heat to low, and add garlic and heavy cream.  Heat until garlic is fragrant and cream begins to simmer, then add to blender.  Blend until potatoes are a totally smooth puree.  Add water or skim milk as necessary to even out texture.

The post Cookbook Review and Giveaway: Home Made Winter appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.