After a long business trip, it always takes a few days to shake off the whirl of travel and settle back into my routine. While I’m out on the road, every day is a long mix of work and exploration, and I often lose sense of the boundaries I have between my work and personal lives when I’m at home. Of course, the one piece of my life that I’m truly missing when I’m away is Trevor, and the first thing I want to do when I walk in the door (well, maybe after a shower) is to just spend time being together.

Last week I returned from a 10 day trip to Malaysia, and although it took me a bit longer than usual to get over the jet-lag and general plane-induced malaise, by Sunday I was feeling like myself again. Although some might argue that when you live together and don’t have kids, every night is date night, in my book it’s nice to set aside time that’s solely about spending time with one another. So I declared Sunday night an official date night, and we set about brainstorming recipes (because in our house, date night almost always means cooking). This particular date night was spruced up a bit by some new kitchenwares from Uncommon Goods, an ethically-minded retailer for unique and unusual gifts. Part of Uncommon Goods’ mission is to support independent artists and designers, as well as to feature American-made goods, and it’s easy to get lost browsing the resulting collection of products they’ve curated. Of course, although they carry a broad range of items, the section I’m drawn to the most is dining and entertaining, especially the wine (here) and kitchen gadget (here) collections.

When Uncommon Goods offered to send some of their products our way for us to try out, we quickly agreed. We’re constantly breaking our wine glasses, so choosing some new ones from their collection of fun designs was high on our wishlist. We ended up going for this set of stemless aerating wine glasses, in addition to this very classy wine carafe. And despite Trevor’s protests about how cheesy it was (pun intended), I couldn’t resist adding this mini fondue pot for two to our shopping list as well. New kitchenwares in hand, we set about putting them through their paces for our date night – wine was decanted, glasses were set out, and we whipped up a curried tomato and gruyere fondue, kept steaming hot in the tiny tea-light powered fondue pot. Never ones to be satisfied with something too simple, we passed on the bread and crudites for dipping and instead fried up a batch of Indian-spiced rice balls stuffed with mushrooms, carrots, chiles, and peas. The combo of the crispy rice balls and the rich and spicy cheese sauce was spot on, and we polished off the whole batch in one sitting (although I’ll admit that we may have been helped along by the generous glasses of wine we poured).

Sometimes when I’m doing a post for the blog, I get so wrapped up in getting the right shots and taking notes that I forget to enjoy what we’re doing. This was not one of those times – sitting around the tiny fondue pot, joking about cheesy rice balls, taking goofy pictures of each other, and drinking (gulp) the whole bottle of pinot, it really felt like date night, not just a photoshoot of date night. It was fun. A lot of fun. So, corny as it may sound, I genuinely want to thank Uncommon Goods, not only for supplying us with some great new products for our kitchen, but for inspiring us to get in the kitchen and create and laugh and enjoy each other’s company. Definitely hop over to their site to see if anything inspires you!

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Uncommon Goods, a retailer for unique and unusual gifts. All opinions are honest and my own.

Curried Tomato-Gruyere Fondue with Indian-Spiced Arancini

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 3-4 as an appetizer.

For the arancini:

• 2 c. cooked Basmati rice
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 2 tsp grated fresh garlic
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and stemmed, finely diced
• 2 small carrots, peeled and finely grated
• 10 crimini or button mushrooms, stems removed, very finely diced
• 1/3 c. frozen peas
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs. lightly beaten
• vegetable oil for frying

1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the grated garlic, grated ginger, and diced jalapenos and saute, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the carrots, mushrooms, and peas and saute, stirring frequently, until vegetables are soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add cooked rice, ground ginger, ground turmeric, and cayenne powder and stir to thoroughly combine, fully coating rice in spices. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
2. Add the beaten eggs to the rice mixture and stir to combine. Form the rice into golf ball sized balls, pressing firmly to remove any excess liquid, and set aside on a plate. Heat 1/2 an inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a deep frying pan. Once the oil is hot (test it by adding a small piece of rice to the oil and seeing if it sizzles immediately), fry the rice balls in batches, about 1-2 minutes per side, then drain the rice balls on a paper-towel lined plate. Serve immediately.

For the curried tomato fondue:

• 1 TBS butter
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tsp grated garlic
• 1 c. crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 lb. gruyere cheese, roughly grated

1. Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the grated ginger and grated garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and curry powder and stir to combine. Cook tomatoes, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes, then lower heat to low and add the grated cheese. Stir the cheese into the tomatoes until completely melted and just beginning to bubble around the edges, then transfer immediately to prepared fondue pot. Keep warm in fondue pot and serve with Indian-spiced arancini, crusty bread, or other foods for dipping.

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The Book: It seems that at least once a year, a cookbook that is more aptly described as an encyclopedia of a particular culture and cuisine is released. Gran Cocina Latina is a good example, as is The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, and to a certain extent even Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. These books are much more than just exciting cookbooks, they’re reference books for chefs and travelers and budding anthropologists that contain hundreds of classic recipes along with a thorough communication of the culinary culture and history of a particular region of the world. Often these books become instant classics, essential books for any cook seriously interested in learning about other cuisines. This season I have two books of this type in my review pile, and the first is about a very specific place – the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Yucatan: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition, written by David Sterling, is the product of his decades of culinary experience living in the Yucatan while running a cooking school there.

Starting the book knowing nothing about the Yucatan, except that it looks like a nice place to go on vacation, I quickly realized I was in the hands of an expert. I was easily drawn into the narrative of this ideologically isolated peninsula, even when that narrative had nothing whatsoever to do with food. History, geography, biology – you’ll get a little bit of everything with this book. Of course, eventually it all ties back to food and cooking, and I don’t know if there was a single recipe in this book that I wasn’t interested in trying. The recipes are mostly traditional, yet still presented in a creative and intriguing way – combinations like Roasted Quail with a Puree of Squash Seeds, Chaya, and Habanero and Zucchini and Squash Blossom Stew with Tiny Corn Pancakes are representative of what people have eaten traditionally, but totally new to me. I should note that as much as the 60-page ingredient primer will help orient you to traditional ingredients, many will still be hard to find for American cooks. Beyond that, many of the recipes will be time-consuming for those not accustomed to cooking with the major base ingredients of the cuisine, as sourcing or preparing the spice mixes, flours, and fats that are traditionally used will add to the total preparation time. However, once you have a few of the key pantry items built into your repertoire, I imagine the recipes become less daunting – there’s just a bit of a learning curve.

The Food: One of the goodies we brought back with us from Ecuador was a bag full of fermented cacao beans. As part of our trip we learned about the entire chocolate making process, even roasting and grinding our own beans before making the freshest hot chocolate ever. We picked up a half pound bag of the beans for $2.50 in a little souvenir shop later in our trip, and now I’m wishing we had brought more home with us, as whole beans go for $20 a pound on Amazon. When I saw the dessert recipes calling for freshly ground cacao paste in this book, I knew we’d found a way to put our beans to good use. This Mayan Chocolate Frozen Custard is one of the most intense ice creams I’ve ever tasted. Using a whole host of traditional ingredients – Mexican crema, freshly ground cacao, cayenne pepper, and a hand-ground spice mixture called recado rojo that includes achiote, garlic, and vinegar – it has a ton of different flavors, and a somewhat gritty texture from the ground cacao beans. And preparing all the components really gave our mortar and pestle a good workout. I realize that this description might not make it sound all that appealing, but it’s a really exciting recipe that’s definitely worth stepping outside of your comfort zone for. If you can find whole cacao beans, use them – the smell of freshly roasted cacao being mashed to a paste is otherwordly – but otherwise, you can use cacao nibs or bittersweet chocolate.

Recipe Shortlist: Venison in Red Squash-Seed Sauce; Maya Succotash of New Corn and Black-Eyed Peas; Mashed Plaintain Croquettes with Pork Cracklings and Goat Cheese; Lobster Tails in Charred Chili Sauce; Guava, Marschino Cherry, and Sherry Frozen  Custard; Chicken and Potatoes Stewed in Oregano-Black Pepper Sauce; Honey-Drenched Yuca Fritters

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Yucatan: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition from University of Texas Press, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Mayan Chocolate Frozen Custard

Recipe from Yucatan: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition. Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

• 2 c. whole milk
• 2 TBS recado rojo (bought in a Latin grocery, or homemade)
• 2 c. creme fraiche (or heavy cream)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. honey
• 3/8 tsp ground allspice
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• 5 large egg yolks
• 8 oz. fresh chocolate paste, recipe below (or bittersweet chocolate, chopped)
• 1 TBS vanilla

1. Place the milk and the recado rojo in a blender and blend for 30 seconds. Strain the milk through a fine-mesh sieve into a heavy saucepan, discarding the solids that get caught in the strainer. Add the creme fraiche, sugar, honey, allspice, and cayenne to the milk. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture has just reached a simmer, then remove from the heat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they are pale yellow and frothy. While whisking the eggs, slowly pour 1 cup of the hot milk into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking vigorously to temper the eggs. Repeat with another cup of hot milk, then pour the egg mixture back into the hot milk mixture, whisking the milk as you do so. Still whisking, return the custard to low heat and cook just until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. It will still be fluid – about the consistency of a creme anglaise.
3. Once the mixture has thickened, strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding any solids. Stir in the chocolate paste or bittersweet chocolate until mixture is thick and chocolate is melted. Let cool, then stir in the vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Once thoroughly chilled, process according to your ice cream maker’s directions.

Fresh Chocolate Paste

Makes about 8 oz.

• 1/2 lb. of whole fermented cacao beans

1. Place the beans in a dry skillet over medium heat. Roast, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and skins are cracking, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat. As soon as beans are cool enough to handle, peel the skins away from the beans and discard the skins. Return any peeled beans that are still brown as opposed to a deep blackish brown to the pan for a minute or two, cooking until they are all deeply browned.
2. Place peeled, roasted beans in a blender and blend until evenly ground. Transfer to a mortar and pestle in grind to a fine paste in batches.

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Olives, Lemons, & Za’atar: The Best Middle Eastern Home Cooking

The Book: This spring has seen a lot of Middle-Eastern themed cookbook releases, including Istanbul, Flavors of the Middle East, and Under the Shade of Olive Trees. The first one to grace our bookshelves is Rawia Bishara’s Olives, Lemons, and Za’atar. By the chef-owner of Tanoreen restaurant in Brooklyn, it’s a book filled with recipes that feel both modern and traditional, an elevated but still accessible take on a rural cuisine. Rawia does not treat her family’s cooking style rigidly, but rather lets it grow and evolve based on inspiration from her travels throughout Europe and her years in New York. Many of the resulting recipes are loaded with summer produce, which feels a little bit like torture right now, but is also filling me with inspiration for what to do with all those eggplants and peppers we’ll have come August. I especially can’t wait to try the Eggplant Napoleon, a stack of fried, pesto-marinated eggplant slices served with a slather of baba ghanouj, fresh tomatoes, and more pesto. I’m also drawn toward the big family dinner and feast dishes that she shares – big platters of meat and grains and vegetables, all heavily spiced and sauced – they feel festive and complete and make me want to gather friends around my table more often. The bright flavors that Rawia presents are echoed heavily in the book’s clean design and photography – the pictures in the book are wonderfully colorful and energetic, immediately transporting me to a warmer climate where food and color are abundant. It’s a book filled with light, flavor and summertime, for sure.

The Food: So far, we’ve made two dishes from Olives, Lemons, and Za’atar, and both were probably more appropriate for a grand feast than for dinner for two, but I have no regrets about either of them. Featured here is Maftool, the word for Palestinian (better known as Israeli) couscous, but that also refers to a traditional feast dish that uses the couscous as a base. This recipe adorns the couscous with chicken, chickpeas, and pearl onions, all beautifully spiced with a mix of caraway, allspice, cumin, coriander, and other warm spices. I really liked the technique for this dish – after spice-coating and browning the chicken, you add the chickpeas, onions, and several quarts of water to a pot with the chicken to simmer until the chicken is very tender, simultaneously making a gorgeous spiced chicken broth. Then, when it’s time to cook the couscous, you ladle the broth out of the pot onto the couscous, meaning the whole meal is infused with the flavors of the broth and spices. I cooked the couscous just a moment too long, leaving me with a crunchy, caramelized layer on the bottom of the pot – but after trying those crunchy couscous bits, I wouldn’t cook it any other way. The meal is served on one platter – couscous topped with the chicken pieces, lightly shredded, the chickpeas, and the pearl onions. It’s an aromatic, filling, and wholesome dish, perfect for serving a crowd in the winter. As an aside, the recipe headnote states that this dish makes enough for four, but we got at least eight servings out if it – it really makes an obscene amount of food. Plus as a byproduct, you have a delicious pot of chicken and chickpea soup, which I quickly stashed in the freezer for my next cold. The other dish we tried was a braised lamb shank dish which Trevor prepared, served with potatoes and a fresh tomato sauce. Again, the meat was beautifully spiced, and the addition of a cup of basil made it smell like summer. I think we’ll be cooking from this book for a while.

Recipe Shortlist: Brussels Sprouts with Tahini, Pomegranate Molasses, and Panko; Za’atar Bread; Cauliflower Salad with Tahini and Pomegranate; Sweet Pea and Kafta Stew; Eggplant Napoleon; Smoked Wheat with Lamb; Garlic Sauce for Roasted Chicken; Flower-Scented Custard with Pistachios

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Olives, Lemons, & Za’atar free of charge from Kyle Books, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Maftool: Palestinian Couscous with Chicken, Chickpeas, and Pearl Onions

Recipe adapted slightly from Olives, Lemons, & Za’atar. Serves 8.

• 2 TBS ground caraway seeds
• 1 TBS ground allspice
• 1 TBS ground cumin
• 1 TBS ground coriander
• 1 TBS sea salt
• 1 TBS freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 chicken (2 1/2 to 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
• 8 TBS olive oil, divided
• 2 lbs. fresh pearl onions, peeled (blanch first to make peeling easier)
• 3 yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 1 lb. dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, then boiled until tender; or 2 (15 oz.) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 lemons
• 2 lbs. Israeli couscous

1. In a small bowl, combine the first 9 ingredients, stirring to mix. Rub half of this spice mixture all over the chicken pieces. Set aside the other half of the spice mix.
2. Add 4 TBS of olive oil to a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot. Heat over medium heat, then add the chicken pieces in batches, skin-side down, being careful not to crowd the chicken. Brown the chicken for 6-8 minutes per side, until golden brown. Use tongs to transfer the chicken pieces to a plate. Repeat with any remaining chicken pieces.
3. Add the pearl onions and chopped yellow onions to the olive oil and saute until they begin to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Return the chicken pieces to the pot and add the chickpeas and 3 quarts of water. Raise the heat and bring to a boil, skimming any foam from the surface of the pot. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the chicken is falling off the bone, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon, and remove from heat.
4. About 20 minutes before the chicken is done, add the remaining 4 TBS of olive oil to a large saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the couscous, stirring to coat with the olive oil, and saute until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add the reserved spice mixture and stir to coat grains, then saute for 1 minute. Ladle 6 cups of the broth from the chicken pot into the couscous and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the couscous is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.
5. To serve, spoon the couscous onto a large platter and top with the chicken pieces, chickpeas, and onions. Reserve any leftover broth for another use (or it makes a delicious soup on its own with some of the extra chicken in it).

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A few weeks back, a relatively new meal delivery company called Relished Foods reached out to see whether I would be interested in reviewing their service. Like Plated and Blue Apron, Relished delivers fresh ingredients to your door with instructions for making three meals each week. Based in Chicago, they currently ship to most of the Eastern half of the U.S., and, if after reading this review you’d like to try them out, you can get 50% of your first order with the code “KitchenDoor” through next Friday, March 14th. Since I love coming up with and cooking my own recipes, I’m probably not the ideal customer for this type of service, but I figured some of you might be interested in how it works and how good the recipes are. Overall, I think Relished offers a pretty good service – I was very happy with the portion sizes (having enough leftovers for lunch the next day was a big win), the quality of the ingredients, the speed of preparing the recipes (the longest I spent in the kitchen, including dish-washing, was 40 minutes, which is pretty quick in my book), and the overall healthfulness of the meals. I do think the company has some kinks to work out – I found a few places where the recipe instructions weren’t super clear, or where the cooking times seemed too short, and the first meal was almost ruined by the amount of sugar added to the tomato sauce. These little things are easy to catch if you’re an experienced cook, but if you are someone who’s just learning, it might be hard to know intuitively how to adjust the recipe. That said, I do think these recipes overall were easy and clear enough that they would be a good way for beginners to learn to cook. And taking both meal-planning and grocery shopping off your weekly to-do list is a definite time-saver, beginner or otherwise. I would categorize my overall experience with Relished as positive, but not overwhelmingly so – read on for more details about each recipe I tried.

Lamb Meatballs with Creamy Polenta and Tomato Ragout

This is the dish I was most excited about when I read the menu, and the first recipe I tried – it has three of my favorite foods all combined into one comforting meal. The pros? It’s a filling, warming, seasonally appropriate dish; it took exactly 30 minutes to prepare, from the time I opened the package to the time I put it on the table, including a bit of dish washing while everything cooked; the portion sizes were very generous, making at least three full-sized servings for us, if not four. Unfortunately, I found the flavors in this recipe a bit off, mostly due to the amount of seasoning. The most glaring thing was the sweetness of the sauce – this was the only element of the recipe I adjusted as I cooked (it just looked like a ton of sugar for the amount of tomatoes, so I only used half) and I still found it way too sweet. Honestly, it didn’t need more than 1 TBS of sugar. The polenta was also a little too salty, but this was probably more a matter of personal preference. The meatballs themselves were fine, and all together it was OK but not great. I think a knowledgeable cook would naturally make a few easy tweaks to this to take it up a level – some more spices in the meatballs, maybe oregano and paprika; a splash of cream in the polenta; a light vinaigrette on the arugula; and no sugar in the tomato sauce and I think you’d have a really tasty meal. But a beginner cook is unlikely to come up with this type of adjustment, and might have been disappointed with the results.

Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Salad with Pan-Seared Chicken

Dinner number two was a simple roasted vegetable and quinoa salad topped with a quick pan-seared chicken breast. The meal was simple, but very satisfying, and I was much happier with the outcome than I was with the lamb meatballs. The balance of veggies, protein, and grains felt healthy and nourishing, and it was definitely something I could see making myself for dinner. It took a little longer to make – about 40 minutes – but it was straightforward to prepare. I do think the instructions could have been a little clearer, especially for a beginner cook: simple additions like describing how to clean and slice a pepper (instead of just “chop pepper”) would be helpful. I also made a small change to the veggie roasting technique, letting them roast for 20 minutes instead of 10 (brussels sprouts do not fully cook in 10 minutes!), and seasoning them before cooking instead of after, arguably both matters of personal preference. There was some quinoa and veggies left over, which I tossed with crumbled Italian sausage and feta cheese for a very satisfying lunch the next day. All in all, I was happy with this meal.

Panko-Crusted Cod with Roasted Baby Carrots and Asparagus

Some of you know that I’m not a huge fish fan, so I wasn’t thrilled to see baked cod, my childhood dinnertime nemesis, on the menu. However, I’ve been trying to approach fish-eating with an open mind these days, so although I did task Trevor with the preparation of the cod itself, I made myself take a few bites without wrinkling my nose in advance. And you know what? It was OK. I still don’t love it, but I’ll eat it. The preparation was simple and quick – you prepare a pan of buttered, garlickly breadcrumbs and mix with chopped parsley, then coat the fish with them and bake – and the fish mostly tasted like breadcrumbs and the copious amount of lemon I squeezed on it. The fish itself seemed fresh and of good quality, and the roasted asparagus and carrots it was served over were really tasty veggies, with no woodiness at all to the asparagus. A fine dinner. My only issues with this meal were that there was a lot of leftover panko crust that had to be tossed, and that it was a very light dinner. Because we could only use half of the buttery panko crumbs, I’m guessing this meal came in at closer to 350 calories than the advertised 430, and unlike the other meals, there were no leftovers. If we hadn’t been going straight to bed after eating this, I think we would have gotten hungry quickly.

Disclaimer: I received one box from Relished Foods free of charge for the purposes of writing this review. I was not otherwise compensated and all opinions are my own.

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The Book: Although we’re smack in the middle of winter, Summerland: Recipes for Celebrating with Southern Hospitality, is helping me daydream my way back to a place where winter means a short break from sundresses – Georgia. This book, written by the owner of Summerland Farm and chef-owner of a number of prominent Southern restaurants, is organized into themed menus by month, starting with September, “From Pasture to Plate: A Celebration of the Pig,” and moving right on through the holidays, the spring, and ending in August with “The Dog Days of Summer: A Fig Feed.” Because it’s written from a farm, it falls very naturally into the farm-to-table ethos, without seeming like it’s trying to be something it’s not – each menu is seasonal, in a Southern way (i.e. there’s no winter) and based around the rhythms of farm life. I’m a sucker for themes, and for full explorations of a single ingredient, so I like that everything goes together in each chapter. The “Fig Feed” in particular sounds amazing – if only our fig tree would produce enough figs for something like that! The menus and recipes manage to be both elaborate and “back-to-basics” at the same time, making it a book that I’ll turn to for special occasions, but not so much for everyday dinner recipes. And as for the look and feel of the book, it’s a large format cookbook with high quality paper and design, and a beautiful, atmospheric photography style that I really love. The photographs manage to bring each season to life – the winter photos are dark and moody, while in spring and summer they’re bright and outdoorsy. It’s a beautiful book.

The Food: Our test recipe for this book was this Italian Wedding Soup, made with homemade noodles, spicy mustard greens, and big lamb meatballs. We actually made this back in December, in the middle of feasting season, so the simplicity and homeyness of this soup is what appealed to us. Most of the recipes from the December section of the book were designed for entertaining, as they’re all part of the “Holiday Retreat” menu, so we skipped ahead to March (“The Rites of Spring: A Lamb Fete”) to find this one. It was just what we needed at the time. Although I’ll happily gobble down homemade noodles and meatballs in any form, I think my favorite part of this soup was the spiciness of the mustard greens – it was the perfect counterpoint to the rich and gamey flavor of the meatballs. Next time, I think we’d make the extra effort and use homemade stock, as the broth is a prominent feature of this particular soup.

Recipe Shortlist:  Meyer Lemon Gelato; Warm Pumpkin Pudding with Hard Sauce; Broccoli Soup with Sabayon and Shaved Perigord Truffle; Breakfast Sausage; My Bloody Valentine Cocktail (Blood Orange Nectar, St. Germain, Prosecco); Squab with Beets and Beet Green Pesto; Lamb Pot au Feu; Charred Pomegranate Popsicles; Slow-Roasted Porchetta; Korean Beef Jerky; Sweet Tea Cocktail; Peach Semifreddo; Gazpacho Salad; Branzino Steamed in Fig Leaves with Fig Butter and Pecans; Yogurt Parfait with Fig Gelee and Peanut Brittle

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

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Summerland free of charge from Rizzoli, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Italian Wedding Soup with Lamb Meatballs

Recipe from Summerland: Recipes for Celebrating with Southern Hospitality. Serves 4-6.

• 1 lb. lean ground lamb
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 c. unseasoned bread crumbs
• 2 TBS chopped fresh mint
• zest from 1 Meyer lemon, finely grated
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 c. flour
• 1 c. vegetable oil, for shallow frying
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 sweet onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 c. fresh or frozen field peas or pink-eyed peas (we substituted cannelini beans)
• 1 bunch mustard greens, torn
• 4 c. lamb stock or chicken stock
• 3/4 lb. fresh pasta dough, rolled out and cut into wide noodles (or substitute 3/4 lb. of egg noodles, pre-cooked to al dente).
• leaves from 3 sprigs fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish

1. For the meatballs: combine lamb, egg, bread crumbs, mint, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then mix well by hand. Form into balls about the size of golf balls (you should have around 18, 1-oz. balls). Place the flour in a shallow bowl, and roll the meatballs in it, tapping off any excess. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry the meatballs in batches until golden brown on all sides, about 7-9 minutes total. To test to see if they are done, stick a metal knife into the center of a meatball – if the blade comes out hot, they are done (but don’t burn yourself  checking!). Drain the meatballs on a paper-towel covered plate and set aside.
2. For the soup: Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent, about 4-5 minutes, stirring to prevent them from burning. Reduce the heat to low and add the thyme and red pepper flakes. Add the peas or beans and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the mustard greens and stock and bring to a simmer. Add the fresh pasta and cook over low heat until tender, 2 to 3 minutes (if using pre-cooked noodles, cook just long enough to heat through). Place the meatballs in the saucepan and cook until heated through, another 1-2 minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt, and serve, garnished with the parsley leaves.

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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.

The Book: There have been a lot of big-name chef and restaurant cookbooks published this fall. I find that restaurant cookbooks can be hit or miss – not all delicious restaurant food translates well to home kitchens, and sometimes scaling restaurant quantities down results in more recipe errors. However, I took a chance on one of this season’s restaurant books, Le Pigeon, since I couldn’t get over the intriguing table of contents (tongue, fat liver, little birds, pork, horns and antlers, lamb, etc.). I’m glad I did – this book is a winner. While it’s not for vegetarians or timid cooks, adventurous eaters will find dozens of recipes that stretch the way they think about food – this is outside-of-the-box cooking. Every dish is creative and company-worthy, but there’s a broad range of accessibility: a newer cook might try the simple radicchio and pear salad with an addictive-sounding blue cheese dressing or the slow-roasted lamb served over risotto (featured here!). On the other end of the spectrum, even the most ambitious chef will probably be challenged by the 7-component banana cream pie with pineapple and macadamia nuts, or the 5-component calf’s head terrine with gribiche, sweetbreads, and bruleed eggs. Some of the recipes go a little too far for my taste – I get a little squeamish about offal and other infrequently used meats, so recipes like eel dumplings and foie gras served in eel consomme are not something I’m going to cook – but for some people these unique recipes could be the highlight of the book. One note of warning: as you might have gleaned already, some of the ingredients used in this book will be really hard for the average joe to find, especially given seasonality. The book itself is one of the heftier ones on my shelves, with over 340 pages, and plenty of big, full-page photos – of the food, the city, customers, and the chefs just goofing around. I’ve never been to Portland (the Oregon one) or eaten at Le Pigeon, but my gut tells me that this book, full of stories, notes from the chef, and lots of meat and offal, is true to the experience you might have at the restaurant.

The Food: There were only a handful of recipes from Le Pigeon that were approved to be shared for promotional purposes, but they all sounded delicious. We were initially going to make the Maple-Lacquered Squab with Duck Confit Hash, but squab proved very difficult to find (actually, we bought cornish game hens as a potential substitute, but it turns out that they are not game at all, they’re just tiny, expensive chickens). So we pushed this review back a week and took the time to roast the 5-hour lamb for the Lamb with Green Garlic Risotto. The name of this dish does not do it justice – it’s incredible. Although relatively simple to put together, the three components of this dish – a lamb shoulder that’s roasted until falling apart, sliced, then quickly pan-fried before serving; a creamy pecorino and radish risotto; and a mind-blowing curry-pickled fennel and parsley salad – come together in an amazing burst of flavor. The lamb is intensely gamey, the risotto rich and cheesy, and the fennel bright and crunchy and exotic. I couldn’t get enough of the fennel, until I took a few bites without risotto and realized that it was the combination of the two that I was liking so much. Really, a showstopper. If you plan ahead and roast the lamb the night before, this is actually easy enough for a weeknight dinner. It is one of the simpler recipes in the book, so I hope we find the other recipes have the same great time to flavor payoff. Scroll down for the recipe.

Recipe Shortlist: Cedar-Planked Zucchini, Chevre, Almonds; Fig and Fois Gras Terrine with Fermented Black Bean Muffins; Pheasant Gnocchi, Sake Pears; Duck Nuggets; Smoked Rabbit Pie, Cheddar, Mustard Ice Cream; Creamed Rabbit, Polenta, Black Truffles; Potato and Nettle Soup, Crispy Pork; Lamb Shepherd’s Pie, Curry Mash; Honey-Bacon Apricot Cornbread, Maple Ice Cream

Pickles, Pigs, & Whiskey

The Book: Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey is a different sort of cookbook. With the strongly-felt influence of its chef-author, John Currence of City Grocery, it meanders through the foods that have influenced his culinary journey. You will find more than just dinner and dessert here, with whole chapters dedicated to condiments, canning, cocktails, and meat curing. Mostly rooted in Southern cooking (deep Southern and Creole cooking to be more specific), it occasionally veers into the culinary traditions of Latin America, Italy, and France. Between the different cooking techniques and different regional influences, all together this book is a bit of a hodge podge, but in a good way. It has personality. Most of the recipes manage to be both fancy and rustic at the same time – comforting stews and roasts and braises, but always with an elegant spin. Like Le Pigeon, many of these dishes are fairly meat-heavy – again, probably not the best choice for vegetarians or for those trying to eat lightly, but great for creating intense flavors. I’m not the biggest fan of the design of the book – the multiple photo layouts are a little bit too yearbook-like for me – but that’s obviously a matter of personal taste. What I do like is the inclusion of music to listen to while you’re cooking each dish; I think it’s such a fun and original idea to include playlists in a cookbook.

The Food: Perhaps we were being foolish, but the recipes we chose to test from this book didn’t contain any of the three title ingredients. In fact, they aren’t even that Southern, but Rabbit Cacciatore with Black Pepper Pappardelle was what sounded good to us on a freezing November night, so that’s what we made. I’m a big fan of rabbit, but I thought this recipe didn’t really showcase it – it actually ended up tasting kind of like chicken, where chicken was the protein it was intended to replace. Plus, it was a bit tricky to eat with the rabbit pieces left whole; next time, I would pull the rabbit meat off the bones before serving. The mushroom and tomato sauce was good, a little one dimensional perhaps, but with an unexpected smoky kick to it that I liked, and it had gained complexity by lunchtime the next day. I can’t really fairly review the pappardelle, since I accidentally used bread flour, thought I didn’t have enough, and added some semolina flour to make up for it – but it did end up coming out really well after some thorough kneading, and I loved the black pepper bite to it. All told, this was a solid recipe, but not particularly special, especially given the price of rabbit. I’m certainly not giving up on the book, but next time I think I’ll choose something a bit more Southern. Scroll down for the recipe.

Recipe Shortlist: Bourbon Milk Punch; Gumbo Z’Herbes; Pickled Sweet Potatoes; Top-Shelf Chicken and Dumplings; Chicken-Fried Duck with Caramelized Onion Gravy; Grillade and Grits Casserole; Pecan-Smoked Duck with Molasses Lacquer; Pork Fat Beignets with Bourbon Caramel

Recipes

Lamb, Green Garlic Risotto

Recipe from Le Pigeon. Serves 4.

For the lamb:

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground fennel seeds
• 2 TBS kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 boneless lamb shoulder, about 3 lbs.
• 1 c. dry white wine
• 1 head green garlic, halved (use regular garlic + 2 shallots of green garlic is unavailable)
• neutral oil, for frying

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Stir together the garlic powder, onion powder, fennel seeds, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then rub the lamb all over with the spice mixture. Place in a roasting pan with the wine and garlic. Cover with aluminum foil and roast for 5 hours. Remove from the oven and let cool. Refrigerate until cold.
2. When ready to serve, remove the lamb from the fridge and cut into 6 equal round slices. Heat 1/4 inch of oil over medium-high heat, and fry the lamb slices in batches until heated through and crispy, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate line with paper towels. Serve on a bed of risotto with a spoonful of pickled fennel salad on top.

For the risotto:

• 1/4 c. butter, divided
• 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 c. Arborio rice
• kosher salt
• 3/4 c. dry white wine
• 4 c. chicken stock, heated until steaming
• 1/2 c. grated pecorino cheese
• 1/2 c. thinly sliced radish

1. In a heavy pot over medium heat, melt 2 TBS of the butter. Add the onion and the garlic and saute until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the rice and season with salt. Cook for 3 minutes or until rice is translucent around the edges, stirring the whole time. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until the wine has evaporated, about 4-5 minutes. Ladle the hot stock into the risotto 1 cup at a time, stirring the risotto constantly. Let each cup absorb into the rice fully before adding more stock. Once you have used all the liquid and the rice is al dente, stir in the pecorino, the radish, and the remaining 2 TBS of butter. Season to taste, remove from the heat, and serve immediately.

For the pickled fennel salad:

• 1 c. champagne vinegar
• 1 TBS curry powder
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 TBS sugar
• 2 TBS kosher salt
• 1 TBS ground fennel seeds
• 1 small fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 small yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/2 c. fresh flat leaf parsley leaves
• 1 c. halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 TBS good quality olive oil
• a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

1. Heat the champagne vinegar, curry powder, water, sugar, salt, and ground fennel over medium heat in a small saucepan. Bring just to a boil, then remove from the heat and pour it over the sliced fennel and onion in a heatproof bowl. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate until chilled. (Can be made up to 1 week in advance)
2. Toss the pickled fennel with the parsley, tomatoes, olive oil, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt.

Reprinted with permission from Le Pigeon by Gabriel Rucker & Meredith Erickson, copyright 2013. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Rabbit Cacciatore with Black Pepper Pappardelle

Recipe adapted slightly from Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey. Serves 6-8.

For the rabbit:

• 8 rabbit hindquarters
• 4 tsp + 3/4 tsp salt, divided
• 4 tsp + 3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided
• garlic-infused olive oil (we used regular olive oil plus two cloves halved garlic)
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh oregano, divided
• 1 c. flour
• 3/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 5 TBS olive oil
• 1 c. diced yellow onions
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded, stemmed, and diced
• 3 TBS thinly sliced garlic
• 4 c. sliced cremini mushrooms
• 2 1/2 c. chopped fresh tomatoes
• 2 TBS fresh thyme leaves
• 1 TBS chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 3 c. crushed, canned tomatoes
• 1 1/2 c. chicken stock, plus more if needed
• 1/2 c. Marsala
• Parmesan cheese
• fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, for serving
• fresh pappardelle noodles with 4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper added to the flour before starting, cooked for 3 minutes in boiling water

1. Season the rabbit pieces with 4 tsp of the salt and 4 tsp of the pepper, 3 TBS of the oregano, and some garlic oil. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and remaining 3/4 tsp of salt and pepper. Dredge the rabbit pieces in this seasoned flour, shaking off any excess.
2. In a large Dutch oven or pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Brown the rabbit pieces in batches, cooking for about 2 minutes per side, then reserve them on a paper towel lined plate. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic to the pan and saute until they begin to sweat, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and chopped fresh tomatoes and saute for an additional 5-7 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 TBS oregano, the thyme, and the rosemary.
3. Return the rabbit legs to the pan, add the crushed tomatoes, stock, and Marsala. Bring to a low simmer, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Check the sauce every 15 minutes or so – if the sauce appears to be drying out, add more stock 1 cup at a time as needed. After 45 minutes, uncover the sauce, season to taste, and simmer for an additional 15 minutes uncovered. Serve over the fresh pappardelle noodles with parmesan and fresh parsley.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of both these cookbooks from Ten Speed Press and Andrews McMeel free of charge, but was not otherwise compensated for writing this review.

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So here’s something new… I’m handing the blogging reins over to Trevor today. Yes, my silent, handsome, boyfriend is starting to get the blogging bug, and I think it’s awesome. The only thing I want to add to his review: I usually will only eat my steak cooked medium-well, because any fatty texture really kind of grosses me out. These steaks though? I devoured them cooked medium-rare, because the steaks held together so well even when only minimally cooked and had a great, chewable texture. It was a great discovery that if the beef is grass-fed, I can stop horrifying chefs by ordering everything medium-well. And now, to Trevor.

It was a super nice surprise last week to be asked by Marx Foods to sample some grass-fed Beef Strip Steaks from New Zealand. I could definitely get used to receiving last-minute steak deliveries from the friendly folks over there, and it’s sure nice to have an excuse to cook a big steak dinner with my best gal. Don’t be fooled though! This was a research-heavy endeavor. When I spring for meat, it’s either as a part of one of Katie’s gourmet super-projects (i.e. rabbit pie, venison ragout, stuffed quail,) or it’s the supermarket-special 5-pound pork loin (serves ten), which I proceed to eat solo while Katie jets around Europe for work. So I hit the books, nearly exhausting the meat-related content of Katie’s cookbook reference library.

What I found was pretty consistent; to earn the “grass-fed” moniker, the animal has to be raised on grasses, hay, silage or legumes, not finished on a high volume of corn and the low dose of antibiotics typical of commodity beef, and it must spend most of its time in a pasture. The result of these practices is a healthier animal with a lower fat content, with the added benefit of not promoting the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. What this all means when it comes to cooking grass-fed beef is pretty straightforward:

• It doesn’t hurt to tenderize: The leaner meat is not as thickly marbleized. Bruce Aidells’ The Great Meat Cookbook suggests using a Jaccard.
• Aidells and The American Grassfed Association (AGA) agree that leaner cuts can benefit from a marinade.
• Cooking rare to medium-rare yields the best results, but grassfed beef cooks more quickly than non-grass-fed.

The perfect preparation was definitely Aidells’ marinade-dry rub combo. The steaks sat in a mushroom-flavored dark soy with some smashed garlic, then they got a beautiful porcini-rosemary dry rub which ended up really emphasizing the natural earthy, beefy flavor of the grass-fed beef. Overall, the slight tang from the soy and garlic along with the dark, aromatic, meaty flavor of the beef, made this preparation totally killer. The marinade yielded a nice, tender texture without any sort of unpleasant mealiness. My one regret for this recipe was our current lack of grill. Though a little trickier in terms of temp control, I think doing the initial searing-off on the grill could have added some awesome flavor. Although a little pricey at $13 for each 12 oz. steak, the combination of the gamier flavor and firmer texture makes these steaks worth the occasional splurge.

As a meal, the steak could certainly stands alone, or with any steakhouse sides. For this meal though, Katie set her yorkshire pudding with creamed spinach against my beer-battered onion rings with mustard aioli in what turned out to be a delightfully diverse night of overeating. Both side dishes came from Richard Blais’ Try This At Home, and while the duck-fat coated yorkshire puddings puffed up beautifully in the oven, the onion rings and the sweet, tangy mustard dip were the clear victor [edit: Katie agrees].

Disclaimer: Marx Foods sent us these steaks free of charge in exchange for our honest review. 10 bloggers received steak samples, and the blogger with the most thorough review will win a credit to the Marx Foods store.

Pan-Seared Grass-Fed Strip Steaks with Porcini and Rosemary Rub

Recipe adapted from The Great Meat Cookbook. Serves 2.

• Two 12-oz grass-fed strip steaks
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/2 c. dark mushroom-flavored soy sauce (available at Chinese groceries)
• 1/2 c. dried porcini mushrooms OR 2 TBS porcini powder
• 1 TBS finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 TBS olive oil

1. Place the steaks in a ziploc bag. Combine the smashed garlic and the dark soy sauce and pour over the steaks. Seal the bag and shake to thoroughly coat the steaks with the marinade. Let the steaks marinate at room temperature for 2 hours, flipping them over occasionally to distribute the marinade.
2. Grind the dried porcini mushrooms in a coffee grinder until they are a fine powder. Combine 2 TBS of the porcini powder with the chopped rosemary and black pepper in a small bowl.
3. Remove the steaks from the marinade, letting the excess drip off. Scrape off any garlic, and pat the steaks dry with a paper towel. Generously sprinkle the porcini mixture over the steaks so that both sides are completely coated.
4. Preheat the oven to 275°F. Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl to coat the bottom of the pan with oil. Add one of the steaks and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until it has a deep brown exterior. Transfer the steak to a baking sheet, and repeat with the second steak.
5. Place the seared steaks in the oven. After 10 minutes, check the internal temperature – when the temperature reaches 125°F to 130°F they are medium-rare. When they are medium rare, let rest 5 minutes covered loosely with aluminum foil, then serve.

Vidalia Onion Rings with Beer Mustard Aioli

Recipe adapted from Try This At Home. Serves 4.

• 2 large Vidalia onions
• 2 c. low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 c. + 2 c. AP flour, divided
• 1/4 c. rice flour
• 1 c. soda water
• 4 oz. beer (drink the rest!)
• 1/2 tsp honey
• kosher salt
• vegetable oil
• beer mustard aioli, recipe below

1. Peel onions without cutting through them, then slice each onion crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Separate the slices into individual rings. Place the onion rings in a shallow pan and cover with the buttermilk.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the 1/4 c. AP flour, rice flour, soda water, beer, and honey until smooth. Place the remaining 2 c. flour in a shallow pan and season with kosher salt.
3. Fill a large heavy pot with at least 3 inches of vegetable oil, and heat over medium-high heat to about 350°F. Working in batches, lift the onion rings from the buttermilk and shake off the excess. Dredge them in the flour and toss until coated, then dip them one by one into the batter, shake off the excess, and carefully add to the hot oil. Fry, turning often with heat-proof tongs, until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels, then sprinkle with salt while they are still warm. Serve warm with beer mustard aioli.

Beer Mustard Aioli

Recipe from Try This At Home. Makes 1 1/2 cups.

• 1 c. high quality mayonnaise
• 1/2 c. Dijon mustard
• 2 TBS molasses
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp beer extract OR an additional 1 TBS molasses
• pinch of cayenne

1. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.

New Yorkshire Pudding with Licorice-Spiced Creamed Spinach

Recipe adapted from Try This At Home. Serves 4.

• 1 TBS olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 2 whole star anise
• 1 1/2 lbs. fresh spinach, trimmed, washed, and sliced into thin ribbons
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 3 large eggs, divided
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 c. + 2 TBS whole milk
• 2/3 c. flour
• 3/4 tsp pastrami spices, recipe below
• 1 TBS duck fat or bacon grease
• 1 TBS cold water

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a small baking dish with olive oil, and set aside.
2. Heat the 1 TBS olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the garlic, shallot, and whole star anise and saute until the garlic and shallot are softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, using tongs to continuously toss the spinach so that all sides are exposed to the heat, just until spinach is wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Immediately place the spinach in a colander and let drain. Discard the star anise.
3. Whisk together the cream, 1 of the eggs, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Squeeze the spinach to rid it of any excess water, then add the spinach to the prepared baking dish. Pour the cream mixture over the spinach and stir to combine. Bake for about 30 minutes, until center of spinach is set, then remove from oven and cover with tinfoil to keep warm.
4. Increase the oven temperature to 400°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pastrami spices, and salt to taste. Add the remaining 2 eggs and the milk, and stir to combine. Divide the duck fat between 4 cups of a jumbo muffin pan or 8 cups of a regular muffin pan and place the pan in the oven until the fat begins to sizzle and smoke, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the oven, quickly whisk the cold water into the pudding batter, then fill each muffin cup about 1/3 of the way full with the batter (the yorkshire puddings should puff up dramatically while they bake). Return the pan to the oven. Bake until puffed and golden brown – if using a jumbo muffin pan, about 30-35 minutes, or 15-20 minutes for a regular muffin pan.
5. Remove the puddings from the oven, cut a slit in the top, and stuff with a spoonful of the creamed spinach. Serve hot.

Pastrami Spices

Recipe from Try This At Home. Makes about 1/4 cup.

• 2 TBS whole coriander seeds
• 1 TBS whole yellow mustard seeds
• 1 TBS whole black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika

1. Toast the coriander seeds, mustard seeds, and peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently to prevent them from burning. Toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Cool completely, then grind coarsely in a spice or coffee grinder. Stir in the paprika. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 6 months.

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The Book: Full of Flavor: How to Create Like a Chef is a book that was released back in the spring – I’m not sure how I missed it the first time around, since the author, Maria Elia, is one of my favorite chefs. Her first book, The Modern Vegetarian, was one of the first cookbooks I purchased, and it’s still one of my favorites. But I’ll try to keep this post about this book, instead of my mini-chef crush on Maria. Full of Flavor attempts to capture and teach you Maria’s creative recipe development and cooking process, not only the final output. Each of the 18 ingredient-focused chapters opens with a cartoon “mind map” that associates different flavors and textures with the main ingredient of that chapter, and for many of her recipes she offers variations and ideas for making the recipe your own. I love the spirit of the book – open, passionate, sharing – and that she doesn’t take on that braggy tone that some chefs do when talking about their own recipes. Also, I’m a big fan of the flavor profiles that Maria uses in her recipes – they’re creative and exciting and slightly exotic without being too difficult or “out there.” I think it’s telling that she can write a great vegetarian cookbook, and then turn around and write a book where the first 8 chapters are all about meat and fish. As icing on the cake, the design of this book is a fun mix of drawings and photos, and the lovely pictures are straightforward, uncluttered, and richly colored, truly showing off the brilliant recipes.

The Food: The first recipe we made from this book was the Duck, Pineapple, and Coconut Curry. I’ve experimented quite a bit with homemade curry recipes, and it’s really difficult to achieve the depth and balance of flavors that most Thai/Indian/Vietnamese restaurants do. This recipe, which uses a fresh, homemade curry paste made from Thai chilies, lemongrass, ginger, and whole spices, is a really good one. The spiciness of the curry paste, richness of the coconut milk and the duck, and sweet acidity of the pineapple play really well off each other, resulting in a thick and balanced curry that will make you proud of your new-found international cooking skills. Maria offers two shortcuts here – buying pre-cooked Chinese style duck, and using homemade curry paste. I think the pre-cooked duck is a good idea if you’re short on time, but definitely make the curry paste yourself. It’s worth it. Scroll down for the recipe.

Recipe Shortlist: Italian Sausage, Red Wine, Chestnut, and Cabbage Risotto; Moroccan Lentils with Salmon and Avocado Cream; Butternut Squash Falafel; Carrot, Dill, Almond, and Feta Baklava; Green Olive Gnocchi; Bircher Muesli with Grated Apple; Pear Beignets with Rosemary Sugar and Creme Anglaise

Vedge

The Book: Vedge is the new cookbook from the chefs of the vegan Philadelphia restaurant of the same name. Like the restaurant, the book is full of creative and elegant vegan recipes, but the chefs urge you to think of it as “vegetable cooking,” making the recipes about the food, instead of the diet or ethics. There are a range of cuisines and flavors represented, many dishes clearly having been inspired by their travels, and I really like the little themed menus that pop-up throughout the book. Although I’m not a vegetarian or a vegan, I did find it a little bit disappointing that so many of the recipes called for vegan dairy substitutes – vegan mayo, vegan sour cream, vegan butter, etc. I would just make these recipes with the real versions, but there must be other non-dairy ways to add richness to recipes. It’s also worth pointing out that a handful of novel, sophisticated, and intriguing cocktail recipes – like the “Elder Sage” martini and the “Sherry Temple” – are included in the book. I’m guessing that vegans and vegetarians will find this book truly inspiring – and all the rest of us will find ourselves with an exciting new repertoire of healthy vegetable side dishes.

The Food: Trevor and I used this book to cook dinner for his dad and his dad’s wife a few weeks ago. They are both vegetarians, and are moving to a mostly vegan, mostly gluten-free diet as part of a cross-fit challenge as well, so this book was a bit of a blessing in terms of finding recipes that would still be delicious and interesting but would satisfy their dietary requirements. For dinner, we made Salt-Roasted Golden Beets with Dill, Avocado, and Capers (a visual play on cured salmon), and “BLTs,” with the last of our beautiful heirloom tomatoes from the garden, and crispy fried mushrooms in place of the bacon. Both dishes went over really well, and we liked the beets so much that we made them again at home to share here. There’s a ton of flavor and texture in this recipe, and while I suppose it’s possible that I mostly like it because it has mayo, avocado, and capers in it (three very craveable foods in my book), I think that all of the elements go really well together. The bright, contrasting colors also make it a very pretty appetizer. Scroll down for the recipe.

Recipe Shortlist: Saffron Cauliflower Soup with Persillade; Squash Empanadas with Green Romesco; Portobello and Celeria Shepherd’s Pie with Truffle; Parsnip and Chestnut Bisque with Mulled Wine Onion Confit

Duck, Pineapple, and Coconut Curry

Recipe from Full of Flavor. Serves 6.

For the curry paste:

• 1 TBS whole coriander
• 1 tsp whole cumin
• 4 red bird’s eye (Thai) chilies
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 1/4 in. piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 sticks lemongrass, tough outer leaves removed and interior finely sliced
• 2 lime leaves, finely chopped
• 6 cilantro roots, finely chopped, or 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 tsp cardamom pods
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp whole green peppercorns, or freshly ground pepper

1. Add the coriander and the cumin to a dry frying pan and toast over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant, shaking the pan to prevent them from burning.
2. Add the toasted seeds and the next 10 ingredients (chilies through green peppercorns) to a food processor and blend into a smooth paste. Set aside.

For the curry:

• 4 duck breasts (about 2 lbs.), fat lightly scored
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 cans (14 oz. each) of unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 whole lime leaves
• 2 TBS palm sugar or brown sugar
• 1 lb. 2 oz fresh pineapple, diced
• 2 TBS fish sauce
• leaves from 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1 red chili, thinly sliced
• handful of Thai basil leaves
• 1 or 2 limes, cut into quarters

1. Season the duck with the salt and pepper. Heat a large saute pan (that has a lid) over medium heat and add the duck to the pan, fat side down. Sear on high heat until browned all over. Pour off extra fat and set duck aside.
2. Scoop the coconut cream off the top of the cans and add to the pan along with the curry paste. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until fragrant, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Add the rest of the coconut milk plus 1 cup of water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the seared duck. Cover and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes or until the duck is tender. Uncover and add the lime leaves, palm sugar, and pineapple. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Skim the fat from the dish and discard, and finish the curry with the fish sauce and cilantro. Remove the duck breasts from the curry and slice them, then return to the sauce. Serve over rice, with the sliced chilies, basil leaves, and lime quarters.

Salt-Roasted Golden Beets with Dill, Avocado, Capers, and Red Onion

Recipe from Vedge. Serves 4 to 6.

• 2 c. coarse kosher salt
• 5 lbs. golden beets (no greens)
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS sherry vinegar
• 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1 1/2 c. peeled, seeded, chopped cucumber
• 3/4 c. vegan mayo
• 1/2 c. loosely packed dill fronds
• 1 TBS Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and diced
• 1/4 c. capers, drained
• 1/4 c. finely diced red onions

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Place the kosher salt in an even, thick layer on a large baking sheet. Arrange the beets in a single layer on the salt. Roast until fork-tender, about 2 hours. The skins will look very dark, almost burnt. Let the beets cool until you can comfortably handle them, then peel the beets. Slice the peeled beets as thinly as you can. Toss the beet slices in a large bowl with the olive oil, sherry vinegar, and 1 tsp of the black pepper. Let marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and up to 24 hours.
2. Place the cucumber, mayo, dill, mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, and the remaining 1 tsp of black pepper in a food processor. Pulse into a smooth sauce, then set aside.
3. Fan the sliced, marinated beets out on a large platter. Garnish with the avocado, capers, and diced red onion, and a spoonful of the cucumber sauce.

Disclaimer: I received review copies of Vedge from The Experiment and Full of Flavor from Kyle Books free of charge, but was not otherwise compensated for writing this review.

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The Book: Wild Rosemary & Lemon Cake is a new Italian cookbook that explores recipes from the Amalfi Coast, that beautiful strip of sparkling blue water and dramatic rocky coastline that brings thousands of people to Southern Italy each year. The authors, Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, are the owners of several Italian restaurants and a cooking school in England, and have created a beautiful book to document their knowledge of the food of Southern Italy. I love the clean, bright design, the bold typefaces, and the inviting travel photos, not to mention the delicious snaps of pizzas, pastas, and seafood. The book is very cohesive and does a great job capturing the warmth and light of Southern Italy, giving it a strong sense of place – it’s a pleasure to flip through. The recipes are heavy on tomatoes, anchovies, and other seafood, and I was pleased to find several recipes that were completely new to me (I own a lot of Italian cookbooks). I do have to note – one of the recipes we tried never listed an oven temperature, just a baking time. We defaulted to 350°F, and it came out fine, but that’s the kind of omission that could throw a new cook for a serious loop, and disappointing to find in an otherwise great cookbook.

The Food: So far, I’ve made two recipes from Wild Rosemary & Lemon Cake – the day I received it, we made “Enza’s Aubergines,” a roast of anchovy-topped eggplants served with cherry tomato sauce. Having just harvested a bunch of eggplant, tomatoes, and garlic, the recipe caught my eye and we immediately gave it a try. It was a good eggplant recipe, and one I could see myself repeating when we have an abundance of eggplant, but the flavors were nothing revolutionary. For this post, we made Ravello-Style Stuffed Crespelle – olive oil crepes, stuffed with a mix of sausage, ham, and three kinds of cheese, rolled up, stuck in a pan, and baked. It’s like a luxurious take on lasagna, and everything you want Italian comfort food to taste like – meat, cheese, and pasta. We served them plain, but I think they would also be great with a very smooth, classic tomato sauce. Given the ingredient list, it’s no surprise that these were delicious, but I liked that the concept was new to me, and I would definitely make these to impress company. Also, we’ve tried a lot of crepe recipes and this was a great one – the crepes were tender and thin without tearing, and they crisped up nicely. Scroll down for the recipe.

Recipe Shortlist: Anchovy-Pesto Stuffed Peppers; Potato Croquettes with Smoked Cheese; Borlotti Bean and Pasta Soup; Smoked Cheese and Prosecco Risotto; Homemade Fusili; “Rabbit from Ischia”; Lemon Domes filled with Lemon Cream; “Sunset in Amalfi” Sundae

Le Petit Paris: French Finger Food

The Book: Le Petit Paris is a cute little book containing a collection of 40 classic French recipes that have been downsized to finger food treats, perfect for your next cocktail party. I love the book’s small format and the pretty color photos that accompany almost every recipe – and at only $14 on Amazon, I kind of think it would make a fun hostess gift. Since the recipes included really are classics (think fondue, French onion soup, crepes, and madeleines), French cooking aficionados won’t find much new here besides a few interesting twists (like the foie gras burgers), but newer cooks trying to replicate their favorite flavors from a trip to Paris will be thrilled. It would also be the perfect book for putting together a French-themed dinner or cocktail party – most of the recipes seem simple to put together yet highly craveable, making for a high result to effort ratio when you want to entertain a group.

The Food: I had initially planned to make the chocolate eclairs, but I was thrown off by the need to purchase fondant, so I moved to the eclair’s choux pastry cousin – profiteroles. Unfortunately, we struggled a little bit to get this recipe to work – the batter definitely needed a rest in the fridge to firm up before it would pipe correctly, and the chocolate sauce had a tendency to break. We eventually got both parts to look/taste pretty good, and the final product was super yummy, but this made me a little nervous about the rest of the book. Of course, French pastry is challenging in general, so perhaps it was just user error on our part. Scroll down for the recipe.

Recipe Shortlist: Mini Croque Monsieurs; Foie Gras Burgers; Pissaladiere Tartlets; Creme Brulée Teaspoons; Champagne Granita with Strawberries

Recipes

Ravello-Style Stuffed Crepes

Recipe from Wild Rosemary &  Lemon Cake by Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi. Serves 6-10.

• 6 eggs, divided
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 c. whole milk
• neutral oil (such as canola or sunflower), for frying
• 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 14 oz. Italian sausage
• 1/3 c. white wine
• 14 oz. ricotta
• 3 1/2 oz. cooked ham, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 1/2 oz. grated Parmesan (about 3/4 cup)
• 7 oz. smoked mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• black pepper to taste

1. Make the crepes: whisk together 4 of the eggs and the flour, then gradually whisk in 2 TBS of the olive oil, the salt, and the whole milk. Beat vigorously to make a very smooth batter. Heat a little canola oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, spoon about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan. Swirl the pan to spread the batter evenly around the bottom, cook for about 1 minute, until edges of crepe are beginning to curl and bottom is golden brown, then flip and cook on the other side. Transfer to a plate and continue with the rest of the batter.
2. Make the filling: heat the remaining 2 TBS olive oil over medium heat in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the chopped onion and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Remove the meat from the sausages by squeezing out of the casing into the pan, chopping up with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes, then pour in the wine and let reduce for 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and spread the meat on a large baking sheet or plate to let cool. Once cool, transfer to a bowl and stir in the remaining 2 eggs, the ricotta, cubed ham, grated parmesan, and cubed mozzarella. Season to taste with black pepper.
3. Assemble and bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F and generously butter a 9×13 baking dish. Spoon about 1/3 cup of filling into each crepe, then roll up and cut in half. Fold the non-cut side of the crepe loosely over the bottom, then place the crepe halves snuggly in the pan with the cut-side facing up. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crisp on top. Serve warm.

Ice Cream Profiteroles

Recipe from Le Petit Paris by Nathalie Benezet, Hardie Grant 2013. Makes about 20.

For the choux pastry:

• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. butter, cubed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/4 c. plain flour
• 5 eggs, beaten together

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
2. Place 1/2 cup of water in a large saucepan. Add the milk, butter, salt, and sugar, and heat over low heat until the water just begins to boil and the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, beating hard with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Return to medium-low heat and cook, stirring strongly the whole time, until the dough begins to thicken and dry, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add the beaten eggs to the dough in four additions, beating well after each addition. Continue stirring until all eggs have been incorporated and the dough is completely smooth.
4. Spoon the dough into a piping bag with a 1/2 inch nozzle. Pipe 1-inch rounds of dough onto the baking sheets, leaving about an inch in between the rounds. If dough seems to thin, let firm up in the fridge for 30 minutes. Bake the profiteroles for 10-15 minutes, until golden and firm. Remove from the oven and pierce the bottom of each with a wooden skewer. Cool on a wire rack with the holes facing upwards. Once cool, cut the profiteroles in half lengthwise with a serrated knife

For the chocolate sauce and assembly:

• 5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 TBS butter
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1/2 c. heavy cream

1. Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil. Place a heatproof bowl over the top of it, and add the chocolate, butter, sugar, and heavy cream to the bowl. Heat until chocolate has melted and sugar has dissolved, stirring frequently. Once melted, remove from heat. If sauce is broken (the butter seems to have separated) whisk vigorously to help it come together.
2. Place a small spoonful of ice cream inside each profiterole, then drizzle with the warm chocolate sauce. Serve immediately.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of both these cookbooks from Hardie Grant Books free of charge, but was not otherwise compensated for writing this review.

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I’m teasing you a little bit with this headline: you don’t get recipes for all three home brews in this post, only the soda. For the other two, you’re going to have to go out and get a copy of Emma Christensen’s True Brews. And it’s not because I don’t want to share, I do. It’s just that I couldn’t make the daunting process of brewing your own beverages at home seem nearly as clear and easy as Emma does, so I want to leave most of the explaining to the expert. Because that’s exactly what Emma is, and True Brews is a fantastic (and fun) resource for anyone looking to get their hands dirty with fermenting their own soda, kombucha, kefir, cider, beer, mead, sake, or fruit wine. Certainly, you could find much larger tomes dedicated solely to the science behind brewing any one of these beverages, but for someone who just wants an easy introduction or who likes to dabble, True Brews is the perfect starting point.

This review has been a long-time in the making. For three months there have been buckets of brews bubbling away in our new house, turning rice into sake, blackberries into blackberry wine, and homegrown watermelon into fizzy soda. Now that all three recipes are finished, it’s time to have some friends over for a tasting party – that is, before we get started on our next project! (Cranberry mead, if you’re curious).  Like most DIY food projects – cheese-making, charcuterie, bread-baking, canning – home-brewing takes time, practice, patience and a small investment in the necessary equipment. I have to say, so far, brewing is a bit more rewarding than the other projects we’ve tried – it’s less labor-intensive and the results are faster and more consistent. Plus, drinking a glass of mead that’s a little too dry is a lot more enjoyable than trying to eat a piece of cheese that didn’t cure properly.

True Brews both clearly covers the basics for all kinds of brewing, and provides a number of appealing recipes to get you started. I’m really impressed by how not-daunting this book makes the whole process. Any questions we’ve had have been explicitly answered, and all three of our recipes worked out, even though Trevor wanted to start with the “advanced” sake recipe, which requires feeding the sake a little specially prepared rice every few days for almost two weeks. I started more simply, with the watermelon-mint soda, which was a snap to make – 24 hours after cutting up the watermelon, I was sipping a super fizzy, refreshing, slightly sweet soda. I can’t wait to make a few more varieties; it’s really the best soda I’ve ever tried. And the blackberry wine was enjoyable too, in a completely different way – it’s sort of thin and has a bit more tang than most wines, but with a pleasant aroma of ripe berries and a uniqueness that makes you want to finish the glass. Not to mention, it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous color, and completely translucent. I’m not really a sake drinker, but the sake is OK too – it’s breadier than sake is supposed to be, but a chilled glass is still good, if not craveable. Because the first three recipes were successful, I’m eager to try more recipes – besides the cranberry mead, I have my eye on the Sweet Spiced Apple Cider, the Jamaican Ginger Beer, and the Apricot Wheat Ale. I feel like my drinking choices just got a whole lot more awesome.

The bottom line: True Brews is an excellent primer on fermenting your own home-brews, both alcoholic (cider, beer, mead, sake, wine) and kid-friendly (soda, kombucha, and kefir). Emma covers the basics clearly and succinctly, making home-brewing accessible, appealing, and fun. The recipes are diverse and turn out impressively, and the enticing photography and clean design make this book the complete package. This may be a little light on new and detailed information for a seasoned brewer, but for someone just starting out, it’s perfect.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of True Brews from Ten Speed Press, but was not otherwise compensated for writing this review. All opinions are my own, as always.

Watermelon-Mint Soda

Recipe from True Brews. Makes 2 liters.

• 4 pounds seeded, cubed watermelon (from a 6 pound watermelon)
• 1/2 c. packed fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 c. freshly squeezed lime juice (from 4-5 limes)
• 1 cup water, plus more to fill the bottle
• 9 TBS white sugar, plus more to taste if needed
• pinch of salt
• 1/8 tsp dry champagne yeast (purchase at your local home-brew store)

1. To make soda you will need a clean, 2-liter plastic soda bottle, a blender, a fine-mesh strainer, and a funnel. Make sure all of your equipment is clean before you start.
2. Combine the watermelon, mint, and lime juice in a large bowl and set aside. Place 1 cup of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the sugar and a pinch of salt, and stir to dissolve. Pour the hot syrup over the watermelon, stir briefly to coat all fruit in the syrup, and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. In batches, blend the watermelon mixture into a smooth puree, then strain the puree through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl, stirring the puree to allow as much juice as possible to run into the bowl without pushing any of the solids through the strainer. If you want a very smooth soda, line your strainer with a piece of cheesecloth.
4. Pour the juice into the the clean 2-liter soda bottle. Add water to almost fill the bottle, leaving around 1 inch of headspace at the top. Taste, and add a little more sugar or lime juice if desired.
5. Add the yeast to the bottle. Screw on the cap and shake the bottle to dissolve and distribute the yeast. Let the bottle sit at room temperature out of direct sunlight for 12 to 48 hours – the soda will ferment more quickly in a warmer room. When the bottle feels rock solid, with very little give, the soda is ready. Place it in the fridge overnight or for up to two weeks. Open slowly over a sink to release the pressure (sodas can easily overcarbonate). You can transfer to pretty glass bottles to serve the soda, but always store it in the plastic bottle to prevent explosions.

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I can’t believe it’s been so long since I wrote a review! This summer is turning out to be extremely busy, mostly in a good way, but the times I find myself in the kitchen recently have been few and far between. Despite that, I have had some wonderful new cookbooks lying around, waiting for me to pause long enough to give them a good read. On the top of the pile is Le Pain Quotidien, the new book from the originally Belgian, now global restaurant chain of the same name.

I have never been to a Le Pain Quotidien, although there are a handful of locations scattered along the East Coast and in California. If the recipes included in this cookbook are any indication, I think I would love the restaurant. It’s the kind of food I’d like to serve at a cafe of my own someday – interesting, produce-forward soups and sandwiches, and baked goods with a punch of flavor from salty cheeses, olives, and cured meats. For the most part, it’s rustic, country-style food, without fancy plating or instructions, but the combinations – such as carrots with olives, soba noodles with blood orange, and coffee with capers – are novel and bright. Similar to Vegetarian Everyday, you’ll find healthy choices for every type of eater. Raw, paleo, gluten-free, and vegan palettes will all find something to interest them here. Then again, if you’re like me, you’ll also appreciate the occasional meaty, bready, cheese-smothered dish that’s included.

Given the overall amount of cooking I’ve been doing, you could actually say that I have been cooking a fair bit from this book. This delicious curried leek and zucchini soup was adapted from it, and I also tried my hand at a homemade five grain fruit bread, which was tasty but a little bit tricky and didn’t come out quite right, as is often the case with homemade bread. This weekend, I made the hearty Liegeoise Salad you see here, as well as a spicy, summery tartine that I’ll share on Monday. I’m looking forward to continuing to work on the bread baking, but I’m also intrigued by the recipes for Sausage with Lentils, Cabbage, and Chestnuts; Onion Broth with Thyme and Feta, and Speculoos Tiramisu. I’m guessing that one or more of those dishes will show up on my dinner table before too long.

I really enjoyed the Liegeoise salad I made for today’s post – it was somehow everything I needed in a meal after a hectic week. It was simple, but still flavorful, and fresh, but still filling. I cleaned my bowl the minute I put the camera down. It’s also a little nifty because you make the vinaigrette right in the pan in which you fry the bacon – no messy olive oil and vinegar jar shaking! That’s my kind of salad. As an aside, I loved that I could get almost everything I needed for this at the farmer’s market – tiny new potatoes, long skinny green beans, still crisp lettuce, even the eggs and the bacon could have been purchased at the market (although those two I already had at home). Only the endives (and the onion, I suppose) were nowhere to be found, and those are really hard to grow anyway. But knowing that almost everything had just been picked made the meal feel truly seasonal.

The bottom line: Le Pain Quotidien is a book full of simple but lovely food. The soups, salads, breads, and desserts included are rustic but feature intriguing flavor combinations. For the most part, the recipes are very healthful and full of fresh produce, with many choices for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and even raw diets. Recommended to anyone looking for a few fresh, healthy ideas for lunchtime fare.

Liegeoise Salad

Recipe adapted slightly from Le Pain Quotidien. Serves 4.

• 1 lb small new potatoes, halved (or quartered, if large)
• 1 lb. green beans
• 6 slices smoked bacon
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 TBS vinegar
•  black pepper
• salt
• 2 heads of Belgian endive
• 2 c. mache (lamb’s lettuce) or butter lettuce pieces
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes, and cook until just tender, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon, drain briefly, and transfer to a bowl. Add the green beans to the water and blanch for 2 minutes, then drain and add the green beans to the bowl with the potatoes.
2. Cook the bacon over medium-low heat, flipping once, until crispy on both sides. Remove the bacon and place on a paper-towel lined plate. Let cool, then roughly chop.
3. Turn down the heat on the bacon pan to low, and let the grease cool for 2 minutes. Then, carefully add the diced onion and return the heat to medium-low. Cook the onion, stirring frequently, until translucent and softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the vinegar to the pan and deglaze, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes and green beans to the pan and stir to coat the veggies with the vinegar mixture. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
4. Trim the ends off the Belgian endive and discard the ends. Discard the outer leaves. Separate the inner leaves and place, cup-side up, on a platter. Spread lettuce pieces on top of the endive. Top with the potato and green bean mixture, then crumble the egg and the chopped bacon on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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The blogger cookbook I’ve most looked forward to this spring is easily Vegetarian Everyday, the first book from David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl, the talented couple behind the blog Green Kitchen Stories. Green Kitchen Stories is a beautiful space. I love their photographic aesthetic – brightly saturated food on dusky blue-gray backgrounds, just a little bit of organized mess in each photo. And their recipes? Really healthy. Not healthy like when I say it – I usually mean something along the lines of “I didn’t put any cheese on this! It’s so healthy!” No, their recipes are packed with things that are good for you – and only things that are good for you. Yet somehow, they still manage to read as modern, flavorful and appealing, not boring, earthy-crunchy and flavorless.

I was so happy to see that both their high-quality recipes and beautiful photography are still present in their book. Add to this the clean, open layout and the thick, matte paper and it really is a beautiful book. It reminds me a lot of Heidi Swanson’s two recent books – Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Everyday. They have similar aesthetics and employ similar cooking styles and flavor combinations. Since Heidi’s books were extremely popular, I think this probably bodes well for Vegetarian Everyday.

The recipes included in this book are suitable for people of all dietary persuasions (well, I suppose not for ravenous carnivores) – a surprising number of them are both vegan and gluten-free, and they’re clearly marked as such with little “V” and “GF” buttons. I usually shy away from vegan and gluten-free recipes because, well, I love cheese and bread, but many of those included here are quite appealing to me – the Roasted Tomato and Chickpea Soup, the Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafels, and the Chocolate and Blackberry Milkshake, all vegan and gluten-free, will all be finding their way onto my table in the near future. For someone just transitioning to a healthier eating routine – whether that’s vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free – this book would be a good one to pick up. Not only are the recipes easy to make, and for the most part pretty quick, the first 30 pages of the book is full of useful information on building a whole foods pantry and basic cooking techinques – cooking fresh beans, sprouting grains, making homemade nut butters, etc.

So far I have tried two recipes from this book – the Flour-Free Banana and Coconut Pancakes, and the Quinoa and Cauliflower Cakes with Ramps. The pancakes, I’ll admit, did not completely meet my definition of pancakes. I was really excited about making them, thinking how great it would be to be able to eat pancakes every day, guilt free! But… I was expecting to eat pancakes, and these, while tasty and filling and quick to make on a work morning, were not quite pancakes. Close, but the texture wasn’t there for me. Still, I really like the idea, and I have a few thoughts for how I might tinker with them to satisfy my own tastes. The quinoa/cauliflower/ramp/feta cakes however, were super delicious. I loved feeling like I was eating something decadent but knowing that I was getting lots of veggies and proteins in. And again, they were really filling.

The bottom line: Vegetarian Everyday, from the talented couple behind the blog Green Kitchen Stories, is a beautiful book full of truly healthy recipes. Many of the recipes are not only vegetarian, but also gluten free and vegan, yet they are still appealing and flavorful. This book would be an excellent choice for someone just transitioning to a healthier lifestyle, as the recipes are simple and easy to make, and the beginning of the book provides a good introduction to wholesome pantry items and basic vegetarian/vegan cooking methods.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Vegetarian Everyday free of charge from Rizzoli, but I was not otherwise compensated and all opinions are my own.

Flour-Free Banana and Coconut Pancakes

Recipe from Vegetarian Everyday. Serves 3-4.

• 3 ripe bananas
• 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 c. shredded dried coconut, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 c. fresh blueberries, plus extra for serving
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp coconut oil, for frying [butter is fine too]
• 2 TBS maple syrup or plain yogurt, for topping [I used leftover lilac-blackberry syrup]

1. Mash the bananas with a fork in a medium sized bowl. Add the eggs and coconut and stir to blend evenly. Stir in the blueberries and cinnamon, and set aside.
2. Heat the coconut oil or butter in a large skillet or on a griddle over medium heat. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake into the hot pan. The batter is fairly thin, so using an actual tablespoon to do these helps keep it from spreading too much. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, flipping carefully (they’re a little fragile). Serve hot with extra blueberries and maple syrup.

Quinoa & Cauliflower Cakes with Ramps

Recipe from Vegetarian Everyday. Makes 12 cakes.

• 1 c. white quinoa
• 1 2/3 c. cauliflower florets, from one medium head of cauliflower
• 6-8 ramps, cleaned and coarsely chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
• 3/4 c. rolled oats
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 TBS Ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil for frying

1. Combine 2 1/4 c. water, the quinoa, and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then cook for 15-20 minutes, until quinoa tails have unfurled. Drain and set aside.
2. Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor until it has a rice-like texture. Scrape into a bowl and add the cooked quinoa, ramps, eggs, feta, oats, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir until evenly combined. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour, to firm the mixture.
3. Form the mixture into small patties with your hands, squeezing out any excess liquid. Heat the Ghee or oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, then add the patties a few at a time and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Serve warm or cold.

The post Book Club: Vegetarian Everyday // Quinoa, Cauliflower & Ramp Cakes, Flour-Free Banana & Coconut Pancakes appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

When I agreed to review Cooking with Flowers, I was a little bit worried that the book wouldn’t quite be my speed. While I appreciated the unique concept, I was having a tough time picturing how I might incorporate flowers into my diet – where was I going to find food-safe flowers? Would it be expensive to source them? Would the recipes all be fussy and girly?

Turns out that I needn’t have worried, as the recipes and techniques in Cooking with Flowers are surprisingly inviting. Organized by flower type, there were only a handful of recipes where I struggled to imagine an easily accessible source. Marigolds are popular and easy to grow, dandelions grow like crazy in pretty much every backyard I’ve ever seen, our house in Maine has an abundance of daylilies each summer, and squash blossoms are a byproduct of something I already grow. Other commonly found flowers used in the book include geraniums, herb flowers, lilacs, nasturtiums, pansies, roses, sunflowers, tulips, and violets. The only flowers included in these recipes that would be challenging for me to get access to are elderflowers, hibiscus, dianthus, and orchids, and even those aren’t too much of a stretch. Learning that so many of these common flowers are edible was exciting in and of itself – think of all the expanded possibilities they could bring to the kitchen!

With my worries assuaged, I dove into the book. It’s a decidedly feminine book, with pastel colors and curlicue font, and in general, the recipes tend toward the sweet. Let’s just say that I probably wouldn’t give a copy to my dad (but I did give one to my mom for Mother’s Day!). While recipes for cakes, cookies, and jellies were somewhat expected, some of the recipes really surprised me – Daylily Curry, Rosemary-Flower Margaritas, Hibiscus Chili Caramel, and Thai Orchid and Beef Salad stick out as creative and exciting uses of ingredients often thought of as sweet. I wish there had been even more of these out-of-the-box savory recipes, but the simpler sweets – Hibiscus Cream Pie, Elderflower Lemon Cakelets, Pistachio Rose Shortbread, etc. – are still lovely.

I should point out two other things about the book. One, that some of the recipes are fairly time consuming. The time that it will take to find, clean, and process the blossoms of your flowers will vary with flower size, but it will almost always take longer than something like chopping an onion (especially since you frequently need a pretty large volume of flower blossoms). Two, a lot of the recipes rely on base flower recipes for their floral flavor – flower syrups, sugars, jams, and creams, the recipes for which are given in the back of the book, frequently need to be prepared before the main recipe. This is good and bad. Good, in that it allows you to preserve blossoms longer-term and think up other creative uses for them. Bad, in that it sometimes adds “hidden” time to the overall recipe time.

The fact that you can cook with lilacs was totally irresistible to me. Lilacs are one of my  favorite flowers, and their heady scent carries many fond memories of warm spring days. Since lilacs pass quickly, never staying open more than a week, being able to preserve their scent in sugars and sauces felt like a wonderful trick, and I sort of went all out with the lilac recipes to take advantage of this. A few hours of cleaning lilac blossoms later, I have lilac pavlovas, lilac-blackberry syrup, lilac sugar, candied lilacs, and dried lilacs, all ready to be used now or later in sweetly scented treats. The recipe I’m sharing here marries almost all of these components – lilac sugar is used to make distinctly floral pavlovas (with a really great, chewy interior texture), which are then topped with whipped cream, fresh blackberries, candied lilacs, and the lilac-blackberry syrup. In the book, they serve the pavlovas with the syrup and a homemade lime sorbet, which also sounds delicious, but I chose to go the classic berries and cream route. All together the dessert was elegant, light, and uniquely flavored – a perfect and effervescent ending to a spring dinner.

The bottom line: Cooking with Flowers introduced me to a completely new concept in a very accessible way. Many of the flowers used are easy to find in my backyard or around my neighborhood, and knowing their edibility is a revelation in itself. Generally the recipes tend toward the sweet, but the savory preparations are where the author’s creativity really shines through. Recommended for adventurous cooks and avid gardeners.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Cooking with Flowers free of charge from Quirk Books. As usual, I was not otherwise compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.

Lilac and Blackberry Pavlovas

Adapted from Cooking with Flowers. Serves 4-6.

Note: How to select and clean lilacs (adapted from Cooking with Flowers) – first, only use flowers that have been grown organically. Do not use flowers that have been sprayed or that are growing by the side of the road, as they may have absorbed toxins. Cut lilac bunches from a bush to be used. Wash each bunch, being careful that any bugs are rinsed off. Further separate the flowers into smaller clusters on a thin stem. Gently pull each flower from it’s sepal (the green part at the base of the flower). The lilac blossom should separate from the light yellow-green interior (see pictures above). One cup of lilacs will contain 40 to 60 individual blossoms. A single lilac bunch will likely yield between 1/2 and 1 cup of blossoms.

For the lilac-blackberry syrup:

• 2 c. water
• 3 c. lilac blossoms (see headnote)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 8-10 fresh blackberries

1. Bring water to a boil. Place blossoms in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let stand for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
2. Add the flowers, flower water, sugar, and blackberries to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 6-8 minutes, stirring and squishing blackberries with the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and strain into a glass container. Discard the solids.

For the lilac pavlovas:

• 1/2 c. lilac blossoms (see headnote)
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 TBS cornstarch
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 210°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Place the lilac blossoms and the sugar in a food processor and blend until pulverized. Mix 2 TBS of the lilac sugar with the cornstarch in a small bowl. Set the rest aside.
3. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites on high until foamy. Sprinkle with the cream of tartar, then beat continually on high, gradually adding 1 cup of the remaining lilac sugar as you go. (You may have leftover lilac sugar – store it in a glass jar with a lid). Beat until the egg whites are stiff, shiny, and hold firm peaks.
4. Fold cornstarch mixture and lemon juice into the whipped egg whites. Use a large spoon to dollop the egg whites into 3-inch rounds on the lined baking sheet, then use the back of the spoon to scoop out a small indentation in each pavlova. Bake for 1 hour, or until they feel dry to the touch. Turn off the oven and leave the pavlovas in there for another hour with the door closed.

To serve:

• 12 small lilac pavlovas
• 2 c. of freshly whipped sweetened whipped cream
• 6-8 blackberries per person
• 1 c. lilac-blackberry syrup
• candied lilacs (optional)

1. Place 2 pavlovas on each plate. Top each with a dollop of whipped cream and a few blackberries. Drizzle with lilac-blackberry syrup and top with candied lilacs.

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At the end of April, Trevor and I are headed to Italy for a ten day vacation. I am beyond excited. It will be my first time abroad since returning from Prague in 2009 (unless you count two whirlwind days in Madrid for work last summer), and I’ve been daydreaming about the trip since we booked the tickets in January. I’ve also been practicing my Italian, drooling over hotels in Rome and Florence, and thinking about what, exactly, I want to eat and drink while I’m there. So the arrival of these two regional Italian cookbooks – Venezia in Cucina: The Flavors of Venice and Sicilia in Cucina: The Flavors of Sicily – could not have been more timely for me.

I have to start off by telling you: the pictures in these books are incredible. Not just pretty, stunning. Many times while reading these books I’ve stopped to linger for several minutes over one image or another – an explosion of red and green paper confetti in front of an ornate church; a man mid-jump off a cliff into a serene ocean, the sky pink and a smoking volcano in the background; an earthenware bowl of spaghetti on a sun-dappled table. These books are full of art, and it’s art that brings another culture to life on the page. Although I received review copies, I would have bought them for the photography inspiration alone.

As for the food, the recipes are authentic and the instructions are simple – oftentimes, there are no ingredient amounts listed for anything that could be considered seasoning. It will simply say “season with lemon, salt, parsley” or “dissolve 3 TBS tomato paste in hot water.” While I could imagine this being a deterrent for an inexperienced cook (how much lemon? how much hot water?), I felt that it added to the over all… Italianness of the books. I like that it gives you the freedom to add flavor as you go and taste for seasoning, and I also like the feeling that that’s how an Italian grandmother might tell you to do it – “you know, add parsley until there is enough parsley. Bene, basta.” The recipes from Venice focus heavily on seafood, with only a few non-fish dishes to be found. You’ll find plenty of pasta – tagiolini pasta with spider crab and cherry tomatoes – antipasti – scallops au gratin with tomato – and mains – baked turbot with summer vegetables. The recipes from Sicily are still influenced by the sea, but there’s more variety. High on my list are the fried cheese balls with chili-honey sauce, lamb stuffed with potatoes and pistachio pesto, and spaghetti with ricotta and fresh pecorino. Both books also have dessert chapters, as well as sections spotlighting local wines and unique regional ingredients.

A final point – I love that everything, from the section intros to the ingredients to the cooking instructions, is in both English and Italian – it totally indulges my inner language-learning nerdiness.

These books are like a travel advertisement in the best way possible. But they are also useful in the kitchen, as a cookbook should be. To test out the two books, I made three recipes for a large and indulgent Saturday lunch/ as food to welcome Trevor back from his week-long business trip. I’m sharing the first two recipes today – spaghetti in a tomato-anchovy sauce with breadcrumbs, from Sicilia in Cucina, and mini Parmesan meatballs, breaded and fried in olive oil to make them extra savory and crunchy, from Venezia in Cucina. Both recipes were simple, tasty, and filling, in a rustic sort of way. I’d make them both again for a quick dinner any night. The third recipe was an apple-custard tart which I could have eaten all of in one sitting – but you’ll have to wait a few days for that recipe.

The bottom line: These two books – Venezia in Cucina and Sicilia in Cucina – are a beautiful glimpse into the food and culture of two specific areas of Italy. I would happily have bought them for the photographs alone, as they depict far more than just beautiful food and create a gorgeous visual tale of life in another place. The recipes are simple, regional, and authentic, although in some cases the lack of specificity in the instructions may be a deterrent to a beginner cook. The fact that these are dual language books in both English and Italian was icing on the cake for me – now on my upcoming trip, I’ll be ordering dinner like a pro. I’d recommend these two books for anyone who daydreams about Italy, foodie or not.

Disclaimer: Ammo Books, the U.S. distributor of these books, sent me free review copies of both Venezia in Cucina and Sicilia in Cucina. I was not otherwise compensated for writing this review, and all opinions are my own.

Spaghetti with Breadcrumbs

Adapted from Sicilia in Cucina. Serves 4-6.

• 1 lb. dried thick spaghetti or bucatini
• 3 TBS olive oil, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 anchovies
• 4 TBS tomato paste
• 1 c. hot water
• 1 c. fresh breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, until just barely al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 1/2 TBS of the olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the garlic and anchovies and saute for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant, breaking up the anchovies with the back of a wooden spoon so they dissolve. Mix the tomato paste with the hot water in a small bowl until they have an even texture, then add to the anchovies and garlic. Let simmer on low, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes.
3. In a separate pan, heat the remaining 1 1/2 TBS of olive oil. Toast the breadcrumbs in the oil until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, then sprinkle with salt to taste.
4. Remove the spaghetti from the pot as soon as it is al dente and drop straight into the simmering sauce. Turn off the heat and toss the spaghetti with the sauce. Add about half the breadcrumbs and stir to coat. Divide the spaghetti between bowls and top each with a handful of the remaining breadcrumbs

Fried Mini Meatballs with Parmesan

Adapted from Venezia in Cucina. Makes 25 1-inch meatballs.

• 1/2 lb of ground pork
• 1/2 lb of ground beef
• 1/2 c. of grated parmesan cheese (about 40g)
• 2 TBS of flour
• 1/4 c. of finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 c. breadcrumbs plus more for frying
• 2 large eggs
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

1. In a large bowl, mix together the pork, beef, cheese, flour, parsley, 1/4 c. of breadcrumbs, and eggs until they form a smooth mixture. Season generously with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cover, and let stand for 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld. If it’s going to be any longer than 1 hour, refrigerate while you wait.
2. Heat 1/2 inch of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Form the beef-pork mixture into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter. Spread a generous amount of breadcrumbs on a plate, and roll the meatballs in the breadcrumbs to coat. Test the temperature of the oil by adding a few breadcrumbs to it – if they sizzle and fry up quickly, the oil is hot enough. Fry the meatballs in batches, using tongs to rotate every few minutes to ensure that they cook on all sides. When they are browned all over, check inside to ensure they have cooked all the way through. If they have, remove to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain. Serve hot, with tomato sauce for dipping.

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