Cookbook Spotlight

Cooking for One, With Pleasure : Cookbook Spotlight

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 25th 2011 @ 11:00AM

Joe Yonan's book, Serve Yourself Courtesy Photo

While reading Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One, the line "Feed your head!" (from the Jefferson Airplane song "Go Ask Alice") kept running through my mind. Maybe it's because in his new cookbook, Washington Post Food and Travel Editor Joe Yonan brings home the point that preparing delicious food is a gift, whether it's for one or for 20. Feeding yourself well, and spending time experimenting with food, is not only good for your taste buds and your health, it pumps up your well-being.

That Joe Yonan has a way with solo adventures in the kitchen has long been evident in his "Cooking for One" column in the Post. And with the more than 100 recipes gathered in Serve Yourself, his talent for creating recipes that range from the rib-sticking (Yucatan-style Slow-Roasted Pork) to the delicate (Turbot with Tomatoes, Walnuts, and Capers Over Couscous) is clear.

There are singles classics -- you know, those dishes you can throw together on the fly but that are still fantastic -- such as tacos and sandwiches. But what tacos, what sandwiches: Korean short-rib tacos, a smoked-trout, green apple, and gouda sandwich. And there's a whole section on pizzas, starting with a no-knead pizza dough and featuring great combinations such as kimchi, ham, and fried egg ("the runny yolk richness," Yonan says, "pulls everything together").

Filed under: Cookbook Spotlight

Italian Food, Jonathan Waxman's Way: Cookbook Spotlight

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by Nanette Maxim, Posted Apr 18th 2011 @ 3:00PM

Photo: Amazon

When chef Jonathan Waxman throws open the glass garage doors at his restaurant Barbuto (in Manhattan's West Village) on a warm spring afternoon on the far side of lunch hour, and you've just eaten a forkful of pillowy gnocchi with spinach and almonds, you'd be inhuman if you didn't turn to your mates and say, "Ah, life is good." Waxman's wood-fired oven is throwing flames, and the silver-haired chef (and former "Top Chef Masters" contestant) might himself be delivering one of his signature roast chickens with salsa verde to another bunch of customers, all of whom seem to be smiling. Barbuto just does that to you.

Jonathan Waxman has always done things his way at Barbuto -- simple, delicious, playful, and very Italian. That he isn't Italian doesn't mean a thing. He cooks like a Roman grandmother, says his business partner Fabrizio Ferri. And in his new cookbook, Italian, My Way, he shows us how to play with the classic dishes he loves (such as linguine with wild mushrooms or pizza with pancetta, tomatoes, burrata, and scallions), and amp up others, spun from a good forage or a good day at the fish market (warm dandelion greens with scrambled eggs and chives; strozzapreti with octopus, red wine, and onions).

Filed under: Chefs, Cookbook Spotlight

Poll: Which Celeb Cookbook Would You Buy?

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by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 12th 2011 @ 2:00PM

Photos: John P Iblis/jpistudios.com; Jason Merritt/Getty Images; Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Three very different celebs have released cookbooks in recent weeks, each one with a unique spin. Rocker Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Healthy: More than 100 Recipes Inspired by the Seasons has a personal narrative and get-fit message, while Eva Longoria's Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends is built around homey recipes the actress has collected over the years. And although Gwyneth Paltrow has taken a bit of teasing for the highbrow tone of her book, My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family and Togetherness, it's clear she loves food and wants to pass on her enthusiasm. Which book suits your style?

Vote for your pick after the jump.

Filed under: Celebrities, Cookbook Spotlight

Cookbook Gift Guide

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by T. Susan Chang, Posted Dec 7th 2010 @ 11:00AM

cookbook gifts Photos: Amazon.com

When it comes to giving a cookbook as a gift, there's no such thing as one size fits all -- sometimes you want a cookbook for a serious cook; sometimes you want a sweet-and-simple general-interest cookbook, and sometimes you want a cookbook for someone who doesn't actually cook but likes to read about cooking. We've asked T. Susan Chang -- food writer, cookbook reviewer for KitchenDaily and The Boston Globe, and a frequent contributor to NPR's Kitchen Window series -- to do the sorting for you. Here are her favorite gift-cookbook picks:

Cute little books for anybody:

• Tea and Cookies: Enjoy the Perfect Cup of Tea--with Dozens of Delectable Recipes for Teatime Treats, by Rick Rodgers (William Morrow, $21.99). Cookie cookbooks are a gift that keeps on giving, especially if you happen to be invited over for tea. A smart selection in a delightful package.

• Simply Ming One-Pot Meals: Quick, Healthy & Affordable Recipes, by Ming Tsai (Kyle Books, $29.95). Nobody likes cleaning pots. Keep it to a single one, with Asian-fusion how-tos from the cutest Chinese chef on TV.

Filed under: Books, Reviews, Cookbook Spotlight

When 'General Hospital' Meets General Foods

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by Jason Best, Posted Nov 29th 2010 @ 2:00PM

Photo: SOAP DISHES: The Cookbook

Still rounding out your holiday shopping list? Surely you've got an aunt, grandma or second cousin somewhere who lives for daytime TV, and for whom this would make the perfect (or ironic) gift: Soap Dishes: The Cookbook.

Billed as a collection of favorite recipes from your favorite soap stars, the book features more than 30 dishes from the villains and vixens of such daytime staples as General Hospital, All My Children, Days of Our Lives, Bold and the Beautiful, One Life to Live and The Young and the Restless.

Filed under: Television/Film, Cookbook Spotlight

Cookie Recipes With a Rich History

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by Slashfood Editor, Posted Nov 8th 2010 @ 11:00AM

Before you pull out the same old snowman cookie cutter and butter-cookie recipe this holiday season, give a thought to the cookie as a sign of the times. The food editors at the late great Gourmet magazine did. They baked a lot of cookies in the 68 years the magazine was published (1941-2009). So some tough choices had to be made when former Executive Food Editor Kemp Minifie and her team pored over all those recipes to choose the finest cookie from each year (except maybe for 1962, when only one cookie appeared). What began as a "best of" feature for the Gourmet website has now become The Gourmet Cookie Book, published November 2 (from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). From the rich almond-flavored Cajun Macaroon (1941) that tasted of New Orleans to the very French Christmas bread, Grand Marnier Glazed Pain d'Épices cookies, of December 2009, this is a collection that says as much about what makes a great cookie as it does about cooking that's inspired us for almost seven decades.

Slashfood talked to Kemp Minifie, who created recipes for Gourmet for more than thirty years, about some of her favorite cookies from the magazine's early years.

Slashfood: How did you ever pick just one cookie for each year?

Kemp Minifie: We went through all the issues, and tried to choose the one cookie that would say a lot about the time in which it was made. Take the Honey Refrigerator cookies from 1942. There was a war on, and there was rationing. Sugar was scarce. So we cooked with honey, which also helped the cookies keep well. These cookies go great with a tangy cheese, like goat's-milk or gorgonzola. In 1943, the Scotch Oat Crunchies also worked with our need to stretch ingredients by using oatmeal, which was inexpensive. This English and Irish take on the biscuit is thin and crisp, not too sweet, and it's filled with jam.

Filed under: Recipes, Cookbook Spotlight

'Dulce' - Cookbook Spotlight

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by Maggie Ruggiero, Posted May 21st 2010 @ 2:00PM

dulce Photo: Amazon.com

"Dulce"
By Joseluis Flores with Laura Zimmerman Maye
Photographs by Ben Fink
Rizzoli -- 2010
Buy it on Amazon

The cover photo of "Dulce" features churros with a dish of chocolate sauce alongside. Poised for a nibble, it's food porn at its very finest. But can you judge a book by its cover?

I have a love affair with cookbooks. "Dulce," despite its amazing collection of tempting recipes, stepped out on me. It tested my love and I don't know whether to give it another chance or break it off.

See what we tested and whether it's worth buying after the jump.

Filed under: Books, Cookbook Spotlight

'Forgotten Skills of Cooking' - Cookbook Spotlight

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by Maggie Ruggiero, Posted Apr 30th 2010 @ 2:00PM

forgotten skills of cooking Photo: Amazon.com

"Forgotten Skills of Cooking"
By Darina Allen
Photographs by Peter Cassidy
Kyle Books -- 2010
Buy it on Amazon

Forgotten Skills of Cooking is a genie in a book instead of a bottle. Crack it open and the wisdom of a googleplex of grannies is at your fingertips. Darina Allen is lovingly referred to as the Julia Child of Ireland -- that's high praise, and praise that's rightfully bestowed. Allen is the very best combination of cook and teacher.

Culturally, something has shifted in an unpleasant way: we spend hard-earned money on inferior "quickie" foods, eat poorly in a nutritional sense, and have come to consider meal preparation a chore. It's all about slapping food on the table. Ouch and yuck.

See what we tested and whether it's worth buying after the jump.

Filed under: Books, Cookbook Spotlight

'Ready for Dessert' - Cookbook Spotlight

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by Maggie Ruggiero, Posted Apr 16th 2010 @ 5:00PM

ready for dessert Photo: Amazon.com

Ready for Dessert
By David Lebovitz
Photographs by Maren Caruso
Ten Speed Press -- 2010
Buy it on Amazon

This is the Slinky of cookbooks. I've been paging back and forth, back and forth, mesmerized, spurred on each time I land on a silvery endpaper. It's an enticing, beautiful book with charm and know-how. But this book is not for a coffee table; I'd put it on a pedestal.

See what we tested and whether it's worth buying after the jump.

Filed under: Books, Cookbook Spotlight

'The Brazilian Kitchen' - Cookbook Spotlight

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by Maggie Ruggiero, Posted Apr 8th 2010 @ 5:00PM

the brazilian kitchen Photo: Amazon.com

The Brazilian Kitchen
By Leticia Moreinos Schwartz
Photographs by Ben Fink
Kyle Books -- 2010
Buy it on Amazon

When I'm having that "hmmm, what's for dinner moment," rarely does the word moqueca come to mind. Nor, for that matter, does my super cool iPhone grocery app know the ingredient cupuaçú. Well, If Leticia Moreinos Schwartz has her way, that's about to change. If you've got a hankering for Brazilian food, The Brazilian Kitchen could seriously rock your pantry.

See what we tested and whether it's worth buying after the jump.

Filed under: Books, Cookbook Spotlight