The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food


Ian Knauer - 2012
    In The Farm, Knauer brings his creations to your kitchen. From Cold-Spring-Night Asparagus Soup to Brick Chicken with Corn and Basil Salad, the 150 recipes in this book will help you make the most of your market, garden, or CSA. They are fresh, modern spins on American classics, with ingredients anyone can obtain. Each one is simple, distinctive, and satisfying, getting the best food to the table in the least amount of time. They are both homey and sophisticated. You’ll find recipes that incorporate all parts of the vegetable, like Pasta with Radishes and Blue Cheese, which incorporates the radish leaves as well as the root, and spritely Swiss Chard Salad. You’ll learn how to make great food from simple ingredients you have on hand, like Potato Nachos. You’ll discover recipes for less-familiar produce from your market or your backyard, such as Chicken with Garlic Scape Pesto and Dandelion Green Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing. Many of these recipes have been in Knauer’s family for generations, like Pennsylvania Dutch-Style Green Beans or Cloud Biscuits. You won’t want to miss his expertly tweaked renditions of his mother and grandmother’s desserts: Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie, Blueberry Belle Crunch, and Mary’s Lemon Sponge Pie. Whether you want to learn how to roast a pig, make your own hot sauce, or brew hard cider, The Farm brings artisanal cooking home, even as Knauer’s vivid stories trace a year in the seasons of the farm.

Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza


Ken Forkish - 2012
    For Portland-based baker Ken Forkish, well-made bread is more than just a pleasure—it is a passion that has led him to create some of the best and most critically lauded breads and pizzas in the country. In Flour Water Salt Yeast, Forkish translates his obsessively honed craft into scores of recipes for rustic boules and Neapolitan-style pizzas, all suited for the home baker. Forkish developed and tested all of the recipes in his home oven, and his impeccable formulas and clear instructions result in top-quality artisan breads and pizzas that stand up against those sold in the best bakeries anywhere. Whether you’re a total beginner or a serious baker, Flour Water Salt Yeast has a recipe that suits your skill level and time constraints: Start with a straight dough and have fresh bread ready by supper time, or explore pre-ferments with a bread that uses biga or poolish. If you’re ready to take your baking to the next level, follow Forkish’s step-by-step guide to making a levain starter with only flour and water, and be amazed by the delicious complexity of your naturally leavened bread. Pizza lovers can experiment with a variety of doughs and sauces to create the perfect pie using either a pizza stone or a cast-iron skillet. Flour Water Salt Yeast is more than just a collection of recipes for amazing bread and pizza—it offers a complete baking education, with a thorough yet accessible explanation of the tools and techniques that set artisan bread apart. Featuring a tutorial on baker’s percentages, advice for manipulating ingredients ratios to create custom doughs, tips for adapting bread baking schedules to fit your day-to-day life, and an entire chapter that demystifies the levain-making process, Flour Water Salt Yeast is an indispensable resource for bakers who want to make their daily bread exceptional bread.

Desserts by Pierre Hermé


Pierre Hermé - 1998
    Pierre Herme is acknowledged to be the greatest pastry chef in France & at long last he divulges his recipes for more than one hundred divinely delicious & stunning desserts, many surprisingly easy to prepare.

Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family


Art Smith - 2001
    Throughout history, humans have sat down together at the table to break bread. The simple ritual of the shared meal reunites us with our families and brings balance to our lives. There are many types of families--in using the word family, Art means to include anyone whom we have sought or chosen to be an important part of our lives. Unfortunately, in today's fast-paced world, the symbolic role of the table has been threatened. In many households, family members all eat separately, according to their own schedules, on the run, or in front of the TV. With this important cookbook, Art Smith wants to bring us back to the table--and back to each other. Art provides readers with mouth-watering recipes that represent the very best of home cooking, including Roasted Tomato and Cheddar Cornbread, to-die-for Sweet Potato-Pecan Waffles, hearty Seafood Gumbo, Grilled Shrimp on Arugula with Lemon Vinaigrette, and Spiced Pork Loin with Vidalia Onion Sauce, to name just a few. There is also a rich assortment of vegetable main courses--like Art's fabulous Italian Vegetable Casserole. Traditional dishes include the best-ever Buttermilk Fried Chicken and a Roast Turkey with Pan Gravy that's not just for Thanksgiving! And then there are the celebration cakes, perfect pies, and little sweets. From French Chocolate Almond Pie to Pear and Cranberry Cobbler, from Coconut Cake with Fluffy Icing to Triple-Layer German Chocolate Cake, from Pecan Divinity to Gumdrop Cookies, Back to the Table is filled with delicious treats for any occasion. Art's life's work has involved cooking for families all over the world. These experiences have taught him that families are essentially the same, regardless of international boundaries or cultural differences. We all want the best for each other and want to take care of the ones we love. And what better way is there to care for our loved ones than at the table? Illustrated throughout with stunning photographs of food and of people sharing their tables and their lives, Back to the Table is a book to use daily and to treasure for a lifetime.