Meatless: More Than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes


Martha Stewart - 2013
    You’ll find recipes for classics and new favorites, plus plenty of low-fat, vegan, and gluten-free options, too. More than just a cookbook, Meatless is also a roadmap to embracing a vegetable-based lifestyle. Here are dozens of versatile recipes that can be easily adapted, such as pizza with a variety of toppings, salads made from different whole grains, and pestos with unexpected flavors and ingredients. You’ll also find advice on stocking your pantry with vegetarian essentials (dried beans, pasta, herbs and spices), a collection of basic recipes and techniques (vegetable stock, tomato sauce, polenta), and make-ahead flavor-boosters (caramelized onions, roasted peppers, and quick pickles). Comprehensive and indispensable, Meatless makes it easy to prepare flavor-packed dinners for any day, any occasion. And no one will miss the meat. Selections include: -Small Plates to Mix and Match: Smashed Chickpea, Basil, and Radish Dip with Pita Chips; Roasted Baby Potatoes with Romesco Sauce; Stuffed Marinated Hot Red Chili Peppers; Grilled Polenta with Balsamic Mushrooms-Stovetop Suppers: Frittata with Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Herbs; Spring Vegetable Ragout; Farro Risotto with Wild Mushrooms; Southwestern Hash-Soups, Stews, and Chili: Tomato Soup with Poached Eggs; Bean Chili; White Cheddar Corn Chowder; Chickpea Curry with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes-Casseroles and other Baked Dishes: Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Shells; Italian Baked Eggplant with Seitan; Black-Bean Tortilla Casserole; Apple, Leek, and Squash Gratin-Substantial Salads: Raw Kale Salad with Pomegranate and Toasted Walnuts; Avocado, Beet, and Orange Salad; Arugula, Potato, and Green Bean Salad with Creamy Walnut Dressing; Roasted-Tomato Tabbouleh-Sandwiches, Burgers, and Pizzas: Quinoa Veggie Burgers; Grilled Asparagus and Ricotta Pizza; Chipotle Avocado Sandwich; Portobello and Zucchini Tacos-Pasta and Other Noodles: Fettuccine with Parsley-Walnut Pesto; Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest; Soba and Tofu in Ginger Broth; No-Bake Lasagna with Ricotta and Tomatoes-Simple Side Dishes: Mexican Creamed Corn; Cabbage and Green Apple Slaw; Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Mustard Seeds; Baked Polenta “Fries”

Best Food Writing


Holly Hughes - 2010
    With food writing and blogging on the rise, there's no shortage of treats on the buffet to choose from, including selections from both established food writers and new stars on everything from noted gastronomes to how to fry an egg, from erudite culinary history to delectable memoirs. Evocative, provocative, sensuous, and just plain funny, it's a tasty sampler platter to dip into time and again.Best Food Writing 2010 features top-notch writers like Colman Andrews, Calvin Trillin, Ruth Reichl, Alice Waters, Frank Bruni, and many others.

Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste


Luke Barr - 2013
    In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today’s tastes and culture, the way we eat now. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters—some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In Provence, 1970, he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope—complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance.

Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India


Madhur Jaffrey - 2005
    Madhur (meaning "sweet as honey") Jaffrey grew up in a large family compound where her grandfather often presided over dinners at which forty or more members of his extended family would savor together the wonderfully flavorful dishes that were forever imprinted on Madhur's palate. Climbing mango trees in the orchard, armed with a mixture of salt, pepper, ground chilies, and roasted cumin; picnicking in the Himalayan foothills on meatballs stuffed with raisins and mint and tucked into freshly fried "poori"s; sampling the heady flavors in the lunch boxes of Muslim friends; sneaking tastes of exotic street fare—these are the food memories Madhur Jaffrey draws on as a way of telling her story. Independent, sensitive, and ever curious, as a young girl she loved uncovering her family's many-layered history, and she was deeply affected by their personal trials and by the devastating consequences of Partition, which ripped their world apart. "Climbing the Mango Trees" is both an enormously appealing account of an unusual childhood and a testament to the power of food to evoke memory. And, at the end, this treasure of a book contains a secret ingredient—more than thirty family recipes recovered from Madhur's childhood, which she now shares with us.

Ottolenghi: The Cookbook


Yotam Ottolenghi - 2008
    Now available for the first time in an American edition and updated with US measurements throughout, this debut cookbook from the celebrated, bestselling authors of Jerusalem  and Plenty features 140 recipes culled from the popular Ottolenghi restaurants and inspired by the diverse culinary traditions of the Mediterranean. The recipes reflect the authors’ upbringings in Jerusalem yet also incorporate culinary traditions from California, Italy, and North Africa, among others. Featuring abundant produce and numerous fish and meat dishes, as well as Ottolenghi’s famed cakes and breads, Ottolenghi invites you into a world of inventive flavors and fresh, vibrant cooking.

Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes


Peter Meehan - 2015
      Your friends and lovers will marvel as you show off your culinary worldliness, whipping up meals with fish-sauce-splattered panache and all the soy-soaked, ginger-scalliony goodness you could ever want—all for dinner tonight.

Life From Scratch


Melissa Ford - 2010
    And so is her kitchen.Divorced, heartbroken and living in a lonely New York apartment with a tiny kitchen, Rachel Goldman realizes she doesn't even know how to cook the simplest meal for herself. Can learning to fry an egg help her understand where her life went wrong? She dives into the culinary basics. Then she launches a blog to vent her misery about life, love and her goal of an unburnt casserole. To her amazement, the blog's a hit. She becomes a minor celebrity. Next, a sexy Spaniard enters her life. Will her souffles stop falling? Will she finally forget about the husband she still loves? And how can she explain to her readers that she still hasn't learned how to cook up a happy life from scratch?

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpiece


Joan Reardon - 2010
    But despite that familiarity, how much do we really know of the inner Julia?   Now more than 200 letters exchanged between Julia and Avis DeVoto, her friend and unofficial literary agent memorably introduced in the hit movie Julie & Julia, open the window on Julia’s deepest thoughts and feelings. This riveting correspondence, in print for the first time, chronicles the blossoming of a unique and lifelong friendship between the two women and the turbulent process of Julia’s creation of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, one of the most influential cookbooks ever written.Frank, bawdy, funny, exuberant, and occasionally agonized, these letters show Julia, first as a new bride in Paris, then becoming increasingly worldly and adventuresome as she follows her diplomat husband in his postings to Nice, Germany, and Norway.   With commentary by the noted food historian Joan Reardon, and covering topics as diverse as the lack of good wine in the United States, McCarthyism, and sexual mores, these astonishing letters show America on the verge of political, social, and gastronomic transformation.

Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction


Bobby Flay - 2013
    Now, just as on his Emmy award-winning show of the same name, Bobby turns his attention to true barbecue in Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction. With this book you get the best of both worlds and can decide whether to barbecue Tuscan Rosemary Smoked Whole Chickens or quickly grill some Pimiento Cheese-Bacon Burgers, depending upon your craving.   Here is everything you need for a great backyard bash: pitchers of cold drinks, such as Sparkling Bourbon Lemonade, and platters of starters to share, like Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Cilantro-Mint Chutney, and inventive sides, including New Potato-Corn Chowder Salad.   You’ll also find tons of helpful information on the pros and cons of different cookers, fuels, woods, and grilling gear; how to light and tend a fire; how to tell when your steaks are done; as well as Bobby’s top ten tips for the perfect cookout. With 150 recipes and 100 color photographs, Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction is the new outdoor cooking manifesto for fellow worshippers of smoke, fire, and good times.

Great American Burger Book: How to Make Authentic Regional Hamburgers at Home


George Motz - 2016
    Author and burger expert George Motz covers traditional grilling techniques as well as how to smoke, steam, poach, and deep-fry burgers based on signature recipes from around the country. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific regional burger, from the tortilla burger of New Mexico to the classic New York–style pub burger, and from the fried onion burger of Oklahoma to Hawaii’s Loco Moco. Motz provides expert instruction, tantalizing recipes, and vibrant color photography to help you create unique variations on America’s favorite dish in your own home. Recipes feature regional burgers from: California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.

My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes)


Luisa Weiss - 2012
    The Julie/Julia Project. In the early days of food blogs, these were the pioneers whose warmth and recipes turned their creators’ kitchens into beloved web destinations. Luisa Weiss was working in New York when she decided to cook her way through her massive recipe collection. The Wednesday Chef, the cooking blog she launched to document her adventures, charmed readers around the world. But Luisa never stopped longing to return to her childhood home in Berlin. A food memoir with recipes, My Berlin Kitchen deliciously chronicles how she finally took the plunge and went across the ocean in search of happiness—only to find love waiting where she least expected it.

Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore


Jennifer McLagan - 2005
    In Bones, Jennifer offers a collection of recipes for cooking beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, and game on their bones.Chicken, steak, and fish all taste better when cooked on the bone, but we've sacrificed flavor for speed and convenience, forgetting how bones can enhance the taste, texture, and presentation of good food -- think of rack of lamb, T-bone steak, chicken noodle soup, and baked ham. In her simple, bare-bones style, Jennifer teaches home cooks the secrets to cooking with bones.Each chapter of Bones includes stocks, soups, ribs, legs, and extremities (except for whole fish -- they don't have any). Many of the recipes are simple, with the inherent flavors of the bones doing most of the work. There are traditional, elegant dishes, such as Roasted Marrow Bones with Parsley Salad, Olive-Crusted Lamb Racks, and Crown Roast of Pork, as well as new takes on homestyle favorites, such as Maple Tomato Glazed Ribs, Coconut Chicken Curry, and Halibut Steaks with Orange Cream Sauce. Stunning, full-color photographs of dishes like Rabbit in Saffron Sauce with Spring Vegetables; Grilled Quail with Sage Butter; and Duck Legs with Cumin, Turnips, and Green Olives are sure to inspire.In addition to the recipes, Bones includes a wealth of information on a wide range of bone-related topics, including the differences among cuts of meat, as well as the history and lore of bones.

How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food


Nigella Lawson - 1998
    . . and how she cooks for family and friends. . . . A breakthrough . . . with hundreds of appealing and accessible recipes."–Amanda Hesser, The New York Times"Nigella Lawson serves up irony and sensuality with her comforting recipes . . . the Queen of Come-On Cooking."–Los Angeles Times"A chatty, sometimes cheeky, celebration of home-cooked meals."–USA Today"Nigella Lawson is, whisks down, Britain’s funniest and sexiest food writer, a raconteur who is delicious whether detailing every step on the way towards a heavenly roast chicken and root vegetable couscous or explaining why ‘cooking is not just about joining the dots’."–Richard Story, Vogue magazine

Old-School Comfort Food: The Way I Learned to Cook


Alex Guarnaschelli - 2013
    The daughter of a respected cookbook editor and a Chinese cooking enthusiast, Alex developed a passion for food at a young age, sealing her professional fate. Old-School Comfort Food shares her journey from waist-high taste-tester to trained chef who now adores spending time in the kitchen with her daughter, along with the 100 recipes for how she learned to cook—and the way she still loves to eat.Here are Alex’s secrets to great home cooking, where humble ingredients and familiar preparations combine with excellent technique and care to create memorable meals. Alex brings her recipes to life with reminiscences of everything from stealing tomatoes from her aunt’s garden and her first bite of her mother’s pâté to being one of the few women in the kitchen of a renowned Parisian restaurant and serving celebrity clientele in her own successful New York City establishments. With 75 color photographs and ephemera, Old-School Comfort Food is Alex’s love letter to deliciousness.

Craft of Cooking: Notes and Recipes from a Restaurant Kitchen: A Cookbook


Tom Colicchio - 2003
    So in March 2001 he opened a new restaurant, Craft, that offered diners simple, soulful dishes centered around single ingredients that went on to shake up many people's ideas of what "restaurant food" should be like.Craft of Cooking leads you through Colicchio's thought process in choosing raw materials--like what to look for in fresh fish, or how to choose the perfect mushroom--to show that good food is available to anyone with access to a good supermarket, farm stand, or gourmet grocery. The book also features "Day-in-the-Life-of-Craft" portraits, which offer a fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpse at areas of the restaurant beyond the dining room. These segments allow you to peer into the fast-paced prep kitchen, to witness the high drama of reservations, and to get a taste of the humor and empathy necessary to serve New York's colorful visitors and foodies.Using Tom's straightforward and friendly voice, Craft of Cooking offers recipes suited to any purpose--from a quick family meal to a festive dinner party for twelve.