Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes


Andrea Reusing - 2011
    And her recipes in Cooking in the Moment are so approachable and her stories so insightful that they blaze a path toward great home cooking.” —David Chang“I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying many fine meals at Lantern. Andrea Reusing’s food is always fresh, seasonal, and as local as possible. Her recipes are creative and downright delicious.”—John GrishamFor Andrea Reusing—an award-winning chef, a leader in the sustainable agriculture movement, and a working mother—“cooking in the moment” simply means focusing on one meal at a time. Tender spring broccoli given a smoky char on the grill, a summer berry pudding with cold cream, or a cider-braised pork shoulder served with pan-fried apples on a frosty night—cooking and eating this way allows food in season to become the foundation of a full life. Cooking in the Moment is a rich, absorbing journey through a year in Reusing’s home kitchen as she cooks for family and friends using ingredients grown nearby. When seasonality is reimagined as a grocery list rather than a limitation, everyday meals become cause for celebration—a whole week of fresh sweet corn; a blue moon autumn asparagus harvest; a rich, spicy soup made with the last few sweet potatoes of winter. Reusing seamlessly blends down-to-earth kitchen advice with delicious, doable recipes, including childhood favorites (chicken and dumplings), simple one-pot dinners (shrimp, pea, and rice stew), as well as feasts to satisfy a crowd (roast fresh ham with cracklings). And while the action takes place in North Carolina, the kinds of producers and places that animate these pages—farmers, ranchers, cheesemakers, butchers, bakers, orchards, backyard henhouses, and fishing holes—can be found all over, producing the flavors that we crave. With gorgeous photography throughout and more than 130 recipes, Cooking in the Moment will inspire cooks everywhere to embrace the flavors and bounty of each season.

Preserving Italy: Canning, Curing, Infusing, and Bottling Italian Flavors and Traditions


Domenica Marchetti - 2016
    There, abundant produce and other Mediterranean ingredients lend themselves particularly well to canning, bottling, and other preserving methods. Think of marinated artichokes in olive oil, classic giardiniera, or, of course, the late-summer tradition of putting up tomato sauce. But in this book we get so much more, from Marchetti’s in-person travels across the regions of Italy as well as the recipes handed down through her family: sweet and sour peppers, Marsala-spiked apricot jam, lemon-infused olive oil, and her grandmother’s amarene, sour cherries preserved in alcohol. Beyond canning and pickling, the book also includes recipes for making cheese, curing meats, infusing liqueurs, and even a few confections, plus recipes for finished dishes so you can savor each treasured jar all year long.

Very Fond of Food: A Year in Recipes


Sophie Dahl - 2011
    Favoring natural sweeteners, minimal meat, and abundant produce, these dishes satisfy yet never feel ascetic. Recipes ranging from Roasted Pumpkin with Sautéed Greens and Toasted Cumin Dressing to Rhubarb Rice Pudding are organized seasonally, and the book finishes with a full chapter of luscious desserts. But the recipes are only part of the story--Sophie’s food-filled memories and musings on the good life make this a book to treasure for its writerly charms as much as for its advice in the kitchen.  Very Fond of Food will enchant the eye with evocative photography and whimsical drawings; inspire the mind with witty recollections on family, travel, and romance; and captivate the palate with recipes that comfort body and soul. Sophie Dahl invites you into a delightful world where every meal is a story, and there’s always an excuse for cake.

Joy the Baker Homemade Decadence: Irresistibly Sweet, Salty, Gooey, Sticky, Fluffy, Creamy, Crunchy Treats


Joy Wilson - 2014
    And caramel. And definitely ice cream. Her world is pretty sweet: she dabbles daily in butter and sugar as her blogging alter ego, Joy the Baker. Her new book, Joy the Baker Homemade Decadence, is packed with 125 of Joy’s favorite, supereasy, most over-the-top, totally delicious treats, such as Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Smoked Sea Salt Cookies; Butterscotch Cream Pie with Thyme-Marshmallow Meringue; Mint Chocolate Chip Cake; and Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream. After all, every day is an opportunity for sweets.

Eating Out Loud: Bold Middle Eastern Flavors for All Day, Every Day


Eden Grinshpan - 2020
    In Eating Out Loud, Eden introduces readers to a whirlwind of exciting flavors, mixing and matching simple, traditional ingredients in new ways: roasted whole heads of broccoli topped with herbaceous yogurt and crunchy, spice-infused dukkah; a toasted pita salad full of juicy summer peaches, tomatoes, and a bevy of fresh herbs; and babka that becomes pull-apart morning buns, layered with chocolate and tahini and sticky with a salted sugar glaze, to name a few.For anyone who loves a big, boisterous spirit both on the plate and around the table, Eating Out Loud is the perfect guide to the kind of meal--full of family and friends eating with their hands, double-dipping, and letting loose--that you never want to end.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking


Julia Child - 1961
    Featuring 524 delicious recipes, in its pages home cooks will find something for everyone, from seasoned experts to beginners who love good food and long to reproduce the savory delights of French cuisine, from historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. Here Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle break down the classic foods of France into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of dishes. Throughout, the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations--bound to increase anyone's culinary repertoire. With over 100 instructive illustrations to guide readers every step of the way, Mastering the Art of French Cooking deserves a place of honor in every kitchen in America.

Good Cheap Eats: Everyday Dinners and Fantastic Feasts for $10 or Less


Jessica Fisher - 2014
    Those recipes are organized into 70 multi-course dinners—main dishes, sides, and add-ons such as soup, bread, or dessert—including: Simple Bean Tostadas, Chunky Tomato Salsa, Lemon Pie with Honey-Ginger Ice CreamChicken Kabobs with Mint-Yogurt Sauce, Curried Couscous, Greek Spinach SaladAsian Chicken Salad with Rice Noodles, Ginger-Orange CrispBeef Potpie with Flaky Cheddar Crust, Winter Greens and Citrus SaladCajun Shrimp and Sausage Rice, Buttery Dill Carrots, Banana-Walnut Mini Muffins Each dinner feeds a family of four for ten dollars—a little more for larger families, a little less for smaller ones and singles.  The menus are just suggestions, and readers can mix-and-match any of the tasty 200-plus recipes as they like.  In more than 100 tips scattered through the book, Jessica distills her hard-won wisdom into a wealth of ideas for how to be a penny-wise shopper, how to find good cuts of meat that are cheap, how to reduce waste and maximize leftovers, and more.  Never before has living so affordably meant living so well.