http://www.cookbookswelove.com/ cookbook picks and reviews en private_unavailable@nospam.com Copyright 2011 2011-11-29T00:29:25+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/the-treats-truck-baking-book/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/the-treats-truck-baking-book/#When:23:29:25Z Food trucks are all the rage these days and author/food truck owner Kim Ima, reinforces the belief that if you are passionate about something and can visualize it, you can make it happen and be successful. “I want to make it real,” I told my friend. It was love. And when it’s love, what else can you do? Find a truck, learn how to drive in the city, learn how to make your favorite brownie recipe, times ten, and open for business.” ~ Kim Ima, The Treats Truck Baking Book This is a great little book, especially for beginner bakers. I really like the Tips, Tools & Measurements page. It gives a quick outline of the basic essentials you should have in your kitchen, of course some baking tips and the most useful, at least for me, are the measurement conversions that she provides at a glance. Some recipes suggest “variations”, like adding chocolate chips to the banana cake recipe to make it into a chocolate chip banana cake.  Another cool thing in the book is “Mix & Match” recipes, taking a basic recipe from one page and mixing it with a component from another recipe (ie. a different filling or frosting). It’s a fun book to read, suitable for any young baker.  The recipes are simple to follow, no fancy ingredients required, and each recipe fits on one page (this is a “mini” cookbook, so smaller than a “regular” cookbook). Although this may seem like a very basic and “homey” type baking book, it leaves the door wide open for you to explore your own baking creativity using the easy-to-make recipes as a base for your own! Baking, Bread, Dessert, Family & Kid's, Quick & Easy, Basic 2011-11-28T23:29:25+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/my-fathers-daughter/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/my-fathers-daughter/#When:19:09:44Z So, it would appear that Gwyneth Paltrow can add successful cookbook author to her CV along with her many other talent. As skeptical as I was going in to the review for My Father’s Table,  I was actually pleasantly surprised by the number of dishes that not only sparked my own culinary recollections, but I was pretty eager to prepare for my own family. I have 2 daughters, one of which is an adventurous eater, the other, not so. What I found in Paltrow’s book was a collection of great dinner ideas and straightforward, hassle-free recipes. These are practical weekday meals for busy families that although short on time do want to sit down and enjoy dinner together. The dishes are healthy and ‘fresh inspired’. While Paltrow does not eat red meat or pork, she grew up in a household that did and doesn’t preach or try to convert us meat-lovers to her camp. She does eat fish and chicken and offers up some inspired meals such as her Fish Tacos and All Day Roast Chicken. I also found myself quiet enjoying her warm anecdotes about her own family meals and reminiscences, along with family recipes she shares with us. The design and pictures are very appealing and the mega star does step aside to let the food shine. With basics like her ‘Slow Roasted Tomatoes and ‘Standby Vinaigrette’, this is a real go to book when you’ve hit mid week and run out of ideas. Family & Kid's 2011-05-31T19:09:44+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/paella/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/paella/#When:18:08:47Z Dust off your paella pans, finally a definitive collection of recipes for this classic Spanish dish. Paella is the first cookbook in English by paella master, Alberto Herraiz, and he brings all of his knowledge of tradition and technique to the table. There are 108 recipes, including some rarely seen ‘sweeter’ versions. Want to create a memorable party? Take the largest paella pan you can carry outside to create your dish in the open air. Everyone takes a turn adding ingredients and stirring the pot. There’s an entire section of instruction and recipes for creating authentic paella on an open fire or grill. The layout of Paella is stellar with its glorious red cover nicely wrapped in a cloth ‘rice’ bag.  Photographs for almost every dish, including a few step-by-step ones, add to both the inspirational appeal of the book and the likelihood of success. The basic stocks and techniques are laid out at the beginning before moving on to the more elaborate dishes. There are authentic Spanish flavours and ingredients throughout the book. Barcelona-Style Thursday Paella Rice features an array of seafood including monkfish, langoustines, prawns, squid and mussels. Since this book is all about a special cooking technique, Harraiz also ventures to adapt it to different culinary traditions. For example, his Return to Paris Paella Rice with veal shank, mustard, and crème fraîche pays homage to the classic Parisian bistro dish, Blanquette de Veau. Similarily, his New York-style Paella Rice with Sausages from Around the World is a tribute to Daniel Boulud’s DBGB Kitchen and Bar. This one can even be served with ketchup, mustard or gherkins.  Regional, International 2011-05-31T18:08:47+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/tartine-bread/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/tartine-bread/#When:17:33:31Z Tartine Bread is my ideal bread book. No more excuses, no more stalling, time to expand beyond pizza dough and brioche. Bread baking is very personal by nature. We all take to the ovens with varying degrees of enthusiasm, skill, and expectations. Not to mention time commitments. The most important element of a bread book, apart from the inclusion of recipes for breads you want to make and henceforth eat, is finding one that complements your skill and understanding. The broader the reach a bread book has in terms of understanding and challenge means a book with a longer shelf life. Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson (of the acclaimed restaurant & bakery, Tartine in California) accomplishes the difficult task of being approachable for bread making novices and challenging enough for old pros. There is also a fine bonus of a generous chapter on ‘Days-Old Bread’ where Robertson shares some of Tartine’s favorite recipes featuring bread – Eggplant and Charred Pepper Bruschetta anyone? His first chapter is devoted to his own recipe and technique for making his classic standby, Basic Country Bread. With over 60 pages of detailed instruction, background, and step-by-step photos, success is practically guaranteed. Once the Basic is (somewhat easily) mastered we are ready to move onto subsequent chapters on Semolina and Whole Wheat Breads and Baguettes and Enriched Breads. Never before has the elusive Croissant seemed so attainable. His pictures inspired and his instruction was flawless – success! Robertson writes with a calm and reassuring voice, he doesn’t back down on the necessary science and terminology, he just manages to make it understandable. The background story about opening Tartine and his quest for the perfect loaf is a wonderful and engaging entry to the book. From front cover to back and every page in between, this book is a stand out and a must-have for serious and not-so-serious bread bakers alike. Baking, Bread, Dessert 2011-04-21T17:33:31+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/how-to-roast-a-lamb/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/how-to-roast-a-lamb/#When:16:53:46Z At last, a cookbook to take me back to meals I savoured in family-owned restaurants while visiting the Greek Islands. Occasionally one finds a Greek restaurant that touches on some of the authentic flavours, ingredients and moods of Greek feasting- and yes, the ouzo helps. However, my cookbook shelf has held a hopeful space for a book that would allow me to recreate those dishes at home. It was with great satisfaction that I flipped through Michael Psilakis’ How to Roast a Lamb. This is not a cookbook filled with cliché dishes of our version of Greek cuisine, but true Greek cuisine by a chef with both skill and passion. Psilakis shares his story of an upbringing centred on family rituals and food. His parents are Greek immigrants who bring with them their traditions and flavours from their homeland passing them on to their hungry and willing children.  Psilakis grew into a chef and restaurateur not through schooling but through hard work and keeping close to his roots. His journey and tale is as engaging and warm as the dishes he creates. The dishes are classic Greek with some new twists. The latter section titles ‘Anthos – the new world’, features more complex and innovative dishes Psilakis showcases at his Manhattan restaurant Anthos. Such dishes as Braised Lamb Pastitsio, Anthos Shellfish Youvetsi and Smoked Octopus with Fennel Puree, Lemon Confit & Pickled Vegetables are neither for the faint of heart nor uninitiated with lists of ingredients and steps to fill an entire weekend. Fear not though home cooks, the rest of the book is filled with family dishes that will at once inspire you to fill your kitchen with the enticing aromas of Greece.  And, his recipe for Roasted Leg of Lamb with a stuffing of sun dried tomatoes, black olives, rosemary, mustard, garlic confit and yes, oregano, had me running to my local butcher shop. The photographs of the finished dishes are by our long-time favorite Christopher Hirsheimer with a few nostalgic family shots. Regional, International 2010-11-16T16:53:46+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/flour/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/flour/#When:20:35:35Z As cliché as this might sound, I really want to bake everything in Joanne Chang’s new baking book, Flour, Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Café. Really, there’s not a recipe I don’t want to try. She makes it all look easy, delicious and impossible to resist. There’s nothing over-the-top and too showy in this collection; just good old-fashioned treats. Somehow her selection of recipes, with their nostalgic family roots are just what one relishes on a fall afternoon when you feel like getting your fingers sticky with cake batter. I’ve tried my hand at the Oatmeal-Maple Scones and they’re delectable, in a healthy sort of way. The Raspberry-Rhubarb muffins are inspired and could not be better. The cookies and bars are a nice mix of classics (Ginger Molasses; Chocolate Chunk; Snickerdoodles) and freshly innovative (Cornmeal-Lime; Homemade Oreos; Lemon Lust Bars). I’m actually looking forward to my birthday on the horizon – I can make myself the Yellow Birthday Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Ganache Frosting. And, for Christmas morning I think I’ll be ambitious and make the Brioche au Chocolat (I’ll be the star Mom; they’ll never know I made them days before, pulled them out of the freezer and baked them up fresh). Chang claims they make them by the dozen every day at Flour, and every day they sell out. I think I’ll move to Boston. Baking, Bread, Dessert 2010-11-09T20:35:35+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/noma/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/noma/#When:20:16:26Z At the 2010 World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards, a relative newcomer; Noma of Copenhagen unseated the reigning champion, Spain’s El Bulli. The tiny restaurant (12 tables) is helmed by youngish chef Rene Redzepi who is credited with bringing ‘new Nordic’ cuisine to the world stage while literally shaking the foundations of haute cuisine. Redzepi has an uncompromising approach to local eating, seasonal and wild foraged ingredients are not just the stars - they make the dish. Rather than luxury standards like foie gras and tuna tartare, guests dine on truly Nordic ingredients as musk ox, burnt hay and cloudberries. How to translate such unique and subtle cuisine down to a cookbook without loosing its essence? By staying true to Rene’s own principles and putting the focus on the individual ingredients and their visual origins. With Noma, publisher Phaidon Press has set the bar for all professional restaurant books to come. The production, photography and design are completely new, stunning and evocative; every picture tells a story about that ingredient. Like the restaurant itself there are no unnecessary decorative elements. Just the ingredients magically transported from their origin to plate with a very light added touch from chef Redzepi. Not embellishments, just perfect partnerships of ingredients. Accompanying the images of each dish are a selection of images that complete the story of Nordic cuisine and the origins of each dish. Nature has never been closer or more beautifully captured in a cookbook before. There is not a professional chef that will not want this book on their shelves for the pure artistry and integrity of the dishes. Celebrity Chef, Restaurant 2010-11-01T20:16:26+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/coco/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/coco/#When:20:07:07Z With Coco, publisher Phaidon Press has created a must-have reference for professional chefs, instructors, culinary students and culinary enthusiasts. To compile this list of who’s who in the international culinary scene, the editors asked 10 World-Leading Masters of the art to select and profile 100 of the best emerging chefs from around the world. The 10 chef-curators are: Ferran Adria, Mario Batali, Shannon Bennett, Alain Ducasse, Fergus Henderson, Yoshihiro Murata, Gordon Ramsay, Rene Redzepi, Alice Waters and Jacky Yu – an impressive line-up. Arranged alphabetically (it’s not a contest after-all), Coco gives a brief profile of each chosen emerging chef (nice insight into their background and origins of their passion), a sample menu from their featured establishment, along with images of their restaurant, finished dishes and sampler of recipes. Each profile features some insight from their ‘curator’ who selected the chef as to why they have been chosen and discusses particular dishes or experiences that have made a significant impression on them. There really is not a dull page or entry in the lot. Every page brings a new surprise; some of the names are recognizable and familiar faces while others are new. All bring a singular passion and something unique to the book. This impressive book will be indispensable to those chefs wanting to make future lists and editions! As a cookbook there are some dishes here that will be out of reach for non-professionals, however, there are ample to help home cooks hone their own skills. It really is a fantastic behind-the scenes peak into the world of cutting edge kitchens. Reference, Professional 2010-11-01T20:07:07+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/esalen-cookbook/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/esalen-cookbook/#When:18:11:23Z Only a lucky few get the opportunity to spend time recharging themselves at the world-renowned Esalen Institute, perched on the cliffs above the ocean in Big Sur, California. Esalen is a place of peace and beauty, where people can contemplate, think, and discover. And wouldn’t you know, the kitchen (along with the kitchen garden of course) is the heart of this tranquil get-away. Now, lucky for all we can recreate a bit of that serenity in our own kitchens with The Esalen Cookbook by chef Charlie Cascio. These are meals one can enjoy at home every day – true comfort foods to soothe the soul and heart. Blue Cheese Scones; new combination for us and now a new favorite for breakfast. We equally love Grandma’s German Goulash and the Chicken Enchiladas with New Mexico Ranchero Sauce. The Cream of Tomato Soup; so simple yet so sublime - made with tomato juice. And, when was the last time you found a recipe in a cookbook for that classic little Chinese omelet; Egg Foo Young? And what’s serenity without a little chocolate – The Chocolate Wacky Cake is one of their most-served desserts and it’s vegan so completely guilt-free Celebrity Chef, Restaurant 2010-11-01T18:11:23+00:00 http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/alfalfabet-a-to-z/ http://www.cookbookswelove.com/cbwl/site/cookbooks/alfalfabet-a-to-z/#When:00:33:56Z Where can you find a gaggle of giggling geese frolicking with a herd of happy herefords? In the lively pages of Alfalfabet A to Z: The Wonderful Words from Agriculture. This entertaining book covers the ABCs through the amazing world of farming and agriculture. For kids of all ages. A wonderful new kid’s book written by Carol Watterson and illustrated by Michela Sorrentino. Not a cookbook per say, but was written by yours truly! More info at the official Alfalfabet website. * sorry, not yet available for purchase below Family & Kid's 2009-07-21T00:33:56+00:00