Book Picks, November 2011
By Contributor
Sign Up for the JWC Media Email
By Contributor
Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can’t Wait to Make
by Melissa Clark
Hyperion, $29.99
Melissa Clark, New York Times Dining Section columnist, offers a calendar year’s worth of brand-new recipes for cooking with fresh, local ingredients—with lively and entertaining stories of feeding her own family and friends. In Cook This Now, Clark shares her market savvy, including what she decides to cook after a chilly visit to the produce section in the dead of winter; what to bring to a potluck dinner that’s guaranteed to be a hit; and how she feeds her marathon-running husband and finicky toddler. Clark takes you inside her life while providing the dishes that will become your go-to meals for your own busy days. She provides easy, delicious meals featuring organic, fresh ingredients that can be obtained during each particular month.
Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast
by Jamie Oliver
Hyperion, $35
Renowned chef Jamie Oliver, best-selling author and star of ABC’s Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, shows home cooks how to use their kitchen and their time more efficiently so they can get exciting, delicious meals for the whole family on the table in no time. Jamie shows how cooking is not about compromising on quality, it’s about being organized, working fast, and using shortcuts and clever tricks to put delicious plates of food on the table in no time. Each of the 50 meals has been carefully written, there are complete menus of foods that go together, and recipes are planned in a unique, easy-to-follow way. It is the kind of cooking that is all about using every minute wisely, having fun, and reclaiming your kitchen for the job it was meant for.
Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy
by Ellie Krieger
Wiley, $29.99
Ellie Krieger hosts the popular show Healthy Appetite, which airs on the Cooking Channel, and wrote The New York Times best-sellers So Easy and The Food You Crave. In her newest book, Comfort Food Fix, Krieger presents a healthier take on classic American comfort food—without sacrificing the comfort part. She presents 150 satisfying recipes, which include such hearty favorites as meatloaf, lasagna, chicken pot pie, crab cakes, and mashed potatoes, without all the calories and saturated fat. With full nutrition information for every recipe and gorgeous full-color photos that are sure to whet any appetite, Comfort Food Fix is the perfect cookbook for healthy eaters with healthy appetites. When it comes to healthy cooking, Krieger is the chef you can trust. In Comfort Food Fix, she takes the guilt out of guilty pleasures.
Essential Pépin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food
by Jacques Pépin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $40
In his more than 60 years as a chef, Jacques Pépin has earned a reputation as a champion of simplicity. In his classic recipes, he finds the shortest, surest route to flavor, avoiding complicated techniques. Now, in a book that celebrates his life in food, the world’s most famous cooking teacher gathers his favorite recipes from the thousands he has created, streamlining them even further. Essential Pépin spans the many styles of Pépin’s cooking: homey country French, haute cuisine, fast food Jacques-style, and fresh contemporary American dishes. Many of the recipes are globally inspired, from Mexico, across Europe, or the Far East.
Molto Batali: Simple Family Meals from My Home to Yours
by Mario Batali
Ecco, $29.99
The best-selling author of Molto Italiano and Molto Gusto shares 120 of his favorite seasonal recipes in month-by-month menus perfect for celebrating with family and friends. From lush summer salads to hearty winter braises, the seasonal dishes in Molto Batali—all easy to prepare and made with simple ingredients—enliven any dinner table, from a weeknight meal to a holiday celebration. The recipes are organized into perfectly paired combinations for outstanding meals. The delicious recipes in Molto Batali show Batali’s passion for food and family, his belief in the importance of eating together, and the joy that comes when we share meals.
—Sue Boucher
Sign Up for the JWC Media Email