new and interesting recipes, especially if you have access to fresh seafood
581865
new and interesting recipes, wish I lived closer to the area so I could take advantage of the seafood recipes.
2110806
I am a seafood lover and it's wonderful to have this selection of recipes.  It includes a wide variety seafoods and shellfish and is organized by length of time to prepare.  It is packed with great tips on everything from stocking your pantry, to storage and tips on preparing specific kinds of seafood.  There are meal planning suggestions and a sample meals chart.  This book will get used frequently in my kitchen.
1949029
It's been 2 weeks since I bought this book and already my husband and I have cooked 6 dishes and I've tagged many more recipes to try. Every recipe has been superb! This book is accessible, modern and the recipes so original and delicious. I have learnt many new techniques from the few recipes we've tried so far and used some easy to find ingredients in some very original ways.  Tonight we made the braised short ribs with some creamy mascarpone polenta and the olive oil glazed baby vegetables. Last week after dining at the Butcher's Shop and enjoying the duck confit we made it ourselves at home with Kumquat Marmalade. The Seared Sea Scallops with Sauce Verte and Toasted Hazlenuts was fabulous and my favorite so far has been the Green Bean and Seared shrimp Salad with Spicy Curry Vinaigrette - what a great summery salad and one we'll make again and again. I hope that Barbara Lynch puts out more cookbooks as wonderful as this one.
4443174
This is a very unique cookbook!  I especially enjoyed the section on the sourdough bread.  Tomorrow, I am going to make the Pinchitos Morunos aka Moorish Skewers.  If you enjoy fish, this book is also loaded with recipes.
1870194
In this book, I found a lot of new and good recipes that I'm going to try. Despite some readers paid attention to grammatical errors, as for me, English is not my first language, so I was completely OK to read the ingredients without looking for errors. I did understand preparation steps really well.
If the author's native language is not English, that does not mean he/she may not share so many good recipes.
2193561
I bought this book for my husband who is a Connecticut transplant to Alabama. I gave him this book, then confiscated it to read myself. Many of the recipes are fresh takes on classics, and sound delicious though we haven't made any of them yet. I'm looking forward to trying the Deep South "Ramen", the Meat Pies, and the Shrimp and Lobster Corn Dogs. The pickling recipes are new and unusual, and I can't wait to try making the Soy-Pickled S***akes. The stories in the book are endearing and relatable. One of my favorite parts is that John Currence pairs a song with each recipe! It takes the spirit of the recipe to a new level. It's literally a cookbook you can READ, like a book. Can't wait to go to Oxford to try City Grocery, too!
2894298
Yay for new cookbooks! I got two fabulous new cookbooks for my birthday just a little while back and I got this brand new gem for review as well. Needless to say, the kitchen adventures in our house continue with zeal!

Seriously, I've realized that even when things are seeming not so great, heading into the kitchen to create a meal is still something I very much look forward to. Some people see it as a chore while I see it as a reward. I enjoy trying new things and I very much enjoy when those new things are things that I can make and then eat. Reward!

Tara O'Brady's Seven Spoons: My Favorite Recipes for Any and Every Day (titled after O'Brady's food blog) is a book I'd been looking forward to getting my hands on for some time. Just look at that enticing cover for one, don't you want to take a bit out of that?! That's the Fig Toasts with Buttered Honey, by the way, we tried it and it's awesome! I also have plans to tweak it and try it with local Palisade peaches.

But Becky, you might say, that's just the result of great photography. Well, yes. It is. And a good cookbook does kind of have to have good photography to go along with it. We do eat with our eyes first and a delectable looking picture draws me to try a dish over one that maybe doesn't have a pic. Seven Spoons has amazing photography. Really amazing.

It helps that the recipes are very produce focused in general - fresh fruits and veggies galore, which is something I crave and seek out regularly at our local farmers market. Recipes like the Soused Tomatoes, for example, are a great way for me to use up the abundance of tomatoes coming out of my garden at the moment. (Holy cow this recipe! The tomatoes bake at a low temperature for HOURS, soaked in herbs and oil, and come out so amazingly melty with crisp little bits around the edges! This was an immediate favorite here.) O'Brady's very simply titled Avocado Toast is another new favorite. Don't worry, it is simple to make but it tastes amazing thanks to a blend of lemon, garlic, and seven spice.

Which brings me to the flavors. Tara O'Brady has a quite unique blend of food cultures going on in this book thanks in part to her own family and influences. Indian spices make their way into drinks (Paloma with Chaat Masala), Labneh (a middle Eastern yogurt cheese) is used in dishes like Blitzed Ricotta and Peas, there's a Za'atar Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Salad with honey and hummus, and even pub favorites get a new twist with dishes like the Vietnamese-Inspired Sausage Rolls. And that's just a tiny taste - if you were to look at my copy right now you'd see page after page flagged to try and a flip through would reveal notes reading "YUM! Make again!" or "Great way to use up X" and "Make for company!"

Seven Spoons is perfect for anyone looking to try new twists on classic dishes (Chicken and Couscous with a Punchy Relish), dishes they may have only had in restaurants (Specialty Restaurant Lentil Kofta Curry), and favorites from O'Brady's own family (Soft-Set Scrambled Eggs based on her grandmother's own soft scrambled eggs - I'm dying to try the shrimp curry recipe if and when O'Brady decides to share that one, too).
1211261
It is hard to stand out as a cookbook nowadays. Hasn't everything been written? There are only so many ways you can incorporate roasted pumpkin and garlic scapes into a recipe, right? Well the thing you can do is make your cookbook look better than the rest. With My New Roots, Sarah Britton has done that. It could just as easily be a coffee table book, with its short stories and beautiful photographs. The images look to be a lifestyle photo session out of the pages of an Anthropologie catalog. This seems to be the trend with cookbooks at the moment. They are more focused on aesthetics that the substance of their recipes.

With this book though, I have found many things I enjoy. First off, I like that the recipes are separated by seasons. When trying to eat locally, it is important to know how to use a fig, or a new way to prepare parsnips. Brtitton makes sure that the reader is branching out with their cooking. These recipes will get you familiar with fruits and vegetables that you have no doubt seen at the market, but, you couldn't pronounce them, much less make a delicious dinner with them. Another item that interested me was the focus on preparing certain types of foods. Near the beginning of the book. there are detailed charts explaining soaking and cooking time, and yield of dry beans and grains. She also teaches the reader how to make different seed and nut milks and butters. Finally, like one of her delicious recipes, the prep work is over and it is time to start cooking. For each season, she gives you a breakfast, snack, dinner, and dessert. After flipping through this book, you will be headed to your local farmers market because everything sounds so good. The meals are as enjoyable as browsing the pages of this book are. Enjoy.
1804855
Acting on the premise that one can never own enough cookbooks (the forty or fifty we own makes only a modest cooking library), we added three new cookbooks this year. All are excellent. And the year before, our son gave me a fourth cookbook that's also excellent.

Let's start with the classiest. Thomas Keller owns and operates The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, California. "Cooking is not about convenience, and it's not about shortcuts. Take your time. Move slowly and deliberately, and with great attention," writes Keller in The French Laundry Cookbook, co-authored with food writer Michael Ruhlman (Ruhlman's The Soul of a Chef, 2001, is a really good book about what drives professional chefs to seek perfection). Food writers pretty much agree The French Laundry is either the best restaurant in the world, not just America, or if not Number One in the World, then Number Two or Three. If you want to eat there (as we do some day), you must call for a reservation two months ahead of time on the morning of the first day of the month. Call any later and the restaurant bookings for that coming month are all filled.

Keller's inventiveness with foods and his meticulous attention to detail are legendary. They are well documented in this fantastically beautiful book. It includes Keller's recipe for his signature appetizer, Pearls and Oyster, which marries caviar and oysters in a bed of creamy pearl tapioca. There a few -very few- of the 150 recipes in this book that an adventurous chef might try at home -there is an intriguing recipe for gazpacho and one for a lasagne that Keller cooks for the staff meal before the restaurant opens to the public--but most of the recipes are way beyond the capabilities of even the most advance home chef and require expensive, sometimes exotic ingredients. (Keller does a lot with caviar, lobster and foie gras, and where in Modesto do you purchase a pig's head or fresh killed squab?)  The desserts sound heavenly but are complicated to make as well. (Doesn't fresh-made banana ice cream with chocolate-banana crepes and chocolate sauce sound good?)  But then, The French Laundry Cookbook isn't so much a book to cook from as an inspiration, a work of art, a rollercoaster read. I'm glad we own it but I don't see myself cooking anything from it in the near future ... although there is a recipe involving artichokes that looks good.
4784389
My first impressions. When I opened the box I was surprised by how heavy the book was. The cover has beautiful flames on it and a half sleeve around the bottom with some great food pictures on it. It would have caught my eye at the store.

In this book you will not find the typical grilled recipes, Gabi and Greg the owners and chefs at Portland, Organs OX will change the way you look at a grill. They use an Argentinian style grilling with a little Pacific Northwest thrown in, using fresh seasonal ingredients from the land around them. Mixing ingredients and flavors that you may not be used to, or that are normally found on a grill, but they make them wonderful. Their community loves them and they have rave reviews from many critics. Greg and Gabi have also been James Beard Award finalist and Food & Wine best new chefs, so they must be doing something right.

Around the Fire is laid out in a way that I would expect a menu to be done. First, there are the Entradas and chilled seafood that could be ordered as an appetizer or side. Then the section from the grill, with meats, seafood, and vegetables spanning over 80 pages. A section of garden dishes, salads, and warm vegetables with many sauteed dishes. Lastly the dessert section with sweets and cocktails.

Many of the recipes have large, well-done pictures with them, which is always nice to have. A nice touch they also added was some of their house recipes for condiments, sauces, and other basics. These recipes look great and have interesting concepts, they are also written out with easy to follow instructions. I want to try many of the vegetable recipes, they look delicious.

There are a couple things that I am not a big fan of with this book. Such as, there are many ingredients that are hard to find or uncommon, even though the recipe looks like it could be good I am not sure that I would go to that much trouble to make it. A couple examples, Grilled Roasted Turkey Butt, Leg of Goat, Shoulder of Lamb, all of which have intriguing recipes. Another thing I don't love is that the desserts and some other dishes seem to be over complicated as far as flavors go. Like the dishes, you find in the restaurants where you get tiny portions of odd but tasty dishes. I don't doubt that some of them are good, but I also fell that they are more restaurant style than a typical home cook could do with great success.

Rating: 3.5 Stars If you are an experienced cook looking to expand your grilling repertoire then I highly recommend this book.
527476
So we've already made something delicious - the cauliflower no-potato salad.  YUM!  There are many delicious-looking recipes, all presented beautifully.  Great checklists at the back for shopping, and a meal planner.  I eat fish 2-3 times a week, and was surprised to see there are NO fish recipes.  None.  She mentions buying wild-farmed seafood in the beginning, but maybe they just don't eat it?  I don't think I could eat red meat, pork or chicken every night of the week.

There are a lot of pantry-essential items that are pricey, but shopping online you can find them cheaper.  I can't have almonds (intolerance, not allergy), so would have to tweak some recipes.  All in all we're excited to try some new recipes, but we'll have to get some fish recipes somewhere else.
2802580
For a small book, this one is packed with knowledge and great recipes.  I pleasantly surprised at how much it contained based on its tiny size, and I say that as someone who has used and owned a lot of cookbooks.  What I like about this one is that if you are someone who likes to go beyond recipes and truly learn what does and doesn't work this has a lot of information about how to successfully grill all kinds of seafood.  In fact, fish in the title makes the focus seem more limiting than it really is since fish to me doesn't necessarily imply shellfish recipes.  You also get recipes for lobster, oysters, mussels, and other kinds of shellfish.

If you're looking for recipes and not technique, this book is also fantastic as well.  It is true that most of these recipes are not quick and easy and do require a stocked pantry, however for a moderately skilled cook who doesn't mind cooking from scratch these recipes are appropriate.  I don't know that I would get this book though for a beginner or someone who prefers quick and easy recipes.  That said, the recipes are awesome.  They work out well and also represent a range, not just in the type of fish used but also in the flavor profile.  You'll get things like Japanese-style grilled fish,  Cilantro-buttered trout with yellow tomato conserve, and Double-skewered shrimp and scallops.

Even better, the organization and construction of this book is excellent.  You get a generously sized color picture of each recipe and then the information is well presented with the ingredients and method on facing pages so there isn't a lot of flipping back and forth with messy fingers.  Overall, this is an excellent book.  I can see this being a great gift for someone who loves seafood or grilling if paired with a couple of planks (which are used in some of the recipes in the book) or some nice skewers.
3042074
Enjoy your food, this book will give you many new ideas.  Everything is sketched out for you with colorful art work and short lists of ingredients.  Make the Cheddar Red Pepper spread first, you will be hooked.<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Fresh-Made-Simple-A-Naturally-Delicious-Way-to-Eat-Look-Cook-and-Savor/dp/1612126081/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Fresh Made Simple: A Naturally Delicious Way to Eat: Look, Cook, and Savor</a>
250402
I need no other seafood cookbook than this one to raise the eyebrows of all my dinner guests. And there are many other non-seafood recipes found herein of equal excellence.

I have owned a hundred or so cookbooks and I recently disposed of about 90 of them -- this is one volume that I KEPT and I still use it with great frequency. All the recipes I've tried in here (maybe 60% of all listed) have been easy, fast and delicious dishes. One more nice feature is the high-quality GBC binding that allows the book to lie flat when it's open, a must for active chefs.

I originally acquired my copy of this fine work while on vacation in Seattle in 1994 (a culinary excursion!) so I had a chance to patronize many of the restaurants which have recipes listed in the book. They are all just first-class. But the more important fact is that you can now emulate their fine dishes right in your own kitchen with this cookbook! Frankly, I've been elated with my results.

Many home chefs are fearful of fresh seafood but these recipes will build your confidence in a hurry. For example, I have a brother who would not TOUCH shellfish and I leaned on him to try the Cozze Umbro (mussels in tomato sauce, page 214, from Saleh al Lago Restaurant) and now he wants them every time he visits. He's also very keen on many of the others that I've prepared from this volume, such as Strawberries Amaretto (page 128, from Hiram at the Locks). In fact, my family and all my guests love these recipes.

If you can get your hands on a copy of "ALA Seattle Restaurant Recipes," as a chef/cook, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor.

I DO feel compelled to note, prior to closing that the author/editor and I coincidentally share the same surname but, to my knowledge, we're not related... at least not closely! In any case, I've certainly never met her, (although I'd like to shake her hand for a job well-done!). So, I wanted to make folks aware that I'm not trying to promote my sister's cookbook here or anything like that. Heck, I live in Ohio! *.*
823583
This is a WONDERFUL cookbook.  It is loaded with healthy recipes that really taste good. Each page is beautifully illustrated with a color photograph of the dish being featured. My husband and I both love fish and I was very pleased to learn how many fish and seafood dishes are contained in this book. In fact, when I prepare fish (at least once or twice a week) it is THIS cookbook to which I first turn. Try the SEARED TILAPIA WITH LEMON-TARRAGON SAUCE or the BROILED HALIBUT WITH BALSAMIC GLAZE. Then for shellfish try the SHRIMP AND PEANUT STIR FRY or the SHRIMP PAELLA. Mmmm good!  There are some lovely chicken recipes I have yet to try but their descriptions really sound interesting. There are also delectable recipes for veal, flank steak, pepper steak and pork tenderloin as well as some exotic soups and mouth watering salads and even desserts. I could go on and on but what I recommend is to try it for yourself. You will treasure for years to come!  Especially IF YOU LIKE TO COOK! (and cook healthy of course...)
1129281
This book starts off with an introduction where the author talks about his influences and his background, which is a nice starting point. Reading about his history and passions really set the mood for the book. Then he begins telling you about some basic ingredients and techniques that he uses in his cooking, and it's very informative. There's many ingredients listed that I would have never thought of using in daily cooking. The recipes are unique, exotic, and different, with flavor combinations that I wouldn't dream of mixing but that ultimately work! Some of these combinations include feta and pomegranate, avocado and shrimp, and pink grapefruit and goat cheese salad.

The recipes and directions are very detailed so that you're not left in the dust trying to figure out what to do, and pictures are included so that you have an idea of what your dish should look like (there's nothing worse than a cookbook with bland pages that doesn't include pictures of the recipes). The second recipe in the book, Salmon Creme in a portobello mushroom cap, is delicious. I highly recommend trying it! Overall, I love how creative the recipes are and how they can be incorporated into a healthy diet!
562529
I have had the pleasure of sampling some of these recipes as cooked by the author.  They are eclectic, fresh, and creative.  I would add that they are pleasantly filling and wholesome.  When served to the groups I've been a part of when Rick has been kind of enough to cook for us, they yield superlative comments for Rick.  I can't wait to try preparing the recipes myself.