Book Club Tuesday: Vegetables — A Love Story

Processed with VSCO with f2 presetMost good love stories have a certain amount of magic in them; mine just also happens to contain vegetables. (11)

The most interesting cookbooks are the ones that also offer a connection in addition to the recipes. While there has been much written maligning narrative recipe writing, I strongly believe it is the personal stories that make the recipes worth trying. And in a world of myriad recipes, as a home cook, I want to know why ingredients are important and what makes a recipe special. I need something to hang my Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Vegetables — A Love Story”

Book Club Tuesday: Sheet Pan Everything

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It is very funny to be back here, again. This time last year, the world was drifting through the first wave of the COVID pandemic. While people flocked to their kitchens to develop their skills and repertoire of recipes, I think, and I’ll speak for many when I say this: in our kitchens we found comfort and solace in both the familiar dishes that were well-loved in the “before times” as well as the prospect of learning new recipes that might carry us through. As the lockdowns relaxed, people carried on and, while it still seemed the same, everything had changed. Fast forward through a year and Nova Scotia has entered its third wave, and I’m trying to find more recipes to feed my family. Ones that we can enjoy together, ones that might carry us through.

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Book Club Tuesday: To Asia, With Love

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It has been a decade since Hetty McKinnon started her salad delivery business in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. From the small kitchen in her home on Arthur Street, she would pack up her salad boxes and deliver them on her bike to the people who lived and worked in her neighbourhood. Through delivering nourishing meals to customers, she began to Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: To Asia, With Love”

Book Club Tuesday: The Flavor Equation

img_2781In my last review, I looked at how Claire Saffitz’s Dessert Person worked to give home bakers more confidence by offering recipes and explanations that improved home bakers’ skills and techniques. Her positive affirmation: I am a Dessert Person really connects to the notion that anyone can become a baker through practice. Looking at what happens in home kitchens Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: The Flavor Equation”

Book Club Tuesday: Ottolenghi Flavor

 

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Looking at the cookbooks released this autumn, there is a definite trend towards flavour — there’s Ottolenghi Flavor by Ixta Belfrage and Yotom Ottolenghi, Nik Sharma’s Flavor Equation, Bob Blumer’s Flavorbomb, James Briscione and Brooke Parkhurst’s Flavor for All, and Dan Kluger’s Chasing Flavor just to name a few. I think this flavour odyssey is about making the most with what we have to cook with and being able to identify ways to enhance the flavour of a dish whether it’s through the use of particular techniques, ingredients or both. Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Ottolenghi Flavor”