Product Description

Parents today know that one of the best ways to give a baby a great start in life is with wholesome, homemade foods.

While ready-made baby food is a convenience that any new parent can appreciate, feeding everyday fresh foods is the best way to teach a child healthy eating habits and an appreciation for good food from the cradle onward.

The 80 recipes in Cooking for Baby make preparing delicious meals for babies and toddlers a breeze, even for busy parents. The recipes are organized by age, showing how to introduce cereal grains and simple vegetable and fruit purees to your infant at 6 months, how to move on to chunkier foods by 8 or 9 months, and how to graduate to real meals for young toddlers of 12 to 18 months to enjoy along with the entire family. When you see how easy it is, with a few smart tips on preparation and storage, you’ll never go back to the jars.

With Cooking for Baby, your youngster will enjoy a wide variety of fresh and interesting foods for a very happy and healthy beginning.

Amazon.com Review

Irma Rombauer collected recipes from friends for the first Joy of Cooking, and published it herself. For this sixth edition, the All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking, Ethan Becker, grandson of Irma and son of Marion Rombauer Becker, worked with Maria Guarnaschelli, senior editor and vice president at Scribner’s. Together, they called on top food professionals to produce a Joy that reflects the way we eat today.

Five new chapters satisfy today’s love of pasta, pizza, noodles, burritos, grains, and beans, including soy. The roughly 3,000 recipes, most revised from earlier editions, give the food processor and microwave their due. Interest in ethnic flavors, grazing, leaner meats, more fish, and less fat are reflected, and old standbys such as Tuna Noodle Casserole and Fried Chicken are updated. Information on canning, jams, pickles, and preserves is replaced by expanded material on grilling, barbecuing, flavored oils, and vinegars. Also gone is the personal voice of the old Joy. The new Joy of Cooking is comprehensive for today’s cooks. Time will tell if it remains the long-loved, dog-eared kitchen companion and teacher Joy has been since 1931.

From Library Journal

The concept of “essence”?that intrinsic quality without which an object is no longer itself?underlies the controversy surrounding the new Joy of Cooking. Original author Rombauer pioneered the “user-friendly” style, demystifying kitchen basics with reliable, unfussy recipes. Since Rombauer’s death in 1962, subsequent editions by her daughter, Marion Becker, have expanded the scope while attempting to preserve the conversational tone. Now the sixth revision may indeed have a new and different essence; detractors attack the inclusion of exotic dishes as a betrayal of Rombauer’s homespun intent and claim that her accessible voice is gone. Yet this revised American classic is essential. The recipes are still unfussy, e.g., a simple tapenade uses ordinary canned olives. No matter how far the new Joy has altered its initial purpose, it remains one of the most complete, all-purpose cookbooks available. Since a majority of the old recipes are gone, however, both past and current editions belong on the shelf.
-?Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., Ky.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Description

Here?s great news for cooks who love creating fabulous meals with fewer calories and far less fat. Now, from the world?s largest epicurean magazine comes its biggest collection of gourmet-inspired, easy-to-prepare, and health-conscious recipes ever. Spanning 17 years, The Best of Cooking Light features more than 500 of the editors? hand-picked favorites.

About the Author

Amazon.com Review

Perhaps more than any other person, Marcella Hazan is responsible for bringing Italian cuisine into the homes of American cooks. We’re not talking spaghetti and meatballs here–Hazan’s cuisine consists of polenta, risotto, squid braised with tomatoes and white wine, sautéed swiss chard with olive oil and garlic…. Twenty years ago, when Hazan first exploded into the American consciousness with The Classic Italian Cook Book and More Classic Italian Cooking, such recipes were revolutionary. With time, however, these classic dishes have become much-beloved family favorites.

Now a new generation is ready to be introduced to Marcella Hazan’s way with food, and in Essentials of Italian Cooking Hazan combines her two earlier works into one update and expanded volume. In addition to the delicious collection of recipes, this book serves as a basic manual for cooks of every skill level. Recipes have been revised to reduce fat content, and a whole new chapter full of fundamental information about herbs, spices, and cheeses used in Italian kitchens–as well as details on how to select specific ingredients–has been added. New chapters, new recipes–who could ask for more than Essentials of Italian Cooking?

From Publishers Weekly

In the language of cookbooks, the word “classic” is bandied about nearly as frequently as the terms “low-fat” and “no-cholesterol.” In this case, however, the estimable Hazan ( More Classic Italian Cooking ) does indeed contribute a classic to the ever-increasing literature of Italian cuisine. A revision and update of her two previous “classic” Italian cookbooks (with more than 35 completely new recipes), this one includes recipes not “in pursuit of novelty, but of taste.” As Hazan puts it, the book “is meant to be used as a kitchen handbook . . . for cooks of every level . . . who want an accessible and comprehensive guide to the products, the techniques, and the dishes that constitute imperishable Italian cooking.” From marinated carrot sticks to sweet-and-sour tuna steaks, Trapani style, to tortellini with fish stuffing and polenta shortcake with raisins, dried figs and pine nuts, the outstanding recipes–many of them poetically simple–are too numerous to do justice to in few words. Included is a spirited discussion of squid and the essentials of preparing fresh pasta, gnocchi (potato dumplings), authentic risotto, frittate and polenta dishes. While writing from Venice, her home for much of the year, Hazan never fails to consider the availability of ingredients in the U.S., and never assumes that all readers understand complex methods or exotic terminology. This volume is the perfect gift for a new homemaker, a seasoned chef and all lovers of good food. Illustrated. 40,000 first printing; Home Style Book Club main selection, BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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About the Author

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Product Description

Banish 5 o’clock guilt forever with the new, wonderful-to-read, wonderful-to-cook Essential Recipe Collection–Weeknight. It features more than 50 Cooking Light kitchen-tested recipes for family-pleasing, health-conscious meals that don’t take a lot of advance planning. Easy entrées, one-dish dinners, soup and salad, and make-ahead meals–they’re all here, and they’re all incredibly tasty. Just what you’d expect from Cooking Light!

Product Description

With 101 easy recipes to choose from-from breakfast to dessert, including breads and rolls-the Dutch oven might just become the most popular cooking method in your house. Recipes include the Mountain Man Breakfast, Sausage Spinach Wreath, Dutch Oven Stew with spicy Jalapeno Cheese Bread, Caramel Apple Cobbler, Stuffed Pork Roast, Cinnamon Rolls, Dutch Oven Pizza, Apricot Raspberry Glazed Cornish Hens, and White Chili.


About the Author

Vernon Winterton has been cooking with Dutch ovens for thirty years. He is one of the founding members Oven Society and served two years as its assistant director. Vernon has competed in Dutch oven cook-offs times to compete in the World Championship of Dutch Oven Cooking. He lives in Lehi City, Utah.

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Amazon.com Review

Since its first private printing in 1931, The Joy of Cooking has been teaching Americans how to cook. Craig Claiborne calls it “a masterpiece of clarity” and Julia Child says it’s the one book she’d keep if she could only have one English title on the shelf. The nearly 5,000 recipes are handily organized by meal and ingredient, and no cooking instruction goes unexplained, so you can finally understand the difference between poaching and braising. The book includes nutritional information as well as an extremely helpful list of measures and equivalents. You’ll find a version of every recipe your mother ever cooked, along with straightforward instructions for cooking more exotic specialties such as turtles and muskrats.

Review

James Beard

The classic work, which covers the entire gamut of kitchen procedures and is easy to use.

Cecily Brownstone

Important as is the information in this encyclopedic cookbook, it’s the imprint of Irma Rombauer’s and Marion Rombauer Becker’s personalities that makes Joy of Cooking the best loved cookbook to come out of these United States.

Julia Child

…it is definitely number one on my list…the one book of all cookbooks in English that I would have on my shelf — if I could have but one.

Craig Claiborne

The finest basic cookbook available. It is a masterpiece of clarity.

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Amazon.com Review
Book Description
“For me, there are few things that are more relaxing than lingering at the table with good friends… But I know that for a lot of people, putting together a meal, especially for guests, is the opposite of relaxing… I’m here to tell you: It doesn’t have to be that way.”–from the Introduction

Aussie Curtis Stone, host of TLC’s Take Home Chef, is best known for his laid-back approach to cooking. Though he’s worked as head chef in several Michelin-starred London restaurants, some of his most memorable meals are the ones he’s shared with friends at home. Now, Curtis shows you how to have as much fun in the kitchen as your guests are sure to have over a comfortable, unforgettable meal.

In Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone, you’ll find everything from “First Thing in the Morning” bites and “Brunches to Blow Their Minds” to “Weekend Lunches” and “Something to Eat on the Sofa.” With the home cook in mind, Curtis avoids off-putting culinary lingo and hard-to-find ingredients. Instead, he picks what’s in season and just around the corner. This down-to-earth approach results in wonderfully interesting and flavorful taste combinations that are perfect for parties or just hanging out with a close friend or loved ones.

Recipes include:

• Caramelized Nectarines with Yogurt and Honey
• Crispy Tortilla with Ham, Chile, Spinach, and Fried Eggs
• Heirloom Tomato and Burrata Salad with Pepper-Crusted New York Steak
• Pan-Fried Calamari with Roasted Asparagus Salad
• Homemade Salted Caramel Popcorn
• Baby Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream and Chives
• Sticky Chicken Drumsticks
• Red Curry with Lobster and Pineapple
• Veal Cutlet Coated in an Aged Jack Cheese Crust
• Slowly Cooked Brisket with a BBQ Bourbon Sauce
• Creamy Mascarpone and Parsley Polenta
• Brownie Cupcakes

These delicious recipes and Curtis’s infectiously easygoing attitude are all it takes to end your entertaining stress and get you and your guests into a relaxing mood.

From Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Fresh Linguine with Garlic Shrimp and Homemade Pesto

This satisfying dish just takes minutes to put together. Despite the speedy preparation, it seems really indulgent and tastes fresh and healthy at the same time. When making pesto, you can vary the consistency to match the purpose: Make it nice and thick to spread over bruschetta, or thin it with extra olive oil so it’s easy to toss through pasta, as in this version.

Ingredients

For Pesto:

• 1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) fresh basil leaves

• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For Linguine:

• 12 cherry tomatoes on the vine

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 9 ounces fresh linguine (from the dairy case)

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 20 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

• Parmesan shavings, for garnish

(Serves 4)

Directions

To make the pesto: Grind the basil, pine nuts, and grated Parmesan cheese with a mortar and pestle until a smooth paste forms. (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a food processor instead.) Slowly add the olive oil, grinding until a smooth sauce forms. Season the pesto with salt and pepper to taste. Then cover and set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place the vine of tomatoes in an ovenproof skillet. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the oil over the tomatoes, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Roast the tomatoes in the oven for 8 minutes, or until heated through.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the linguine and cook, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking, for about 2 minutes, or until al dente.

While the linguine cooks, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shrimp and sauté for about 3 minutes, or until the shrimp are just cooked through and the garlic is tender. Stir the pesto into the shrimp mixture.

Drain the linguine, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Toss the linguine in a large bowl with the shrimp-pesto mixture, adding enough of the reserved cooking liquid to moisten the sauce so that it coats the pasta evenly.

Using a two-pronged carving fork, swirl some pasta around the fork. Slide it off the fork, letting it mound in the center of a plate. Repeat. Arrange the shrimp and the roasted tomatoes around the pasta. Garnish with the cheese and serve.

From Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Lazy Asparagus Omelet

One of my favorite parts of going on holiday is heading down each morning to the hotel’s breakfast buffet. I always make a beeline for the omelet station–even a chef loves having someone else man the omelet pan sometimes! Back at home, I make this much easier version and find it has all the flavor of those yummy holiday omelets. Taleggio is a creamy cheese similar to Brie, with a slightly stronger flavor; it pairs really well with asparagus. Serve this with some hot, grainy toast.

Ingredients

• 15 thin asparagus spears (about 6 ounces total), tough ends trimmed

• 12 large eggs

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

• 2 ounces Taleggio cheese, shaved into thin slices

(Serves 4 to 6)

Directions

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Cut the tips of the asparagus spears into 3-inch lengths; then cut the remainder of the spears into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cook the asparagus in the boiling water for 30 seconds, or just until it becomes bright green. Drain the asparagus and submerge it in a large bowl of ice water until cool; drain again.

Preheat the broiler. Using a fork, whisk the eggs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl to blend well. Melt the butter in a 12-inch nonstick ovenproof sauté pan over medium heat, swirling the pan to coat it with the butter. Add the eggs and asparagus, and gently stir with a silicone spatula to lift the cooked egg off the bottom of the skillet and stir it into the uncooked portion (be careful not to overstir the omelet). As the omelet begins to set, give it one last gentle stir. Then scatter the cheese slices over the top. Place the pan under the broiler and cook for about 1 minute, or until the omelet is set on top and the cheese has melted. Using the silicone spatula, loosen the omelet from the pan, slide it onto a platter, and serve.

Review

“Curtis shows that making beautiful, delicious, satisfying food can also be fun. With recipes like these, you’ll be inviting people over a lot more often.”
—Todd English

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Amazon.com Review

Knowing how to cook has challenged lots of men. Women, too. What most people learn is a specific recipe: how to make this pasta sauce, or that loaf of bread. What about learning how to cook in general? And not just the ‘how’ but the ‘how come?’ That requires a technique book.

What you’ll find in this book is an alphabetical list of sixty-five recipe-driven, technique-centered explications that build out into hundreds of dishes.

Armed with the knowledge of the simple mechanics of a dish, the five or so steps it takes to make it, you can walk into the market, find what’s fresh (or on special), bring it home, and have dinner on the table without any worries, any overly romantic pretensions, or any cookbooks piled on the floor: fresh every time—and your way, too.

Exclusive Recipe Excerpts from Cooking Know-How: Gratin

A Visual Guide to Preparation

1) For the best gratin, peeled Russets should be sliced as thinly as possible.

2) A gratin is a layered casserole; the potato slices perform the same dividing act noodles do in lasagna.

3) The potato slices, kept in water to halt discoloration, are placed in an overlapping layer in the baking dish.

4) The liquid—here, cream—is poured over the casserole, moistening the top layer as it soaks into those below.

5) As a gratin bakes, press down occasionally with a large spoon to scoop up juices that then baste the top layer.

6) Those juices will brown the potatoes as the casserole bakes.

7) Garden Vegetable Gratin

Gratin Recipe
Makes 8 side-dish servings

A layered potato casserole, a gratin (French, grah-TAN) is named for both the technique and the dish it’s baked in: a fairly shallow, oval, oven-safe baking dish. Nonetheless, you can make it in a standard 9 x 13-inch baking dish, more in keeping with standard American kitchenware. Perhaps this use of a standard baking dish is why the casserole’s gotten hitched to “scalloped potatoes” in the United States. In fact, the real thing is less thick, has no cheese, and is more a center-piece for the potatoes themselves.

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350[dg]F. Peel and thinly slice 3 pounds Russet potatoes, place them in a large bowl, cover with cool water, and set aside.

Russets are the best varietal for the best gratin. Sometimes called Russet Burbanks, they’re an American hybrid with white flesh, brown skin, and plenty of natural sugars; they are also full of starch, making them quite fluffy when cooked. That starch will also make a gratin exactly what it is: a casserole thickened with the potatoes’ starch, sort of a potato version of Risotto.

The potatoes need to be cut into slices about 1/8-inch thick–cut lengthwise, to boot, so the strips are as a long as possible. There are three ways to do this:

1. A sharp knife. You need a hefty knife, no cleaver of course, but a chef’s knife for sure. The weight of the tool will help keep the slices even; your steady hand will keep them thin. If you haven’t sharpened the knife in a while, now’s the time to get out the sharpener–or at least get out the steel and hone the blade. Slice off about 1/2 inch from one pointy end of the peeled potato, so it will stand up on the cutting board. Now spray the knife blade with nonstick spray so the starchy potato doesn’t stick to it. (You may need to do this several times during slicing if you notice pieces sticking.) Slice down in slow, steady, thin cuts, about as thick as a piece of elementary-school construction paper. Remove each slice before making the next.
2. A mandoline (pronounced MAN-doh-lin but not to be confused with the stringed instrument, a mandolin). This kitchen tool is an angled plane with an adjustable, razor-sharp blade; items are run repeatedly down the slope and over the blade, thin slices falling through the crack and onto the counter below. Set the blade to [1/8]-inch thickness and use a food grip to run the potatoes their long way over the blade, thereby making long, thin strips. Unlike the technique for using a knife, there’s no benefit here in going slowly[md]indeed, it’s a hindrance. Instead, run the items across the blade at a good, steady clip, pressing down gently but firmly so they come in contact with the blade. Do not attempt to slice the potatoes without using the food grip; many a person has shorn the skin off their fingers thanks to a mandoline (and probably to a mandolin, too). Cheap knock-offs are sometimes sold without the safety grip; invest in a higher-end, professional mandoline or work with a metal glove that can resist the blade.
3. A food processor fitted with the 2-millimeter slicing blade. Place a potato in the slot, turn the machine on, and use the plunger to press the spud down over the spinning blades. You won’t be able to get long slices; the potato will have to go in short end first. And the food processor will “juice” the potato somewhat, its moisture leached out of the whacked-open cells. Still, it’s hard to argue with convenience.
   Put the potato slices in water to leach a little of their starch and help them remain white, rather than oxidizing to a pale brown in the open air. But not too long because too much starch will be lost. Just keep them in the water while you make the following vegetable sauté.

Step 2: Heat 3 tablespoons fat in a large skillet over medium heat.

In general, if the gratin will be made with milk or cream, use unsalted butter; if it will be made with broth and/or wine, use either olive oil, an untoasted nut oil, or a neutral oil like canola or vegetable oil. However, a broth-based gratin made with butter is silky and smooth; a milk-based gratin with olive oil is light and less palate-drenching. Just remember that the fat you use will also probably be the one dotted or drizzled over the dish just before baking. In all cases, stay away from toasted nut and seed oils. And that all said, many a traditional French gratin is made with duck fat, then dotted with unsalted butter. Wow.

Step 3: Add 4 cups packed diced aromatics, a mirepoix; cook, stirring often, until softened, from 3 to 8 minutes.

The mix here is entirely dependent on what you want the final effect to be. Treat all these vegetables as the “spices” of the gratin. How about shredded Brussels sprouts, diced onion, diced zucchini, and shredded carrots? Or a shallot and one or two peeled, cored, and diced apples? Or some chopped, stemmed chard with about 2 ounces chopped bacon? All these bring new flavors to the gratin–some sweeter (carrots and the like); others, more bitter (like Brussels sprouts and chard). None will be used to excess; all must be cooked until almost ready to eat so they continue to dissolve in the casserole as it bakes.

Wet vegetables–sliced mushrooms, diced summer squash–must give off their moisture over the heat; dry, hard vegetables–carrots or seeded winter squash–must be diced into very small pieces so they’ll cook quickly. Oddly, 2 cups diced onion and 2 cups sliced mushrooms will actually take longer over the heat than 1 cup diced onion and 3 cups diced carrot because of the difference in moisture content, the time it takes for the mushrooms to give off their liquid. Since leafy greens are mostly air, you’ll need a double amount because of the way they cook down over the heat. Chopped, they fill the pan too full; add them in batches.

Yes, you can make a gratin with tomatoes, but they must be cooked down thoroughly so as not to water-log the casserole. In truth, if you want a tomato taste with the potatoes, it’s easiest to add tomato paste or sun-dried tomatoes in the next step.

Step 4: Add some minced garlic, perhaps a chopped flavoring agent like pitted olives or sun-dried tomatoes, and up to 2 tablespoons minced herbs and/or 1/2 teaspoon dried spice–as well as 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; cook for 30 seconds to warm through. Then layer the vegetables and the drained potatoes in a 10-cup au gratin dish or a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Garlic is almost irresistible with potatoes; just make sure it’s minced so it doesn’t dot the casserole with nose-spanking bites. Also consider other flavorings: a minced, seeded fresh chile; some sliced sun-dried tomatoes; a dab of tomato paste; a minced, jarred, roasted red pepper; some minced peeled fresh ginger; chopped, pitted black olives; or even a minced anchovy. No more than 1 or 2 tablespoons of any, just as a flavoring. This is a potato dish, after all. Everything else is ornamentation.

Fresh herbs work best–parsley, rosemary, oregano, or a simple combination–but there’s no reason not to pair them with a little dried spices, particularly the sweeter ones like ground mace, grated nutmeg, ground ginger, or ground cumin.

Once you’ve got the vegetable medley softened and aromatic, layer the casserole. Start by blotting the potato slices dry on paper towels to remove any moisture that will increase the cooking time and leach too much liquid into the casserole. Place an overlapping layer of slices in the bottom of the baking dish. Then spread 1/4 to 1/3 cup vegetable mixture over the potatoes. There’s no reason to get crazed over amounts, but remember that this is not a true layer as in, say, a lasagna. Rather, this is a flavoring to the potatoes.

Keep layering, pressing down and compacting as you build the dish, overlapping the slices and using small amounts of vegetable filling each time. There’s no way to say exactly how many layers you’ll make: the potato slices may have been different sizes and there may be slightly different amounts of the vegetable mixture, depending on which vegetables you used. When you see you have enough potato slices for one more layer, add the rest of the vegetables, spread them evenly over the slices, and top with an overlapping layer of these last potato slices.

Step 5: Pour 4 cups (1 quart) milk, broth, or an enhanced version of either over the contents of the baking dish; drizzle or dot with 2 tablespoons fat. Bake uncovered, basting occasionally, until golden and most the liquid has been absorbed, about 2 hours.

Either milk (regular, low-fat, or even fat-free) or chicken, beef, or vegetable broth (avoid fish broth) can be enhanced with up to 1 cup dry white wine, dry sherry, dry vermouth, or heavy cream. However, bear this in mind: too much wine and the dish will be too sweet; too much cream, too heavy.

The fat that goes over the top of the dish is most likely the same one you used to cook the vegetables. However, feel free to mix it up: unsalted butter to cook the vegetables and untoasted walnut oil over the top layer of potatoes; olive oil for the vegetables, unsalted butter over the top.

Gratin Recipe Variations

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this unconventional, friendly cookbook, Weinstein and Scarbrough, the authors of the Ultimate cookbook series, have selected 65 basic savory dishes that, taken together, make up a diverse, international repertoire of nightly dinners. A How to Use section orients readers to the particular style of the book and some important considerations for translating the general explication to the specific recipe. Each general dish, be it a bean soup or tagine, begins with a description of the basic technique, with photos illustrating each step. Included in the description are suggestions for the cook who wants to improvise with different spices or needs to use up that lone parsnip in the refrigerator. Following the recipe is a chart with multiple variations: eight different versions of enchiladas (including turkey and walnut) or eight different meals cooked in parchment packets, such as ratatouille-style fish and Japanese-style chicken. The recipes are structured without being fussy and the majority are relatively easy. This is a welcome rarity, imparting a useful, innovative framework as well as the confidence to depart from it. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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