Cooking
Last week I went through a box of recipes I had clipped from the San Francisco Chronicle. I found recipes dating back to the late 90's! I wish I was as good at organizing as I am at hoarding. Reviewing all those clippings, I can safely say I had saved more recipes written by Marlena Spieler than from anyone else. Spieler has been a writer for the Chronicle for ages and has written tons of cookbooks to boot.
So imagine my pleasure at receiving a review copy of Marlena Spieler's latest book, called Yummy Potatoes 65 Downright Delicious Recipes. And on the same day I posted one of my yummy potato recipes! Potatoes on the brain. I cannot tell you how delectable most of her recipes look! There are Breakfast Potatoes, Tapas, Meze and Antipasti, Soups, Salads, Mashes, Baked, Fried, Sides and a category called "Potatoes for Dinner!" I swear the exclamation point is hers, not mine, but it might as well be mine.
The notes that go with each recipe are filled with wonderful anecdotes like the time she went digging in HRH Prince Charles' garden, or took a class from James Beard and whether it's a story about her Aunt Stellie or her travels through Italy, France or Greece you can't help but wish Marlena were your friend to chat with over a meal. Anecdotes aside, I'll hang onto this book not just for the recipes but also for the inspired combinations like potatoes with lemon juice and olive oil, potatoes and chermoula, potatoes with pasta, tomatoes and cheese and potato enchiladas with red chile sauce. Check out several of the recipe on the Chronicle Books site. Yummy. Potatoes. Indeed!
- Family Cookbooks Roundup Review
I generally avoid reviewing "family cookbooks" because they tend to focus on food for children. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't happen to have any. Happily several new cookbooks also expand the notion of family and as a...
- Sweet Potato Poha Recipe
Not long ago Chef Suvir Saran tipped off Facebook followers, letting us know his poha recipe that was on Tasting Table and urging us to try it. I know how good it feels to have people cook your recipes and so does cookbook author and food writer...
- Mustard Roasted Potatoes: Recipe
In addition to being an absolute pasta freak, I am passionate about potatoes. I could eat pasta everyday and potatoes, probably every other day. I love them every which way. A number of years ago Oprah's personal chef at the time wrote a cookbook...
- Perfect Potato Pancakes
It's not like I haven't made potato pancakes in the past. And I most certainly grew up with them; it was quite common to see advertisements in the daily newspaper for potato pancake sales, benefiting some organization or another. But of all the...
- And Still More Real Food
This time, nice and easy...Potato Cakes with Pancetta and Cheese. Pancetta, cooked crisp. Potatoes (cooked and cooled), grated and formed into patties, cooked in the same pan (with some oil and, of course, butter!), till golden on each side. Top potato...
Cooking
Yummy Potatoes: Cookbook Review
Last week I went through a box of recipes I had clipped from the San Francisco Chronicle. I found recipes dating back to the late 90's! I wish I was as good at organizing as I am at hoarding. Reviewing all those clippings, I can safely say I had saved more recipes written by Marlena Spieler than from anyone else. Spieler has been a writer for the Chronicle for ages and has written tons of cookbooks to boot.
So imagine my pleasure at receiving a review copy of Marlena Spieler's latest book, called Yummy Potatoes 65 Downright Delicious Recipes. And on the same day I posted one of my yummy potato recipes! Potatoes on the brain. I cannot tell you how delectable most of her recipes look! There are Breakfast Potatoes, Tapas, Meze and Antipasti, Soups, Salads, Mashes, Baked, Fried, Sides and a category called "Potatoes for Dinner!" I swear the exclamation point is hers, not mine, but it might as well be mine.
The notes that go with each recipe are filled with wonderful anecdotes like the time she went digging in HRH Prince Charles' garden, or took a class from James Beard and whether it's a story about her Aunt Stellie or her travels through Italy, France or Greece you can't help but wish Marlena were your friend to chat with over a meal. Anecdotes aside, I'll hang onto this book not just for the recipes but also for the inspired combinations like potatoes with lemon juice and olive oil, potatoes and chermoula, potatoes with pasta, tomatoes and cheese and potato enchiladas with red chile sauce. Check out several of the recipe on the Chronicle Books site. Yummy. Potatoes. Indeed!
| READ MORE Over at Bay Area Bites is my review of The Breakaway Cook. |
- Family Cookbooks Roundup Review
I generally avoid reviewing "family cookbooks" because they tend to focus on food for children. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't happen to have any. Happily several new cookbooks also expand the notion of family and as a...
- Sweet Potato Poha Recipe
Not long ago Chef Suvir Saran tipped off Facebook followers, letting us know his poha recipe that was on Tasting Table and urging us to try it. I know how good it feels to have people cook your recipes and so does cookbook author and food writer...
- Mustard Roasted Potatoes: Recipe
In addition to being an absolute pasta freak, I am passionate about potatoes. I could eat pasta everyday and potatoes, probably every other day. I love them every which way. A number of years ago Oprah's personal chef at the time wrote a cookbook...
- Perfect Potato Pancakes
It's not like I haven't made potato pancakes in the past. And I most certainly grew up with them; it was quite common to see advertisements in the daily newspaper for potato pancake sales, benefiting some organization or another. But of all the...
- And Still More Real Food
This time, nice and easy...Potato Cakes with Pancetta and Cheese. Pancetta, cooked crisp. Potatoes (cooked and cooled), grated and formed into patties, cooked in the same pan (with some oil and, of course, butter!), till golden on each side. Top potato...