The Home Cook – Recipes to know by heart
By: Alex Guarnaschelli
Rating: 5 of 5
I’ve been a fan of Alex Guarnaschelli from watching her as a judge on the “Chopped” television show. I lost track of her once she became an Iron Chef and never really got to see her style of cook except for the special “judge cooks” show on “Chopped”. What little I saw of her style of cooking, I thought highly of. Enough so that I bought “The Home Cook” sight unseen.
I have a decent collection of cookbooks, most of which sit on a bookshelf in my game room and get pulled out for specialty recipes. I have a few tried and trusted cookbooks which get shelf space in my kitchen. After both looking through this cookbook and trying several recipes, “The Home Cook” has its place in my kitchen and will be a cookbook that I use frequently. Along with the wonderful recipes, the cookbook has many beautiful photographs of the finished dishes (some of which I will include in my review on Amazon.)
I love the subtitle of this book “recipes to know by heart”. I agree one hundred percent. The bulk of the recipes are those which Ms. Guarnaschelli has developed herself. In addition to those, she has gifted us with tried and true recipes from her family, including those from both her mother and father. I look at these and see the years of love and work that it took to perfect them. I also see not only her family but mine, too, sitting around a large dining room table to enjoy the wonderful sights and tastes that will derive from this book.
I’m very happy and impressed with the mix of recipes. I really appreciate that there are two chapters (Soups to Start and Soups for Dinner) devoted to soup recipes as I enjoy soup so much myself. Many of my own developed recipes are in the soup family, too. The chapter on supermarket mushrooms is worth the purchase of the book by itself. So many other cookbooks have you running around finding fancy mushrooms but Chef Alex has, as she states made supermarket mushrooms sexy!
So far (and I just got the book this week), I’ve made a few recipes so far which my husband and I have enjoyed tremendously. Roasted Carrots with Cumin and Coriander (who would have thought to add those spices to simple carrots?); Beef Meatball Soup with paprika and Israel Couscous (I make a albondigas meatball soup myself but am really pleased to have a new meatball soup to enjoy); Mom’s Chicken Cacciatore; and My Dad’s Lemon Chicken. I’m looking forward to using this book for years to come and learning the recipes by heart as the author has suggested.
Here are the chapters of the cookbook:
Snacks and Appetizers
Dips, Crudites and Pickled Vegetables
Soups to Start
Soup for Dinner
Italian American Pastas and Classics
New Chicken Classics
Stand-Alone Main Courses
One-Pot and Slow-Cooked Meals
Root Vegetables
Supermarket Mushrooms Made Sexy
The Onion Family
Sauces and Dressings
Salad for Every Season
Salad for Dinner
Grain and Bean Side Dishes
Italian American Cookies
Berries and Juicy Fruits
Cake
Pies, Tarts an Crisps
Quick Breads
Jams and Fruit Condiments
Cocktails
