Paper Palate

I’d be lying if I said photography isn’t important in a cookbook for me. The truth is that I enjoy savoring the photography of a good cookbook almost as much as I enjoy savoring the recipes. The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook delivers beautiful photography, interesting stories, and tasty recipes.

This coffee table-worthy book is presented by Renewing the Countryside. Quoting directly from their website:

Renewing the Countryside strengthens rural areas by championing and supporting rural communities, farmers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, activists and other people who are renewing the countryside through sustainable and innovative initiatives, businesses, and projects. We do this by sharing stories of rural renewal, building awareness and support for sustainable endeavors, connecting people interested in sustainable rural development to each other, providing practical assistance and networking opportunities for those working to improve rural America, and fostering connections between urban and rural people.

The cookbook features local restaurants and merchants who live close to the land of Minnesota and are all about keeping it local. The book gives a marvelous travel tour across the state via the various communities and restaurants featured in the book. You’ll learn many interesting factoids, including: why the trout is so angry and just what the Scandinavian link to Minnesota’s cuisine is.

The recipes range from exotic and fairly difficult to very basic and simple. I tried 3 recipes from the book. All were a success. My family especially enjoyed the Tourlou recipe from page 129 (which is pictured above). But we also enjoyed the Salsa and the Hummus recipes from page 99!

I’ve never been to Minnesota. But after reading this local cookbook, I think I’ll be planning a trip soon! The photography alone makes the book worth it’s $29.99 price. You can purchase the book by clicking here.

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Pure Food by Christine Cushing is a book that offers a wide variety of dishes that focus on freshness and flavor. The recipes are straightforward and emphasize using seasonal ingredients in a way that suits them best. The layout is clean and the photos are bright and inviting. The book begins with a shopping, organizing, and produce companion that provides suggestions for a well-stocked pantry as well as tips on how to use ingredients that you may not be as familiar with. The recipes are divided into seven chapters: Salads, Dips & Starters, Fish & Seafood, Poultry, Meat, Grains & Starches, Veggies & Sides, and finally Fruit & Desserts.  Prep time and cooking time are listed with each recipe and are generally under an hour with some being much less so. Seasonal availability of ingredients is also given with each recipe, which is a nice touch.

As Christine describes at the beginning of the book, there are five very important factors that are woven throughout the book:

Flavour, Flavour, Flavour

Quality of Ingredients

In Season

Ease of Preparation

Health

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A collection of small dishes from the realm where paper meets palate.

New Yorker David Gelin publishes a book on Southern BBQ. The 43-year-old Gelin’s opus, BBQ Joints: Stories and Secret Recipes From the Barbecue Belt (Gibbs Smith Publisher, $15.95) is less a book about BBQ recipes and more an exploration of the people who devote their lives to “Que.” Gelin traversed the Southern states in search of the best, most authentic “joints” in the country; he lists 60 in all. According to the author, “They don’t have these kinds of places up North, and I believe we all ought to seek them out and celebrate them.”

Coastal Living magazine has just released its list of the Top 25 dives in the country. The list includes places like Bozo’s Seafood Market in Pascagoula, MS, R&O Seafood in New Orleans, and Wintzell’s Oyster House in Mobile, AL. The list appears in the April 29 issue of Coastal Living.

What is Kindle? Imagine carrying only one book with you the rest of your life. It is a magic book, mind you, that mystically changes its pages to provide whatever book you want to read. Sounds like science fiction, right? Kindle is Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device and it does just that. Kindle allows you to download hundreds of thousands of books in less than a minute, as well as magazines, your favorite blogs, and even newspapers. Available publications include the New York Times (home of the best food and restaurant section in the country), Vineology (a wine blog), and hundreds of books on diet and nutrition.

Photo courtesy of amazon.com

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Okay, I admit it.  I love Top Chef!  Its one of my “must see” TV shows of each week.  I watch for the drama, the cheesy preening of the Cheftestants, the snarky guest judges, Padma’s outfits, and, of course, the food.  The show is in the midst of its fourth season and I can honestly say that I’ve never missed an episode.  So when I found out about the recently released official companion cookbook to Top Chef, I had to have it!

For those of you who have recently returned from an extended stay on the planet Mars, Top Chef is only the hottest cooking competition on television.  It is an exciting and slickly produced weekly reality show airing on Bravo TV, featuring sixteen aspiring chefs from around the country who compete for the title of Top Chef. Each episode features two challenges. The Quickfire Challenge is designed to test the chefs’ basic knowledge of cooking skills. The winner of each Quickfire is usually afforded immunity in the ensuing Elimination Challenge. The Elimination Challenges are themed challenges where the chefs, affectionately known as the Cheftestants, compete against each other to show their creativity and versatility in the kitchen.  Each week a different celebrity chef joins the regular panel of judges to determine who will be asked to “pack their knives and go.”

The winner of the competition receives $100,000 to be used in the furtherance of his or her career, a feature spread in Food & Wine magazine, a gourmet trip to the French Alps, and a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.  

The Top Chef Cookbook contains over 100 recipes, as well as cooking tips, interviews, chef profiles, and behind-the-scenes stories from the series.  The book is clothed in a white canvas cover inspired by the chefs’ jackets worn by the Cheftestants on the show.  Cute, huh?  Actually, it is a really sharp-looking cookbook with easy-to-follow recipes and lots of great big colorful pictures. If you’re a Top Chef fan, this book is definitely one to have for your collection. Heck, it’s a great book even if you hate the show!

My first creation from Top Chef: The Cookbook is a dish that I have been dying to try ever since I watched Padma practically lick her plate clean while eating it. I’m talking about the Fideos with Clams and Saffron that the infamous Ilan prepared on the show in Season 2.  Ilan, himself, describes it as “one of the most delicious things on Earth.” 

The recipe calls for fideos, which is a type of Spanish pasta similar to angel hair. It is also known as vermicelli. In Spain, fideos are broken into short pieces and used in place of rice in some dishes.  The other main components of the dish are fresh clams, cream, and saffron. The pasta is baked in the oven and then cooked on the stove with the clams, white wine, and tons of caramelized garlic. Then, a saffron cream sauce with tender caulifower is mixed in and the whole thing is browned under the broiler. It sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn’t.  From start to finish, this recipe took me less than an hour to prepare. 

I’m telling you, words cannot adequately describe how wonderful this dish was! The briny saltiness of the clams melded right into the mellow sweetness of the cream sauce, creating taste sensations that were out of this world!  

Whether you loved Ilan, hated Ilan, or loved to hate Ilan, you must try his dish. I promise, you won’t regret it.  I really think it just might be one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted!

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I’m feeling far from summery - there is a huge black cloud drawing up that has made my loft so dark I need the lights on and it’s only 2 in the afternoon!

Still the recipes in the June issue of Delicious at least give some indication that summer is on its way. Barbecues feature heavily, which will be a boon for lovers of our sister site Get Your Grill On. Kicking off with Tequila Bloody Mary’s, Jerk Chicken and Mexican Barbecued Pork Belly and going on to Refried Beans, Guacamole and Barbecued Corn Salad it all sounds very American. I just wonder how authentic those on the far side of the pond will find them?

Flicking back a couple of pages the barbecue continues with Swordfish Steak with Chermoula, Tandoori Chicken, Turkish Lamb Burgers, Buffalo Chicken Wings and something called Alabama Pork Ribs. Plenty enough recipes here to keep us all going through the (British) Summer.

Even a smug looking Jamie Oliver (sporting a fetching blackberry coloured lipstick) gets in on the BBQ front giving us Crispy Barbecued Side of Salmon with Cucumber Yoghurt, Incredible Smashed Peas and Broad Beans on Toast and a few others. Only the Grilled Strawberries with Pimm’s and Vanilla Ice-cream fails to inspire.

In fact the dessert front is a bit disappointing this month, perhaps we are not supposed to be eating desserts during the summer! But there is a Pineapple Carpaccio and a Apple Granita with Wine Jelly that I wouldn’t mind having a go at (but I’ll skip the Banana Caramel Bavarois thanks - bananas . . . ekkk!) They do have ice-cream recipes though — a decent-sounding basic one to which they recommend different additions to jazz it up. How about Cinnamon Fruit Loaf Ice-cream for example?

I haven’t had a chicken since HFW started his chicken out campaign. I can’t really afford an £11 bird and refuse to eat a battery bird (that costs £2.50) but I might treat myself soon to enjoy the Chicken with Asparagus and rice. Interestingly the asparagus is used to stuff the chicken. (For a novel way to serve asparagus have a look at Scotch Woodcock and Asparagus on Toast). The Chorizo, wild and red rice-stuffed Poussin recipe also caught my eye; that Spanish twist is yet another perfect summery dish.

Oh look the wind has blown the clouds right over toward Reading. The sun is out! Anyone for a barbie?

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