Interlude for cookbooks.
I like recipes. I am not a creative person in general, and I am really not creative with cooking. I know a few people who are good cooks, and some who can Iron-Chef a pile of random ingredients and come up with something fabulous off the top of their head, but I can turn a pile of random ingredients only into a more compact, cooked pile of random ingredients.* I do, however, like to eat good food. So I depend heavily on cookbooks.
For years, Cook and I boringly depended on cookbooks mostly from the Moosewood juggernaut and Jeanne Lemlin. However, using only cookbooks by a handful of people means that you're stuck cooking meals from a limited arsenal. Jeanne Lemlin, for example, is terrific, but she loves zucchini and red bell peppers to an extent that I cannot match. Also, we try to cook meals that are at least loosely based on what's in season, and those sources are not great for that - zucchini and bell peppers are in EVERYTHING. So we've been diversifying over the last five years or so, and just in the last year I've run into a few recipe sources that have made me really happy - Smitten Kitchen (for baking especially), Melissa Clark, and now Heidi Swanson.**
But I want more. Got any recommendations for me?
*The only exception is simple meals made with really good ingredients, which are almost impossible to really screw up. I can make something good out of pasta, good tomatoes, olive oil, and fresh mozzarella, but so could a baby baboon.
** Cook went to work yesterday with a big container full of coconut, kale, and farro for his lunch, and he was all excited about it. That man is going to live to be 120.
For years, Cook and I boringly depended on cookbooks mostly from the Moosewood juggernaut and Jeanne Lemlin. However, using only cookbooks by a handful of people means that you're stuck cooking meals from a limited arsenal. Jeanne Lemlin, for example, is terrific, but she loves zucchini and red bell peppers to an extent that I cannot match. Also, we try to cook meals that are at least loosely based on what's in season, and those sources are not great for that - zucchini and bell peppers are in EVERYTHING. So we've been diversifying over the last five years or so, and just in the last year I've run into a few recipe sources that have made me really happy - Smitten Kitchen (for baking especially), Melissa Clark, and now Heidi Swanson.**
But I want more. Got any recommendations for me?
*The only exception is simple meals made with really good ingredients, which are almost impossible to really screw up. I can make something good out of pasta, good tomatoes, olive oil, and fresh mozzarella, but so could a baby baboon.
** Cook went to work yesterday with a big container full of coconut, kale, and farro for his lunch, and he was all excited about it. That man is going to live to be 120.
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