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The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from an Obsessive Home Cook Hardcover – Illustrated, October 30, 2012
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NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Celebrated food blogger and best-selling cookbook author Deb Perelman knows just the thing for a Tuesday night, or your most special occasion—from salads and slaws that make perfect side dishes (or a full meal) to savory tarts and galettes; from Mushroom Bourguignon to Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe.
“Innovative, creative, and effortlessly funny." —Cooking Light
Deb Perelman loves to cook. She isn’t a chef or a restaurant owner—she’s never even waitressed. Cooking in her tiny Manhattan kitchen was, at least at first, for special occasions—and, too often, an unnecessarily daunting venture. Deb found herself overwhelmed by the number of recipes available to her. Have you ever searched for the perfect birthday cake on Google? You’ll get more than three million results. Where do you start? What if you pick a recipe that’s downright bad?
With the same warmth, candor, and can-do spirit her award-winning blog, Smitten Kitchen, is known for, here Deb presents more than 100 recipes—almost entirely new, plus a few favorites from the site—that guarantee delicious results every time.
Gorgeously illustrated with hundreds of her beautiful color photographs, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is all about approachable, uncompromised home cooking. Here you’ll find better uses for your favorite vegetables: asparagus blanketing a pizza; ratatouille dressing up a sandwich; cauliflower masquerading as pesto. These are recipes you’ll bookmark and use so often they become your own, recipes you’ll slip to a friend who wants to impress her new in-laws, and recipes with simple ingredients that yield amazing results in a minimum amount of time.
Deb tells you her favorite summer cocktail; how to lose your fear of cooking for a crowd; and the essential items you need for your own kitchen. From salads and slaws that make perfect side dishes (or a full meal) to savory tarts and galettes; from Mushroom Bourguignon to Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake, Deb knows just the thing for a Tuesday night, or your most special occasion.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherKnopf
- Publication dateOctober 30, 2012
- Dimensions8.32 x 1.19 x 9.41 inches
- ISBN-10030759565X
- ISBN-13978-0307595652
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Asks: Deb Perelman
Q. What's your elevator pitch for The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook? (Or what inspired you to fill this niche?)
A. My hope is that The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is filled with your new favorite things to cook--approachable recipes made with accessible ingredients that exceed your expectations.
Q. Which upcoming fall cookbooks are you most excited about?
A. I am ridiculously excited about Ottolenghi's new Jerusalem book, as I've loved everything he's made so far. I have already tried out a couple recipes from the Mile End Cookbook, and can tell it's going to be an obsession all winter. I just spied brown butter snickerdoodles in the new Baked Elements book; I am pretty sure that needs to happen immediately. And I've been cooking out of the Sprouted Kitchencookbook and everything has been fresh, wholesome and stunning.
Q. What's on your nightstand? Your Kindle?
A. An Everlasting Meal (Tamar Adler), The Tenth Muse(Judith Jones), A Peace To End All Peace (David Fromkin) and I Want My Hat Back (Jon Klassen), all print. Can you guess which one my toddler left there?
Q. What’s your favorite restaurant—or the best place you’ve eaten recently?
A. My husband and I are the last people to get to The Breslin in the Ace Hotel, but it doesn't matter, we fell head over heels and have been back three times in three months. The crispy boiled peanuts, lamb burger, fresh, crunchy salads and their grapefruit gin-and-tonic are unforgettable.
Q. What's been your most memorable moment so far as an author (or blogger)?
A. The process of planning the book tour -- making the jump from someone who types things to strangers who might or might not be listening via her laptop to someone who is going to show up in various cities at specific times to hang out with these strangers -- is wild. I am not sure I've gotten my head around it yet, but I still can't wait to get on the road.
Q. What other talent would you most like to have (not including flight or invisibility)?
A. Well, I wish I could dance.
Q. What are you obsessed with now?
A. I've been on a running kick, although I'm really bad at it. No really: terrible. But strangely, that's my favorite part. Starting my day completely humbled by my inability to run half as long or fast as these people on the other treadmills (who can probably dance, too), well, the day only gets better from there. I'm hooked.
Q. What's next for you?
A. The moon! Just kidding. I really hope to just keep doing what I'm doing -- cooking, writing, having fun with my family and running around NYC like a tourist. My goals are less rooted in a desire for a designer kitchen (though, you know, if you have one lying around...) and balcony overlooking Central Park and more a hope that I'll keep having fun doing what I do, so that it feels as un-work-like as possible.
From Publishers Weekly
From Booklist
Review
Praise for Deb Perelman and The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
“[Deb’s recipes] deliver in a big showstopping way, which is why she’s my go-to for holiday entertaining.”
—Jenny Rosenstrach, author of Dinner: A Love Story
“The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is nothing short of stunning. Deb's photos are breathtaking, and her collection of recipes—a marvelous combination of familiar/reassuring and urban/daring—is just glorious. I had no idea how Deb could possibly outdo what she already does so beautifully on her website, but she has. The bar for cookbooks has officially been set.”
—Ree Drummond, author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks
“Deb Perelman is the no-nonsense girlfriend who tells you what's what in the kitchen. The one who always knows exactly what you're in the mood for, how to make the best version of it, and, most important, how to save you from screwing it up. Perelman is a little bossy, and a lot opinionated. But you adore her for it. She will do right by you when you need that potluck dish, that birthday cupcake. You'll soak up every word of her confident, amusing writing, you'll be beguiled by her gorgeous food photography—you'll be smitten, indeed.”
—Amanda Hesser, co-founder of Food52.com and author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook
“A joy to read. . . . Prepare to be seduced.” —Los Angeles Times
"[Perelman] is innovative, creative, and effortlessly funny." —Cooking Light
“This is the book that every cook needs in their kitchen. Deb's obsession with getting it right, and her practical cooking tips garnered from cooking in a modest kitchen, ensure that anyone will have the same success that her millions of followers, including me, have come to expect. I want to cook each and every one of these recipes—right now!”
—David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris
“I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time. It is a 320-page gem of well-tested, beautifully photographed, wonderfully curated recipes. Part of the brilliance here is the range of inspiration—weeknight-friendly recipes, treats sure to win hearts and smiles, and plenty of family-style inspiration for potlucks and get-togethers.”
—Heidi Swanson, author of Super Natural Every Day (and 101cookbooks.com)
"Perelman's no-fuss yet inspiring recipes appeal to people with modest kitchens, little counter space and an affinity for a no-nonsense approach to good eats. Sound like anyone you know?" —USA Today
“Good news, everyone! The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook has arrived just in time. . . . Given how difficult it was to find a spare copy of the book, all of our mothers are about to be impressed.”
—Boston Phoenix
“As someone who spends way too much time online already, I’m delighted that Perelman has put her sumptuous recipes into a form that sits nicely on my kitchen counter. . . . A winner!”
—The Saturday Evening Post
“Perelman is the queen of food bloggers.”
—The Record
“Deb Perelman's collection of recipes is mouth-watering. . . . [She] projects an inviting warmth and chattiness. She's funny . . . and self-deprecating enough to ease your culinary insecurities.”
—The Christian Science Monitor
“If you’re looking for some new spice in your diet or a quick, yet elegant dish to serve at a dinner party, try out The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. The results will be rewarding and impossible to resist.”
—Iowa State Daily
“Worth the wait.”
—The Boston Globe
“We've been admirers of Deb Perelman and her cooking blog Smitten Kitchen for years, and are stoked that her simple, elegant recipes and gorgeous photos have finally made their way into a cookbook. . . . With more than 300 photos taken by Perelman, chronicling everything from step-by-step how to's to beauty shots of the final dishes, the finished product looks as good as we're sure the recipes will taste.”
—SF Weekly
“It’s a lovely book to hold, to read—and to cook from.”
—Montreal Gazette
“[Deb] has the matter-of-factness of Mark Bittman, but the zing and eye for decadence of David Chang. Not to mention, the whole package looks as sumptuous as the dishes contained therein. . . . All the while, she writes like a good friend who just happens to be a whiz in the kitchen. Smitten is exactly what you’ll be by this book.”
—The Forward
One of “this fall’s best new cookbooks”
—The National Post
“A solid collection of interesting and useful recipes. . . . Includes lots of great general cooking knowledge that even veteran home cooks will appreciate.”
—BlogHer
“This fearless home cook’s humorous anecdotes and delectable photos make for a food blog-gone-book that translates beautifully into any kitchen.’”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Two years ago I started reading (and devouring) the Smitten Kitchen blog. I have since made more than thirty of her recipes and have been waiting for her forthcoming first cookbook.”
—The Paris Review (blog)
“Perelman’s supremely helpful, visually stunning, wittily worded food blog really did deserve to be named one of 2011’s best blogs. . . . Perelman’s recipes are accessible but not Betty Crocker plain; this is fun, energized eating. Get it!”
—Library Journal
“A blog with a wonderfully homey feel . . . [Perelman’s] creations are . . . mouthwatering.”
—Time, a Best Blog of 2011
“For four years, Deb Perelman has been blogging her cooking pursuits from her tiny New York City kitchen as a newlywed and then as a new mother. This is the result of hours spent perfecting her own recipes and interpreting those of the best food publications out there. Some of the recipes featured can be complicated, but you have Deb’s warm chatter, funny anecdotes, encyclopedic knowledge of food and cookbooks, cooking, and gorgeous photography getting you through it. She’s a farmers’ market shopper and hence her blog is completely seasonal, and archived that way as well. You'll see her tackle the impossible—a wedding cake—and the very simple, ‘How to Turn a Bucket of Cheap Tomatoes into a Perfect Pot of Sauce.’ Do we really have to wait until 2012 for the Smitten Kitchen cookbook?”
—Gwyneth Paltrow, on her blog GOOP
“Smitten Kitchen reads like a conversation with a witty friend who can recommend the perfect nosh for any occasion.”
—O, The Oprah Magazine
“Warm and encouraging, the photos are pure food porn, and the something-for-everyone recipes sound sublime.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Perelman’s thoughtful prose and sometimes humorous posts read like an e-mail from your best friend—only with better photos.”
—Better Homes and Gardens
“An enthusiastic kitchen amateur chronicles her adventures, offering a mix of easy recipes, smart and witty commentary, and beautiful photos.”
—Real Simple
“One of our favorite cooking blogs . . . We are big fans of Deb Perelman—the founder, cook, writer, and photographer behind the whole operation—and her gorgeous food photos, simple recipes, and charming voice.”
—Everyday Food
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Tres Leches Rice Pudding
yield: serves 8
1 cup (180 grams) long-grain white rice
¾ teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
One 12-ounce can (1½ cups or 355 ml) evaporated milk
One 13.5-ounce can (17/8 cups or 415 ml) unsweetened coconut milk
One 14-ounce can (1¼ cups or 390 grams) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) heavy or whipping cream, chilled
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Ground cinnamon, to finish
My list of rice pudding loves is long. There’s the Danish risalamande, with chopped almonds, whipped cream, and a sour cherry sauce, usually served at Christmas with a prize inside—one that I never win, not that I’ve been trying for thirteen years at my best friend’s house or anything. There’s kheer, with cardamom, cashews or pistachios, and saffron. There’s rice pudding the way our grandmothers made it, baked for what feels like an eternity, with milk, eggs, and sugar. And there’s arroz con leche, which is kind of like your Kozy Shack went down to Costa Rica for a lazy weekend and came back enviously tan, sultry, and smelling of sandy shores. As you can tell, I really like arroz con leche.
But this—a riff on one of the best variants of arroz con leche I’ve made, which, in its original incarnation on my site, I adapted from Ingrid Hoffmann’s wonderful recipe—is my favorite, for two reasons: First, it knows me. (That’s the funny thing about the recipes I create!) It knows how preposterously bad I am at keeping stuff in stock in my kitchen, like milk, but that I seem always to have an unmoved collection of canned items and grains. Second, it���s so creamy that it’s like a pudding stirred into another pudding.
The rice is cooked first in water. I prefer to start my rice pudding recipes like this, because I’m convinced that cooking the rice first in milk takes twice as long and doesn’t get the pudding half as creamy. Also, it gives me a use for those cartons of white rice left over from the Chinese take- out I only occasionally (cough) succumb to. Then
you basically cook another pudding on top of it, with one egg and three milks—coconut, evaporated, and sweetened condensed—and the end result will be the richest and most luxurious rice pudding imaginable. But why stop there? For the times when the word “Enough!” has escaped your vocabulary, I recommend topping it with a dollop of cinnamon- dusted whipped cream, for the icing on the proverbial cake.
Pancetta, White Bean, and Swiss Chard Pot Pies
Over the years, we’ve had a lot of dinner parties. I’ve made mussels and fries and red pepper soup; I’ve made meatballs and spaghetti repeatedly; brisket and noodles were on repeat until I got the kinks ironed out of the recipe in this chapter, and there was this one time when I decided to make nothing but delicate flatbreads for dinner. It was a terrible idea. Don’t do this unless you want to spend three days making doughs and mincing vegetables, only to have everyone leave hungry.
I’m pretty sure if you asked my friends what the very best thing I’ve ever served them was, they’d still go on about chicken pot pies I made from an Ina Garten recipe all those years ago. People, it turns out, go berserk for comfort food—especially comfort food with a flaky pastry lid—doubly so on a rainy night. I liked them too, but the chicken— which often ends up getting cooked twice—has always been my least favorite part. What I do like is the buttery velouté that forms the sauce, and it was from there that I decided to make a pot pie I’d choose over chicken, peas, and carrots any night of the week.
You really have to try this for a dinner party, especially if your guests were expecting something fancy. The crust and stews can be made up to 24 hours in advance, and need only to be baked to come to the table; this means that you could spend that time getting cute, or at least making pudding for dessert. And if people are expecting the same old same old beneath the lid, this will be a good surprise—the lid is so flaky, it’s closer to a croissant than a pie crust, and the pancetta, beans, and greens make a perfect stew, one you’d enjoy even without a bronzed crust. But, you know, it helps.
yield: serves 4
Lid
2 cups (250 grams) all- purpose flour
½ teaspoon table salt
13 tablespoons (185 grams or 1 stick plus 5 tablespoons) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons (90 grams) sour cream or whole Greek yogurt (i.e., a strained yogurt)
1 tablespoon (15 ml) white wine vinegar
¼ cup (60 ml) ice water
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Filling
2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
4 ounces (115 grams or ¾ to 1 cup)
¼-inch-diced pancetta
1 large or 2 small onions, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 large stalk celery, finely chopped
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
Thinly sliced Swiss chard leaves from an 8-to-10-ounce ( 225-to-285-gram) bundle (4 cups); if leaves are very wide, you can halve them lengthwise
3½ tablespoons (50 grams) butter
3½ tablespoons (25 grams) all- purpose flour
3¼ cups (765 ml) sodium- free or low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups white beans, cooked and drained, or from one and a third 15.5-ounce (440-gram) cans
Make Lids
In a large, wide bowl (preferably one that you can get your hands into), combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender, cut them up and into the flour mixture until it resembles little pebbles. Keep breaking up the bits of butter until the texture is like uncooked couscous. In a small dish, whisk together the sour cream, vinegar, and water, and combine it with the butter-flour mixture. Using a flexible spatula, stir the wet and the dry together until a craggy dough forms. If needed, get your hands into the bowl to knead it a few times into one big ball. Pat it into a flattish ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it in the fridge for 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Make Filling
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat in a large, wide saucepan, and then add the pancetta. Brown the pancetta, turning it frequently, so that it colors and crisps on all sides; this takes about 10 minutes. Remove it with a slotted spoon, and drain it on paper towels before transferring to a medium bowl. Leave the heat on and the renderings in the pan. Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil if needed and heat it until it is shimmering. Add onions, carrot, celery, red pepper flakes, and a few pinches of salt, and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are softened and begin to take on color, about 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute more. Add the greens and cook until wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with the additional salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Transfer all of the cooked vegetables to the bowl with the pancetta, and set aside.
Make Sauce
Wipe out the large saucepan; don’t worry if any bits remain stuck to the bottom. Then melt the butter in the saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the fl our, and stir with a whisk until combined. Continue cooking for 2 minutes, stirring the whole time, until it begins to take on a little color. Whisk in the broth, one ladleful at a time, mixing completely between additions. Once you’ve added one-third of the broth, you can begin to add the rest more quickly, two to three ladlefuls at a time; at this point you can scrape up any bits that were stuck to the bottom—they’ll add great flavor.
Once all of the broth is added, stirring the whole time, bring the mixture to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Cook the sauce until it is thickened and gravylike, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir the white beans and reserved vegetables into the sauce.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Assemble and Cook Pot Pies
Divide the filling between four ovenproof 2-cup bowls. (You’ll have about 1½ cups filling in each.) Set the bowls on a baking pan. Divide the dough into four pieces, and roll it out into rounds that will cover your bowls with an overhang, or about 1 inch wider in diameter than your bowls. Whisk the egg wash and brush it lightly around the top rim of your bowls (to keep the lid glued on; nobody likes losing their lid!) and drape the pastry over each, pressing gently to adhere it. Brush the lids with egg wash, then cut decorative vents in each to help steam escape. Bake until crust is lightly bronzed and filling is bubbling, about 30 to 35 minutes.
Do Ahead
The dough, wrapped twice in plastic wrap and slipped into a freezer bag, will keep for up to 2 days in the fridge, and for a couple months in the freezer. The filling can be made up to a day in advance and stored in a covered container in the fridge.
Cooking Note
For a vegetarian version, skip the pancetta and cook your vegetables in 2 tablespoons olive oil instead of 1.
Plum Poppy Seed Muffins
She hasn’t said so in so many words, but I have a hunch that my editor thinks I should explain why it took me no fewer than seven muffin recipes to stop fussing and find the perfect one to tell you about. Are muffin recipes that hard to come up with? No, not really. Do we perhaps just enjoy eating muffins so much that I looked for excuses to make more? Unfortunately, not that either. Am I really so terribly indecisive? Apparently, yes, but only in what I believed to be the quest for the greater muffin good. Okay, fine, and when I’m choosing earrings.
What finally led me here was, innocently enough, a basket of boring-looking lemon-poppy seed muffins at a bakery one morning;
they got me wondering when poppy seeds would come untethered from lemon’s grasp. Poppy seeds are delightful on their own— faintly nutty bordering on fruity—but they also play well with fruit that is richer in flavor and texture than lemon. Inspired, I went home and, a short while later, finally pulled a muffin out of the oven I’d change nothing about. Poppy seeds, plums, browned butter, brown sugar, and sour cream form a muffin that’s rich with flavor, dense with fruit, and yet restrained enough to still feel like breakfast food. Seven rounds and six months in, I bet somewhere my editor is breathing a sigh of relief.
yield: 12 standard muffins
6 tablespoons (3 ounces or 85 grams) unsalted butter, melted and browned and cooled, plus butter for muffin cups
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
¼ cup (50 grams) packed dark or light brown sugar
¾ cup (180 grams) sour cream or a rich, full-fat plain yogurt
½ cup (60 grams) whole- wheat flour
1 cup (125 grams) all- purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons (20 grams) poppy seeds
2 cups pitted and diced plums, from about ¾ pound (340 grams) Italian prune plums (though any plum variety will do)
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Butter twelve muffin cups.
Whisk the egg with both sugars in the bottom of a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter, then the sour cream. In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and poppy seeds, and then stir them into the sour- cream mixture until it is just combined and still a bit lumpy. Fold in the plums.
Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Rest muffins in the pan on a cooling rack for 2 minutes, then remove them from the tin to cool them completely.
Do Ahead
Generally, I think muffins are best on the first day, but these surprise me by being twice as moist, with even more developed flavors, on day two. They’re just a little less crisp on top after being in an airtight container overnight.
Cooking Note
You don’t create seven muffin recipes in a year without learning a few things. I found that you could dial back the sugar in most recipes quite a bit and not miss much (though, if you find that you do, a dusting of powdered sugar or a powdered-sugar-lemon- juice glaze works well here); that a little whole-wheat flour went a long way to keep muffins squarely in the breakfast department; that you can almost always replace sour cream with buttermilk or yogurt, but I like sour cream best. Thick batters—batters almost like cookie dough—keep fruit from sinking, and the best muffins have more fruit inside than seems, well, seemly. And, finally, in almost any muffin recipe, olive oil can replace butter, but people like you more when you use butter— and if you brown that butter first, you might have trouble getting them to leave.
Product details
- Publisher : Knopf; 1st edition (October 30, 2012)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 030759565X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0307595652
- Item Weight : 2.91 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.32 x 1.19 x 9.41 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #23,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #36 in Vegetable Cooking (Books)
- #41 in Seasonal Cooking (Books)
- #72 in Cooking for One or Two
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author
![Deb Perelman](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/jtdssv4rsc92ituqj1ht4a4m1t._SY600_.jpg)
Deb Perelman is a self-taught home cook, photographer, and the creator of smittenkitchen.com. She is the author of three New York Times bestselling cookbooks including The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, which won the IACP Julia Child Award. Deb lives in New York City with her husband and two of the cutest kids she's ever met.
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Customers find the recipes delicious and easy to follow. They also appreciate the fabulous photos and writing quality. Readers describe the book as entertaining and full of unique but easy recipes. They find the content innovative, versatile, and inspiring, inspiring them to move outside their comfort zone and try new things. They describe the blog as great and the characters as charming and wonderful additions to setting up the reason.
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Customers find the recipes in the book delicious, seasonal, and easy to find in one place. They also say the breakfast section has several winners, including baked ranchero eggs with blistered tomatoes. Readers are also delighted to find a well-rounded selection of cakes, pies, tarts, and cookies. They say the book is beautifully done and has a lot of recipes they would like to make.
"...It was so much fun to make and so delicious. I made it once myself and the other time w/ my 11 year old niece...." Read more
"...The photographs are amazing, crisp and clean and not out of focus (like Pioneer Woman's)...." Read more
"...down-to earth cookbook with amazing pictures, and wonderful stories to frame the recipes then get this book at once! You will not be disappointed...." Read more
"I have made the whole wheat raspberry ricotta scones and they were wonderful and the Leek Fritters with Garlic and Lemon...pan friend with amazing..." Read more
Customers find the instructions in the book easy to follow and the recipes easy to read. They also appreciate the author's friendly approach and meticulous attention to detail.
"...I love her stories, her meticulous attention to detail, her obsessiveness with perfection and the fact that she will make a recipe 50x until she..." Read more
"...The granola was easy, and as promised, made large chunks of granola. I did not have the coconut or walnuts, so used raw sunflower seeds instead...." Read more
"...Her recipes are creative, inspiring, scrumptious, and yet absolutely approachable...." Read more
"...BOTTOM LINEAre these recipes good? Yes!Are they easy? Yes, but maybe not for absolute beginners.Are they quick?..." Read more
Customers find the photos in the book fabulous.
"...The photographs are amazing, crisp and clean and not out of focus (like Pioneer Woman's)...." Read more
"...or just on a look out for a great down-to earth cookbook with amazing pictures, and wonderful stories to frame the recipes then get this book at..." Read more
"...Each recipe includes at LEAST one full-page, full-color photograph, and most also have photos of the ingredients or a few of the steps involved...." Read more
"...to see if you're food is on track with the recipe then these pictures are priceless...." Read more
Customers find the author's charming notes, quick wit, and humor translate beautifully in print. They also enjoy her conversational style, honesty, and personality. Readers also mention the cooking notes are helpful in knowing what can be substituted. They say the instructions are straight-forward enough.
"...Her approach to cooking and baking is a fun, hilarious and delicious adventure, and I can't believe anyone who has actually read this book or COOKED..." Read more
"...* The author includes a clever/funny/witty/entertaining short story before each recipe that gives some history/insight into how she acquired the..." Read more
"...This cookbook has personality, depth, and humor. These are things I want in a cookbook, if you do too, pick up a copy!" Read more
"...I flipped through I haven't seen before, and her quick wit and humor translate beautifully in print...." Read more
Customers find the book entertaining and full of unique but easy recipes. They also say it's worth sharing.
"...Her approach to cooking and baking is a fun, hilarious and delicious adventure, and I can't believe anyone who has actually read this book or COOKED..." Read more
"...* The author includes a clever/funny/witty/entertaining short story before each recipe that gives some history/insight into how she acquired the..." Read more
"...stories, like in her blog that talk about each recipe and they are fun to read. The pictures make you want to eat everything...." Read more
"...Deb has come up with so many exciting and flavorful..." Read more
Customers find the book's content practical, realistic, and easy to follow. They also appreciate the useful commentary and inspiration. Readers also say the recipes are delicious, good for you, and enticing. They say the book will make them a better cook and is elegant yet down home.
"...She gives wonderful tips on using parchment, saves you time washing dishes by suggesting reusing certain bowls, and she tries to keep things easy..." Read more
"...Prefacing each recipe are delightful stories, suggestions, ideas, and personal family anecdotes that not only help frame these recipes but set a..." Read more
"...This cookbook will make you a better cook, her cooking style is elegant yet down home and that is something that I strive to achieve in my own..." Read more
"...put together the day before and throw in the oven in the morning... handy and yummy). The "cheddar swirl breakfast buns" are next on my list...." Read more
Customers find the blog great and the cookbook a great companion to her online posts. They also say the pictures are beautiful and divine. Readers also mention that the writing is genius and that everything turns out okay.
"...To date, I made four of Deb's recipes this week and all were successful and delicious and I will make each of them again...." Read more
"...Everything turned out okay, not as good looking compared to hers but edible...." Read more
"...love the blog: witty stories, vivid photos, trusted recipes, and amazing results...." Read more
"...find it refreshing that she stuck to the same personal, candid style of her blog." Read more
Customers find the stories in the book amazing, with personal insights that are homespun and engaging. They also appreciate the author's detailed writing about each character. Readers also mention that the book is full of hidden treasures, good directions, and anticipates a lot of questions. They find the antidotes charming and a wonderful addition to setting up the reason.
"...There are cute little stories, like in her blog that talk about each recipe and they are fun to read. The pictures make you want to eat everything...." Read more
"...worked (just like her blog recipes always work), and the stories and pictures were great...." Read more
"...I find her antidotes charming and a wonderful addition to setting up the reason you need to get to your kitchen and bake/cook IMMEDIATELY...." Read more
"...5. I adore the stories. It's like cooking with a good friend I've known for years...." Read more
Reviews with images
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So far I've made the following:
-gingersnap pumpkin tart (twice)
-deep dish apple pie
-ratatouille sub (three times)
-blueberry cornmeal cake
I made the pumpkin cheesecake tart for thanksgiving and I thought it was delicious. The apple pie was seriously the best apple pie I've ever had - and I used a combination of golden delicious and granny smith. It was perfect. I added an extra 1/3 cup of sugar b/c i used granny smith as my "other" apple...and I felt the sweetness was perfect this way.
Ratatouille is my favorite pixar movie and I was delighted to see it in the book. It was so much fun to make and so delicious. I made it once myself and the other time w/ my 11 year old niece. We had a blast making it and even more fun eating it on sourdough subs w/ melted provolone (didn't have baguettes or goat cheese on hand but it was delicious anyhow!).
The blueberry cake tasted like the ideal blueberry muffin (in a square) and the texture, sweetness and delicious streusel topping were absolute perfection.
Some of the reviewers complained that her intros to each recipe are too lengthy. Honestly, my favorite part of going through my cookbooks (other than cooking and eating) is reading each story behind the recipe. It helps me understand how she came up with it and why, so it's not just a hodgepodge of randomly selected recipes in her book....but there's a reason.
She made a deep dish apple pie b/c one wasn't cutting it and two didn't look cool on the table, so she came up w/ a monstrous pie to satisfy everyone's cravings. The pumpkin tart has a gingersnap/graham crust (toddler-pleasing) + cheesecake swirled in (husband-pleasing) plus a thin pumpkin layer (deb-pleasing) for an all-in-one thanksgiving/fall dessert.
I love her stories, her meticulous attention to detail, her obsessiveness with perfection and the fact that she will make a recipe 50x until she gets it just right.
What that means for me as a home cook/baker, work-at-home-mom and extremely time-pressed mom of 2 little boys who spends every spare minute in the kitchen (with another baby on the way) is that as long as I follow her recipe (exactly for baking, and roughly for cooking) that I will be guaranteed excellent results. I've never made something and sat there going "huh?" No. Her recipes work. She won't publish something online or in her book that will leaves you frustrated or feeling pissed that you spent $50 on ingredients that are now in the garbage.
She gives wonderful tips on using parchment, saves you time washing dishes by suggesting reusing certain bowls, and she tries to keep things easy for the sake of simplicity.
Her approach to cooking and baking is a fun, hilarious and delicious adventure, and I can't believe anyone who has actually read this book or COOKED through this book would give it less than 5 stars.
Love this book. Love her web site. I will forever be a loyal fan and can't wait to keep cooking through it! I've posted two pics of my pie and tart. Kind of grainy b/c i took it in low light w/ my (ancient) iphone but you'll see that they turned out as promised.
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/transparent-pixel._V192234675_.gif)
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2012
So far I've made the following:
-gingersnap pumpkin tart (twice)
-deep dish apple pie
-ratatouille sub (three times)
-blueberry cornmeal cake
I made the pumpkin cheesecake tart for thanksgiving and I thought it was delicious. The apple pie was seriously the best apple pie I've ever had - and I used a combination of golden delicious and granny smith. It was perfect. I added an extra 1/3 cup of sugar b/c i used granny smith as my "other" apple...and I felt the sweetness was perfect this way.
Ratatouille is my favorite pixar movie and I was delighted to see it in the book. It was so much fun to make and so delicious. I made it once myself and the other time w/ my 11 year old niece. We had a blast making it and even more fun eating it on sourdough subs w/ melted provolone (didn't have baguettes or goat cheese on hand but it was delicious anyhow!).
The blueberry cake tasted like the ideal blueberry muffin (in a square) and the texture, sweetness and delicious streusel topping were absolute perfection.
Some of the reviewers complained that her intros to each recipe are too lengthy. Honestly, my favorite part of going through my cookbooks (other than cooking and eating) is reading each story behind the recipe. It helps me understand how she came up with it and why, so it's not just a hodgepodge of randomly selected recipes in her book....but there's a reason.
She made a deep dish apple pie b/c one wasn't cutting it and two didn't look cool on the table, so she came up w/ a monstrous pie to satisfy everyone's cravings. The pumpkin tart has a gingersnap/graham crust (toddler-pleasing) + cheesecake swirled in (husband-pleasing) plus a thin pumpkin layer (deb-pleasing) for an all-in-one thanksgiving/fall dessert.
I love her stories, her meticulous attention to detail, her obsessiveness with perfection and the fact that she will make a recipe 50x until she gets it just right.
What that means for me as a home cook/baker, work-at-home-mom and extremely time-pressed mom of 2 little boys who spends every spare minute in the kitchen (with another baby on the way) is that as long as I follow her recipe (exactly for baking, and roughly for cooking) that I will be guaranteed excellent results. I've never made something and sat there going "huh?" No. Her recipes work. She won't publish something online or in her book that will leaves you frustrated or feeling pissed that you spent $50 on ingredients that are now in the garbage.
She gives wonderful tips on using parchment, saves you time washing dishes by suggesting reusing certain bowls, and she tries to keep things easy for the sake of simplicity.
Her approach to cooking and baking is a fun, hilarious and delicious adventure, and I can't believe anyone who has actually read this book or COOKED through this book would give it less than 5 stars.
Love this book. Love her web site. I will forever be a loyal fan and can't wait to keep cooking through it! I've posted two pics of my pie and tart. Kind of grainy b/c i took it in low light w/ my (ancient) iphone but you'll see that they turned out as promised.
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Lm-jZjQCL._SY88.jpg)
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51StkaBc5EL._SY88.jpg)
The photographs are amazing, crisp and clean and not out of focus (like Pioneer Woman's). Like Deb, I have a tiny kitchen and I liked the peek into her kitchen. Deb is not a blogging juggernaut; she comes across as a good home cook who cooks so she can eat the food she likes.
I have to eat a gluten free diet for health reasons and was pleased to see many of her recipes are either gluten free naturally or can be adapted easily; for instance, her Leek Fritters only call for 1/4 cup of all purpose flour, so substituting a neutral GF flour works perfectly here. I made them the other night and was amazed at how a few simple ingredients made something so addictive. The recipe was also easy to adapt to use different vegetables; I've made them since with cooked asparagus instead of leeks and they turned out wonderfully. They were a tad salty to my taste, but this may have been a difference in salt, so I just dialed the salt down the next time I made them.
So far in the sweets section I've only made the chocolate roll-out cookies, which were easy enough (though the dough was very stiff at first) and got a thumbs-up from my kids. Looking forward to making the granola and the latkes and the lemon bars, just to name a few.
Some people have commented that the layout of the book makes it awkward for cooking. I've noticed that is true on a few recipes, where the ingredients are on a righthand page and then the directions are on the page after that...this was an editing snafu, but is no reflection on the recipes themselves. If anything it will encourage me to gather my ingredients first, as one should, and then proceed with the recipe.
UPDATED 1/11/13--- I made the Whole Lemon Bars and at first was mildly disappointed; for having a whole lemon they didn't have a lemony, puckery "punch"--I thought perhaps too much butter, which muted the lemon. They were delicious, just not quite as lemony as I thought they'd be. But when my husband and sons tasted them they gave them RAVE reviews, my husband saying they had "just the right amount of lemon" and that more would have been overwhelming. My sons agreed with them. I tend to like things very tart and sour, which most people don't, so I will not change anything when I make them again, and I will make them again--my husband said he has never liked a lemon bar before in his life, so Deb must be on to something! The recipe is so freaking easy, too--as long as you have a food processor you can do it all in that and never dirty a mixing bowl. I also adapted them to be gluten free--using an equivalent amount of King Arthur Gluten Free Flour for the crust--and they came out perfectly.
The granola was easy, and as promised, made large chunks of granola. I did not have the coconut or walnuts, so used raw sunflower seeds instead. What a revelation that granola does NOT need tons of butter or oil or sugar to be delicious! And without having to stir it every ten minutes as in most recipes it was so much easier.
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ci sono davvero tante ricette per tutti i gusti
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Sadly, Deb has been a bit let down by her UK publisher. There's a typo in the very first recipe (that I am certain she would be appalled to see!), some of the adaptations are annoying - for example the "Marshmallow cake" recipe is clearly a S'mores cake. The whole recipe only makes sense if you explain that there is an American treat called a S'more that's a US campfire tradition involving a marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker/UK digestive biscuit. But rather than just add a note on those lines, the publishers have substituted some of the words and ingredients, but not explained why these things go together. There are other examples too like the "Wotsits" reference to cheese crackers that another review mentioned.
It's also sad to see that on some pages (normally where a UK adjustment has been made I think) the last sentence of a page will be repeated at the top of the next page, or the ingredients list runs into the next item without a space, or similar small errors. They're not dealbreakers, they don't stop this cookbook being wonderful and much-loved, but Deb is so meticulous in her presentation of her blog, it's sad the UK publisher couldn't get the book properly proofed and properly adapted.
In spite of these small annoyances, this is still a wonderful cookbook with some incredible recipes (fig, olive oil and sea salt challah bread, raspberry chocolate rugelach, mini meatloaves with tomato glaze, butternut and onion galette). There's a good balance of recipes that are savoury or sweet, meat-based or vegetarian, baking or cooking.
If you're not familiar with the Smitten Kitchen blog, the author has a very chatty and informal style. She is not a chef, nor does she pretend to be perfect. The book has notes that explain how she was distracted by her young son, desperate to cut down on the washing up involved, or not disappoint her mother. This book will inspire you to cook. Deb's notes will give you confidence that what you're cooking will be tasty and the photos will leave you bookmarking more and more pages for future meals and snacks!