At the risk of repeating myself, if you know me, you know I love to cook. To be honest, that’s not strictly true. What I love to do is eat, and if I want to eat well, I have to cook. Because I am a bit of a homebody–the perfect night for me is a roaring fire, a great show on TV, and a tasty, home cooked meal.
I also adore cookbooks. When I get a new one, I read it like a novel. I mark the food I want to go back to and try. And once I’ve tried a recipe, I make notes in my book for next time–what I liked about it, maybe what I would add or leave out.
Here are the cookbooks I love. I hope you will share some of your favorites with me, too.
1. Anything Ottolenghi.
The first time his food came to my attention was when I was in London many years ago and walked past the most stunning display of meringues in a shop window. Turns out it was the Ottolenghi deli, and for such a tiny place, it packed in a lot of amazing food.
Since that time I’ve collected several of his books–Plenty, Plenty More, and Simple. The latter is a favorite because of the way it breaks down recipes. The Simple acronym breaks down into short on time, ingredients, make ahead, pantry, lazy-day, and easier, so you can pick the type of dish to prepare.
Definitely try the delicious Fish Cake Tacos with Mango, Lime, and Cumin Yogurt. I served the Roasted Butternut Squash with Lentils and Dolcelatte to my book group with some grilled sausages–yum.
2. If I Could Only Own One
I think it would have to be Milk Street Tuesday Nights. The Parmesan and Herb Turkey Burgers are anything but fast, but you can make them ahead and cook them at the last minute. This is THE BEST turkey burger you will ever eat.
Keep a sticky note on the recipes for Cilantro Rice, Vietnamese Meatballs, and Coriander Roasted Chicken. You will go back to them again and again.
3. Oldie but a Goodie
My family has a tradition centered around baking Christmas cookies, and one of the very first cookbooks I ever purchased was Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Rose’s Christmas Cookies.
The book’s binding is gone, and the page with Mini-Cheesecakes with Lemon Curd is spotted and stained because I have baked these tasty gems so many times. No need to save this one for the holidays. They never fail to please.
Beranbaum has written many excellent books. You might also give The Pie and Pastry Bible a shot. Or let me know if you want to borrow it.
4. Okay, not actually a cookbook, but…
There are a lot of great food blogs out there, but I must mention the New York Times What to Cook This Week What to Cook This Week – NYT Cooking (nytimes.com). I 100% recommend that you subscribe. It is always fresh and, even if you don’t cook from it regularly, it will inspire you to up your culinary game.
They often highlight one-pan or easy recipes and you can create a file on their site for the ones you will want to go back to.
5. A New Favorite
Now that my husband is working a little less, he is spending some time on his own at our house in Colorado, and a guy’s gotta eat. But he wants to do simple, approachable dishes with ingredients that are easy to find.
I bought Jennifer Segal’s Once Upon a Chef Weeknight/Weekend for him for Christmas, and it’s been so good that we bought a second copy to keep in Houston.
Highlights:
The Baked Ziti may not be a groundbreaking dish, but it is super satisfying and ideal for the freezer.
The full flavored Miso Marinated Black Cod is a perfect weeknight dish when you want something that seems a little fancy.
