Books |
The Bon Appétit Cookbook
Barbara Fairchild
By
Published: Jan 01, 2008
Category:
Food and Wine
The Bon Appétit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh
Barbara Fairchild
Veteran visitors to HeadButler.com know that one aim of this site is to save you money by pointing you to better stuff than the heavily promoted just-released books, music and movies that turn out to be disappointing.
Another aim is to help you live better — starting with what we put in our bodies.
The Bon Appétit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh hits both goals: 1,100 healthy recipes for $23.00 at Amazon.com. And at 4.9 pounds, it’s useful as a kitchen barbell.
The categories are vast, the suggestions enormous — pizza for days, soups for years, salads for decades, burgers and dips for eons. Most have fewer than a dozen ingredients, and although the recipes have an international flair, few call for trips to specialty markets. Preparation times aren’t offered, but nothing I saw looked as if it would take more than half an hour of preparation.
There are smart suggestions along the way. Grate garlic or ginger into your vinaigrette dressing; for a new sensation, warm your salsa in the microwave. And, happily, the editors have not been locked in test kitchens with no input from the world; among their many smart suggestions is to avoid buying out-of-season produce. It may taste fine, but it’s traveled so far that its carbon footprint should make you gag.
I was particularly impressed by the All-American recipes — there’s a lot of comfort food here to help you through the slog of weeknight dinners. For example: a recipe for iceberg lettuce wedges, topped with warm bacon and blue cheese. And chili that cries out for a mug of beer.
And then there are the welcome twists on the All-American favorites. The stew recipe I’ve chosen calls for porcini mushrooms. If you buy them at your local gourmet market, the price of a small packet is silly. So let me tell you about Kalustyan’s, the legendary specialty store at 123 Lexington Avenue in New York. It has a terrific web site where smarties buy in bulk. I go there for quantities of peppercorns, bay leaves, and more, all at insanely low prices — like mango chutney, 20 ounces, for $9. And the porcini? Four ounces for $11.99. Suddenly a luxury can become a staple.
Porcini and Sausage Stew
serves 4
1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 14-and-a-half-ounce cans of diced peeled tomatoes with juice
2 ounces of dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted in 2 cups hot water
3/4 cup dry red wine
2 bay leaves
Sauté sausage and garlic in a heavy large pot over medium heat until sausage is cooked through, breaking up with back of fork, about 10 minutes.
Strain the mushrooms, saving the strained water with the porcini.
Add tomatoes with juice, mushrooms and mushroom water, wine and bay leaves. Bring to boil.
Reduce heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens and is reduced to about 6 cups. This will take about an hour and 15 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves.
Excellent served over pasta or polenta. Suggested wine: an Italian red, such as Barbera or Dolcetto D’Alba. Note: This stew can be made a day or two ahead.
To buy “The Bon Appétit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh” from Amazon.com, click here.
