Weekend Cooking: The Forest Feast Road Trip by Erin Gleeson

A few years ago, I discovered Erin Gleeson and her Forest Feast cookbooks and website when I received her Mediterranean cookbook via the Abrams Dinner Party. This year, Gleeson has a new cookbook: The Forest Feast Road Trip, which was, as the subtitle says, inspired by her travels through her home state of California. Thank you to Abrams for the review copy.

Of course, The Forest Feast Road Trip is full of fantastic, easy-to-make recipes for vegetarians and vegans, but it also features gorgeous photos of California, such as poppy fields, vineyards, the beach, holiday houses, and farmer's markets. The book closes with resources for easy road trips and places to visit.

While I've marked some future vacation destinations, my current interest is on the recipes. As you know, we eat meat in the BFR household. But because close to half our dinners are vegetarian, I was excited to find fresh ideas in The Forest Feast Road Trip. One of things I really love about Gleeson's books is the way she marries art, photography, and recipes. See the following scan (click to enlarge, if needed) for a good example of how beautiful this cookbook is.

Most of the recipes in The Forest Feast Road Trip are based on fresh vegetables with clean, bright flavors. That said, it's important to note that Gleeson also incorporates pre-prepped ingredients when it makes sense, such as canned beans and jarred sauces. Another thing I appreciate about her recipes is that she often gives variations on a theme or makes recommendations for substitutions. For example, one recipe calls for a local goat cheese, but the recipe introduction tells us we can substitute blue cheese or feta in her lovely beet and greens salad.

I've made quite a few dishes from this book. One of the most surprising was the mushroom, black bean, and walnut enchiladas (see the photo to the right). The enchiladas were outstanding, and I think I'm going to have to add walnuts to my enchiladas--vegetarian or meat--in the future.

I also really liked her pita tostados, which uses pita bread as the base for a variation on the traditional Mexican dish. Her recipe calls for canned refried black beans as the first layer with a variety of familiar ingredients on top (avocado, Mexican crema, cilantro, etc.). This recipe also comes with a Mediterranean variation: pita toppings include babaganoush, hummus, feta, and chickpeas. Such a great idea and so easy to put together.

Other recipes we tried (and liked) were a chickpea curry stew, veggie calzones, and sweet potato and black bean salad. We had the stew and calzones for dinner and ate the salad for our lunches.

I also baked her quick blender muffins (see the photo to the left). The main batter consists of eggs, bananas, and oats. You can then put in fruits and/or vegetables to your liking or you can try one of Gleeson's three variations. I made the carrot raisin muffins  per her suggestion. The texture was perfect and, despite the maple syrup and golden raisin, they were not too sweet.

Finally, I made her shortbread, which also had three variations. I couldn't resist trying the brown butter version. We loved the flavor, though the texture (due to the melted butter) wasn't quite what we were used to.

Recommendation: If you can't tell, I love Erin Gleeson's The Forest Feast Road Trip. The recipes are easy, pretty, and tasty. This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys vegetarian and vegan dinners and is looking for new ideas.

For a sample recipe from The Forest Feast Road Trip, either click through to the Forest Feast website or enlarge the scan above for a vegan salad. If you want to make the corn salad, you'll need the recipe for the tahini dressing:

Whisk together 1/4 cup (60 ml) tahini, 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon), 2 teaspoons agave, 1 grated garlic clove, water to thin (add 1 teaspoon at a time for desired consistency).

Note: The scan and recipe are used in the context of a review; all rights remain with the original copyright holders. The photos are mine.

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Weekend Cooking: 3 Books for Young Chefs

Are you lucky enough to have young companions in your kitchen? If so, here are three books you can share with them. Though all are geared to kids, adults and teens will enjoy reading these books too. Thanks to the publishers for the review copies.

What's Cooking in Flowerville? by Felicita Sala (Prestel Junior, April 5) is a gorgeous book that takes cooks and gardeners through the course of a year, with one painting and one recipe featuring a seasonal food item for each month. The book starts in the spring with asparagus and a yummy quiche recipe (see scan; click to enlarge). Other months feature pears, cucumbers (with tzatziki), cherries, squash, and herbs (with lemony bean dip).

Though youngsters may need help making the recipes, the dishes are all easy to put together and include steps even the youngest can accomplish, like stirring and adding in ingredients.

The paintings in What's Cooking in Flowerville? show a diverse group of people in terms of both skin color and age and depict the joys of being in nature and growing and harvesting one's own food. The gardens themselves are also diverse; we see balcony trellises, indoor potted herbs, rooftop gardens, backyard fruit trees, and a community pumpkin patch.

The book ends with tips for gardening, harvesting, recycling, and sharing as well as illustrations of seeds, garden tools, and beautiful fruits and vegetables.

What's Cooking in Flowerville? by Felicita Sala is a delight for people of all ages and a great companion to Sala's earlier book, What's Cooking at 10 Garden Street?, which I reviewed a couple of years ago.

Next is another beautifully illustrated book featuring food. Olaf Hajek's Fantastic Fruits, illustrated by Hajek with text by Annette Roeder (Prestel Junior, April 5) is a stunning book that reveals some of the secrets of our favorite foods.

Each two-page spread features a single fruit (see scan). On the left we learn all kinds of interesting facts about the fruit, such as its origins, its growing conditions, and/or how to eat it. Here are few things I learned:

• Some mangoes are called "smelly."
• There are more than 1,000 different kinds of strawberries.
• Melons are closely related to zucchini.
• Peaches have been cultivated since about 6000 BCE.

In addition to this kind of information, Roeder also tells us at least one myth, fable, or legend relating to the fruit. We learn a Hungarian fairy tale about a girl who loved currants, that St. Barbara's Day is celebrated with cherry sprigs, and a Vietnamese story about how a watermelon united a king with his children.

Each fruit profile is accompanied by one of Hajek's paintings. The illustrations are richly colored and enhance the text. If you look carefully, you'll find hints for how to eat or grow the fruit as well as a nod or two to the featured tale or story.

Olaf Hajek's and Annette Roeder's Fantastic Fruits begs to be shared with readers young and old.

The final book is from The Food Magazine: The Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook (Hearst Home Kids, April 5). This fun cookbook, for children aged 8 to 12, provides 365 dated recipes to inspire young chefs throughout the year. You can get an idea of some the dishes by looking at the pictures on the book cover.

A number of the recipes are linked to a specific holiday or special day--like ruler cookies for Teacher Appreciation Week and Coconut Rice and Peas for Puerto Rico Constitution Day. Others are simply seasonal--like Banana Caramel S'mores in July and Microwave Apple Crisp in September.

Most of the recipes in Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook are for snacks and desserts, though you'll find some fun drinks and salads and even a pizza recipe. The instructions run the gamut from as easy as flavoring popcorn or decorating store-bought doughnuts to a full-fledged soup recipe and from-scratch mini pineapple upside down cakes. The majority of the recipes will catch kids' attention, and the range of difficulty will help you match the right recipes for your young cooks.

The Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook isn't just for kids. A number of the recipes will appeal to the whole family. I plan on trying several, such as the breakfast sliders (egg sandwiches), the peach Melba milkshake, the puff pastry tart with berries, and the miniature pimiento cheese balls.

The only way to tell if The Food Magazine's Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook is right for your family is to look through it. Note that while a number of international celebrations are included (like Brazilian Independence Day), the book is founded on U.S. holidays and the major Jewish and Christian holidays. (See the scan for three days in April.)

Note: The scans used in the context of a review; all rights remain with the original copyright holders. Any quality issue is on me.

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Weekend Cooking: Salad Freak by Jess Damuck

I'm so thrilled that the spring and summer cookbooks are starting to hit the bookshelves . . . and my doorstep. Thanks to Abrams Books and the Abrams Dinner Party for a copy of the cookbook I'm talking about today.

Salad Freak, which comes out next Tuesday, is an entire cookbook of delicious and unique salads. It's written by Jess Damuck, who after attending the French Culinary Institute went on to cook for Martha Stewart for more than a decade. Damuck perfected many of the recipes found in this book during those years.

We eat a lot of salads in the BFR household, often at lunch and almost always as a side dish to dinner. I usually put together a fairly typical salad, such as tossed, wedge, pasta, chopped, nicoise, or caprese. However, once I started looking through Salad Freak, I was inspired to broaden my horizons, especially because the cookbook is full of beautiful photographs of delicious-looking dishes.

Most of my readers are experienced cooks, but younger or less confident cooks will want to pay attention to the beginning chapters, which give advice on pantry items and equipment and how to shop for, wash, and store fresh produce. All of us will appreciate Damuck's playlist of "music to make salads by," which can be downloaded from Spotify.

The recipes in Salad Freak are arranged by season and highlight fruits and vegetables during their peak times. Two from the winter chapter are the Caesar Brussels sprouts salad with walnuts and the shaved fennel and tuna salad with a lemony vinaigrette. Spring features a carrot salad with a mustard dressing (see recipe below) and an asparagus, peas, and cucumber salad (see my photo).

Summer includes a BLT potato salad as well as a cantaloupe-cucumber salad with a minty-lime dressing. Finally, the fall chapter provides recipes for a celery and grape salad with smoked almonds (see my photo) and a riff on a Waldorf salad. The final chapter contains recipes for spice mixes, dressings, and the like.

I also made the lamb meatball salad (no photo), which was delicious. The meatballs were so good that I plan to make them again for other dishes too. I have a bean and farro salad on the menu for tonight.

This is a cookbook I didn't know I needed until I started cooking from it, and I can't wait to make the many recipes I have flagged to try. I think I've become a bit of salad freak myself.

Note that most of the salads will fit a vegetarian diet and many will work for vegans, though a few do contain meat or fish. Most of the finished dishes are gluten-free as well. For each recipe, Damuck includes the inspiration behind each dish and often provides tips for meal pairings, preparing, and serving.

I can't end this review without talking about two aspects of Salad Freak I wish were different. First, as discussed in the introduction of the cookbook, Damuck assumes you'll be serving the salads almost immediately, so there are no make-ahead or storage tips (or none that I noticed). I'm the primary cook in my house and so prefer to make my side salads ahead of time. I didn't have any trouble figuring out how to balance finishing the salad with finishing up the main dish, but some cooks might.

The other issue has to do with the way the ingredients are presented. Instead being listed in the order needed (the cookbook industry standard), the ingredients are separated into sections labeled produce, dairy, meat, and pantry. The recipe directions indicate how to prepare or cut the produce and other ingredients. I'm a mise en place kind of cook, so I'm not a big fan of this recipe format--though I easily adapted.

The good news is that every recipe in Salad Freak either I or the other Abrams Dinner Party members made was a huge success. The salads were both beautiful and delicious. I wouldn't let the unconventional ingredient list prevent you from giving Salad Freak by Jess Damuck a try.

The recipe I'm sharing is for the carrot salad, which I served with BBQ ribs. The salad was delicious right away and again the next day at lunch. Note that Damuck suggests cutting the carrots with a julienne peeler, but I used the julienne disk in my food processor.

Carrots for Lauryn
serves 2 to 4 as a side

• Produce
• 1 lemon
• 4 medium to large carrots
• 1 handful fresh parsley
• Pantry
• 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the lemon and mustard vinaigrette: In a large bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons mustard, 1/4 cup (60 ml) oil, and the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Season with salt and pepper.

Prep, assemble, and serve: Peel and julienne 4 carrots and add to the bowl with the dressing. Roughly chop 1 handful of parsley and add to the bowl. Season to taste and toss to combine. You're done; that's it. Really.

Note: The recipe is used in the context of a review; all rights remain with the original copyright holders. The photos are my own.

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Weekend Cooking: Nachos for Dinner by Dan Whalen

Who doesn't like nachos? They're one of my favorite treats, and I love serving them to friends for a snack-like dinner to go with drinks on the deck.

When I saw that I could request a copy of Dan Whalen's Nachos for Dinner (published in January) as part of my membership on the Workman Ambassador Team, I jumped on the chance. Even though I'm an old hand at nachos, I was especially curious about this book because Whalen takes nachos to a whole new level.

As always when I review a Workman cookbook, I have to stop and take a few minutes to rave about the publisher's design department. I love the bright, festive colors used in Nachos for Dinner. They remind me of when I lived in the Southwest or visited Mexico. The colors are used for the recipe titles and information headings and are carried through to the helpful charts and are even seen in the background of the beautiful photographs.

Of course, a cookbook should be more than just a pretty face, and Nachos for Dinner has surprising depth. We get recipes for chips, salsas, sauces, main fillings, and toppings. Besides nachos for dinner, Whelan provides recipes for snack nachos and even dessert nachos. Meat lovers, vegetarians, and vegans will all find recipes to suit their needs. And the chip alternatives will catch the eye of the gluten-free crowd.

The best part about this cookbook is the diversity of ideas for dishes that can be, as Whalen says, "nachofied." Yes, there are beef, bean, and shrimp fillings, but you'll also find riffs on curried chickpeas, tuna poke, caprese salad, French onion soup, scallion pancakes, chicken tikka masala, mushroom tofu, and much, much more. But the incredible variety of nachos and nachofied dishes is only one of the reasons to buy or borrow Nachos for Dinner.

What I love about the cookbook is that recipes can be used for non-nacho meals. Whelan gets us started by providing a chart for combining recipes to build burritos. Of course, almost all the fillings would be happy in taco shells. I, however, wouldn't stop there. For example, the Crispy Cod recipe could be used for fish and chips, and the cumin-roasted cauliflower could be the star of a grain bowl.

I much appreciate Whalen's guidance when it comes to some of the more unusual nachos. When he tells us about how he came up with Cobb Salad Nachos, he's careful to explain why the recipe works; we can use this information to make our own versions of salad nachos. Many of the recipes come with extra inspiration for creating customized nachos by suggesting alternate salsas and toppings.

A fun bonus of Nachos for Dinner are the non-chip nachos. One of these is Chicken Parm Not-Chos (the chicken is cut into triangles). Lasagn'chos use fried pasta instead of tortilla chips, the Lamb Gyro Nachos use pita bread, and the Cheesy Bacon Potato Chipchos use crinkle-cut potato chips. I'm starting to look at all kinds of things as possible chip substitutions.

Nachos for Dinner is an all-in-one nacho resource. Whalen gives us tips for success, recipes for cheese sauces (including vegan variations), lots of salsas, a couple of slaws, quick pickled veggies, cremas, guacs, and other nacho toppings and add-ins. Oh, and don't forget the recipe for homemade chips. Throughout the cookbook, you'll find charts and sidebars that will help you build nachos, make variations on the salsas, and so on. I haven't yet cooked from the dessert chapter, but I think sweet nachos would be an awesome way to end a casual dinner. Raspberry Cheesecake Nachos anyone?

I've just begun to cook from Nachos for Dinner. So far, I tried the Classic Nacho, using Taco-Style Ground Beef (the photo shows the nachos fresh from the broiler & before the toppings) and Southwestern Chicken Nachos. For both those dinners, I made the suggested cremas and salsas from the recipes in the book. Both dinners were hits. I have Fish Taco Nachos on the plan for the coming week (see the scan above).

This is a fun and inspiring cookbook to add to your collection. I highly recommend Nachos for Dinner by Dan Whalen as a buy or library book. As I mentioned, the recipes in the book can be used for a variety of dishes beside nachos, but Mr. BFR and I are happy to explore all the nacho options. For more about Dan Whalen, visit his blog Food in My Beard and/or follow him on Instagram.

The recipe I'm sharing is for Avocado Crema, which I drizzled over the chicken nachos.

Avocado Crema
Makes 1 to 1.5 cups

• 1 cup sour cream (dairy or vegan)
• 1 ripe avocado, pitted and peeled
• Juice of 2 limes
• Pinch of kosher salt

Place all the ingredients in a blender (or in a large bowl if using a hand blender) and pulse until smooth and creamy. Use a funnel to pour the mixture into a squeeze bottle. The crema will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days (it will start to brown over time as the avocado oxidizes).

Note: The scan and the recipe are used in the context of a review; all rights remain with the original copyright holders. The photo is my own. Thanks to Workman Publishing for the review copy; my thoughts are my own & are unbiased.

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Weekend Cooking: Food IQ by Daniel Holzman and Matt Rodbard

Today I want to talk about one of my new favorite kitchen companions, Food IQ by Daniel Holzman and Matt Rodbard (Feb 22.). I was very excited to get a review copy of this book of "100 questions, answers, and recipes to raise your cooking smarts" from Harper Wave because I love increasing my food knowledge, and Holzman and Rodbard make it fun to learn.

The book is divided into chapters (for example, "Tools and Technology"), which are further broken down into sections. Each section is introduced by a question ("I talk the talk, but should I buy a wok?"). What follows is not only an answer (yes, buy a wok) but also advice pertaining to the question (how a wok is used, what kind to buy, etc.). Finally, Holzman and Rodbard provide a recipe that puts your newfound knowledge to work (Wok-Blistered Green Beans with Black Bean Sauce). Some sections include bonus material, like the interview with Shirley Chung, who gives us even more insight into using a wok.

Holzman and Rodbard write in a relaxed, conversational style, making it easy to absorb the information. They talk about their own biases and explain their conclusions. Even when they're less enamored over an ingredient, they don't have an either-or attitude. For example, though Holzman pretty much insists on using beans cooked from dried, Rodbard points out that most people don't plan and prep ahead and like the convenience of opening a can instead of remembering to soak the beans before cooking them for upwards of 45 minutes. After discussion, Rodbard agreed that making beans from dried wasn't hard and the end dish was tastier, and Holzman noted that it was okay to used canned, though he couldn't quite advocate it. (My advice is to get a pressure cooker for your dried beans!)

I browsed Food IQ, reading the sections that caught my attention, rather than starting on the first page and reading straight through to the end. I still have plenty more to read, but here are three things I discovered:

• The majority of canned tomatoes sold in the United States as San Marzano, are not really San Marzanos. What's more, several California brands of canned plum tomatoes are every bit as good as the real thing, and likely a whole lot cheaper and easier to find.
• Always undercook pasta by a minute or two and finish it (unrinsed) directly in the sauce. Add a little pasta water or hot tap water and allow the sauce to emulsify, which makes it stick to the noodles.
• The world's best cooking pot is a heavy-sided enameled cast-iron Dutch oven with a tight lid. It can do just about everything those specialty pots do. No need to own a tagine, clay cooker, and donabe.

I have only one problem with Food IQ. I can't quite decide if my digital edition will work for me or if I'd rather own the physical hardcover edition for easier exploring. That's a good dilemma to have! I recommend that you track down a copy of Food IQ by Daniel Holzman and Matt Rodbard. It's an interesting and informative read. Note that the "recipes play a critical role in increasing your food knowledge and learning to cook smarter." Plus I've found the recipes to be tasty and doable as well as educational.

The recipe I'm sharing is the one from the tomato section. I picked it because, as the recipe introduction says, "it's extremely easy to make a delicious utility sauce with only five ingredients plus salt." The sauce can be used for dipping, in lasagna, for pizza, or for chicken parm. The key to this recipe is in the way the garlic is cooked. You can use any good-quality canned tomatoes.

Forty-Minute Sauce That Works with Everything
Makes about 5 cups

• 1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled, then smashed
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• pinch of red chile flakes
• 2 (28-ounce) cans good-quality whole peeled tomatoes with their juice
• Kosher salt
• 6 fresh basil leaves

In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, slowly heat the garlic and oil over medium-low heat. Cook slowly, being very careful not to brown the garlic, until the smashed cloves are soft and pungent, about 8 minutes. You should watch the garlic for the entire duration, as it can burn quickly. Toss in the chile flakes at the very end.

Add the tomatoes and 2 teaspoons salt, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently and mashing the tomatoes to break them up as they cook, until one-fourth of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce begins to thicken, the color darkens, and the oil begins to float and separate, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the basil and adjust the seasoning with salt as needed. Use immediately or let cool and then store until needed. The sauce will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Note: The scans and the recipe are used in the context of a review; all rights remain with the original copyright holders.

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