July 6, 2020
Legendary chef Pépin pulls together “simple, speedy, sensible, smart” recipes in this keen outing. A mix of porcini mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, sunflower seeds, and garlic steeped in oil can be used as a topping for pasta, a spread on a sandwich, or tossed with a salad. Almost every recipe includes a helpful tip, such as a prompt to line a wooden cutting board with plastic when slicing beets for borscht. Pépin makes liberal use of time-saving devices (baguette dough kneaded in the food processor makes for quick clean-up) and—perhaps surprisingly for Pépin’s fans—store-bought items, such as canned smoked oysters arrayed on a hummus of pureed canned black beans, while a cheese tart recipe calls for a frozen pie shell. Desserts include sponge cake layered with instant pudding blended with whipped cream, and a banana bread that is ready for the oven in under one minute. Though Asian-inspired dishes such as stir-fried rice noodles appear, it’s European classics that shine: tomatoes Provençale with browned bread crumbs and Belgian mussels with a generous dose of onion are both standouts. Inexperienced home cooks and those in a hurry to put dinner on the table will appreciate this friendly, accessible collection.
October 1, 2020
Prolific author, television personality, chef, and teacher P�pin continues to astonish with apparently inexhaustible creativity. Celebrated for his rigorous technical textbooks (New Complete Techniques, 2012) as well as for his approachable home cookbooks (Fast Food My Way, 2004), indefatigable octogenarian P�pin returns with this revised edition of The Short-Cut Cook (1990) that's almost ideal for cooks coping with the pandemic. While French cooking attitudes dominate, P�pin branches out into other traditions. Asian influence appears even in his recipe for basic chicken stock, which specifies dark soy sauce for its umami. P�pin also creates a Saigon pork stew with Chinese five-spice powder, suggesting it over noodles in lieu of more typical rice. Canned pumpkin stars in a cheese-enriched side dish without those ubiquitous Thanksgiving spices. Frozen lima beans become a fricassee with Canadian bacon. Stews and quick saut�s abound, which can quickly come together from pantry staples for impromptu dinners. In addition to color photographs of finished dishes as well as generations of the P�pin family, the author's artwork graces the text.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)
Starred review from August 1, 2020
The Doocys, who penned the New York Times best-selling The Mr. & Mrs. Happy Handbook, share fun and funny stories as they offer quick'n'tasty recipes in The Happy in a Hurry Cookbook (200,000-copy first printing). Winner of France's L�gion d'honneur and 16--count 'em, 16-James Beard awards, P�pin here revises The Short-Cut Cook (and adds photographs) to give us Quick & Simple: help for frantic cooks needing things to go tr�s vite (75,000-copy first printing). Porowski, the Emmy Award-winning food and wine expert on Netflix's ever-popular Queer Eye, invites you to dinner (e.g., steak with harissa butter and parsley salad) in his Untitled new cookbook (175,000-copy first printing) and makes it snappy.
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