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APRIL 2010
R. W. Apple, Jr., of The New York Times credits third-generation Alabamian Frank Stitt with turning Birmingham into a “sophisticated, easygoing showplace of enticing, southern-accented cooking.” His southern peers think his cooking may have a more profound sense of place than any of theirs. His food is rustic and homey, but sophisticated in method.
Now, Alabama’s favorite son has written a long-awaited cookbook that features his enticing Provençal-influenced southern food in FRANK STITT’S SOUTHERN TABLE. More than 150 recipes range from the traditional–Spicy Green Tomato and Peach Relish, Spoonbread, and Pickled Shrimp–to the inspired–Slow-Roasted Black Grouper with Ham and Pumpkin Pirlau and Pork Loin with Corn Pudding and Grilled Eggplant. Desserts such as Bourbon Panna Cotta and Sweet Potato Tart with Coconut Crust and Pecan Streusel elevate the best of the South for cooks everywhere.
About the Author
Frank Stitt is the chef and owner of Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Restaurant and Café, and Chez Fonfon, all located in Birmingham, Alabama. He has won the James Beard Award for the Best Chef of the Southeast and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance. He is the author of Frank Stitt’s Southern Table.
T
here are some places worth traveling to just for the food: Rome, Venice . . . and now, Birmingham, Italy.
In this companion to his first, best-selling cookbook, the beloved Southern chef Frank Stitt travels to Italy and brings the best of Mediterranean cuisine back home in FRANK STITT’s BOTTEGA FAVORITA. To Stitt’s mind, the two regions—Italy and the American South—share commonalities. Both native
cuisines have a tradition of turning humble ingredients—ground corn, bitter greens, cured pork, the daily catch—into poetry on the plate. And as the chef points out in his lively introduction to the book, this is elemental cooking based on the purity and simplicity of the freshest and finest ingredients.
Yet leave it to Stitt to make Italian cuisine his own. “There’s no Pompano in Venice, but ours, fresh from Apalachicola, fits into the cartoccio (Italian fish stew) perfectly; our Chilton County white peaches are squeezed by hand for a bellini; our wild Gulf shrimp, oysters, crab, and fish are easily a match for their Mediterranean equivalents,” Stitt writes. This appealing new cookbook includes the best of the Southern-influenced Italian recipes he has served at his Birmingham, Alabama, restaurant Bottega Restaurant and Café, for the last two decades—the Tomato Chutney and Roasted Sweet Pepper Pizza, Lamb Shanks with Sweet Peas and Mint, and fabulous desserts including Zabaglione Meringue Cake. Accompanied by sweet recollections of his journeys to Italy, this inspiring and accessible cookbook proves once again why the novelist Pat Conroy calls Stitt “the best chef in America.”
MAY 2010
Thomas Keller shares family-style recipes that you can make any or every day. In the book every home cook has been waiting for, the revered Thomas Keller turns his imagination to the American comfort foods closest to his heart—flaky biscuits, chicken pot pies, New England clam bakes, and cherry pies so delicious and redolent of childhood that they give Proust’s madeleines a run for their money. Keller, whose restaurants The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York have revolutionized American haute cuisine, is equally adept at turning out simpler fare.
In Ad Hoc at Home—a cookbook inspired by the menu of his casual restaurant Ad Hoc in Yountville—he showcases more than 200 recipes for family-style meals. This is Keller at his most playful, serving up such truck-stop classics as Potato Hash with Bacon and Melted Onions and grilled-cheese sandwiches, and heartier fare including beef Stroganoff and roasted spring leg of lamb. In fun, full-color photographs, the great chef gives step-by-step lessons in kitchen basics— here is Keller teaching how to perfectly shape a basic hamburger, truss a chicken, or dress a salad. Best of all, where Keller’s previous best-selling cookbooks were for the ambitious advanced cook, Ad Hoc at Home is filled with quicker and easier recipes that will be embraced by both kitchen novices and more experienced cooks who want the ultimate recipes for American comfort-food classics.
About the Author
Thomas Keller, author of The French Laundry Cookbook, Bouchon, Under Pressure, and Ad Hoc at Home, has been honored with innumerable awards, from an honorary doctorate to outstanding restaurateur to chef of the year (for successive years). His two Michelin Guide three-star-rated restaurants, French Laundry and Per Se, continue to vie for best restaurant in America and for ranking among the top five eateries in the world. Ad Hoc, his casual family-style restaurant, opened in 2006.
From Brooklyn’s sizzling restaurant scene, the hottest cookbook of the season…
From urban singles to families with kids, local residents to the Hollywood set, everyone flocks to Frankies Spuntino—a tin-ceilinged, brick-walled restaurant in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens—for food that is “completely satisfying” (wrote Frank Bruni in The New York Times). The two Franks, both veterans of gourmet kitchens, created a menu filled with new classics: Italian American comfort food re-imagined with great ingredients and greenmarket sides. This witty cookbook, with its gilded edges and embossed cover, may look old-fashioned, but the recipes are just we want to eat now. The entire Frankies menu is adapted here for the home cook—from small bites including Cremini Mushroom and Truffle Oil Crostini, to such salads as Escarole with Sliced Onion & Walnuts, to hearty main dishes including homemade Cavatelli with Hot Sausage & Browned Butter. With shortcuts and insider tricks gleaned from years in gourmet kitchens, easy tutorials on making fresh pasta or tying braciola, and an amusing discourse on Brooklyn-style Sunday “sauce” (ragu), The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Kitchen Manual will seduce both experienced home cooks and a younger audience that is newer to the kitchen.
About the Authors
Frank Falcinelli has worked in Michelin two-star restaurants in France, with chefs Charlie Palmer and David Burke in New York, and was a partner and chef in the New York hot spot Moomba. He lives in Brooklyn with his French bulldog, Frankies mascot Merlin.
Frank Castronovo trained with such culinary superstars as Jacques Pépin and France’s Paul Bocuse. In 2003, he opened Frankies 457 Spuntino with childhood friend Frank Falcinelli. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
Peter Meehan is a food writer and former New York Times restaurant columnist. His most recent book is Momofuku, co-authored with the chef David Chang.
An easy-to-read, idea-packed guide for anyone who wants to be more organized—and who doesn’t?
Everyone has overflowing closets and desk drawers, countertops loaded with kitchen gadgets, and overstuffed computer desktops. We dream of getting organized—but what’s a disorganized person to do? In this book, professional organizer Stacey Platt comes to the rescue with empowering
ideas on putting and keeping things in order.
Like earlier titles in the series, such as the best-selling What’s a Cook to Do?, this book offers easy-to-scan and access solutions to everyday aggravations: How do you keep from misplacing your cell phone or house keys? What’s the best way to organize the fridge? How do you pack efficiently for a trip? This user-friendly book, illustrated with stylish, full-color photography, is up-to-date on the latest technologies for organizing everything from music to family photos.
Here are hundreds of ingenious solutions for gaining control of clutter so you can live happily in your space. There are quick solutions as well as one-hour projects—from organizing your emails so you can find your passwords to sorting the area under the bathroom sink—that readers can tackle, one weekend at a time, with big payoffs. From the kitchen to the home office, the bedroom closet to the car, this thoughtful guide will help readers carve out more space and more time.
About the Author
Professional organizer Stacey Platt runs DwellWell, a New York-based organizing and coaching firm with a clientele that includes movie stars, chefs, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and investment bankers. Touted by the Web site Daily Candy as being “well-versed in aiding the most cluttered, confused, and disorganized,” she is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and has an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Regan Daley’s most important principle is “use the best ingredients simply and with integrity, and you will be rewarded.” It is this concept that won IN THE SWEET KITCHEN (Artisan Books; $24.95) the Cookbook of the Year Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals in 2001 and why the paperback release of this cookbook builds even more excitement with today’s home bakers.
How is that possible? Today, home bakers have unbounded access to once-specialty ingredients such as good chocolate, fresh nuts and flavor extracts. And as the landscape of home cooking and baking has changed since the cookbook’s debut, bakers are more discerning—buying ingredients when they are fresh, in-season and locally. Forward-thinking at its release but even more relevant today, IN THE SWEET KITCHEN is the definitive guide to ingredients and techniques and will tempt bakers with time-saving tips, indispensable advice and seductive recipes. For experts, this book serves as a comprehensive, professional-quality reference. For the novice, it is a practical and palatable guide to the once mysterious guide to baking.
With 140 original recipes, enticing color photos and Daley’s trusted voice, IN THE SWEET KITCHEN allows every home baker to create perfect desserts—in their own sweet kitchens.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Regan Daley is a writer and former pastry chef. She worked at some of Toronto’s most prominent restaurants, including the celebrated Avalon. Her work has appeared in Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking and Country Home magazines, among others. She currently lives in Toronto with her husband and three boys.
JULY 2010
We all wish choosing wine was easier. How do we branch out from the old standby we automatically reach for in wine shops or bring an impressive bottle to pair with a friend’s dinner party? While the selection available today creates endless opportunity, it can make finding a quality and well-priced wine a challenge.
Instead of risking money and memorable meals, learn tips of the trade with author and wine expert Wes Marshall to assure the highest likelihood of finding (and understanding) wines that are affordable and a joy to drink.
Unlike other books on the topic, Marshall’s conversational style in WHAT’S A WINE LOVER TO DO? (Artisan Books; $17.95) is inviting rather than intimidating and offers easily-digestible answers to questions such as: Which wines to cook with? How do we find the “sweet spot” on a restaurant’s wine list? How do we pair wine with the foods we love?
Along with more than 200 color photos and illustrations, pronunciation guides, charts and maps, WHAT’S A WINE LOVER TO DO? lets time-starved readers find quick answers to their wine-loving questions. And with Marshall as our guide, understanding, choosing and serving wine is just as easy as drinking it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wes Marshall is the wine columnist for the Austin Chronicle, a special contributor to the Dallas Morning News and also writes for Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Spirits, Imbibe and Wines & Vines. He is the author of The Wine Roads of Texas and served as the executive producer for the three-part PBS documentary based on the book.
AUGUST 2010
Anyone can be a geek! Cooking for Geeks is for anyone who wants to do more than just follow a recipe. A geek is anyone who’s curious about how things works—see the FAQs Page for a handy Venn Diagram. Computer geeks, sports geeks, car geeks, news geeks… I’m a computer geek (studied Computer Science), so the book does use computer geek metaphors, but the examples are chosen specifically to be understandable to non-techies as well.
The book gives readers enough science background such that they can approach the kitchen with a scientific attitude. One of the best ways to figure out how to do something is to experiment. For example, if you’re unsure about using all-purpose (AP) flour or bread flour when making pizza dough, try making two batches and see how they differ. (Bread flour works better because it has a higher percentage of gluten, but AP flour works fine, too. Cake flour wouldn’t work, though; it doesn’t have enough gluten.)
SEPTEMBER 2010
One of the world’s healthiest foods, quinoa contains a perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids, and is a great source of protein, making it an increasingly popular food choice for those looking to incorporate ‘superfoods’ into their everyday diets.
Gluten-free, wheat-free, and nutrient-packed, quinoa is ideal for those who are health-conscious, vegetarian, and/or physically active, as well as for those with gluten intolerance, wheat allergies, and other digestive disorders. But that’s not all: You can eat quinoa guiltlessly knowing it’s free of cholesterol and trans fats.
In QUINOA 365 (Whitecap) sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming show you how to use this miraculous superfood in all your favourite dishes.
About the Author
Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming are sisters and are both passionate about healthy living. Patricia is a physically active mother of two, while Carolyn is busy balancing career and fitness goals. Both love exploring superfoods and new meal ideas.
OCTOBER 2010
Known for his quirky attitude and quirkier entrées, Bob Blumer has been shaking up the food world for almost two decades. In his new book GLUTTON FOR PLEASURE (Whitecap), Bob delivers the ultimate collection of his favorite kitchen creations (including many never seen in print) along with practical kitchen references for chefs of every skill level.
Not sure what wine to pair with your meal? Uncertain of the best way to stock your shelves? Wavering on the perfect music to flambé by (think ‘Burning Down the House’ by Talking Heads)?
GLUTTON FOR PLEASURE provides creative solutions to help readers elevate their quality of life through food, spirits and music. Paired with stories and anecdotes from Bob’s 20 years as the adventure-hunting, Guinness world record-breaking, punishment-seeking Surreal Gourmet, this book is not to be missed! Filled with new recipes Glutton for Pleasure is the perfect book for anyone that’s tired of the same recipes presented the same way. Try your hand at Coconut shrimp lollipops, Dishwasher-poached salmon, Cauliflower Popcorn, Lamb cupcakes
About the Author
Bob Blumer is the creator and host of Food Network’s The Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment—both of which air in more than thirty countries around the globe. Combined, he has spent 9 seasons as a creative and competitive force on Food Network.
NOVEMBER 2010
Recipes from a very small kitchen by a man with a very large talent.
Nobody better embodies the present-day mantra “Eat real food in season” than David Tanis, one of the most original voices in American cooking. For more than a quarter-century, Tanis has been the chef at the groundbreaking Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California, where the menu consists solely of a single perfect meal that changes each evening. Tanis’s recipes are down-to-earth yet sophisticated, simple to prepare but impressive on the plate.
Tanis opens this soulful, fun-to-read cookbook with his own private food rituals, those treats—jalapeño pancakes, beans on toast, pasta for one—for when you are on your own in the kitchen with no one else to satisfy. Then he follows with twenty incomparable menus (five per season) that serve four to six. Each transports the reader to places far and wide. And for grand occasions, a time for the whole tribe to gather around the table, Tanis delivers festive menus for holiday feasts. So in one book, three kinds of cooking: small, medium, and large.
About the Author
Six months a year, David Tanis is head chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, where he’s been since the 1980s, helping to define the restaurant’s wildly influential style. He spends the other half of the year in Paris, where he hosts dinners of international renown. David’s French kitchen is a six-by-ten-foot galley with a rickety stove, a small sink, little counter space, and a half-dozen well-used pots and pans. Tanis has been featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, and Saveur.
With recipes organized by texture! Flaky, gooey, crunchy, crispy, chewy, chunky, melt-in-your-mouth . . .
Cookies are easy, enticing, and fun. Yet as the award-winning baker Alice Medrich notes, too often, home cooks cling to the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips, when so much more is possible. “What if cookies reflected our modern culinary sensibility—our spirit of adventure and passion for flavors and even our dietary concerns?” Medrich writes in her introduction tothis landmark cookie cookbook, organized by texture, from crunchy to airy to chunky. An inveterate tester and master manipulator of ingredients, she draws on the world’s pantry of ingredients for such delicious riffs on the classics as airy meringues studded with cashews and chocolate chunks, palmiers (elephant’s ears) made with cardamom and caramel, and rugelach with halvah. Butter and sugar content is slashed and the flavor turned up on everything from ginger snaps to chocolate clouds. From new spins on classic recipes including chocolate-chip cookies and brownies, to delectable 2-point treats for Weight Watchers, to cookies to make with kids, this master conjurer of sweets will bring bliss to every dessert table.
About the Author
Alice Medrich has won numerous cookbook-of-the-year awards and best in the dessert and baking category. She is the author of Pure Dessert, Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate, and Chocolate Holidays.
DECEMBER 2010
DIY goes outdoors, giving winter enthusiasts more than 25 new ways to play in the snow!
Calling all snow lovers—young and old alike! When you’re surrounded by the white stuff, it’s time for Snow Play!
With crazy creatures to build, challenging games to play, and outrageous spaces to sculpt, author Birgitta Ralston, a Europe-based designer, has imagined the most creative ways to play in the snow. From a looming Loch Ness monster to a slippery Ice Slide, from a Snowball Lantern to brighten a yard to Curious Footprints to mark freshly fallen snow, the book includes 25 projects and games to draw you outdoors on a snow-filled day. Celebrate a winter birthday by building a giant Frosted Cake (and use food coloring to dye the snow!), or light your walkway with the flickering flames from a set of snowy Glow Cones. You’ll find hours of entertainment to brighten even the coldest winter days and nights.
Snow Play is filled with projects and games for any age, ability, and number of people. Each entry includes complete step-by-step text instructions, plus explanatory line drawings. The full-color photographs show how each project is finished in all its frozen glory.
About the Author
Birgitta Ralston leads the creative team of Ralston & Bau, renowned for its cutting-edge projects in interior, furniture, and product design. Birgitta has produced work for such prestigious clients as Fauchon, Lancôme, and Maison de Van Gogh.
