Cookbook

Chicken Lady Chicken and Raw Vegetable Slaw – David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen

July 18, 2016 by Renee

I love a good roast chicken. My favorite recipes for chicken always start a couple of days in advance. Whether it’s brining or marinating them, if you buy your chicken on Friday and cook it Sunday, then you can use the leftovers during the week. That is, if you have any leftovers! I can usually scrape enough off the carcass for a few servings of chicken to toss into a salad or just a midnight snack.

David’s Poulet Crapaudine Facon Catherine has an exceptionally crispy skin and the marinade is incredibly flavorful. We used the last little bit of Sriracha we had in the pantry (need another bottle STAT!) along with the honey, wine and soy sauce to create a deliciously sweet and spicy bath for the bird to hang out in for the weekend. The marinade would also be great to use for boneless/skinless breasts or thighs that you grill too. I can certainly see this being added to our roast chicken repertoire.

The technique of spatchcocking a chicken cuts the cooking time down. It exposes more “flesh to the fire” as they say and the skin crisps up in no time while keeping the bird moist inside. We use our cast iron pan for roasting chicken, but we always add a little oil to the bottom so that the chicken skin does not stick. No matter how hot the pan is, the skin will stick if a little oil isn’t used. And the skin is one of the best parts, so you don’t want to leave it behind in the pan!

David suggests a side of Raw Vegetable Slaw to go with the chicken, which is really just a mixture of any of your favorites that you may have around, topped with a tangy, garlicky dressing. We had some broccoli and carrots so I tossed them together, but I can see devising several different combinations and adding nuts, and fruits to the mix as well. But for this time, I kept it super simple.

This week’s recipes can be found on pages 173 and 96. For details on recreating this and other recipes, check out the CookTheBookFridays site and see others who are also cooking the book-

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Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts by Aglaia Kremezi

November 29, 2014 by Renee

Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts may be Aglaia Kremezi’s best cookbook yet. Or, at least it’s my favorite! I’ve been taking this book to bed with me each night this week, devouring every word and making lists of ingredients to add to my pantry and recipes to try.

The book, a collection of simple, fresh vegetarian dishes comes from Aglaia’s home kitchen on the island of Kea and features beautifully shot photos by one of my favorite photographers, Penny De Los Santos. I love looking through the pages and seeing familiar dishes we made, places we visited and people that I met during my weeklong stay on Kea at the culinary school run by Aglaia and her husband, Costas. It brought back many wonderful memories.

A few weeks ago I was honored to be invited to Aglaia’s book launch luncheon at Bustan, a pan-Mediterranean restaurant here in NYC. It was so lovely to see her again. The chef, Israeli native Efraim (Efi) Nahon, recreated several dishes from Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts as well as introduced us to some items on their menu. It was a truly fabulous meal.

Aglaia tells us that she is not really a vegetarian but she ate very little meat growing up as it was saved for once or twice a week and for special occasions due to its price and availability. She mainly ate vegetables that were grown in her family’s garden. These recipes that she shares are the same ones she grew up with. They aren’t new, faddish or in style. They are the traditional, regional dishes that have been around for years and they correspond to the healthy, vegetarian cooking that is now popular.

The book provides detailed ingredient descriptions and preparation techniques that will make the most of your garden or farmers’ market fare so there will be as little waste as possible. She also provides wonderful head notes with stories about each recipe and alternative variations for several. There are even menus to help you plan seasonal dishes and an extensive sourcing listing. It’s an invaluable resource for Mediterranean cooking.

At Bustan, one of the dishes we tried was the Pseudo- Moussaka with Spicy Tomato Sauce, Walnuts and Feta. This dish, with the warm rich flavors is perfectly balanced with sweet and spice. I loved this flavorful dish and I had to made this recipe first. It was just as good as the one at the restaurant and although there are several steps to follow, it was quite easy and now that I’ve made it once, it can be easily recreated. Half of the walnuts could easily be replaced with chopped meat to make a non-vegetarian version.

I also made the Roasted Cauliflower with Musa’s Zahter Relish. Roasting cauliflower is such a great technique as it maintains a slight crunch and intensifies the nutty flavor. The Zahter Relish is like a dressing or sauce that you drizzle over the cooked vegetable. It’s incredibly bright and savory and we decided it was quite like a Chimichurri sauce and would also be delicious over a steak and other grilled or roasted vegetables. Aglaia also suggests adding a bit of white wine to it and serving it over fish. How wonderfully versatile!

For the mezze course, I made the Grilled Feta, Tomato, and Pepper with Olive Oil and Oregano (Bouyourdi) and the Garlic Spread known as Skordalia. I was quite generous with the garlic cloves and certainly warded off evil for at least several hours. They made great accompaniments to the roasted red pepper sauce, olives, and fresh hunks of country bread that we ate with them.

For lunch on Thanksgiving day, I also made the Crispy Cheese Pie (Lazy Woman’s Pie) a variation to the cheese pie made by Balkan women in their wood ovens. We needed something while cooking the traditional fare and this was a quick and easy preparation of feta, ricotta and herbs in a phyllo crust. It’s such a great lunch that I’ve frozen half to take slices with me to work next week with a side of salad greens.

There are so many more recipes in the book that I am looking forward to making. Some, I’ve made before, like the Flourless Almond Cookies from Kea and the Spinach and Cheese Pie and a version of the Stuffed Summer Vegetables with Rice, Farro and Pine Nuts. But there are so many that I need to try. I’m excited for each of them.

I see Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts as one of my favorite cookbooks and plan to use it often and I’d recommend it to anyone vegetarian or not.

*This post includes my affiliate links to Amazon where you may buy the book.

David Lebovitz’s new book, My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories Giveaway

May 14, 2014 by Renee

Ah, Paris! What can I say? It’s my favorite city -sorry New York, I love you too, but Paris is my home away from home- and one of my favorite people lives there- he’s a fabulous (and famous) cookbook author, blogger and pastry chef. In his newly released book, My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories, David Lebovitz transports us all to his Paris and the Paris that I love.

David is a brilliant and humorous storyteller who uses his very vivid and descriptive writing to take you along on his journey. You feel as though you are with him as he goes in search of the perfect kitchen sink during his new flat renovation or as he ventures to the local market to choose fresh produce for the day.

You’ll travel all around the beautiful city and end up back in his kitchen where he creates the recipes themselves, though not strictly Classic French cuisine, but wonderful international renditions including a Moroccan Lamb Shank Tagine, Spiced Meatballs with Sriracha Sauce and even Tabbouleh. There are some classics too, not to worry- duck fat is never far away (duck fat cookies? Hello!), but, this cookbook is as much a cultural experience as it is a culinary one. As David explains, cuisine in Paris isn’t just classic bistros, although there are an abundance of those too, but the landscape is changing and cuisines such a Mexican or Pizza are taking hold as well. Some of the best hamburgers I have ever eaten were actually in Paris. The book highlights many of these changes and features a wonderful collection of recipes spanning his ten year residence.

Filled with beautiful photographs and wonderful stories, My Paris Kitchen is both memoir and a cookbook. Much like David’s blog, the writing is conversational and light hearted. One of my favorite pages in the book describes his concept of “cooking ou pif” or cooking by the nose. It’s not supposed to be strict and stringent, it’s okay to change up recipes and try new things. Like I always say, cooking should be fun, it’s not a mystery! Just enjoy it!

Tasting Table NYC held a cocktail party Monday night to celebrate the release of David Lebovitz’s new book, My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories and I was so honored to be invited to attend.

While David signed books and met with guests, trays of canapés were passed and a small buffet comprised of dishes and desserts inspired by the book were served. There were several delicious bites to be had; my favorite among them were the mini Croque-monsiers (pg.137) (Fried ham and cheese sandwiches) and the Terrine de canard aux figues (pg. 113) (Duck terrine with figs). The Vietnamese caramel ribs (pg.187) were also incredible, but I think they are best eaten with people you know because they are a bit messy and they make you want to lick your fingers clean!

In addition to David’s wonderful company, the guests were also granted a special treat- tastes of an extremely high quality Comté ‘Cru des Sapins’ by Marcel Petite, an affineur in Jura, France. This cheese was so good I had to stop myself from eating too much. It was perfectly balanced, with a strong but not aggressive taste- rich like caramel and butter with toasted nuts but also slightly sweet and fruity on the finish. The texture was creamy but firm and it went perfectly with the raw vegetables and Le grand aioli (pg. 145) on the table. It is a cheese that I will certainly attempt to track down as I’d love to have a bit more!

The cocktails and Champagne flowed and I definitely ate too much, but it was well worth it! Everything Tasting Table NYC prepared was delicious and a true testament to David’s wonderful recipes.

Now for the fun part- the Giveaway!

Each guest also received a book to take home (after being signed, of course!) which means that I now have two copies. As much as I love his cookbooks, it makes no sense for me to hoard two copies. So, I am giving away my original copy to one lucky Kitchen Conundrum reader.

All you have to do is comment below as to why you’d love the book and one winner will be chosen by random.org on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. You have until 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, May 20, 2014 to enter.

Good Luck!

The Small Print (BE SURE TO READ IT!)

Open to U.S. residents over the age of 18. Winners will be contacted by email and/or twitter after the giveaway ends. Winner has 48 hours to contact me with shipping information. If winner doesn’t leave twitter or email address or if the winner does not contact me with shipping info, winner will forfeit and another winner will be chosen. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send me an email!