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Tastiest Book Posts

Risotto with Zucchini, Prawn, and Preserved Lemon

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When I made the risotto with zucchini, prawn, and preserved lemon from Malouf, I also made the lamb baked with orzo pasta, tomatoes, and lemon for comparison (also from Malouf). I invited a couple of people over because I always like hearing other people's perspectives on these recipes (and I didn't want to eat the full amount both dishes produce by myself ).

Since I know there are a number of people in this world who aren't huge lovers of lamb, including one of my dinner guests, I made the lamb pasta with boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of the cubed lamb leg meat. I'm telling you this in a post about the risotto with zucchini, prawn, and preserved lemon because the orzo dish was the winner. That's not to say the risotto wasn't great. It was great. But the orzo dish was exceptional. ...

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Caramel Candy Popcorn Balls

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There are some things I never make at home because they seem like too much work (Cronuts) and other things I never make because I would want to eat all of it in one sitting. Homemade caramel popcorn balls fall into the latter category. Once again, the Baked Sunday Mornings group is stretching my dessert repertoire.

A friend once brought me two gallons of Garrett's Caramel Crisp as a thank you for pet-sitting. That stuff was the best caramel popcorn I'd ever had. Every kernel was perfectly popped and evenly coated in soft caramel sauce. I didn't quite reach that pinnacle with my version of BAKED's caramel candy popcorn balls, but I blame myself.

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Ideas Post 41: Vote for a Recipe

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This week promises to be a ridiculously busy week, but I'm hoping to carve out time for cooking somewhere in it. I've been searching for recipes that will help me do something with my jar of preserved lemons, which means this week's recipe ideas have a decidedly Middle Eastern slant.

Malouf is a huge cookbook, full of recipes that look delicious but always seem a little out of reach for me. This perception likely has more to do with the stunning photography and the horrible hard-to-read typography rather than a read-through of the recipes, so I've decided this week is the week to test cooking from Malouf. Maybe it's not just a beautiful bookshelf weight!

 

A) Lamb baked with Orzo Pasta, Tomatoes, and Lemon

B) Yogurt-baked Fish with Walnut-Herb Crumbs

C) Jewelled Cracked Wheat Pilaf with Honey-Ginger Tomato Sauce

D) Risotto with Zucchini, Prawn, and Preserved Lemon

E) Date Bread with Turmeric and Cumin

F) Aniseed Bread with Wild Figs

G) Little Lemon Yogurt Cakes

All from Malouf

Lemon Pie Bars

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Are you looking for the easiest, most ridiculously delicious lemon dessert? Look no further. Cheryl Day's lemon pie bars from Back in the Day Bakery are the One.

The ingredients list is short, the preparation required is minimal, and the bake time is short too. These must be thoroughly cooled and then chilled before serving, but then your patience will be rewarded a hundredfold.

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Parmesan Breadsticks

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Is there anything better than bread and cheese? Bread with cheese baked inside! Bastille Day beer bread, cheddar & black pepper bread, and now today's Parmesan breadsticks are exemplars of what all cheesy breads should be. Perfectly soft and pillowy, not greasy or weirdly pocketed, subtly flavored and ideal for snacking on alone or in combination with olives, fruit, salami, chili, stew, pasta, or even salad.

There are a lot of "nostalgic childhood snacks" I don't feel any connection with because I wasn't allowed to have them. Ho-Hos, Ding-Dongs, Twinkies, Little Debbie whatevers, Oreos, Doritos, Goldfish, ... I couldn't care less about any of them (except Oreo creme). I was raised on Trader Joe's snacks though, which includes their exceptional Garlic & Cheese Bread Sticks. Colin and I ate a lot of them over the years.... they were good cold, even better toasted, and stayed soft and "fresh" in the pantry for days.  Apparently Trader Joe's doesn't carry them any more, which validates my categorization of them as a nostalgic childhood snack. It also means I am extra excited to have found a good recipe for making them at home. Like all the recipes written by the America's Test Kitchen team, their rendition of Parmesan breadsticks is easy to follow and sure to please....

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Ideas Post 40: Vote for a Recipe

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It's another exceptionally brief ideas post for the coming week!

I feel as though I should be making plans to bake all the recipes I'm watching contestants make on the Great British Baking Show, but having just eaten my way through San Francisco and San Diego, I am trying to convince myself to focus on salad for the week.

 

A) Better Nut Mac & Cheese from Easy Vegan Breakfasts and Lunches

B) Chicken Salad with Avocado Ranch from The Paleo Chef

C) Ground Turkey with Spinach and Whole Spices from Indian Home Cooking

D) Nutmeg Cake from Love Bake Nourish

E) Lemon Pie Bars from Back in the Day

S Cookies

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I had never heard of such a thing as S cookies. Even though I read Baked Occasions, I passed over the page on S cookies as soon as I saw the header description calling them good for dunking. I am not a dunking cookie kind of a person. I'm a chewy cookie kind of person. But along came Baked Sunday Mornings with the S cookies as last Sunday's recipe selection.

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Sustenance Stew

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If you're here just to hear about Tess Master's delectable sustenance stew from the Perfect Blend, feel free to skip the next paragraph.

Happy 4 year WordPress-versary to me! I'm utterly shocked by the news (which WordPress communicated via a cute little pop-up window today). It doesn't feel like I've been blogging for that long, and I suppose that's because I haven't been exactly.... I started the Tastiest Book on a free wordpress.com hosted page, but I hated how ugly my blog looked compared to the gorgeous professional blogs and I gave up after just a few posts. Eventually I warmed back up to the idea (I scored a grown-up job and moved into an apartment of my own), bought my own domain and a nicer looking template, and have been muddling my way through this food blogging thing ever since.

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Ideas Post 39: Vote for a Recipe

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A brief (even briefer than normal!) post this weekend. I'm out of town until Wednesday, so all the options for this week are things I've already made (and enjoyed). I'm trying to clear out my queue of dishes that lean more towards cold rather than warm weather, in anticipation of what's sure to be an incredibly hot summer (since we barely had a winter).

 

A) Pumpkin Beer and Turkey Chili with Butternut Squash and Beans from Modern Potluck

B) Sustenance Stew from from the Perfect Blend

C) Easy Meat Lasagna from the Cook's Country Cookbook

D) Spiced Honey Bread from the Rye Baker

E) Kabocha, Olive Oil, and Bittersweet Chocolate Cake from Gjelina

 

Thanks for voting!

Ideas Post 38: Vote for a Recipe

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I am away for a work conference and thus have unfortunately been quite delinquent posting to my poor blog this week! I am not around a kitchen I can cook in anyway, but I did pick out some breads for this week's {belated} ideas post. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get in the kitchen and make something yeasty and delicious from Bread Illustrated.

 

A) Garlic Knots from Bread Illustrated

B) Classic Bialys from Bread Illustrated

C) Scali Bread from Bread Illustrated

D) Parmesan Breadsticks from Bread Illustrated

 

Let me know your thoughts by Friday!

Quinoa, Black Lentil, Mango, Smoked Chicken Salad with Korma Dressing

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Printed within the "winter" section of A Change of Appetite, Diana Henry's quinoa, black lentil, mango, smoked chicken salad with korma dressing manages to balance a lot of strong flavors in one hearty salad bowl. There's no explanation associating this recipe with the winter season, so I can only speculate that it's because mangoes begin to come into season in January ... and the hot curry in the korma dressing will heat you right up.

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Tricolor Cake aka Almond Sponge Cake with Chocolate Ganache

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I've loved the vast majority of cakes I've made over the years from the Baked cookbooks. Some a little more than others (lemon drop and caramel apple being two all-time favorites), but even when I struggle with the frosting, I typically am happy to devour the results. Sadly, I wasn't at all impressed with the Tricolor Cake that was Sunday's Baked Sunday Mornings selection. After trying it myself, I felt a little embarrassed that I had served it to other people. It's not that it was bad, just unexceptional.

It's hard for me to be negative about a Baked cake. It's worth pointing out that the day I made this cake, I wasn't operating at my best. I woke up thinking it was the wrong day, rushed to the gym for class only to get lectured by the instructor for showing up 30 minutes too late and interrupting. Then, I met a friend for tea at Barnes and Nobles, but left my purse behind in the cafe when we left. I got all the way to my car before I realized what I was missing. Thankfully, no one relieved me of its contents (at least, so far as I can tell). Crossing the street to the grocery store, I dropped my purse in the middle of the road as a car came rushing through the intersection (I did have the right of way). I shrunk my favorite pair of dress pants, which happen to be dry-clean only. In the course of making this cake, I dropped a precarious jar of flour, shattering glass and flour all over my kitchen (sink, floor, counter, clean dishes, dirty dishes, feet...).  So.... it's hard for me to be certain whether my failure with this tricolor cake is truly due to the recipe or simply another indication that I should have given up and retreated to the safety of my couch.

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Ideas Post 37: Vote for a Recipe

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Diana Henry is a pretty famous food writer in the UK, who I only began hearing about when she published A Bird in the Hand last year. I've been hunting down her other books at bookstores and libraries, although they've been harder to find then I expected originally. When I opened up A Change of Appetite for the first time last week, I felt like bookmarking almost every single page as I flipped through. Even though it's technically Spring now, the weather seems to be waffling, with lows in the mid-30s and highs in the mid-60s this week, so I am not quite ready to let go of the warming winter dishes yet. Help decide what recipe I will try first from her older cookbook. Please vote on a favorite by Monday!

A) Quinoa, Black Lentil, Mango, and Smoked Chicken Salad with Korma Dressing from A Change of Appetite

B) Winter Greens with Crispy Onions, Tahini, and Sumac from A Change of Appetite

C) Indian-spiced Beet, Pumpkin, and Spinach from A Change of Appetite

D) Date, Apricot, and Walnut Loaf Cake from A Change of Appetite

E) Persian Spice Bread from A Change of Appetite

 

Winter Harvest Pizza

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I want to be upfront about this. I didn't expect to like the winter harvest pizza from Digging Up the Dirt. Yes, obviously, I selected it as a recipe to vote for on Saturday, but in part because I never would have made it without someone voting for me to try it. I need to be perfectly clear about this, because while I read Andrea's headline, I wondered how this could possibly be anyone's favorite pizza of all time.

Now I know.

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Ideas Post 36: Vote for a Recipe

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How's your weather been? It's been a strange March here, with more consecutively cold days than any previous month this winter. Of course, it's the first time I've ever been to D.C. in time to overlap with the much-anticipated blooming of the cherry trees, but the cold weather either stalled or killed a lot of the buds.

No matter, because Arik and I managed to stumble across great restaurants and bakeries for every meal, which is no small feat. Despite Yelp's guidance, usually I wind up at a few duds. The Cakeroom and Three Fifty Bakery and Coffee Bar in Adams Morgan were absolutely fabulous, and after walking 17 miles in two days I didn't feel at all guilty over my bacon-cheddar-choice scone nor my creme brûlée and strawberry cream cupcakes.

More than the cherry blossoms, my biggest disappointment caused by the cold weather this week was that I had to wait an extra day for my brand new copy of Dishing Up the Dirt to show up, and when it did it was damaged. This is another Spring release cookbook I've been eagerly awaiting, and Andrea's seasonally organized, mostly plant-centric (she's a farmer) cookbook certainly didn't let me down. It's not quite the right season to try her suggestions for cooking with kohlrabi, but there's plenty in season right now that sounds appealing. So much, I couldn't pick just four.

A) Spicy Tomato Bisque with Pan-Fried Chickpeas from Dishing Up the Dirt

B) Blueberry, Lemon, and Ricotta Biscuits from Dishing Up the Dirt

C) Miso & Honey-Glazed Radishes from Dishing Up the Dirt

D) Butternut Molasses Muffins from Dishing Up the Dirt

E) Roasted Cabbage with Bacon Gremolata from Dishing Up the Dirt

F) Winter Harvest Pizza (butternut squash, Brussels, bacon, dates, hazelnuts, and blue cheese) from Dishing Up the Dirt
Thanks for voting!

Pappardelle Bolognese with Lentils and Sausage

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I've been searching for a pappardelle bolognese with lentils and sausage recipe for a while now. Ever since I ordered 4 bags of French green lentils from Bob's Red Mill and realized 4 bags of lentils is a lot of lentils for one woman to go through. Especially when it's not the only kind of lentil in my pantry. I had no idea how I was going to eat so many lentils, but I'm pretty happy to eat anything that involves pasta and cheese. Especially if it also involves tomato sauce and Italian sausage.

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Kitchen-Sink Dutch Baby

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I've heard of the Dutch baby (pancake) before. A magical breakfast creation that's a breeze to make, requires no flipping and no staggered eating shifts, and which puffs up over the sides of the cast-iron pan it's baked in. Yet somehow, as with so many of the recipes from Baked Sunday Mornings, I never bothered to try making a Dutch baby for myself before this weekend. ...

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Ideas Post 35: Vote for a Recipe

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Tis the season of new cookbooks, and narrowing down all the new recipes I want to try and which cookbooks to focus on first is hard!

Melissa Clark is a food columnist for the New York Times and contributes recipes to their Cooking site/app/recipe box. I've been following her contributed recipes since my dad encouraged me to try her Chocolate Whiskey Cake one year. It was exceptionally rich, with a definite whiskey flavor, yet still well-balanced, so I've had high expectations ever since. Her new cookbook Dinner: Changing the Game was released last week, and I've already talked  it up as a great new cookbook buy to a friend. I probably should pick it as focus for testing new recipes this week, right? Hopefully I don't find that I led him astray...

This week, I'm just going to focus on the one cookbook (!), and since Melissa doesn't have any desserts in her dinner-focused cookbook, I picked two more substantial dishes, one salad, one soup, and two savory bread dishes that could be dinner or brunch (or breakfast or lunch...) for people to vote from.

A) Blood Orange Chicken with Scotch Whiskey and Olives from Dinner: Changing the Game

B) Rye and Cheddar Biscuits from Dinner: Changing the Game

C) Pappardelle Bolognese with Lentils and Sausages from Dinner: Changing the Game

D) Herbed Parmesan Dutch Baby from Dinner: Changing the Game

E) Winter Vegetable Salad with Kale, Cabbage, and Thai Lime Dressing from Dinner: Changing the Game

F) Kimchi Soup with Pork and Tofu from Dinner: Changing the Game

 

Thanks for voting!

 

Raspberry Cream Cake

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Raspberry Cream Cake | the Tastiest Book

In a return to the always delicious Vanilla Bean Baking Book, I made Sarah’s outstanding raspberry cream cake, a yellow cake with a raspberry whipped cream cheese frosting for a friend’s baby shower party last weekend. The cake (and accompanying frosting) was a huge hit with everyone, and it couldn’t be easier to make. You can find the yellow cake recipe in a separate post, here I want focus all attention on this indulgent yet light cream cheese-based frosting.

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Creamy Chickpea Stew with Black Pepper Drop Biscuits

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Creamy Chickpea Stew | the Tastiest Book
Creamy Chickpea Stew | the Tastiest Book

When I cook for myself only, I gravitate towards vegetarian meals because they tend to be cheaper, faster, and require less planning than meals involving meat. The First Mess is a vegan blog I’ve followed for a while now. It’s one of my favorite blogs for how consistently delicious, healthy, and well-styled the food is, so I’ve been very excited about the release of Laura’s cookbook. This Creamy Chickpea Stew with Black Pepper Drop Biscuits is likely the first of what I imagine will be way more than three recipes I test from the First Mess Cookbook (or pre-order bundle, as this happens to be).
This creamy chickpea stew is magical, because it tastes exactly like you’re eating an incredibly rich stew loaded with cream. Instead, you’re eating an incredibly rich stew loaded with cashew cream, which is arguably more nutritious than the cream-based alternative. And, if you feed people who are vegan or lactose intolerant, they’ll be utterly delighted with Laura’s twist on what is essentially chicken and biscuits. And if you’re not a vegetarian or vegan and want to add some meat to this meal, just stir in cooked, bite-sized pieces of chicken at the same time you stir in the frozen peas.
Laura’s instructions are easy to follow, but I did make a few rearrangements to the order because it made more sense to me and stream-lined the prep work a little. I also felt that the stew could benefit from adding a little sherry or white wine to deglaze the sautéed vegetables before adding the liquid.

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Ideas Post 34: Vote for a Recipe

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While we've been finishing our adaption of the beef and broccoli, somehow it's become Saturday again. The good news is, the black pepper and cheddar cheese bread won Caleb's seal of approval. It's been fun having him around to taste test everything; even if I did scorch the onion poppy seed bread because I was too focused on Bosch.

Tonight is one of the coldest nights we've had this year, which is encouraging my focus for the week onto hearty but healthy stews and soups. After all the cake I ate today, and that praline pecan ice cream I finished over the past week, it's probably a good idea anyways. The First Mess Cookbook releases this week, which makes it a great choice it for this week's recipe selection (mostly, anyhow).

A) Roasted Chile Basil Lime Tofu Bowls from the First Mess Cookbook

B) Creamy Chickpea Stew with Black Pepper Drop Biscuits from the First Mess Cookbook Pre-order Recipes

C) Savory Ginger Green Onion Crepes from the First Mess Cookbook

D) Raspberry Cream Cake from the Vanilla Bean Baking Book

Pecan Praline Ice Cream (Cake) aka the New Orleans

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I haven't been able to bake the last couple Baked Sunday Mornings recipes, but I knew I had to find time to try Matt and Renato's ode to New Orleans in the form of a pecan praline ice cream cake. Not only have I found myself enjoying pecan praline ice cream more and more as an adult, but the history of pecan praline candy is fascinating. According to the reputable people at Southern Candy Makers and Wikipedia, pralines were originally a French delicacy, therefore the art of making praline candy was taught by French Ursuline nuns to "casket girls" starting around 1730 as part of their "homemaker training" before the girls were married off to colonists in the New Orleans area.  In France, the nut of choice for pralines was almonds, but those were scarce in New Orleans, and thus the widely available pecan was substituted instead. Cream was also added to the candy, and thus the achingly sweet, meltingly soft pecan praline confection was born. Almost 300 years later, this Ursuline girl (whoa) is very happily devouring Matt and Renato's delicious version of pecan pralines....

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Ideas Post 33: Vote for a Recipe

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Late is better than never, right? I'll keep telling myself that.

This weekend we went into Brooklyn and I finally tried the pizza from Roberta's in Bushwick. I've been trying to get there since I moved here, and today we serendipitously wound up at a bar right around the corner from my pizzeria goal. We'd just had lunch less than two hours earlier at the great Bunker Vietnamese, but I ordered one Axl Rosenberg to go and between six of us, everyone got to try a slice. It was as delicious as I'd dreamed it would be, which is more unusual than not for places I've had years to build up in my mind.

I do own the Roberta's cookbook, so expect to see a themed Ideas Post coming from it soon, but not this week. It turns out Caleb likes pizza less than I do, and I'm already planning to make him the feta and fennel flatbreads as well as the gozleme this week, so something a little different is in order.

A) Pear-Oat Bran Quick Bread from 101 Recipes You Cannot Live Without

B) Beef and Broccoli with Brown Rice from 101 Recipes You Cannot Live Without

C) Stir-Fried Chettinad Chicken from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey

D) Banana and Cinnamon Cake from Love Bake Nourish

Thanks for voting!

Mushroom and Barley Soup with Cabbage

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I love everything I've ever made from Anna Thomas, and this mushroom and barley soup with cabbage from her Love Soup cookbook is no exception. I've been a sucker for mushroom and barley soup since my first introduction to it as a college freshman via Mollie Katzen's version in Enchanted Forest.

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