Published by Alfred A. Knopf ISBN 978-0-307-59565-2
Hardcover, $35, 311 pages
It's been over a month since I've blogged. Between decorating, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, writing out 85 Christmas cards, attending all of the many Christmas work events for my husband's job, and volunteering four days a week at The Book Cellar, (the used bookstore at our local NYPL Webster Library run by all volunteers), blogging was the one thing that got put on hold.
Last week, I found a copy of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman and I promptly purchased it. It's a gorgeous cookbook, written by a popular blogger who cooks in her tiny New York City apartment kitchen, which is no bigger than mine. (So there goes my excuse that the reason I can't cook anything in my kitchen because it's too small.)
I love that for each recipe Perelman gives the reader a little story about how she came up with the recipe. The ingredients are listed to the side, along with directions, and sometimes a 'cooking note' or 'do ahead' suggestion.
The photos in the book are simply stunning. I drooled just looking at them (the potato frittata with feta and scallions, butternut squash and caramelized onion galette, and peach dumplings with bourbon hard sauce in particular caught my eye), and there are 452 full color illustrations in the book for those of you who like your cookbooks with photos. (Which I do)
The book is divided into the typical sections- Breakfast, Salad, Main Dishes- and close to one-third of the book is devoted to Sweets. At the end, she has a chapter, How To Throw a Dinner Party, that gives you a entire party's worth of appetizers and a few drink recipes that you could follow in its entirety to host a smashing get-together that will impress your friends.
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is not for beginning cooks. I'd put this in the category for fans of Martha Stewart or maybe The Barefoot Contessa (if you know what grissini and gougeres are, this book is for you). It is a gorgeous book, and would make a lovely gift for someone you know who is an accomplished and enthusiastic cook.
rating 4 stars
The Smitten Kitchen website is here.
Happy holidays!! I coveted this cookbook until I picked it up and browsed through it. I love Deb's blog and agree that the pictures are gorgeous but in the end decided the recipes were too sophisticated for my meat and potatoes hub and two young kids. Sigh...maybe one day. ;)
ReplyDeleteLooks gorgeous. I love that she cooks in a tiny kitchen in New York.
ReplyDeleteI like her blog so I am sure I would enjoy this book. Fear not I have not blogged in an eternity-though for different reasons. Enjoy the book.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you this is one of favorite cookbooks. In fact I made three recipes from it (all bit hits) for company over the holiday season. Do.Not.Miss. making the beer-braised short ribs. OMG good.
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful book. I check it out of the library quite a bit during the year but haven't purchased a copy as of yet.
ReplyDeleteI love her blog, and have been super happy with all of her recipes that I've tried so far. Thanks for the reminder that this is out! I don't know how I forgot.
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