Episode 28: Back Pocket Recipes

Episode 28: Back Pocket Recipes

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Everyone has, or should have, a handful of “back pocket” recipes. These are the recipes that are tried and true in your kitchen; these are the recipes that consistently cook-up great and taste delicious. We’ve found a few new recipes that our testing community loved that just might be worthy of “back pocket” status!

This episode features recipes from the following cookbooks:

By Colu Henry

Available at Amazon.com

From Chef Donna Desfor's Review

Like many modern cookbooks, Back Pocket Pasta promises to help every busy person get a satisfying meal on the table in a short amount of time from the ingredients you have on hand. Back Pocket Pasta, however, has the unifying, undeniably pleasing, central ingredient of pasta. And, it’s not pasta you have to make. Simply buy your favorite brand and style (though the author does suggest hers and a preferred style for each recipe) and you are on your way to a delicious pasta meal.

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By Desmond Tan And Kate Leahy

Available at Amazon.com

From Chef Donna Desfor's Review

If you like the cuisines of India and China, Thailand, and Vietnam, then you’ll be an instant fan of the flavors and food that come out of Burma Superstar. Burma, now the country of Myanmar, boasts bold flavors. Addictively savory and spicy, this cuisine is also salty and tart. Curries are more subtle, and salads are an amalgam of texture and flavor. This is a book to chew and digest, and savor over and again. It’s an experiment in learning (and locating) new ingredients, and trusting that it’s okay to eat things like tea leaves (and it is!). Between its covers, you’ll find familiar ingredients seasoned or cooked in unexpected ways. You’ll learn to appreciate new and exciting flavor profiles. And cooking these dishes? The popular San Francisco Bay area restaurant’s recipes are streamlined for the home kitchen.

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By Nuno Mendes and AndréBalazs

Available at Amazon.com

From Chef Donna Desfor's Review

In our modern foodie world it’s safe to say there aren’t many originals. Those that are, likely are the chefs at restaurants cloaked in stars, awards and accolades. They’re honored because they seek perfection in their preparations; ingredients are transformed into ingredients. This is cooking at the highest level. Some might say unattainable for the home-cook. But it’s not. Really, it’s not. It’s working through a collection of little recipes that come together to create something greater than the parts. These are the recipes that fill the pages of the Chiltern Firehouse cookbook. Recipes most everyone can execute. The thrill is working through each component and, through the course of a day or two or three, you’ll see the dish emerge. Then you simply assemble the dish, and take your place among friends and family as a culinary god(dess). Chiltern Firehouse is the road to culinary nirvana.

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By Sarah Britton

Available at Amazon.com

From Chef Donna Desfor's Review

It should be a given that healthy delicious food shouldn’t be expensive, or complicated. Life in the kitchen should be simple; it isn’t. Enter Sarah Britton and her new book Naturally Nourished intended to prove that we can eat well, even on a budget, and even during the hectic work-week. In Naturally Nourished, Britton gets down to the nitty-gritty, basic home economics- kind-of-stuff that glamorous cooking competitions and coffee-table cookbooks forget to show you. If you’re up for rethinking the way you use your kitchen, your pantry, and your freezer, then you’ll be interested in this new thoughtful and surprising approach to healthy (vegetarian, vegan, raw and grain-free) eating.

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By Layo Paskin and Tomer Amedi

Available at Amazon.com

From Chef Donna Desfor's Review

When you open a restaurant in a city like London and by year’s end you’ve been named the best restaurant in that city by more than one source, the next step is to capture in recipes the colorful, inspired and flavorful food that you serve. The Palomar Cookbook does just that with its melding of cultures in a fun expressive way. But even better, this book allows anyone cooking from its pages to serve up utterly delicious foods without stepping too far out of their cooking comfort zone. That the food relies on popular and familiar Spanish, African and Middle Eastern spices and ingredients make the experience new without being difficult and invites you back to its pages to cook again and again.

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