two cooks, their books

Tidying up this morning after the holiday meal, I found blog-food still on the table here. The cooking yesterday was a joint effort in the tradition of our holidays. Even when the girls were little, everyone picked a part of the menu and made that dish. Our own family potluck. The bar has been raised now that they are grown and such good cooks in their own right. We all have our standby favorites. Andy, our Iron Chef, cooks from the heart, remembering all the days cooking with his mother, Betty, an Irish-Italian house-chef. Cooking for 7 children and a neighborhood of visitors must have been the best training out there. He is, hands down, the best cook in our house. Any meal he wants to prepare has everyone drooling at the stovetop. Yesterday he made his own recipe of broccoli florets sauteed with hazelnuts, garlic and hoisin sauce. Everyone adores it, even no-broccoli eaters.

But he is about to be eclipsed by Maggie. She is an enthusiastic foodie and looks high and low for new dishes and cuisines to experiment with. After Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, her current bible is Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa At Home. The whole time she is cooking we hear things like, Ina, you are the coolest! You're my homegirl! ....and the food is indeed memorable. For dinner she made the Mustard-Roasted Potatoes. Fabulous! (Ina Garten and I shared the green room before our segments on CBS the year our first books came out. She is really as kind, smiling and pleasant as she appears to be on her show. Just so nice!)

Trying to stay in the game, I dusted off my seriously deteriorating interest in cooking and pulled out my old cookbooks. I was struck by the dog-eared look of them next to the pristine, carefully guarded At Home- although it's just a matter of time before that cover suffers an accidental splattering of olive oil. Made me think about how these cookbooks go in and out of fashion. Remember the days of the Silver Palate frenzy? I still love those recipes...any of them. Potatoes Fontecchio would have been my potato dish. From SP1- as we call it- I made the Apricot Glazed Ham. It was so easy, so good. And from my other favorite, Private Collection from the Junior League of Palo Alto, I made Wild Rice Salad. By now, it's evolved with my own additions and alterations, but so has everything else in that book that I have tried. I think the Junior League cookbooks have some of the best recipes collected anywhere. Those girls know how to party with food! It is the best little cookbook I have.

Sorry to report that dessert was not the apple cheesecake. A guest asked to bring dessert so I was off the hook there. Already over my limit, cooking-wise anyway. Erin and Mo were not at home so we don't know what their contributions would have been. Someday we'll have our whole gang at the table again and it will be a feast of many kinds, many dishes, many hearts.  xoC

Comments

[Daisy Cottage]

I agree Charlotte that the Junior League cookbooks are some of the best out there! Your Andy sounds like a wonderful cook as does Maggie! How cool that you shared the green room with Ina! Cool for HER too, ya know! ;-)
xo,
Kim

[Kimberly Kwan]

Oh yes! Junior League cookbooks are treasures! Such tried-and-true GEMS! I'm also a huge fan of the "Contessa" and woudl OVE to have the brocolli/hoisin/hazelnut recipe, if you can get him to divulge!! My kids are HUGE broc lovers and the hoisin is a natural for this half-Chinese family!!

I must admit, we are foodies in my family, as well...you have inspired me and now I may just have to tease everyone withe yumminess i've got brewing on my stove-top pressure-cooker right now!! :-)

[Mrs.Staggs]

My son bought me the new Contessa cookbook for Christmas. I'm enjoying it. My all time favorites are still the Silver Palate cookbooks, those and a very old Fannie Farmer are the ones I use the most.
My extended family is full of foodies and all the kids cook. One neice went to culinary school. Just thinking of her cooking makes my mouth water!

[The Decorated House]

Is there anything more fun than potluck and your kids learning to cook?! Oh yeah, a hubby who cooks!
I love how recipes evolve with each loving hand that makes them for their own families like you wild rice dish.

[FrenchGardenHouse]

I was sorry that neither of my kids could cook here this Easter. But luckily one managed to get off work early (really, my MOM nees me!) so we had her at dinner anyway. (Nothing makes a Mom happier, right?)

I still love my junior league books, the new Ina is a favorite, and the Silver Palate, still current and great food, always!
ps. the iron chef's recipe wins, this year, oh that sounds too delicious! Glad you had a great time! Lidy

[Angel Jem]

I have only just seen the barefoot contessa on TV today for the first time... is she really that nice? I'm due a birthday present in a months time... I think I know what it might be, so which book is best for a down-to-earth mother of 3?

[Jen]

I'm so glad to hear that about Ina as she is my foody hero!