Recipes Blog

Recipe for Anchovy Spaghetti with Pine Nut Picada from Rustica by Theo Michaels

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book has wonderful recipes: there is lamb from Spain, Sicilian caponata, and a Greek breakfast board you could put on the table any time of the day. Today's recipe has you melting the anchovies in olive oil, and throwing in a little of this and a lot of that for a marvelous pasta dish. On my to try next list: spicy cauliflower steaks and lots of fish dishes. There is even an octopus recipe for you brave cooks!

Recipe excerpted with permission from Rustica: Delicious Recipes for Village-Style Mediterranean Food by Theo Michaels, photography by Mowie Kay, published by Ryland Peters & Small

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Recipe for Ricotta and Green Herb Torta from Pies, Glorious Pies by Maxine Clark, photographs by Steve Painter

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This beautiful book features savory and sweet pies galore. I love the adorably named Piggy Pies with quail eggs, the mud pie, and individual apples baked in a crust-topped ramekin. This torta can be made with any combination of greens and is a simple, one dish meal. Next on my list: Greek spinach pie.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Pies, Glorious Pies: Brilliant Recipes for Mouth-Wateringly Tasty Pies by Maxine Clark, Ryland Peters & Small, photography by Steve Painter © Ryland Peters & Small, 2012

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Recipe for Pizza Margherita from Pizza by Thom Elliot and James Elliot

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This adorable book is filled with stories and recipes of pizza around the globe. Here’s a simple recipe to make on a chilly day. Start your dough the night before, and have a simple, yummy lunch, easy as pie!

Recipe excerpted with permission from Pizza by Thom Elliot and James Elliot photos by Dave Brown (Hardie Grant)

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Recipe for Carrot and Potato Tagine with Peas from Vegetarian Tagines and Couscous by Ghillie Başan

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

A tagine is a flavorful, slow-cooked stew. It’s also the vessel that it is cooked in, which is a kind of pot bottom with a tall, tapered cover that allows steam to build up so the food stays tender. This cookbook has lots of recipes for vegetarian dishes, often served with couscous, rice, or toasted bread, such as little artichokes with ginger, honey, and preserved lemon; runner beans with tomato and dill; and a creamy pumpkin soup with chili honey. Whip up this easy veggie dish and settle in with the book to take an armchair trip to Morocco.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Vegetarian Tagines and Couscous by Ghillie Başan, photography by Steve Painter (Ryland Peters & Small)

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Recipe for Thai-style Coconut Chicken Curry from Cooking for One by America's Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

There are lots of interesting meals for one you can whip up in a flash: try the Florentine soup with sausage and tortellini, salads, stir-fries, paper bag popcorn, and two chocolate chip cookies made in the toaster oven.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Cooking for One by America's Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Storecupboard Pasta from Posh Pasta by Pip Spence, photography by Faith Mason.

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book will inspire you to make pasta dishes every night. There are recipes for spicy chickpea and sweet potato penne, cold orzo salad with tomato, artichoke and olives, fried macaroni and cheese balls, and a perfect pesto. And lots more.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Posh Pasta by Phillippa Spence, published by Quadrille

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Recipe for Roast Turkey with Clementines and Garlic from Miss Maggie’s Kitchen by Héloïse Brion

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Start preparing for Thanksgiving. As a young bride, I practiced my turkey skills three fall Sundays in a row on some chickens. When it came time for my first holiday as a hostess, I was ready! This lovely book has many recipes for entertaining, such as mini vegetable pies, plank salmon, and an apple cinnamon galette. Enjoy.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Miss Maggie’s Kitchen by Héloïse Brion, photographs by Christophe Roué

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Recipe for Veggie Lo Mein from Dumplings and Noodles by Pippa Middlehurst

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book inspired me to get in the kitchen and make my own dumplings and buns. I am working my way through the ramen and rice noodle section. Soon, I will try Biang Biang Noodles and a lovely rainbow salad. The vegetarian Lo Mein recipe is easy and fun to whip up on a cold fall evening.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Dumplings and Noodles by Pippa Middlehurst, photography by India Hobson & Magnus Edmondson, published by Quadrille.

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Recipe for Slow-Roasted Salmon with Sunchoke Puree and Sweet-Sour Onions from Chasing Flavor by Dan Kluger and Nick Fauchald, photographs by Evan Sung

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I really love this book. It has recipes grouped into meals, so if you are making the pot roast, you can incorporate some of the braising liquid into broccoli rabe as the side. Make your own ricotta cavatelli, then add a mixture of veggies and spices, and cover with a cheese sauce. I am having fun creating salads and mixing and matching the lovely dressings: Celery Root, Fennel, Pear, and Apple Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette. Throw in the roasted beets of another salad recipe, add the Meyer lemon vinaigrette, and this refreshing salad is my new favorite. Next up: a grandma pizza pie.

Excerpted from CHASING FLAVOR: Techniques and Recipes to Cook Fearlessly © 2020 by Daniel Kluger. Photography © 2020 by Evan Sung. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

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Recipe for Spaghetti alla Puttanesca from Old World Italian by Mimi Thorisson, photographs by Oddur Thorisson

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This beautiful book holds a culinary trip to Italy, with a little bit of France thrown in. Try this pasta dish that is easy to throw together and get on the table. There is also a recipe for torta pasqualina that is right out of my childhood. I remember my eighty-year-old cousin, Grace, cutting one open to reveal Swiss chard or maybe escarole, with a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg in the center of each slice. It was so beautiful that you barely knew, as a child, you were eating a green vegetable. I never asked her for the recipe, because I was afraid of her. Now, thanks to this book, I have it!

Reprinted from Old World Italian. Copyright © 2020 by Marie-France Thorisson. Photographs copyright © 2020 by Oddur Thorisson. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House.

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