Recipes Blog

Recipe for Teriyaki Stir-Fried Beef with Green Beans from The Ultimate Meal Prep by America’s Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This cookbook organizes meals for a week, with recipes and shopping lists. You can use the recipes in this book every night, or once a week, to become a world-class home cook with a signature potluck dish. Next on my list: orzo primavera with feta, cooked in a leek broth; and a salad made with carrot, orange, chickpeas, and a minty dressing, served with crispy chicken pieces.

Recipe excerpted with permission from The Ultimate Meal Prep by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Catch of the Day with Tomato Jam from The Food of Oaxaca by Alejandro Ruiz and Carla Altesor

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Take a trip to Oaxaca from your armchair with this interesting book, then go in the kitchen and make this fish dish. Next, put on your list: lamb chops in pitona sauce, ceviche-stuffed chile de aqua in passion fruit salsa, and maybe even some grilled octopus. Try the heirloom tomato salad and some cinnamon-scented hot chocolate for dessert.

Excerpted from THE FOOD OF OAXACA: Recipes and Stories from Mexico’s Culinary Capital by Alejandro Ruiz and Carla Altesor. English Translation Copyright © 2020 by Alfred A. Knopf. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe for Breakfast Tart from Lazy Day Brunches

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar
Recipes by Kathy Kordalis, photo by Mowie Kay © Ryland Peters & Small

Here’s a super lazy way to have a backyard gathering: give your friends copies of this cookbook, and ask each to make a recipe from it for a wonderful pot-luck brunch at your house. Set the picnic table, mix some mimosas, iced tea and coffee, and whip up this breakfast tart and one of the amazing French toasts from the book. Invite me, and I’ll help with the dishes.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Lazy Day Brunches: Relaxed Recipes for the Morning, Ryland Peters & Small

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Recipe for Vegetable-Topped Mini Schiacciata from Florentine by Emiko Davies

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book, filled with stories and recipes, was like a trip back to Italy. Today’s recipe for schiacciatine makes a platter full of adorable little veggie-covered savory treats. Next on my list: Italian meatloaf, fried chicken, and pastas and gnocchi galore. Which to choose? Sweet crostini with pears and walnuts, or maybe individual rice/risotto puddings, for dessert. I know my kids’ answer will be both.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Florentine by Emiko Davies, published by Hardie Grant Books, February 2021

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Recipe for Vegetable and Orzo Tian from The Complete One Pot by America's Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is bursting with simple recipes for dinner. What’s easier than a meal made in one pot? Try this gorgeous veggie dish first. Then, maybe a meat pie or black bean soup. Next on my list: salmon with Mediterranean rice salad and spanakopita. There are also some yummy desserts here, such as a baked apple, stuffed with cherries and hazelnuts; and my old friend, blueberry pie, baked in a skillet.

Recipe excerpted with permission from The Complete One Pot by America's Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Potato Galette from How Wild Things Are by Analiese Gregory

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This cookbook is an armchair traveler’s dream. The recipes and stories are from New Zealand and Australia, with a little bit of Finland sprinkled in. Today’s recipe is a perfectly British potato galette, made in a skillet. In the book, there is food from the wild island of Tasmania, such as rooster and wallaby, that you won’t find in my kitchen, but I do love reading about interesting culinary adventures. And there is an intriguing chocolate and "liquorice" cake that is next on my list.

Recipe excerpted with permission from How Wild Things Are by Analiese Gregory, photographs by Adam Gibson. Published by Hardie Grant Books February 2021.

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Recipe for Turbot with Hollandaise Sauce from Legendary Dinners by Anne Petersen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This gorgeous book is filled with delicious recipes and stories of memorable dinners. Dream of dining with Queen Elizabeth or President Kennedy, and perhaps Jackson Pollack and Bloomsbury artists. I am excited to make Truman Capote’s Chilled Avocado Cream Soup and a delightful gingersnap circus from Bauhaus artist Gunta Stolzi. The book ends with the menu from Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier’s nuptials and their lovely wedding cake.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Legendary Dinners by Anne Petersen (Prestel Publishing)

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Recipe for Asparagus Quiche from Sheet Pan Everything by Ricardo Larrivee

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Who roasts beets on a sheet pan? Or chickpeas? I do, with pomegranate seeds, since I read this book. There are brilliant recipes that combine meat, fish, or tofu with veggies right on the same pan. Next on my list: cauliflower tacos, spiraled hash browned rösti, haddock with garlic cream, and a giant chocolate chip cookie for all to share.

Excerpted from Sheet Pan Everything by Ricardo Larrivee. Copyright © 2021 Ricardo Media. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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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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