Recipes Blog

Recipe for Pletzel from The Savory Baker

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Pletzel is an onion-poppy seed flatbread, which bakeries apparently don’t make any more. It’s time that we home bakers do! Although the dough is somewhat sticky and difficult to work with, it’s worth the challenge. I added the water a little at a time, and ended up using less than noted in this recipe. Try it, it’s a fun, stuck-in-the-house-day project. Then, go on to bake through this book, which is bursting with amazing recipes for all sorts of hand pies, stuffed breads, and even a savory tarte tatin, made with apples and fennel. Next on my list: spinach pie, cheese bread, and another tart, this one covered in smoked salmon and leeks. Oh, and one more—a rustic pie made with phyllo dough, stuffed with tomatoes and eggplant. 

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Savory Baker (America’s Test Kitchen)

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Recipe for Mezzi Rigatoni with Raw Tomato Sauce from Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Our friends, Lidia and Tanya, have created another gem of a cookbook. This one is filled with simple one-pot meals. Try this easy pasta dish that has the bright taste of basil mixed in with the tomatoes. Throw in some chicken or tuna, and you have a one-dish dinner. I would be happy to have the leftovers, cold, for the next day’s lunch. Next on my list: Italian wedding soup, skillet sausages with fennel and apples, and a bread pudding with berries.

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From Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Copyright © 2021 by Tutti a Tavola, LLC. 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 Turkey Leftovers from Betty Crocker Best 100

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I love old-fashioned recipes that work today. After the holiday, try this wonderful pot pie instead of another turkey sandwich. Then, bake some sweets from this amazing cookbook. Perhaps a pumpkin loaf, studded with chocolate chips; an apple bread glazed with caramel; or some rainbow-frosted doughnuts.

Recipe excerpted with permission from BETTY CROCKER BEST 100: Favorite Recipes from America’s Most Trusted Cook © 2021 by Betty Crocker. Photography © 2021 by General Mills. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

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Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce from The Essential New York Times by Amanda Hesser

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This amazing cookbook is bursting with over one thousand recipes. You will be cooking through the book for years. Buy the book to get the marinara recipe. Your repertoire needs that one too. Next on my list: baked mushrooms from 1877; sweet potato Cecelia; Lee Lum’s lemon chicken; the classic purple plum torte; and the world’s best chocolate cake.

Excerpted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook: The Recipes of Record, 10th Anniversary Edition. Compilation copyright (c) 2021, 2010 by The New York Times Company and Amanda Hesser. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Recipe for Ricotta and spinach gnudi in burrata and burnt sage butter from The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Try this delightful dish for a cozy dinner by the fire. Next on my list: asparagus and sugar snap pea risotto; smoked tuna with fennel, chilli, and grapefruit; and cantuccini biscuits for dessert.

Recipes excerpted with permission from The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall, photographs by Lizzie Mayson, published by Quadrille Publishing, March 2021

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Recipe for Greens, Feta and Ricotta Hand Pies from All Day Baking Savoury, Not Sweet by Michael James and Pippa James, photos by Lisa Cohen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Use store-bought pastry for this dish, or make your own from scratch. Next on my list: Gran’s traditional Cornish pasty tarts; a gorgeous Root Wellington; and caramelised onion and apple chutney.

Recipes excerpted with permission from All Day Baking by Michael James and Pippa James published by Hardie Grant, September 2021

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Recipe for Pasta alla Norma from Sicilia by Ben Tish, photographs by Kris Kirkham

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book is an armchair traveler’s dream, filled with recipes of my grandparents’ home. Here is Pasta alla Norma, a quick and easy dish to make for dinner. It's the perfect pairing of tomatoes and eggplant. Next on my list: flat bread with grapes; spaccatelle pasta with ricotta and pistachio pesto; and the adorably named Kissing Biscuits. Buon appetito!

Recipe excerpted with permission from Sicilia by Ben Tish (Bloomsbury). All rights reserved.

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Recipes for herb-crusted roasted chicken with lemon garlic orzo and curried chicken sheet pan dinner from Cook Once Dinner Fix by Cassy Joy Garcia

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Preparing a meal and reserving some of the ingredients for tomorrow. So clever. Try the herb-crusted roasted chicken with lemon-garlic orzo for your first dinner, and reserve some of the meat to make second meal—a sheet pan, bursting with veggies and curry. Another night, make some tuna steak with chili-lime sauce, serve it with quinoa, and use some of the fish for a tuna-noodle casserole for another dinner. A falafel bowl morphs into goat cheese-mushroom quiche for tomorrow’s lunch. The book has tons of tip on how to transform the recipes to lower your carbs, or eliminate dairy, gluten, grains, nuts, or eggs. Healthy and delicious. What could be bad?

Recipe excerpted with permission from Cook Once Dinner Fix by Cassy Joy Garcia, photos by Kristen Kilpatrick (Simon & Schuster, Inc). All rights reserved.

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Recipe for Best Beef Stew from Meat Illustrated

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Here’s a super simple stew for your first almost-fall dinner in front of the fire. Spend the cold months trying beef and barley soup, made in a pressure cooker; veal chops with spinach and a garlicky gremolata; and a slow-cooked pad Thai.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Meat Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen).

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Recipe for Lazy Tomato Peach Pasta from Occasionally Eggs by Alexandra Daum

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This gorgeous book is bursting with inventive vegetarian dishes. The recipe for today whips up in a few minutes. Place the veggies and fruit in a bowl, cook and add the hot pasta, then the dressing. You will have a lovely pasta salad for a warm summer’s evening. Next on my list: minestrone soup, blueberry nut butter cookies, and a refreshing watermelon/raspberry/lemon drink.

Excerpted from Occasionally Eggs: Simple Vegetarian Recipes for Every Season by Alexandra Daum. Copyright © 2021 Alexandra Daum. Photography by Alexandra Daum. 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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