Zabar's Blog

Recipe for Everything Oil

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is filled with wonderful stories and enticing vegetarian recipes. I was intrigued by the jammy, soft-cooked eggs, made with tea or beets. Make this oil, as spicy as you like, for salads and cooking. Next on my list: fried rice, with peas and ginger; sesame rice noodles made with today’s everything oil and charred broccoli; and a sweet French toast.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from To Asia, With Love, by Hetty McKinnon, published by Prestel.

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Recipe for Breakfast Tart

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.

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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.

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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.

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

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Recipe for Popovers

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

There are dozens of yummy things to make in this wonderful cookbook. Try my favorite: Popovers are a magical baking wonder. You mix some ingredients, scrape the batter in the wells in a pan, and bake rolls that rise high and are light and airy. And they’re so good! In our house, we eat them dolloped with French butter and raspberry or fig preserves. What a sweet way to start the day.

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Excerpted from The King Arthur Baking Company’s All-Purpose Baker’s Companion: Revised and Updated. Copyright © 2021, 2003 by The King Arthur Baking Company, Inc. Photography by Liz Neily. Reproduced by permission of The Countryman Press, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company. All rights reserved.

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Recipe for Potato Galette

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.

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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 Asparagus Quiche

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.

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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 Classic and Best Lemon Tart

from Plat du Jour by Susan Hermann Loomis (The Countryman Press)

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I got lost in the recipes in this beautiful book. Try the avocado, cherry, and chive salad, with pistachios; some fromage blanc; and the fig and hazelnut bread for a light lunch. For dinner, a fish soup from Flanders with the adorable name of Waterzooi; garlicky red peppers, roasted and pureed, served with cod; lamb chops with rosemary and orange syrup; beef and onion stew; or some pissaldier, the famous tomato, olive, and anchovy tart, served with happy toasts. For dessert, there are all kinds of sweets: this lemon tart, or an apple version; plum clafoutis; and a chocolate mousse. Heaven.

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Recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I love my toaster oven. This cookbook is overflowing with great dishes to make without heating up the kitchen. The brussels sprouts recipe is perfect for a side for a Passover dinner. Try the variation with pomegranate seeds and pistachios. Then, use the book for easy meals year-round. Next on my list: the rum-glazed roasted pineapple for a sweet spring dessert.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Toaster Oven Perfection by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Matzo Ball Soup

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

You need a classic matzoh ball in chicken soup recipe. Here is one is that is easy, and a perfect starter for a Passover lunch. This wonderful cookbook will guide you through tons of recipes. When you are planning another chicken dinner and want something different, you can expand your repertoire by trying Cock-a-Leekie soup, spicy chicken arrabbiata (angry chicken), arroz con pollo, or plain, baked pieces. Then, move on to some stews, such as burgoo or gumbo, and souvlaki skewers.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Chicken Bible by America's Test Kitchen

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