The Cookshelf: High Summer 2021

Summer: A Cookbook
By Marnie Hanel & Jen Stevenson
Artisan, $19.95

Whether you are lakefront, bayside, seaside, or poolside, it’s summer and time to celebrate! Food writers Marnie Hanel & Jen Stevenson’s quirky, inventive, and playfully illustrated book is filled with ideas on how to make the most of the season (note: it’s all about having fun). Cleverly worded sections such as “Shell Yeah: Building a Ravishing Raw Bar” or “In the Stick of Time: Seven Snappy Skewers” reflect their sense of whimsy, but the recipes are no-joke and full of interesting flavors. Dishes rely on summer’s bounty, making the most of seasonal fruits, vegetables, and seafood. Grilled Peach Panzanella with Oil-Cured Olives, Tarragon Crab Salad on Watermelon, Grilled Shrimp Louie with Avocado-Buttermilk Dressing, and fruit-forward Five-Minute Frosé By the Bay are just a few dishes featuring seasonal ingredients. Many recipes can be made ahead and include transport and assembly instructions. Next time you are invited to a potluck dinner and are short on time, bring one of the no-stress, no-shame, ingenious “Super Speedy Party Grabs.” Of course, you could also wrap up a copy of this book. Perfect. Hostess. Gift.

Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food
By Julia Turshen
Harper Wave, $32.50

New York Times best-selling author Julia Turshen’s fourth cookbook, Simply Julia, is simply wonderful! With a generous spirit, she embraces the real and imperfect nature of home cooks. Deemed by Epicurious as one of the “100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time,” Turshen walks readers through 110 manageable and healthy-leaning recipes in an encouraging, approachable style. Nothing is off limits – there’s meat, fish, and vegetables, there’s sugar and then sometimes almost none, there’s vegan, gluten-free and lower carb. She includes helpful hints on using leftovers and offers thought-provoking dinner conversation starters. Turshen also opens herself up in a series of personal essays neatly tucked between well-organized sections. The colorful photos compliment recipes that leave plenty of room for variations and substitutions. Highlights include Roasted Cauliflower + Red Cabbage Tacos, quick-cooking Pork Tenderloin Piccata, and Chicken Reuben Skillet (a deconstructed Reuben sandwich sans bread). Low in sugar but high on flavor, Sled Dog Muffins pack in oats, banana, and chia seeds for one of the many healthy snack options. This uplifting book will fill both your belly and your soul.

The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes
By Sam Sifton
Ten Speed Press, $28

Imagine a cookbook where ingredients aren’t assigned measurements. Instead, they are added in splashes, bunches, handfuls, sprinkles and glugs. You’ve just imagined The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes by Food Editor Sam Sifton. The book is a compilation of recipe highlights from Sifton’s Wednesday “What to Cook” newsletter, in which he includes a no-recipe recipe as an invitation for cooks of all abilities to build confidence and intuition in the kitchen. Creative cooking like this requires a stocked pantry and Sifton suggests key items. His casual style sets the right tone – experimenting in the kitchen should be low-stakes and liberating. Take the Spicy Caper and Olive Pasta (“puttanesca on the fly”) in which Sifton, his pantry empty of both anchovies and garlic, uses fish sauce and chili-garlic sauce as substitutes. Genius! This colorfully photographed book features sections on soups & sandwiches, meat, seafood, rice and pasta, and dessert. Some highlights include Shaved Cucumbers with Peanut Sauce, Easiest Chicken Teriyaki, Celery and Beef Stir-Fry with Gochujang, and Savory French Toast with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil. Are you ready for a little kitchen improv?

Baked to Perfection: Delicious Gluten-Free Recipes with a Pinch of Science
By Katarina Cermelj
Bloomsbury, $28

Gluten-free baking can sometimes be seen as an inferior substitute for the real thing. Not anymore. Enter Katarina Cermelj, a chemist with a sweet tooth who recently had to give up gluten. Cermelj sprinkles science into each section by way of fun, easy-to-understand explanations, but you can trust that she’s done all the necessary homework and skip straight to whipping up a batch of Crackly Top Brownies, high-test Coffee Coffee Coffee Cupcakes, or buttery Blueberry Pie Crumble Bars. She includes savory snacks too, like salt-flecked Rosemary Crackers or parmesan-crusted Cheese Twists. Included is a list of pantry items specific to gluten-free baking, most of which are easy to find in any grocery store, as well as conversion charts for measurements and temperatures. Some of the more difficult techniques, such as pie crust, rough puff pastry, and bread dough are accompanied by step-by-step images. Stunning photos adorn each delectable recipe.
BONUS! Browseabout Books and Lewes Library will host Cermelj for a virtual event as part of the Cooks & Books series August 18th @ 5:00 p.m. Register at browseaboutbooks.com.

Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ: Every Day is a Good Day
By Rodney Scott & Lolis Eric Elie
Clarkson Potter, $29.99

Pitmaster, restauranteur, and James Beard Award winner, Rodney Scott has more than thirty years of experience cooking over fire and coals. With writer Lolis Eric Elie, Scott tells his inspiring story of hard work, sacrifice, and success. The visually appealing book is a master class in barbeque, where Scott explains his know-how right down to what type of wood delivers which kind of flavor and how to “read” smoke. He provides step-by-step instructions for building a backyard pit, and for the less ambitious, he explains how to get seriously good results on a regular charcoal grill. His Rib Rub, a blend of spices with just the right amount of heat, and Rodney’s Sauce, a vinegar and pepper-based mopping sauce, are essential in signature dishes like Rodney’s Ribs and Smoked Chicken. The stovetop Chicken Perloo, a stew of rice, vegetables and leftover smoked chicken, and sides like King Street Corn rolled in pork skins round out a diverse array of offerings. End the meal with a bowl of creamy Banana Pudding and you’ll be a convert to Scott’s philosophy: “Every day is a good day.”

Eat, Habibi, Eat!
By Shahir Massoud
Appetite by Random House, $30

Canadian-Egyptian chef Shahir Massoud may have taken a circuitous route into the kitchen (he first tried his hand at accounting) but Eat, Habibi, Eat! is proof that the journey wasn’t wasted. The recipes are exciting and diverse and highlight his Egyptian roots and family’s recipes. Massoud hints of his struggle to balance tradition and creative interpretation, evident in his humorous introductions to certain recipes (his mother warns him not to alter certain recipes). Still, Massoud’s French and Italian culinary training shines through in dishes like Tarragon Baba Ghanoush. Recipes are approachable for home cooks, as in Yogurt-Braised Shortrib Shawarma, where Massoud caramelizes the braised meat under the broiler to mimic the effect of cooking on a spit. The biscotti-like, twice-baked Turmeric Fayesh, a slightly sweet biscuit made with cornmeal, goes perfectly with a cup of coffee. Most ingredients are widely available, though there are notes on procuring unique Middle Eastern ingredients. Spice up your summer kitchen with this delightful book!

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