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Use What You’ve Got to Cook Something Great

If you’re not familiar, “Chopped” is a competition cooking show on the Food Network. The ground rules are deceptively simple; four chefs square off and have to prepare an appetizer, entree and dessert, using a basket of preselected and often bizarre ingredients, plus anything else available in the Chopped pantry of staples. They get 20 minutes to create an appetizer, then comes judgement from a rotating cast of preeminent chefs. The chef who prepares the least accomplished dish gets “chopped,” leaving the remaining chefs to compete. They get 30 minutes to prepare an entree, and so on. Whoever survives to the end wins $10,000.

In my opinion, this is one of the most entertaining yet difficult cooking competitions on TV. Creativity is a must, as is speed. Who hasn’t had the fun of sticking your head in the fridge and trying to figure out what’s for dinner? That was the inspiration for the show and this book.

The cookbook foregoes the bizarre ingredients, “fish heads and gummy worms,” and instead tries to help the home cook put together a quick dinner based on ingredients you might actually have. There are quick tips with many of the recipes, like this tip for “ultra-crisp chicken and potatoes” for the Greek-Spiced Wings and Potatoes with Yogurt Dipping Sauce; “preheat a roasting pan to jump-start the process.” Simple, effective and delicious. Or to wrap a stack of tortillas in a clean dish towel and steam for five minutes, or microwave for 1-2 minutes to help make them pliable for the Marinated Tilapia Tacos.

Some of my favorite sections in this book are the “Go-to Guides,” for  Cooking Grains, Getting Good Vegetables, Vinaigrettes & Salad Dressings, and Ten Fun Pan Sauces. Using a simple chart method, these few pages can help turn standard home fare into really delicious restaurant quality food. Sauces include Mustard Pickle, Sweet Vinegar Garlic, Mexican Beer, and so forth, with recommendations for coordinating proteins, i.e. Creamy Apple Dijon is recommended for chicken or pork. Vinaigrettes are broken down into a couple of simple steps and then flavors such as the Classic, Herb and Ginger-Sesame, for example.

I love that they offer up basic pantry ingredients to keep on hand, but stress that “you definitely don’t need every single thing on this list.” The book is divided into traditional sections with whimsical names like “Completely Fun Ways to Cook Vegetables,” “Fishing for Compliments” and “Chickens Gone Wild.” The recipes are clearly laid out and easy to follow.  I found this to be an inspirational and truly useful cookbook.

Oh, and try the Warm, Salted Caramel Banana Pudding – delicious!

9/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE CHOPPED COOKBOOK by Food Network Kitchens. Clarkson Potter; First Edition edition (April 8, 2014). ISBN 978-0770435004. 240p.

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The second cookbook from this professional ice cream maker is a must have for anyone who loves ice cream. This book builds on her first cookbook, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, which included mostly recipes for ice cream and a small section on things like toppings and sauces.

Jeni’s basic ice cream recipe is bit different than any other I’ve ever tried, and best of all, it’s foolproof and freakin’ delicious! I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker that I bought at Costco several years ago, and that is the machine she tested her recipes with so perfection was in the making. In the new book, she used a newer model Cuisinart and the quanitities in some of the recipes are slightly different, but I didn’t have any problems using my old machine. I have a friend who uses a different brand altogether, (Breville, I think,) and these recipes worked beautifully for her as well, so I would venture a guess that any type of home ice cream maker should work here.

This new cookbook is more of a companion to the first. The basics are not here – vanilla, chocolate, strawberry ice creams are in the first book. There are lots of new flavors here like Sweet Cream Ice Cream; Extra-Strength Root Beer Ice Cream; Black Forest Cake Ice Cream; Graham Cracker Ice Cream; Hummingbird Cake Ice Cream; Mango Manchego Ice Cream; Dark Chocolate & Rye Whiskey Ice Cream (Steve, this one’s for you!)  Also included are other types of frozen desserts like Crème Sans Lait, a dairy & egg-free ice cream for vegans, Stone Fruit Sorbet; Fresh Ginger Frozen Yogurt; Middle West Eggnog Frozen Custard; Buttermilk Soft-Serve (yum!)

Then there are the desserts, and if you don’t want to make ice cream you can use store bought to create  incredible desserts like Macaroon Cake; Apple Rhubarb Bette; Pear & Blackberry Crisp With Almond Streusel; Sweet Empanadas; Cast-Iron Pancake and many more. Also included are sauces like Whiskey Caramel (delicious!) and Honey Spiked with Chilies, and Jeni’s famous “gravels,” crunchy toppings for sundaes, like Salty Graham Gravel and Everything Bagel Gravel. But I think it is the ice cream cakes that really put this book over the moon. Who can possibly resist Skunk as a Drunk Cake, “black and white and whiskey all over” or Cocoa Rococo, “four different chocolates kick up the luxe factor.”

Jeni is now selling her ready made ice cream at my local Fresh Market for $10/pint, but I haven’t tried it yet. I am having a lot of fun this summer with this cookbook and know I will for years to come.

7/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

JENI’S SPLENDED ICE CREAM DESSERTS by Jeni Britton Bauer. Artisan (May 20, 2014). ISBN 978-1579655921. 224p.

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Nothing quite says summer like breaking out the grill – and hot dogs are generally my grilled meal of choice. Simple or complex, I do love ‘em, which is why Russell Van Kraayenburg’s new cookbook, Haute Dogs, was a must have for me.

From classics like the Chicago Dog and the Coney Island Dog to more unique entries like the São Paolo Potato Dog and The Norwegian, this cookbook has every variety and combination you can imagine and some you’d probably never come up with on your own.

Best of all, Van Kraayenburg includes recipes for just about every component in each recipe: chilis, sauces, and other condiments as well as the dogs themselves and even homemade buns. There are also variations and shopping suggestions for some of the harder to find ingredients.

So far we’ve tried the cabbage, jalapeno, and cream cheese topped Seattle-Style, the Colombian Pineapple Dog (complete with homemade pineapple relish and Van Kraayenburg’s Salsa Golf), and the Coney Island Dog paired with the book’s tasty cole slaw.

While I likely won’t try my hand at making my own dogs, I do have plans to try many more of the recipes in this unique and so far excellent book.

6/14 Becky Lejeune

HAUTE DOGS by Russell Van Kraayenburg. Quirk Books (April 29, 2014). ISBN 978-1594746758. 168p.