Books I like
Amy Chaplin, At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well
I walked into the (very sadly, now-closed) Farm and Fable cookbook store in Boston’s South End and told the proprietor how I cook: plant-based, good leftovers, large quantities. She recommended Chaplin’s book to me. I initially demurred. “Vegan?” I thought to myself. “Ugh.” But I’ve now made more than a dozen recipes from this book, and all but the dessert (a peach pie, which, come on, is just going to be better with butter) have been absolute keepers. I cooked the lentil soup on a weeknight, the corn frittata on a summer Sunday, and the bean-and-mushroom bourguignon for a winter dinner party. Some of the recipes are a bit fussy–sorry, but I’m not going to pre-soak my lentils for 24 hours to aid digestion–but cooks with a bit of experience and common sense can easily adapt and simplify.
Jeanne Kelley, Salad for Dinner: Complete Meals for All Seasons
I genuinely do not remember what I cooked before I bought this book. Kelley divides her salads into four categories: vegetarian, fish, poultry, and meat. Packed with grains, nuts, and cheese, topped with creative, zingy, heavily-flavored dressings, all the salads are very filling, interesting, and just plain good. Almost every salad in the book is one that I feel happy having as a whole meal, by itself– even when I’m very hungry (which is almost always). Most make good leftovers and/or pack well for lunch. This is my desert island cookbook.
David Lebovitz, My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories
A couple of years ago, my friend and I set out to cook our way through a whole cookbook. On a whim, we chose Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen. Every Sunday for a year, we convened at her house or mine to chop, braise, boil, and eat. And oh, did we eat well. We loved–not just liked, but loved–every single recipe in this book except one (and that’s because we’re simply not fans of salt cod). Many of the recipes veer toward weekend cooking–the cheese-enrobed Parisian gnocchi; the bacon, cheese, and arugula soufflés; the chocolate dulce de leche tart. But some have become regulars in my rotation, such as a farro and roasted veg salad or polenta topped with braised greens and sausage. On the whole, not a first pick for day-to-day survival cooking, but a great pick for lovers of French food or anyone looking for special recipes that are still reliable and largely un-fussy.
Yotam Ottolenghi, Simple: A Cookbook
This is a marvelous cookbook. If you have cooked from any of Ottolenghi’s other books–Plenty (which I also own), Plenty More, Jerusalem, etc–you’ll know that his recipes are bright, zingy, layered, and flavorful. You’ll also know that they tend to be a bit labor-intensive. With this cookbook, Ottolenghi has, well, simplified the recipes, but kept his trademark Middle Eastern flavors intact: think an eggplant and lentil stew topped with a yogurt dollop (35 minutes, excellent leftovers), a leek-and-spinach shakshouka with preserved lemons and za’atar (20 minutes, good for brunch or dinner), lamb and feta meatballs (as nice at room temp for a party as stuffed into a pita with tzatziki at lunch), and a deconstructed, make-ahead cheesecake. It’s a level of flavor and flair that you rarely get in weeknight cooking, and for that reason, it has become a go-to cookbook in my kitchen.
Blogs and websites I read
David Lebovitz, http://www.davidlebovitz.com
Lebovtiz brings his sharp sense of humor to bear on his expat life in Paris. Dessert-heavy, but with worthwhile forays into the savory.
Smitten Kitchen, https://smittenkitchen.com
Deb Perelman cooks out of a tiny kitchen in NYC. She’s enthusiastic and genuinely funny. She simplifies fussy recipes. I want to be her friend.
America’s Test Kitchen, https://www.americastestkitchen.com
Requires a subscription, but worth it if you’re into cooking. They test for the best tools and gadgets (I am very happy with my 70-dollar Dutch oven they recommended), and they can tell you the best, tested way to do just about any task in the kitchen.
Eater, https://www.eater.com
Since you never know who’s going to write a Yelp review (do the reviewer think this taco is good because it’s their first one ever? Or are they a taco connoisseur?), and since Chowhound went into decline, this has become my most reliable source of food recommendations when I’m on the road.