Dreaming of....

Indian food today.

So here's another little secret about me. I love to read cookbooks. I read them like novels, although with a bit more flipping around. I get ideas; I look at how people put together recipes. And then, I don't follow them. I am a little-of-this, a little-of-that cook....I taste and I adjust. So, oftentimes I go in the kitchen with a general idea of ingredients, and end up with a totally different dish. That happened last night when I ended up with an orange-and-curried vegetables with pork over noodles that somehow started out as pork chops. Don't ask me how and I couldn't recreate it if asked.

Today, I sat down with a new book I bought myself as a treat for my recent birthday: An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey. She's well-known for making Indian cooking understandable and doable for American cooks. This is sort of her classic book, written in the early 70s that turned a whole generation of Americans onto Indian food. I'm looking forward to learning more about the specific spicing and techniques of Indian cooking. I'm an avid consumer of it at restaurants, but I think food prepared at home is much healthier and more economical. I already make a yogurt-marinated tandoori type baked chicken that the kids love, so I'm hopeful that their palates will stretch even further with some of these recipes as inspiration.

I thought I'd share some of my favorite cookbooks. I'd love to hear what inspires you in your kitchen too.

Greene on Greens. This is just one of my favorite books ever. There is a roasted asparagus recipe in this book, that I make often (like everything it's modified). Trim asparagus, sprinkle with salt and olive oil and add grated parmesan (the good stuff) over the top. Roast in a preheated 450 degree oven until done (depends on the size of the aspargus). It is darn delicious. There is also a corn flan in there that is a decadent only-at-the-holidays treat. I am always trying to expand the vegetable repertoire around here, so this book provides good suggestions.

New Vegetarian Cuisine. This is a collection of colorful vegetarian recipes that I love to browse through. My oldest son went through a period of about a year where he didn't want to eat animal meat. This book was a godsend. He's back eating meat, but I still make a few of these recipes as we try to go meatless at least two nights a week.

Lee Bailey's Country Deserts. The exception to my no-recipe policy is deserts. Baking is a science and I don't mess around with that. I love the crisps, cobblers and ice creams in this book. It was a wedding present 18 years ago and I still use it to this day.

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. By Amy Sedaris. Buy this book. Just buy it. So funny and interesting recipes too.


A few others that I refer to often: Comfortable Entertaining by Natalie Dupree, Cuisine Rapide by Peter Franey, The Great American Seafood Cookbook, and Kids Cook! for when I have helpers.

There's a special place in my heart for Junior League cookbooks, especially those from smaller towns and cities. St. Louis Days/St. Louis Nights is one of my favorites, but I treasure those from Savannah, Baton Rouge, Little Rock, and Monroe, LA among others. I just think fundraising cookbooks, with their contributions from all and sundry, are just an anthropological treasure trove. Unlike a professionally authored cookbook, usually the fundraising cookbooks are desperate for enough recipes. As a result, there are great passed-down-for-generations recipes in those books and there are ones that just make you go....huh? As in, who would eat that? In particular, there's a book from the Houston Jr. League that is permanently stuck in 1960 (hey, but at least I know where to turn for 100 kinds of casseroles). The Houston Jr. League has a new, fancier, cookbook that actually uses fresh herbs, but I'm strangely partial to the time-warp of mushroom soup cuisine. It's a glimpse into an era where people dressed up for dinner and tried to impress each other with a stunning number of variations of stuff-on-crackers.

And finally, I'm giving a shout-out to Seasons of Santa Fe. I enjoyed this cookbook even before I knew that my friend and fellow letterboxer AstroD was a volunteer for Kitchen Angels, the maker of this book. There are even a couple of her recipes inside, but she'll have to tell you which ones. Like the best of the fundraising cookbooks, your purchase of their cookbook (and it's a good one if you like Southwestern Food) goes to support their mission of providing meals to those facing illness and challenges.


I have some other food-related thoughts, especially about my increased efforts to eat local food, but I'll save those for another post.