New cookbooks!

 I might not have mentioned it before, but I married a chef.  My first job as a teenager was working at a local French restaurant and I had big dreams of going to culinary school, which, my dad, who was paying for my post high school education, shot down.  So I went to a four year school and became an elementary school teacher and librarian.  WAAAY better hours, retirement plan and health care benefits.  I even teased my chef into joining me as a teacher (he's been teaching cooking now for 25 years!).  Anyway, cookbooks were some of my favorite books growing up (Betty Crocker Cookie Book anyone?) and I still love a good cookbook, as evidenced by my latest round of books from Netgalley.

The first one is called Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of  French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano.  Unsurprisingly, it's about cake.  Don't you kind of love the simplicity of cookbooks?  Eponymous titles, straightforward directions, gorgeous pictures.  Anyway, I read about this one online and was so excited to see it on Netgalley.  And it is terrific.  There are essays about different kinds of cakes that people in France make routinely-uncomplicated, unfussy, often made in one bowl.  Cake that is available, which sounds great to me.  AND what makes this really terrific, is that most of the recipes have adaptations, some of them have several pages of adaptations.  As an example, the first cake in the book is a yogurt cake.  According to the author, every child in France learns this recipe in nursery school and it's a simple ratio of ingredients (my chef's favorite kind of recipe!).  You take yogurt, sugar, eggs, oil, baking powder and flour, mix it together and you have cake.  Version 2 is a little more complicated and adds both vanilla and lemon zest, still mixing it together in one bowl, pour it in a pan and off you go.  Then come the variations. There are NINE variations on JUST THIS cake.  There are flavor additions (like herbs or liquor) and fruit and nut additions, there are glazing options, flour options, serving and presentation options, there are a LOT of options.  There are lots more cakes with lots more ideas, but I think you kind of get the picture.  This is a comprehensive book about French cakes with specific and well thought out directions, pretty little decorative pieces (there maybe more illustrations in the final book-sometimes in the advanced readers copies, they are a little stingy with the graphics) and some charming commentary.  I can't wait to get this one in a hard copy. 

The second cookbook is by another author I've been following online, Ruby Tandoh.  She has been writing about food since she was a finalist on the Great British Bake Off in 2013 and I really like her style.  Her new book is called Cook as you Are.  Sometimes cookbooks are a bit intimidating.  If you don't know much about cooking and the recipe calls for something you don't have (or don't like, or are allergic to) do you just have to walk away from the recipe?  Can you just leave it out?  Can you substitute something else?  Well,  imagine having a good friend give you all her favorite recipes with notes about how to change things up if any or all of those things happen.  THAT'S what this book is like.  Delicious sounding recipes with ideas about how to change things up for seasonality, food allergies or picky eaters.  There are short essays with commentary about recipes, other food writers and general food topics that make you feel like Ruby is right there in the kitchen with you.  The recipes are mostly vegetarian but many have options of adding meat or taking the meat out if it does include meat.  The recipes sound amazing-I can't wait to try the Earthy, Smoky, Lentil and Beet Stew.  I'm NOT a beet fan, but the way Ruby describes the recipe, I'm going to trust her and try the recipe just as written.  It's the end of July here right now and I'm thinking I might save a stew recipe for when it cools off just a bit, but I'll let you know!  If you want to be inspired to make something new, interesting and possibly healthy, you're definitely going to want to look for this one!