Great Titles from Kyle Books

My friends at Kyle Books sent a few of their newer releases for me to review. 

First up:

Olives, Lemons & Za’atar

Olives, Lemons & Za’atar is a gorgeous book – I fell in love with when it was first released.  I have tagged many recipes to try out.   The first recipe I made was the shrimp in garlic sauce and it was outstanding, served with some toasted sourdough bread — perfection.

Some of the other recipes that caught my attention are:

Red pepper and onion flatbread
Za’atar bread
Date cookies, because I love all things date
Macaroni cookies — sesame seeds and anise seeds
Knafese – shredded phyllo with walnut or cheese filling
Scrambled eggs with halloumi
and

THE WHOLE BOOK.

Sweet Mandarin Cookbook

Sweet Mandarin is a nicely done cookbook with great instructions and pictures.  I have a few standouts tabbed for trying.

Peninsula style chicken with cashew nuts
Asian style hamburger
Firecracker chicken
Dad’s chicken Fried Rice (love that it looks light and lovely and not dark and greasy)
Lemon chicken deluxe
Pear and ginger cupcakes
Chile, chocolate macaroons
and, of course, Fortune cookies

I made the Peninsula style chicken with cashew nuts but changed it up a little – it was really delicious.  The instructions are written clearly and the ingredients were not difficult for me to find here in Denver.  Most ingredients, if not accessible easily in your Asian section at the market, can be ordered online. 

One of the things that I loved about this book is that it does have a small dessert and cocktail section.  Many Asian cookbooks have very limited recipes on the sweet side. 

Caribbean Potluck

Caribbean Potluck is comfort food meets Caribbean vibe.  I haven’t had a chance to cook from it soon but I’m thinking the Baked ham for Christmas and the risotto will be in the next week or so.  I’ve never been to the Caribbean but this book will at least give me a glimpse into the flavor of this beautiful paradise.

Marmalade glazed leg of lamb
Baked ham with ortanique ginger glaze
Suzie’s Sunday roast pork chops
Wickedest rigatoni alla vodka
Ginger thyme risotto
Jerked chicken and cashew spring rolls with peanut coconut dipping sauce

Jewish Traditional Cooking

I love Jewish Traditional Cooking – it is jammed packed with recipes for typical Jewish standards as well as some surprises.  There are recipes for challah, bagels (thank goodness), pretzels, pitas and a few others I have tabbed are:

Vanilla and almond kipferi
Easy carrot orange and olive oil cake
Shabbat almond peach and apple kuchen
Potato kugel (best kugel photo I have ever seen with crispy, thin potatoes layered on top)
Meatballs in tomato sauce with cinnamon and allspice flavors
Knishes
Perfect boureka

My goal is to attempt the bagels in the next month or so.  The thought of making bagels intimidates me a bit – I’m from New York — the home of the best bagels ever.  Denver does not provide a great deal of palatable bagels so I will need to conquer my fear!

Smashing Plates

Smashing Plates is a gorgeous book that is worth it’s price for the dessert section alone.  That being said the savory section is outstanding. 

Some of the dishes I have tabbed to make are:

Carrot keftedes
Tomato and string bean baklava (yes, you read that correctly)
Honeyed fried feta (so simple but looks delectable)
Wild greens macaroni and cheese
Dried fig leaf pasta rags — (stunning)
Coffee custard doughnuts with fennel seed sugar
Tahini chocolate cakes with crème fraiche
Chocolate orange and anise tart
Almond rose water and chocolate Mallomar chimneys
Plum and lavender baklava
Apple and Greek yogurt cake with metaxa brandy syrup

Tonight I made roast spatchcock chicken with potatoes, lemon, wild greens and capers and the wild greens macaroni and cheese.   The details and instructions were wonderful and both dishes were delicious.  Andrew, my son, raved repeatedly about the macaroni and cheese.  Now that I know I can sneak in some greens — I will continue to do that in future dishes. 

Even the greens in the roasted chicken dish were tasty and I’ll use that technique in the future when roasting meats. 

Five great books from Kyle this time around – looking forward to their Fall releases – Nick Malgieri’s Pastry — and Farm, Fork and Food by Eric Skokan for starters.

In the world we live in today, I love how I can travel to different lands with a meal.   These cookbooks are sure to send you on  your way  to international flavors and delicious bites.

Another Kyle Books title to check out — The Italian Table – Eating Together for Every Occasion – I just ordered from Amazon — it sounded amazing from the description and I will edit this post once I have it in my hands.