I reviewed this massive Taste of Home collection for one of my websites and I would like to offer it to one of you.
To enter the giveaway – leave a comment on this post telling me anything you like. The giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only. This will run until September 13, 2016, the release date. You may leave a comment daily. Good luck!
Random Number Generator picked #24 Mrs. L – congratulations!
Savor – Rustic Recipes Inspired by Forest, Field, and Farm by Ilona Oppenheim somehow slipped through my carefully crafted net of cookbook releases (I specialize in the capture portion; not so successful with release). I was thrilled that the good folks at Artisan mentioned this title to me a few weeks ago and even more thrilled when I started reading it.
You will love this book for the 130 gorgeous photographs most of which were taken by the author herself; as well as her simple, natural approach to cooking. The photographs showcase the things that are important to the author: the land, nature, family and good food. Ilona is a busy mom with a business in Miami, who spends her summers in Aspen returning to her roots: fishing, foraging, and cooking.
The book’s chapters are broken down as follows: Around the Pasture, From the Earth, Into the Wild, By the Fire and Through the Mill which is a unique way of organization. A wide variety of rustic, yet beautiful dishes, await us in Savor. It is reflective of an almost homesteading way of life, food in its most natural form and cooking from scratch as much as possible.
Recipes for staples such as yogurt, cultured butter, ricotta, almond paste, sun-dried tomatoes, and more are shared. Zucchini and Goat Cheese Quiche, Country Pate, Twenty Four Hour Onion Soup, Porcini Fettucini and Smoked Wild Salmon are a sampling of the variety of dishes covered in this title. Desserts include recipes for a Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie, Chocolate Fondue and a Peach Tart.
While reading this book, the Clafoutis called out to me (well, many of the recipes called out to me) and the funny thing is, this is the second time in a week that a recipe for clafoutis tempted me. I will be making this dessert for guests on Saturday and will come back by Monday to update the post with my photos and thoughts. (Update: I made the clafoutis this morning – so easy to throw together and it looks and smells fabulous.) Artisan was kind enough to share the Clafoutis recipe with my readers and it can be downloaded at the link in the first line of this paragraph.
Photo by Jenny Hartin
Artisan was kind enough to share the Clafoutis recipe with my readers and it can be downloaded at the link in the first line of this paragraph.
Photo from Savor, Ilona Oppenheim.
Random Number Generator picked #78 Marcia! Congratulations!
GIVEAWAY: Special thanks to Artisan who is offering a copy of this special book to one of you. The giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only, to enter you may leave a comment on this post daily. Sharing the giveaway is also appreciated and will allow you another entry. A random winner will be chosen on August 30. Good luck.
From as early as I can remember – I have had an affinity for books. Books were an escape from parents that didn’t allow me to have friends or to do anything outside the home. Gone with the Wind was the one book I owned. I read it over a hundred times.
My love of cookbooks began a little later when I was eighteen. I was working for an oncologist and to earn extra money, started babysitting for the Doctor and his wife. On those nights of babysitting the girls, doing my laundry (I hated the Laundromat and was in my own apartment right after high school graduation) I remember the great leftovers that could be found in their fridge. I had never eaten anything that tasted like those leftovers.
My mom wasn’t much of a cook. Never was there anything exotic in her rotation of chicken, meatloaf, spaghetti – and by no means were there any herbs or spices in those dishes. Her ingredient of choice was always Ragu and lots of salt. I do remember she made great homemade fries….fried things were her speciality. It’s hard to not like something fried. We never went to a restaurant so I was under the impression that food was genuinely bland and flavorless.
When the doctor’s wife went through her cookbooks to thin them out – she gave me a stack. She was my gateway to becoming a cookbook junkie. I still have one of those books – Miss Hullings’ Cookbook. Miss Hullings’ Restaurant was a famous restaurant in St. Louis. I miss St. Louis and the Arch will always be a symbol of home. After living in Phoenix for two years and returning back home, I swore I would never leave again – but I did in 1998 for New York City and that is a story for another time.
Back to cookbooks, when I look at my shelves and shelves of nearly 3,000 cookbooks, I see a world of possibilities. I see travel to other countries, a connectivity to other cultures and people and a true love of the written word. Do these books fill our house? Yes, but I don’t see them as clutter – I see them as opportunities. Surrounded by cookbooks and things I love (like LeCreuset, tart pans, copper vessels), I feel like I belong to something. It may come from a background of being abused and being extremely poor but having these things bring me comfort. There are not stacks of newspapers or magazines lying about or herds of cats roaming the house, just shelves of books and a few stacks as well. Life is so short and if we are not surrounded by the things and people we love – what purpose is there?
I’m sharing the piece on The Cookbook Junkies from the Parker paper to explain why my little group of 35,000 cookbook lovers means so much to me. I look at Facebook statuses and see all the connections this group has made and I’m touched. The Junkies are family, dysfunctional, sometimes annoying, but always there for each other.
To celebrate The Cookbook Junkies – I have a giveaway. I have a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home and I just opened a paperback copy of Voracious by Cara Nicoletti. Voracious (A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books) is part memoir and part book-inspired recipes and somehow fitted today’s post.
To enter the giveaway: You may leave a comment daily on this post telling me anything at all. For a second entry, please share the post and leave a comment telling me you did so. The giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only. A random winner will be chosen on August 31st. Good luck.
Lastly, links to Amazon are affiliate links and the commissions from any of your purchases go to running the site, giveaways and helps with Andrew’s bills. If you buy anything from my Amazon link, I appreciate.