Customer Reviews

Seasonal Southwest Cooking: Contemporary Recipes & Menus for Every Occasion

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4 star:		(1)
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"Seasonal Southwest Cooking" by Barbara Pool Fenzl is a gorgeous book that will do your coffee table proud. Christopher Marchetti does what all great food photographers do and makes the results look so delicious we want to try them. Seasonal scenes from some of the best Southwest photographers instill a year-round wanderlust. The author's to-the-point comments on each recipe are helpful and what she calls "bits of culture" enlighten and enchant. (The paragraph on Navajo peaches is a gem.)

But - hey - this is a cookbook and should be judged as such. Well, your coffee table will have to share "Seasonal Southwest Cooking" with the kitchen counter. As a cookbook, "Seasonal Southwest Cooking" shines. The wide-ranging recipes are inspired and the instructions are (thankfully!) straightforward. These recipes are well-conceived and clearly written with successful duplication in mind.

If the proof is in the pudding "Southwest Seasonal Cooking" gives us proof x 2: a how-can-something-so-simple-be-so-good savory 'Southwest Corn Pudding' and a 'Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding' with just enough ancho chile powder to - as some guy might say - kick it up a notch.

This is a beautiful cookbook! Dream of the beautiful southwest landscapes and plan wonderful menus for entertaining. I am making my way through all of the recipes and at this point I can highly recommend the Pumpkin Soup, Pecan Salmon with Ancho Chili Sauce, Chicken Breasts with Poblano sauce, Stuffed Filet Mignon with Merlot Habanero sauce. Gratin of the Three sisters and the Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding with Banana Caramel Sauce - YUM!!!

Since I live in Arizona half the year I decided it was time to get into the culture and incorporate Southwest cooking into my repartee of culinary dishes.

Seasonal Southwest Cooking by Barbara Pool Fenzl contains recipes for scrumptious southwestern food that combines ease of preparation with savory tastes and aromas and inviting color and textures.

The Sonoran Pasta is one of my favorite dishes because of flavor, ease of preparation and the sheer number of delectable variations that can be derived from the one recipe.

The salads are both beautiful and scrumptious. My favorite is the Jicama, Orange and Nopalitos Salad.

Gratin of the Three Sisters is a wonderful combination of corn, beans and squash layered in a vegetable casserole. If you are an informative learner, you'll also enjoy reading about the Three Sisters legend.

The Potato Casserole with Mexican Cheese satisfies my insatiable love of potatoes and the Skillet Cornbread is to die for....

But the most wonderful recipe of all is The Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding with Banana Carmel Sauce. I'm in heaven!

Armchair Interviews says: Seasonal Southwest Cooking is a great addition to your cookbook library. The only drawback is that it is a large book that can be awkward to cook from and so beautiful that you might be tempted to put it on a coffee table and leave it there to thumb through periodically. Don't. It's large and beautiful but filled with delectable recipes and is meant to be used. So use it!

I bought this book for my father-in-law who loves to cook and loves southwestern food. I decided to flip through the book when it arrived and couldn't put it down to wrap it so decided to use five of the recipes and make my father-in-law his birthday dinner from the book I was giving him. I chose Pulled pork (which as a unique ancho chile-dried cherry sauce, YUM!), Cow boy beans (sounds boring, but I could have eaten the entire pot myself it was so good!), chipotle cornbread (spicy, just the way we like it!), cornmeal biscuits (a great non-spicy biscuit with a great texture and flavor, couldn't decide if I liked the chipotle cornbread or these better!), and triple chocolate, ancho chile, and almond tart for dessert (decedently divine!). I also loved how the book has a sample menu for each month of the year so entertaining can be that much less work. The book also included some great recipes that utilized different catus. There are also specatcular photographs of southwestern landscapes and plants that give this book a elegant coffee table feel.

So, if you, or you need to buy a gift for someone who loves to cook and loves southwestern food this is the book for you! I am going to have to buy my own copy so I don't end up stealing my father-in-law's.

I was introduced to Southwestern cooking by a friend and originally purchased this book as a gift for her. After helping to prepare a few of the recipes, I knew I had to have a copy for myself. I've tried a number of entrees, appetizers and desserts from this book and I'm yet to be disappointed. Some of my favorites include the Pecan and Chocolate Pie (great variation of an old favorite), Sonoran Pasta (grilled goodness), Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding with Banana Caramel Sauce (so decadent you'll wonder how you'll every get out of bed the next day), Greens with Ancho Dressing, Blue Cheese and Toasted Pecans (easy blend with just the right amount of heat), Chicken Chipotle Nachos with Avocado Cream (smooth and creamy with some kick), and the list goes on and on. Quite a few of the recipes are a bit time intensive but they are worth every bite. The flavors are outrageous. This book has turned me into a big fan of Southwest cooking and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great gift or addition to their own cookbook library. Plus, the photography is beautiful with pictures of many of the dishes. Also, Barbara Pool Fenzl included interesting facts along side margins like the health benefits of chiles. I enjoy reading these because they are informative and short enough to hold my attention. Plus, they are dispersed throughout the book rather than overloading the front with a bunch of background info that few people take the time to read.

Every recipe I have tried out of this book is excellent! Last year we had the whole Thanksgiving meal from this cook book. Everybody loved the dinner!

If you like Southwest style cooking, and like to cook, you need this cookbook in your library. A couple Thanksgiving's ago we did most of the menu suggested for fall/Thanksgiving and while I wondered if it would be overkill, it wasn't. I've never enjoyed Thanksgiving so much in my life. Provided you use good quality ingredient, the flavors are subtle, well melded, and just roll around on your palate. Yum.

I absolutely LOVE this cookbook! I think I make something out of it for dinner at least three nights a week. I've loved every recipe I've tried so far, and I've made most of those recipes over and over again.

If you like southwest style food, you will love this book!

A coffee table book (beautiful photography) with embracing recipes of the Southwest: Chicken Chipotle Nachos with Avocado Cream (p.16), Marinated Shrimp with Rainbow Vegetables (p.35). Taste and view the southwest!

This absolutely beautiful "cocktail table cookbook" has me and my friends cooking dinners together......
We e-mail each other when we try a new recipe.
The recipes are healthy, quick, beautiful to present, and a joy to serve! I will start from page 1 and
make every recipe in this book!