Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals (Hardcover)

by Sara Moulton (Author)
Key Phrases: smashed potatoes, parsley pesto, tahini sauce, Chicken Stock, Parmigiano Reggiano, Simple Boiled Rice (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Moulton, a Food Network and Gourmet chef, wants to help home cooks produce elegant meals without excessive fuss. For each dish in this assemblage, she indicates hands-on time and total cooking time, with most calculated to require under 45 minutes (though cooks who are less efficient at prepping than Moulton may dispute some of the estimates; Mexican Chicken Salad, for instance, indicates 15 minutes of hands-on time, but with all the chopping and washing, some amateurs will soon reach the 25 minutes allotted for the whole process). Besides chapters on soup, pasta, meat and so on, there are several revolving around time-saving tips: "Shop and Serve" has recipes like the fast but tasty Tortellini Pepperoni Spinach Soup, and dishes in "Just Open the Pantry" use items from a kitchen stocked with Moulton's long list of recommended staples. "Cooking Ahead," meanwhile, unleashes the gourmet chef in Moulton with lengthier recipes that can be made on the weekend and reheated. Moulton's readers may not get these dishes on the table as quickly as she can, but cooks willing to put in some time in the kitchen each night will appreciate this book's excellent international range as well as its helpful shortcuts. Color photos. (Oct. 18)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Nowadays the cookbook market is crammed with flimsy books by TV chefs...'Sara’s Secrets’ is anything but one of them." -- Nick Malgieri, Cookbook Digest, November/December 2005

"Sara has a gift for creating quick, accessible fine cuisine. Why suffer to make a gorgeous meal?" -- Michelle Green, People, November 21, 2005

"Sara’s a working wife and mother who wrote this book for all the others like her." -- Epicurious.com, December 2005

"This is truly an everyday cookbook for everyone – I barely could stop cooking from it to write this review." -- Hannah Meehan Spector, msnbc.com, January 11, 2006

"…[Sara] streamlines the process of getting dinner on the table quickly and without sacrificing flavor." -- Lisa McLaughlin, Time,October 31, 2005

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076791659X
• ISBN-13: 978-0767916592
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,838 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, with a caveat, December 28, 2005

By	Curmudgea (Georgia) - See all my reviews

If you don't have perfect eyesight, don't buy this wonderful cook's latest book. I agree with all the raves from other reviewers about the content, but I'm having to strain and squint to read the text, which is in alternating pale beige and pale green type. The ingredient lists are set in even paler shades of those colors. It appears to be a case of a graphic designer's aesthetic sense running amok over the user's need for easy readability in the kitchen.

53 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Weeknight Exciting Food without Much Fuss, October 25, 2005

By	rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Moulton talks about the comments she heard while publizing her last book "Sarah Moulton Cooks at Home". Most of them were about wanting to cook those recipes but not finding time. Moulton was puzzled, thinking these are favorite recipes, but not much time expended on thinking about required minutes to prepare. She goes on to recall how she discovered her need for the same, great food without much fuss for weeknight craziness.

Thus, this volume of some two hundred such recipes. They are organized well into common groupings: soups, salads, poultry, etc. She gathers with international flair and flavor, which should help expand many weeknight chef's cusine range. Ingredients are not difficult, given access to normal supermarket pantry offering, however she provides internet and mailorder sourcing as well.

There is good section on pantry stocking, as well this collection doesn't take the mese en place attitude, but one that I've followed, doing some things in what would otherwise be down time, waiting for such and such step to be completed. Also, upfront she lists her assumptions which one would do well do peruse and return to on occasion, e.g. "eggs are large; vanilla extract is pure" etc. Time is given for each recipe in two categories: hands-on and total prep.

Found absolutely attractive were such as: "Charred Tomato, Chicken and Tortilla Soup"; Mexican Chicken Salad; Brie, Bacon and Spaghetti Frittata; Annie's Favorite Pasta (Cartwheel Pasta wiht Breakfast Sausage and Creamy Tomato Sauce; Thanksgiving Hens; Baked Fish with Horseradish Crust;Potato-Crusted Salmon with Red Wine Sauce; Asian Spiced Roasted Baby Carrots; Radish and Orange Salad with Peppery Orange Dressing; Meditteranean Orzo Pilaf; Blueberry Yogurt Pie.

As evident, too many good recipes here. One wants and likely will try many of them, so this purchase represents valuable collection. Even accomplished chef will thrive on this, weeknight exciting food with quick prep.

Hats off to Broadway Books of Random House for this stylish offering which rivals Clarston-Potter and Ten Speed Press for good paperstock, clean design and magnificent fourcolor photos.

This is destined to be bigseller. Buy one for yourself, then give one to friends, family, etc. Weeknight excellence will be spread without sacrifice of our busy over-scheduled lives.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, December 16, 2005

By	Megan Romer (Ithaca, NY) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent cookbook, especially at the price (200 recipes for less than 20 bucks!). Sara, while classically trained as a chef, has a good grasp on what your average home cook is capable of, both time-wise and technique-wise. Her recipes are things that your family will actually eat and that you'll be able to afford - no truffle-braised jaw of chilean seabass with balsamic pomegranate reduction here.

The book is filled with useful tips about ingredients and cooking methods, and the recipes are clearly well-tested... as far as I can tell, they all work! Learning to cook from Sara Moulton seems a lot like what learning to cook from your mother should be.... and for those of us who are children of the '70s and '80s and had working moms who almost never cooked, that is a real blessing!

Well done, Ms. Moulton!