Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners Hardcover – April 30, 2010

To my way of thinking Sara Moulton has always been one of those "food" personalities who prepares food I actually "need" to make. She gives me hints, tips, ideas, and alternative thinking which shows me that I'm not totally bored with cooking quite yet. Maybe teetering on the edge, but Sara can pull me back. Several factors are involved here. #1. There are just two of us now for me to cook for. We don't want the heavy meals I've been cooking for 46 years. #2. I do exactly what Sara mentioned, I prepare the same dishes over and over until I'm tired to death of them. #3. I hear about all these interesting sounding ingredients but don't know what they are or how to use them. Once again, Sara to the rescue.

Now, a little information concerning how the book is designed. First we get to sit down with Sara and have a chat (at least that's what it feels like) about her philosophy behind this book and what specifically she means when she lists certain ingredients in her recipes: salt is Kosher, butter is unsalted, avocados are Haas, canned tomatos should be fire roasted if possible, etc. Then we get into the recipes. There are 200 listed recipes in the book, 65 of those are vegetarian. (Seventy-eight recipes show the vegetarian icon, but 13 of those are desserts.) There are chapters which focus on soup as the main course of your meal, the fact that it's okay to have a sandwich for supper, combine two or more different appetizers as a main meal, a spirited defense of the egg as a main ingredient, five ingredient main meals, how to cook one time for two meals, a total of 16 chapters of recipes. And those recipes are written by a real person who talks you all the way through them. Don't have a specific item to complete this ingredient list? Well, how about substituting something you do have. And there are large space sidebar comments touching on specific questions, techniques or ingredients in many of the recipes. Not every recipe has a picture. If that bothers you, you need to know that now. There is a particular icon presented to indicate each recipe that is vegetarian. I was a little surprised to see that the icon is not shown when the recipe is listed in the Index. Seems like that would have been quite easy to do. And I hate to mention this, but there are mistakes which spell-check wasn't designed to fix. One is in the title of a sidebar - oops!

It's time to talk about the recipes I've already tried.
1. Pork Sliders, Asian Style - absolutely wonderful, adding crunchy cabbage and red bell pepper to the raw meat added a dimension to the mouth feel of this burger that was outstanding. Hubby and I both absolutely loved the Asian flavor added by the combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, basil, scallions, ginger and garlic. I didn't have any cilantro to make the Cilantro Mayonnaise but that's now on my brain for later when I have some cilantro left over from another recipe. This recipe is considered an appetizer but it served us very well as a meal.

2. Peanut Sesame Sauce - delicious, I made up reasons to keep "testing". Very easy to make in the food processor and it is used with two recipes in the book. Credit is given to Rosa Ross for this version of the sauce. I will make this ahead and use it in other cooking as suggested.

3. Warm Sesame Noodles with Mushrooms and Peas - I can't even begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to having this dish again tonight as a left-over. Both Hubby and I loved it. We are already coming up with changes to add. Tonight I'll pop in some shrimp, another time put in water chestnuts. As long as you stay with the Peanut Sesame Sauce this will always be wonderful.

What I want to try next: "Fried" Catfish BLT's, Warm Steak House Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing (my daughter and her family have had this and even the 8 year old loved it!), Polenta Lasagna, Chicken Kiev Revisited. The list could just go on and on and on.

I must say, this cookbook is probably not for the novice cook. No matter how intriguing the recipes sound, there is some degree of proficiency required for these to turn out well. I am rather slow in my prep for a recipe so my times from start to service did not match up with those given in the book. That's okay, I've always been slower than usual and I know that already. It didn't bother me. Also, these recipes call for utilizing quite a few pots, pans, utensils and appliances - not every time, but rather often. Clean-up takes time. Those of us who have gotten accustomed to slinging everything together in one pot may have to do some adjusting to our attitude. I'm on board for that, but maybe not EVERY day of the week. I don't want to treat these recipes as if they are for special occasions only, but for me, probably twice a week will be enough to satisfy my longing for something new and different. When I consider that making the Warm Noodle dish with the Peanut Sauce from scratch took an hour to prepare and probably another 20-25 minutes for complete clean up it just means that I need to be aware of that. It's part of the trade off - a really interesting and delicious meal for some extra time in the kitchen. I really had gotten lazy!

EDIT***May 13, 2010*** I made the Hot Ploughman's Sandwiches today and they are absolutely fantastic! And what I'm really excited about is the recipe for the Pickled Red Onion which is used as a condiment on this sandwich. I have discovered a new staple condiment that my husband and I absolutely love!

It depends on where you are coming from...., April 22, 2010

This review is from: Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners (Hardcover)
I love Sara Moulton! I own all her books. And still watch reruns on weeknight meals on NY25. BUT, I also think Ruth Reichl's Gourmet Cookbook is excellent. I too, love Jacques Pepin. So, having been raised from THAT group of cooking instructors, Sara's recipes are natural, a delight, and evidence of an active exploratory mind in the kitchen. Who can't think of Pepin's omelette with Perigod Truffles and Caviar Canapes?- and this is what he calls his "FAST FOOD my way."

Now, if you are coming from Rachel Ray, Guy Fieri, and Giada....and are taught to throw meals together in 30 minutes with your bare fists, you are in for a rude awakening: you will get the Smackdown. Witness Chicken Saltimbocca with Artichoke Sauce (artichoke hearts (from can) with Proscuitto di Parma , fresh sage leaves, and homemade chicken stock). Although simpler substitutes are given, Sara admits that she feels restricted when asked to cook with five ingredients. She's been trying to water it down for a few books already. My guess is, you can't change a personality. If you sincerely have a complex palette, so be it!

I will say this though: Cooking, to me, is like haute couture. You look at the difficult dishes, and even when you simplify, you still end up at a higher plateau of flavors than making a simple dish well. That's not to say Sara's recipes are all that difficult. But you do need a fully stocked pantry. You may have trouble if the only place you can shop in town is the Walmart or Target. You need to review the recipe and make sure you have all the ingredients before hand. From there, you'll get gently Westernized versions of Kimchi flavored dishes, Mexican fare with manchego cheese, Jewish based Reubens pizza, Italian parmeggiano reggiano topped Eggplant cannelloni, Spanish-flavored fast foods, and salads that suit the North American palette. Sara's recipes are a good gateway to geting your toes wet in international fare and appearing like a well-heeled socialite. Real kimchi, or nagamaki beef with mirin wine rice wine may be a little strong, but with unseasoned rice vinegar and generic sake, altered to suit the palette averaged from her husband, kids, and herself, you can be sure it's rooted in flavors you are familiar with. And to be fare, there are also many simple dishes like sandwiches, pot pie soup, and BLT with egg (with a signature Sara twist). After all, it is called Everyday Family Dinners.

I removed one star not because of Moulton but because of the publishers. I am a book designer and I notice some (not many) pages in this book making the same fatal mistake Reichl's otherwise excellent 2004 / 2006 Gourmet Cookbook made - resulting in a near riot from readers- Light yellow lettering on beige or white backgrounds. C'mon! Who in the world thought this was a proper layout color scheme? Also, in this day and age of Food Network, publishers who feature chefs without accompanying tv shows (*sob* Sara!) should entice readers with more color pictures. (There are some nice pics in this book, but more would help) If budget is an issue, then go for the four photos per page of different dishes. You're up against a visual culture, any additional images can only help.

I also appreciate Sara always giving props to the originators of many recipes. Classy stuff like this will always endear us - Moulton loyalists - to her.

Bon Appetit!