Foodie Radio & NPR Recommended Cookbooks: A perfect holiday treat
by nosch
One of my favorite things to do on a leisurely weekend or holiday afternoon is tune the radio to a show about food, and cook something I don’t usually have the time for, like the 4-hour pork stew I made on Friday. The online archive of the Splendid Table does just the trick when my local NPR station isn’t playing something appropriate.
For inspiration on what to cook, or just to read for fun, read about NPR’s cookbook picks for this season. Each cookbook description includes a link to one recipe (free!) from the book . Titles held at the Ann Arbor District Library are:
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan includes more than 300 recipes for delicious desserts, including Devil’s Food White-Out Cake, which is pictured on the cover. Greenspan has also written three other books in our collection: Baking with Julia, Desserts by Pierre Hermé, and, my favorite title of the day, Pancakes: From Morning to Midnight.
In Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver, see Italy through Jamie’s eyes, as he travels through the country, exploring what he calls “villagional” – variation in dishes that varies from village to village so much so that it is more than regional. You can take his recipe for pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) for a test drive before checking out the book.
The King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains may not sound like a good source for the kind of decadence you usually associate with good baking, but be prepared to be proven wrong. The good folks at King Arthur are masters of great flavor, and in creating recipes for this cookbook, they said a decisive “no way” to any recipe that just “tastes good for whole grain.” Try out their Banana Chocolate Chip Squares for an example of some whole grain goodness that tastes great.
In Happy in the Kitchen, chef Michel Richard will make you drool, with gorgeous photos and this written record of what Arthur Boehm calls a “wonderfully playful cooking intelligence.” Recommended for serious amateurs and professional chefs, this book will provide useful tips while stretching your foodie imagination. There’s no free recipe link for this cookbook – you’ll just have to check it out at the library.
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