The Home Cook: Recipes to Know by Heart: A Cookbook Hardcover – September 26, 2017

This is a wonderful cookbook. The Home Cook, Recipes to Know by Heart is a very befitting title. They are the classics that we all know and love, with a slight skew to the Italian American end of the spectrum. There are both humble and special dishes throughout the book, but nothing overly difficult. I just bought groceries for four main dishes, two sides, and two breakfasts, and found all of the ingredients at the very average supermarket down the street. The tone of the book is charming, filled with nostalgia for Alex’s childhood food memories. There aren’t a lot of photos in the book, but that fits with the casual platings and the focus on flavor and technique. Strongly recommend.Below are my pics and thoughts on the dishes I tried:1) Roasted Shrimp with Chile and Almonds – p 124. The dried chiles add so much flavor to this very easy, quick dish. I doubled it for four of us, and I’m so glad I did. My teenagers loved it.2) Avocado and Orange Salad – p 204. Delicious and minutes to pull together. This made so much more dressing than needed, so I’ll probably make ½ or 1/3 next time.3) Mini Goat Cheese Quiches – p 16. These are just delightful. They’re easy peasy, so they’d make a perfect addition when you’re entertaining. Don’t skip the lovely garlic, red wine vinegar, and olive oil dressing. It really adds that little something to it. I didn’t use even half the filling in the little phyllo cups, so I think I’ll make little tart shells for the rest of the filling tomorrow.4) Pumpkin Nutmeg Bread – p 336. Fantastic flavor and super moist. It’s called pumpkin nutmeg bread, but there’s ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in it with toasted walnuts.5) Whole Roasted Chicken with Bacon – p 107. Just lovely. The chicken is divine. It’s super moist from the skin and bacon on it. The lemon mustard sauce balances the richness perfectly. The skin doesn’t crisp up, so I removed it after the fact. Just say no to flabby chicken skin.6) White Mushrooms and Spinach – p 162. This is flavored and lacquered with garlic, a good dose of pepper, and marsala wine, and gets a brightness from lemon zest at the end. Terrific.7) Beef Brisket Soup with Quickie Parmigiano-Reggiano Dumplings – p 72. Oh, those dumplings! The brisket was delicious, too.8) Grandma Guarnaschelli’s Lasagna with Mini Beef Meatballs – p 90. Wow. Really. This is the cheese and meatball lover’s lasagna. It is fantastic.Some others I have flagged to try: Spicy Chinatown Pork Dumplings – p 23 * Glazed Five-Spice Ribs – p 24 * Spinach, Artichoke, and Toasted Pecan Dip – p 35 * Beef Meatball Soup with Paprika and Israeli Couscous – p 56 * Tomato and Fennel Soup – p 61 (grilled cheese on the following page) * Creamiest of the Creamy Broccoli Soup – p 63 * Pasta Puttanesca – p 84 * Gnocchi Macaroni and Cheese – p 94 * Chicken Cutlets with Prosciutto and Sage – p 97 * Roast Beef with Dry Sherry Gravy – p 122 * Broiled Cauliflower Steaks with Parsley and Lemon – p 132 * Classic Pot Roast – p 135 * Crispy Potato Cake – p 145 * Sweet Potato Puree with Brown Butter – p 146 * Buttermilky Mashed Potatoes – p 150 * Roasted Carrots with Cumin and Coriander – p 152 * Beets, Toasted Walnuts, and Black Pepper Goat Cheese – p 155 * Grilled Onion Rings – p 176 * Fennel and Orange Salad with Walnut Pesto – p 208 * Crispy Brussels Sprouts Salad – p 211 * Tasty Tomato Salad with Fresh Raspberries – p 215 * Warm Candied Corn Salad – p 219 * Blackberry Clafoutis – p 284 * My Cannoli Filling Rum Cake – p 287 * Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with Pink Peppercorn Caramel – p 298 * Easy Beer Bread – p 325 * Parker House Rolls – p 329 * Spicy Margarita – p 356 * Raspberry and Lime Brunch Cocktail – p 359 * Buttered Rum Lifesaver – p 362I’ll update this as I play in the book more.

ICAG!!!

I have been a fan of Alex Guarnaschelli from watching her as a judge on the “Chopped” television show. I lost track of her once she became an Iron Chef and never really got to see her style of cook except for the special “judge cooks” show on “Chopped”. What little I saw of her style of cooking, I thought highly of. Enough so that I bought “The Home Cook” sight unseen.I have a decent collection of cookbooks, most of which sit on a bookshelf in my game room and get pulled out for specialty recipes. I have a few tried and trusted cookbooks which get shelf space in my kitchen. After both looking through this cookbook and trying several recipes, “The Home Cook” has its place in my kitchen and will be a cookbook that I use frequently. Along with the wonderful recipes, the cookbook has many beautiful photographs of the finished dishes (some of which I will include below.)I love the subtitle of this book “recipes to know by heart”. I agree one hundred percent. The bulk of the recipes are those which Ms. Guarnaschelli has developed herself. In addition to those, she has gifted us with tried and true recipes from her family, including those from both her mother and father. I look at these and see the years of love and work that it took to perfect them. I also see not only her family but mine, too, sitting around a large dining room table to enjoy the wonderful sights and tastes that will derive from this book.I'm very happy and impressed with the mix of recipes. I really appreciate that there are two chapters (Soups to Start and Soups for Dinner) devoted to soup recipes as I enjoy soup so much myself. Many of my own developed recipes are in the soup family, too. The chapter on supermarket mushrooms is worth the purchase of the book by itself. So many other cookbooks have you running around finding fancy mushrooms but Chef Alex has, as she states made supermarket mushrooms sexy!So far (and I just got the book this week), I've made a few recipes which my husband and I have enjoyed tremendously. Roasted Carrots with Cumin and Coriander (who would have thought to add those spices to simple carrots?); Beef Meatball Soup with paprika and Israel Couscous (I make a albondigas meatball soup myself but am really pleased to have a new meatball soup to enjoy); Mom's Chicken Cacciatore; and My Dad's Lemon Chicken. I'm looking forward to using this book for years to come and learning the recipes by heart as the author has suggested.Here are the chapters of the cookbook:Snacks and AppetizersDips, Crudites and Pickled VegetablesSoups to StartSoup for DinnerItalian American Pastas and ClassicsNew Chicken ClassicsStand-Alone Main CoursesOne-Pot and Slow-Cooked MealsRoot VegetablesSupermarket Mushrooms Made SexyThe Onion FamilySauces and DressingsSalad for Every SeasonSalad for DinnerGrain and Bean Side DishesItalian American CookiesBerries and Juicy FruitsCakePies, Tarts an CrispsQuick BreadsJams and Fruit CondimentsCocktails

Within minutes of receiving this book and randomly flipping through it, I'd found a ton of recipes I was eager to try. Three weeks later, it's already one of my three go-to recipe books for every meal plan.You've got to try the beef chili (p. 67). After decades of searching for that perfect chili recipe, I have finally found it! And Alex's dad' lemon chicken (p. 110) is also terrific. I grew up eating so many of these dishes (e.g., Chicken Caccitore, Pasta Bolognese and Putanesca, Pepper Steak and Caesar salad), trying the Iron Chef version is a real treat and I'm learning some tricks of the trade as well, such as letting the chili rest for 10 minutes before serving for melt-in-your-mouth beef.This recipe book is money well-spent.

Love this cookbook, I’ve tried several recipes and they have all turned out really well. Great for someone not super experienced as the instructions are step by step and well explained. More pictures of the food would be nice.

All of the recipes that I've tried turned out delicious. Love love love. Don't hesitate to buy it.

Alex Guarnaschelli is a truly talented chef and author. I bought this book as a gift for my homecook husband, and I know he will love it. I love Alex's way of taking simple ingredients and techniques and creating a beautiful meal. Looking forward to digging in to some of her recipes!

Great food, easy to follow. I use it all the time. Couldn't be happier with it.