Weekend Cooking: Good Food, Good Life by Curtis Stone

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If you follow the Weekend Cooking links, then you've run across Curtis Stone's name many times. All the recipes that have been shared here have looked especially appealing, so I've bought three of his cookbooks

Have I ever cooked from any of said books? No! But I did finally sit down and read through his Good Food, Good Life book to learn more about Stone and his way of cooking.

Before I even looked at a recipe, I was taken in by the photographs in Good Food, Good Life. I want to get to know Stone! He looks like my kind of person: relaxed, casual, and family oriented.

Although I'm always a bit leery of books by restaurant and television chefs, I was confident I'd like Stone's dishes, based on the recipes I've seen in posts linked to Weekend Cooking. I was right. The food in this cookbook is incredibly accessible and easily reproduced in a typically equipped home kitchen. As Stone says in the introduction, there are the recipes he makes "at home from morning to night" for his family and friends.

The nature of the recipes bears this out: no odd ingredients or fussy techniques. Instead you'll find simple braising, roasting, and grilling. If you know how to chop and boil water, you'll probably have good success with the dishes in this cookbook.

So what will you find inside the covers? Sandwiches, soups, salads, and snacks; dinners, drinks, and desserts; plus breakfasts and breads (ran out of alliterations!). Here are just some of the recipes I marked to try:

• Pan bagnat: this looks amazing with its tuna, basil, and olives
• Chicken chili verde: I have a weakness for green sauce and pumpkin seeds
• Spice-rubbed pork tenderloin: grilled and served with grilled asparagus, perfect for spring.
• Falafel: made with almonds, cayenne, and cilantro. Yum!
• Roasted squash: napped in brown butter. Oh yeah.
• Chicken wings: these have an Asian twist, with lime and green curry

What else? Strawberry turnovers (see scan), walnut-date muffins, roasted salmon, broccoli rabe pasta, and tomato gratin. You should see how many bookmarks I have in Good Food, Good Life; so many recipes are calling to me.

A couple more notes:

• The flavor profile is global: American, Australian, Italian, Mexican, and South Asian
• I love the features, such as prep time, cooking time, make-ahead hints, technique boxes, variations, and suggested go-with dishes
• The design is clean and fresh, with lots of grays and whites. Very inviting.
• I bought the eBook edition and mine doesn't have an index, which makes me a little unhappy. On the other hand, it's easy enough to do a search in an eBook.

Bottom line? What the heck am I waiting for? I should just listen to all my online friends and cook from a Curtis Stone book already. I highly recommend Good Food, Good Life and can't wait to explore the other two Stone cookbooks I bought.

Cheddar-and-Corn Cream Biscuits

Makes 6 biscuits

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup shredded white Cheddar Cheese (about 3 ounces
• ⅓ cup fresh corn kernels
• 1⅓ cups chilled heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour baking powder, sugar, and salt to blend. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, mix in the cheese and corn. Add the cream and gently mix with your hands or a wooden spoon just until a moist dough forms; do not overwork or knead the dough, or the biscuits will be tough.

Form the dough into 6 mounds on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown on the top and bottom and just baked through. Serve warm.

NOTE: Scans and recipes are used here in the context of a review. All rights remain with the original copyright holders: Curtis Stone, Ballantine Books, and/or Ray Kachatorian.

Published by Ballantine Books, 2015
ISBN-13: 9780345542557
Source: bought (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)