Weekend Cooking: 2 New Cookbooks for Fall Cooking

As the farmer's markets wind down for the season, I've been turning once again to cookbooks for inspiration in the kitchen. I don't know about you, but in the summer, I tend to cook simple dishes based on whatever is fresh from the local growers.

With the return to grocery store shopping comes cooler temperatures, and I'm far less reliant on season products. That's when new cookbooks, magazines, and websites offer bountiful ideas.

Today I have two short reviews of cookbooks written by long-time food writers. They're geared to very different audiences, and each has pluses and minuses.

Basque Country: A Culinary Journey through a Food Lover's Paradise by Marti Buckley (Artisan; September 11): Marti Buckley writes about food and travel for a variety of venues, including her blog, Blank Palate. Her cookbook, Basque Country, sums up her love of the food, land, and people of this area in northern Spain. Buckley provides not only beautiful photographs of food (see the scan above) but informative and interesting descriptions of each subregion. We meet the farmers and fisherman, learn about festivals, visit a cider house, and gain a historical perspective.

The recipes are well written and easy to follow for the home cook, and most are accompanied by a photo of the finished dish. The recipes reflect what regular people really eat, as opposed to what may be served in upscale restaurants. I liked the sound of the chorizo potato stew, but when I cooked it, I added more fresh produce (green beans and tomatoes); it was delicious and easy. The book contains a number of vegetarian recipes and fish dishes as well as meats, sweets, and drinks.

Now here's the less glowing part: some of the recipes seem way too simple to take up a couple pages in a regional cookbook. For example, there is a dried bean recipe that simply tells the cook to simmer the beans in water for a couple of hours; another gives step-step-by instructions for boiling chorizo in beer. Yes, there are regional serving suggestions, but I don't need a Basque cookbook for these recipes. Other dishes require fresh seafood (turbot, eel, squid), which is hard to find in my land-locked town. Finally, for some reason (my mood?, the fact that I just came home from vacation?), I was not bowled over by any of the recipes and didn't flag any for my must-try list. Your reactions, of course, may be different.

Recommendation: Marti Buckley's Basque Country will appeal to anyone who is interested in regional cooking, food history, or travel to the region. The book is gorgeous and easy to read, and the recipes are doable in any American home kitchen. You may find tons of great recipes to try, but I was not hooked. (Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy; photos from the cookbook.)

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This Old Gal's Pressure Cooker Cookbook: 120 Easy and Delicious Recipes for Your Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker by Jill Selkowitz (Race Point, September 25): If you own an electric pressure cooker, you've probably heard of Selkowitz and her blog, This Old Gal. The online Instant Pot crowd loves her cheesecake recipes and rely on her recipes for everyday family dinners. I couldn't wait to see a copy of this cookbook, hoping to pick up some tried-and-true tips and tricks. In that regard, Selkowitz doesn't disappoint.

Even seasoned pros will benefit from reading the sections on tools, accessories, and techniques, but for newbies, the early chapters of the cookbook are a gold mine of information they will turn to again and again. The recipes include Internet favorites as well as plenty of new dishes. The directions are clear, the ingredients are easy to find, and Selkowitz includes ample tips and variations to guarantee success. You'll find a few breakfast dishes, but dinner and dessert make up the heart of the cookbook. The flavors are extremely family friendly (Polynesian chicken, sweet potato casserole, sloppy Joes), and the dishes require very little fussing.

Oddly enough, one of the weakness of This Old Gal's Pressure Cooker Cookbook is also one of its strengths. Many of the recipes seem too basic and Americanized for my tastes, but for a lot of families these are just the kind of dishes that satisfy the pickiest of eaters and will be a godsend for weeknight dining. That said, I love having a copy of Selkowitz's New York cheesecake recipe (see photo), and I'm dying to try the rum raisin rice pudding. I have an excellent short rib recipe, but hers looks pretty awesome and is done in so much less time and without heating up the kitchen.

Recommendation: Jill Selkowitz's This Old Gal's Pressure Cooker Cookbook is perfect for anyone who doesn't yet feel comfortable with her electric pressure cooker (of any brand) or is simply stumped for recipes to try. Old hands, like me, will find good tips and a ready resource when you forget the timing for brown rice (that would be me!). The basic recipes will appeal to a broad range of eaters and you should be able to easily tweak recipes to your own tastes (adding more spices or less meat). (Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy; the photos are from the cookbook.)

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Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

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