I knew that the book was a softcover one, which explained the lower price.  After all, I paid just $29.95 to get the first season of Cook’s Country along with the HARDCOVER companion book.

As usual, they took forever to ship.  You can’t really choose your shipping options on their site, it is always “pony express”.  So don’t expect to see anything for 2-3 weeks after you order it.  This sucks, but in order to get the book-with-free-DVD-set deals, you have to order via their site.  And then look for them to decline your credit card and ask you to mail a check instead.  Very screwed up!  But just ignore that, place the order again, and eventually you will get your stuph.

Anyhoo, after waiting about three weeks, I got my package today.  I opened it, and wondered where the cookbook was.  I thought that the magazine that was enclosed was a sample copy of Cook’s Country, trying to get me to subscribe.  But no, that WAS the cookbook!  It had an overlay cover, as all their magazines do, with a million ads for their other books and stuph.  Sheesh, I love these people, but the aggressive marketing really has to go!

Still, I can’t complain too much.  $19.95 for a DVD set and a magazine-like book is not bad at all.  But still…I would have been more than willing to pay ten bucks more if it were a real book, as they have offered for America’s Test Kitchen, and the first season of Cook’s Country.  At least they weren’t trying to sell me something to relieve joint pain, which didn’t work. But still…

Anyhoo, I want to talk about a fabulous new cookbook that I recently bought.  It’s Daisy:  Morning, Noon and Night by Daisy Martinez.  You may know Daisy from her cooking shows…Daisy Cooks!, which can still be seen on the PBS Create channel, and now, ¡Viva Daisy! (site has auto-play video) on the Food Network.  She is the author of Daisy Cooks:  Latin Flavors That Will Rock Your World, the companion cookbook to the PBS series.

As the title indicates, the book is organized into sections for morning, noon, and night recipes.  So whether you are preparing breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, appropriate recipes are easy to find.  There is also a section with suggested menus for entertaining, each containing timelines to assist you in preparing in advance.  Also of note is a “Basics” chapter, with recipes and notes about items that are commonly used in Daisy’s cooking, and a glossary of ingredients, some of which may be unfamiliar to some people.  In some cases, Daisy gives info on websites where harder-to-find ingredients can be purchased.

The book itself is beautifully done, pretty and glossy, with lots of full-color photographs.  Interspersed among the recipes are entertaining stories about Daisy’s family and travels.

So far, I have made two recipes from this book…the Tuna “Chilindron” with Penne, and the Cuzco Roast Pork Loin with Onion & Pepper Stir-Fry.  Both were excellent, and dishes that I would want to make again.  And there are so many other recipes that I want to try, including the Chicken Enchiladas (recipe) that Daisy made on the Rachael Ray show today.  That’s the next recipe I want to make, it looked so tasty on TV!

The recipes range from quick-to-prepare weeknight meals, to dishes that are designed for entertaining or weekends.  They are all easy to prepare, because Daisy does an excellent job in explaining everything you need to know.  The emphasis is on what Daisy does best…bold, Latin flavors that the whole family will enjoy.  It’s not all hot and spicy, but it’s all full of flavor.

I recommend this book to anyone, from beginning cooks to experts.  Once you see how easy and inexpensive it is to prepare such good food in your own home, you may never go through the fast-food drive-through again!

The Way To Cook, on DVD is indeed a video version of the classic book of the same name.  The set includes two DVDs, each with three of the six parts of the video series.  Disc One includes “Poultry”, “Meat”, and “Vegetables”, and Disc Two discusses “Soups, Salads & Bread”, “Fish & Eggs”, and “First Courses & Desserts”.

I was mistaken when I said that this aired on PBS years ago, now I don’t believe it ever did.  It was produced by the same people who did Julia’s TV series, but it was designed to be a direct-to-video project, to tie in with the book, and indeed you can see and hear Julia talking about “tapes”.  Lucky for us, we have DVDs now, and you’ll soon understand why!

The content is NOT regular TV show episode-like, it is short segments in which Julia demonstrates a specific recipe or technique.  Each segment is numbered…the “Poultry” ones are in the 100′s, the “Meat” ones are in the 200′s, and so on.  If Julia uses a technique that was demonstrated in another segment, it will say on the screen where to find it.  Now that this is on DVD, it is wicked easy to just go to the menu and find the exact segment you want to see.  Must have been a royal pain when the only way to get this was on VHS tape!  It was harder than getting an instant life insurance quote, back in the days before the internet!

To make things even easier, the DVD set includes a rather thick booklet that includes all of the recipes and techniques that Julia demonstrates in the DVDs.  They all have the coordinating numbers that they do on the DVD, so you can easily find them and follow along.

This set is highly recommended for anyone learning to cook, especially if you need video instruction.  You do not need to buy the book version of  “The Way To Cook” to benefit from it, as all recipes and techniques are included in that booklet.  But if you can afford both, go for it.  The two work together to show you…well…the way to cook!

So what do some people do when sick?  Read trashy novels, like this one, called Butterfly, by Kathryn Harvey.  As you can probably figure out from the photo on the book’s cover, this is NOT a nice wholesome G-rated book.  It’s loaded with sex, so if you don’t like this sort of book, then don’t read it.  Srsly.

I first read this book back in the 80′s.  I was working at a bookstore at the time, and one of the other women there had picked it up, and was raving about how good it was.  So I bought myself a copy (we got a 40% discount), and agreed, it was quite delightfully trashy.  I re-read it yet again when I was sick.

Beverly Highland is a self-made wealthy woman who is the mysterious owner of a high-priced women’s “club” called “Butterfly”, located upstairs from a ritzy Rodeo Drive men’s shop.  Membership is restricted to only the most beautiful, wealthy, and powerful women.  At Butterfly, women can experience any fantasies they wish, and yes, they mean sexual.

The storylines alternate between three of Butterfly’s members, Trudie, Linda, and Jessica, each of who has her own reasons for seeking what Butterfly has to offer.  But the main storyline focuses on the life of the mysterious Beverly.

Born Rachel Dywer to impoverished parents, with a twin sister who was given away at birth, the then-homely young girl runs away from home at age 14, after being brutally raped by her own father.  On the roads, she meets a guy named Danny Mackay, who she quickly falls in love with and starts sleeping with.  But Danny is not a nice guy, first, he forces Rachel to live and work at some sleazy whorehouse, while he keeps most of her pay.  He also gets Rachel pregnant, and he cruelly forces her to get an abortion, even though she desperately didn’t want one.  She vows that one day, somehow, some way, she WILL get her revenge on Danny Mackay.

Rachel transforms herself into Beverly by getting plastic surgery, as she begins her climb to the top as a successful businesswoman.  As time passes, she surrounds herself with people who were either screwed over by Danny somehow, or by men like him.  Meanwhile, Danny is on his own ascent to greatness, first by becoming a very successful televangelist, and later, as a Presidential hopeful.  Of course, he’s running as a conservative Republican, speaking out against stuff like prostitution and abortion (two things that he forced upon poor Rachel, what a hypocrite!).

Beverly and her close circle of friends and associates keep a very close eye on the comings and goings of Danny Mackay.  Beverly actually supports his campaign, financially and otherwise; Danny, of course, does not recognize her as homely little Rachel Dwyer.  Beverly is simply setting him up so that he takes his fall from grace from the highest point possible.  As you can imagine, she is seriously pissed at this sleazebag, and it’s well deserved.

You will have to read the book to see how it all goes down…why did she open Butterfly?  Does she succeed in her lifelong mission to destroy Danny?  How did things turn out for Trudie, Linda, and Jessica?  And what about the twin sister?

If you enjoy this book, then you must read the sequel, called Stars.  This book not only continues the war between Beverly and Danny, but the twin sister gets into the picture, as well.  The twin has a rather interesting history of her own, so it’s well worth reading.

If you have kids who can read, do NOT leave these books laying around on the coffee table!  Graphic sexual content, and some violence mean that you should save this for when the kids are in bed.  Enjoy!

This is apparently based on the book of the same name, and was a six-part series on PBS back in the eighties…although I don’t remember it.  Maybe the PBS station where I was living at the time didn’t carry it.

Anyhoo, I am very much familiar with the book.  I have it, and I’m always saying that if you could only own one cookbook, this would be the one.  In the book, Julia gives simple, step-by-step instructions for basic, or “master” recipes.  And then she expands upon those with variations.  From the description on Amazon of this DVD set, this looks like pretty much the same idea.  So, if you feel you need a little extra instruction beyond what still photos in a book can provide, this would be a great companion to the book.  Just remember that Julia was never into counting calories, so you may want to look for a good diet pill review along with it. But then again, Julia lived to be almost 92 years old, so eating as she did wasn’t so bad, after all!

I ordered it, just because there is not allowed to be a Julia DVD set that I don’t have. I just love her, and can never get bored watching her!

As you can see from the picture on the cover of the book, this bread is baked in a Dutch oven.  Jim recommends cast iron, which can be either the regular uncoated variety, or enamel-coated cast iron (such as Le Creuset).  Lodge, the leading manufacturer of traditional cast iron, has recently jumped on the enameled cast iron bandwagon, and offers a good selection of pieces in assorted colors.  Lodge’s prices for the enameled stuff are also quite a bit lower than those of LeCreuset.  In the book, Jim says that if you use Le Creuset, use a screwdriver to remove the handles first, as the manufacturer says they are only oven-safe for up to 375° F, and the oven needs to be much hotter than that.  If you do this, plug up the holes with aluminum foil, as the pot needs to be well sealed for this method to work properly.

I don’t have any of the enameled stuff, so I just used my plain old Lodge 5-quart Dutch oven.  This is a very versatile piece of cookware, not only can it be used on the stovetop and in the oven…but you could also cook with it on BBQ grills, outdoor fireplaces, even over campfires.  If you don’t have one, I suggest getting one…unseasoned ones are pretty cheap and can sometimes still be found at hardware stores.  New, unseasoned cast iron is gray in color, rather than black…it will blacken in time after seasoning and repeated use.  The pan will come with instructions for seasoning, which must be done before you use the pan.

If you are willing to spend a little more money, Lodge sells pre-seasoned cast iron, under the brand name Lodge Logic.  Alternatives to cast iron would be, according to Mark Bittman’s version of the basic recipe, Pyrex or ceramic.  However, whatever pan you use MUST have its own lid.

Jim recommends that you try the basic recipe first, before going on to any of the many variations in the book.  This makes sense to me, because if you screw up, you are not out a lot of expensive ingredients.  The basic recipe calls for nothing more than bread flour, yeast, table salt, and water.  And that’s another great thing about this recipe…it costs very little to make!

If you don’t have the book, you can try this using the recipe that Mark Bittman published in the New York Times a few years ago.  Click here to see it.  There are only two small differences between the recipe in the book and Bittman’s version.  Bittman calls for the oven to be heated to 450° F, while in Lahey’s book, it calls for 475°.  Lahey says that the recipe will work at this slightly lower temp, though.  Bittman calls for 1 5/8 cups water, the book calls for 1 1/3 cups.  I used the version in the book…the book does say that you can add more water if needed, if the resulting dough is not sticky enough.  The dough really does need to be wet and sticky, this helps provide the *steam* that professional bakers use to get nice, crusty loaves.  This is also why the pot you use MUST have its own lid.

Oh, and the salt you use MUST be regular table salt, not Kosher or sea salt.

Mixing the dough takes just a few minutes.  What takes the longest is the slow rising…at least 12 hours is recommended, 18 hours is better, but in cold weather, when dough rises slower, a full 24 hours is best.  My kitchen is kind of drafty, and it’s cold here, so I let it sit for 24 hours.

The next step is to shape it into a ball…it will still be rather stick and messy…and wrap it in a cotton towel or large cloth napkin.  Don’t use terry cloth because it will not only stick, but some of the fibers could get into the dough, and that is not good.

If you have cats, put the wrapped dough someplace cat-proof for the second rising.  I made the mistake of leaving mine out on the counter, and when I went to check on it, I found that Allegria was using it for a bed.  So I had to re-shape it and start the rise all over again.  This time, I stashed it in a lidded pot (not the one I was planning to bake it it, as that pot needs to be heated in the oven for 1/2 hour before putting the dough in it and baking).

The dough didn’t look all that great when I plopped it into the hot Dutch oven, but as Bittman says, that really is okay.  This is supposed to be a rustic, artisan loaf, not cookie-cutter bread from the store.

Anyhoo, this is what my loaf looked like when it was done.  I was so sure that it had caught on fire in the pot in the oven, as when I opened the oven to remove the lid, it looked like there was smoke coming out of it.  And when it was done and I removed it from the pan to cool, it was rock-hard…I was so sure that it would not be any good, and it would make for an excellent doorstop.

But after letting it cool on the rack for an hour, I cut into it, and was not disappointed.  The crust was nice and crispy, the inside was perfect and tasted pleasantly yeasty, from the long rising period.  It was so good, that I didn’t even bother to put butter or anything on it.  You don’t need to.

My loaf didn’t rise quite as much as the loaves pictured in the book.  Next time, when I do the second rise, I’m going to try putting the wrapped ball of dough in the covered pot on one of the heat vents on the floor so it gets some more warmth.  Maybe that will make it rise better.  Another possibility that I may try is to program my bread machine so that it only does a RISE cycle, no mixing, kneading, baking.  The RISE cycle on a bread machine simulates the warmth of a “proof box” that is used in professional bakeries.  I’ll have to dig out the manual for my machine, and see if such programming is possible, I know it has options to program your own stuff.

Anyhoo, please give this a try.  Yeah, you have to wait for what seems like forever for your first loaf to be ready.  But since it takes just a few minutes to mix up the dough, if you get into the habit of making dough every day, you can have fresh-baked bread every day, bread that is far better than commercial bread or even bread machine loaves!

If you buy Good Eats – The Early Years expecting a straight cookbook with a trazillion recipes, you will be disappointed.  Basically, what you are getting here is a book version of the first four seasons of Alton Brown’s wildly popular Food Network show, Good Eats.

The 140+ recipes in this big book are arranged by the episodes in which they appeared, and each episode is a chapter, arranged in the order in which they originally aired.  Along with the recipes come AB’s witty and useful commentary from the episodes, as well as behind the scenes notes.  This is a nice, big heavy book, which can also be used to beat home intruders over the head, should your home security systems fail. See? It’s a great multi-tasker, which I’m sure that AB would approve of!

Can you get all of these recipes for free from the Food Network site?  Yes.  But what makes this book great is AB himself; his commentary and stuff is missing from the Food Network recipes.  That’s what makes this book worth buying; it is a must-have for all Good Eats fans.  It’s especially good for people like me who don’t have cable, it contains info about episodes I haven’t seen, ones that never came out on DVD.

I eagerly await the next book in what will be a series, “Good Eats – The Middle Ages”.

Oh, and just so you know – neither AB nor anyone else paid me to say nice things about his book.  I bought this book from Amazon.com, using my own money.  So there!

The first book is called Giving Thanks:  Thanksgiving Recipes & History, From Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie.  This lovely book was put out by the folks of Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum which depicts life in Plymouth Colony in the 1600′s.  I have never actually been to Plimoth Plantation, I actually bought* this book at Strawbery Banke, a living history museum in Portsmouth, NH.  I’m sure the Plimoth Plantation museum store has it, as well.

This book delves deep into the history of Thanksgiving in America…you will learn what the Pilgrims and Native Americans REALLY ate back then, how Thanksgiving became a national holiday, and much. much more.  Interspersed with your history lessons are dozens of tasty recipes, as well as photographs and drawings from the vast archives of Plimoth Plantation.

And here we have the newly revised and updated edition of the Old Sturbridge Village Cookbook.  I just bought* this book yesterday at the OSV museum shop.  I already had the previous edition, but this new one is so much better organized than the last one, and also contains more recipes.  I had been disappointed that the last edition did not contain the recipe for Gourd Soup, which we first had at one of OSV’s Hearthside Bounty dinners.  But this edition does have it, and you MUST try it, it is so very, very yummie!

Old Sturbridge Village is a living history museum in Massachusetts which depicts New England life in the early to mid 1800′s.  Of course, they didn’t have electricity back then, nor any of the fancy kitchen gadgets we have now.  In those days, all of the cooking was done in the fireplace.  If you visit OSV, you are likely to find a costumed interpreter demonstrating hearth cooking in any one of several exhibit houses.

The OSV cookbook is unique in that the recipes are presented both as they would have been cooked in the 1830′s, and the method for modern-day cooking.  So, if you have a fireplace and some cast-iron pans (which is what they used to cook in back in the day), and you want to give hearth cooking a shot, this book will show you how.  But, if you’re like me, living in a apartment and dreaming of having a fireplace one day, you can still re-create all of these great recipes the modern way!

The links I gave for both books go to Amazon.  But if you buy them directly from the museum shops, a portion of the proceeds goes to help support the museums, which I think is an important thing.  If you can’t get to these museum shops, you can always order the books from their online shops.

Happy reading…and eating!

*Disclosure: I am a member of both Old Sturbridge Village and Strawbery Banke museums, and was not compensated by them, nor by Plimoth Plantation, to promote the museums or their publications. I pay the annual membership dues just like everyone else who’s a member.  I purchased both of these books, and only got the standard 10% discount that all members receive.

The last recorded cooking incident is described in this post about the NuWave Oven.  And that was almost a month ago!

While Mike was in the hospital, I didn’t have time to shop and cook for myself, because I was busy getting back and forth to see him.  I lived pretty much on food from the hospital cafeteria and hot dog stands in assorted MBTA stations that I had to go through.  However, I did treat myself to a nice meal at Jasper White’s Summer Shack, the one near the Alewife T station.  I made the time for it, I so needed a treat.

While Mike was in the hospital, I made a stop at the Borders bookstore near the State Street station.  He was complaining about running out of stuff to read.  This is a really huge Borders store, with tons of magazines that you can’t find in most other places around here.  The newsstand at the hospital left a lot to be desired…they had mostly celebrity gossip rags, and women’s magazines that contained advice about how to find the best acne pill.

At Borders, I found a few railroad magazines that I knew he didn’t already have, so I bought those.  Also, on the bargain rack for $4.99, I found the book pictured above – Steven Raichlen’s Indoor! Grilling.  I’m a fan of Raichlen’s PBS cooking shows (both Barbeque University and Primal Grill are currently airing locally).  But I’m unable to grill outdoors at this time, so I’ve managed to convert many of his recipes for indoor grilling.  But in this book, Steven has taken all the guesswork out of it for you, and includes instructions for the various types of indoor grills, rotisseries, and stovetop smokers.  I was thrilled to see that he’d written such a book, and at $4.99, I had to grab it.

Tonight I’m actually doing his whole roast chicken recipe in the NuWave oven.  What’s not done on a grill or rotisserie at all is the creamy caramelized onion sauce that goes with it, that has to be done in a pan on the stove.  So if I adjust the cooking time for the chicken according to the instructions that came with the NuWave, it should come out just fine, and in less time.

I’m also going to try another recipe of his – “Wild Boar”.  It’s designed to be cooked on a George Foreman grill, or other indoor grills.  I have one of the newer George grills and I love it.

No, I didn’t go hunting, nor do they sell wild boar meat at Shaw’s.  It’s simply boneless pork medallions marinated in red wine, red wine vinegar, and juniper berries, and grilled.  Steven says that he was taught this little technique in culinary school, to make farm-raised supermarket meat taste more full-flavored, like game meat.

I’ve not been able to find juniper berries at Shaw’s, and we didn’t feel like driving all over to look for them.  But that’s okay, Steven knows that we can’t all be able to get them, so he says to substitute some gin for the berries.  After all, gin is made from juniper berries!  So we stopped at Kappy’s and I got a couple of those little airline bottles of gin…I don’t need a whole big bottle, and I’ll never drink it.  Of course, if we fall in love with this recipe, a larger bottle may be a good investment.  But we shall see.

So there you have it for now…recipe reviews coming soon!

The books arrived last week.  I was watching the Lidia’s Italy TV show, and she was making this dish of sausage and potatoes.  Since I now have the book, it was easy to gather up the ingredients and make it.

This recipe is so incredibly simple, yet incredibly tasty.  All you need are:

1/2 cup olive oil
6 large cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) dry red pepper flakes
1 12-ounce jar of peperoncini, drained and chopped
2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled, and cut into wedges about 1/2 inch thick
Salt to taste
1 1/2 pounds link sweet Italian sausage

In case you don’t know what I mean by peperoncini, here is a picture of what it looks like.  They are small, light-green colored peppers, pickled in vinegar.  Many grocery stores carry Pastene Italian products, but if you can’t find them, you can order online.

You will also need a large skillet with a lid, and a slotted spoon.

Put the olive oil in the skillet and place it over medium-high heat.  When it’s hot, throw in the garlic…should just be crushed, not chopped or minced.  Also throw in the crushed red pepper flakes, to taste.   Let this cook in the oil, stirring, for about a minute.  Use the slotted spoon to remove the garlic, leaving the oil in the pan.  Don’t try to scoop out all the red pepper flakes, you won’t be able to, trust me.  Reserve the garlic in a bowl.

Put the pan of oil back onto the heat and throw in the chopped peperoncini.  Let it cook for about a minute, stirring.  Use the slotted spoon to scoop out the peppers, putting them into the bowl with the reserved garlic.

Put the potato wedges into the pan of oil, season with salt to taste, and cook for about 6 minutes, or until they start to brown on all sides.  Stir them around a bit while they cook.

Then, push the potatoes to one side of the pan, and lay all of the sausages in the blank area.  Cook for another 6 minutes or so, turning the sausages to brown on all sides, and also stirring the potatoes to keep them from burning.

Cover the pan and lower the heat.  Cook for about 20 minutes, occasionally uncovering and stirring everything.  At this point, it’s okay if the sausages and potatoes get all mixed together.

After the 20 minutes are up, uncover the pan, and throw in the reserved garlic and peperoncini.  Mix in well, and cook, uncovered, for another 10 minutes.  Season with more salt, if needed.

And that’s it!  All you need to serve with this is maybe a green salad or a vegetable.

This is quite spicy due to the red pepper flakes and the peperoncini.  Unless you like it really wicked hot, do NOT use hot Italian sausage here.

This is the first recipe I made from the “Lidia’s Italy” book, and it will not be the last.  And it will certainly not be the last time I make this particular recipe.  If you love Italian food, you need to buy this book…or at least get it from the library!

Enjoy!