Cooking: The Books You Need to HAVE for Fab Food! “An Apple A Day” and “Baking By Hand!” #Book Review

I am going to give you 2 fabulous cookbooks that will offer you lots of ideas that are really different for this holiday season- plus the deal with getting serious about eating well but eating healthy too.

BAKING BY HAND: Make the Best Artisanal Breads and Pastries Better Without a Mixer
by Andy & Jackie King, Founders of A&J King Artistan Bakers, Salem, MA

Baking-by-Hand-cover

A & J King’s humble storefront and artistically quirky interiors belie their status as top bread makers in the Northeast carried by some of the best restaurants and gourmet stores in the country – including Whole Foods. Now home chefs can learn their easy and remarkable 30-minute Four Fold kneading technique to make bread better without using a mixer.

BAKING BY HAND by Andy and Jackie King [Page Street Publishing, August 2013, $22.99 US/$24.99 CAN] features their best one hundred recipes including their regionally famous sourdough, a perfectly chewy and crusty olive packed ciabatta, and an earthy, healthy and wonderful multigrain loaf. The Kings also offer up recipes for their other show-stopping pastries including the not-to-be-missed sticky buns and extremely popular array of pies and tarts including the to-die-for Rhubarb Ginger treat. Inside home bakers will find:
A step-by-step guide to optimizing the kitchen workspace
The essentials of bread dough
Sections devoted to morning baking and evening baking divided by breads and pastries

This book has tons of photos an fabulous recipes that are sure to have you pulling out utensils, bowls and heading to the market to snag some ingredients! Talking about killer food that is so great and you don’t need a mixer for it. Great to have for your own kitchen — to make food that you give as gifts, or make it easy on yourself and give people a copy of the book for them to dive into. If you know they have an e-reader, then give them the Ebook!

I was able to get a couple of recipes of items from this book!

Recipes for everything from baguettes to sourdough breads and savory and sweet pastries to crusts
Here are some recipes from this book!

Marinato
This sandwich came about from a container of leftovers. We had made a particularly chunky pasta sauce the night before and taken the leftovers to work. After downing the pasta, there was a good deal of chunky sauce still left in the container . . . so onto some bread it went. Add some cheese and house-roasted red peppers, and we have our Marinato. By the way, the sauce is still good over pasta, so feel free to use the leftovers that way.
Yield: 1 sandwich

Marinato Sauce
Yield: Enough for 6 sandwiches
2 lb/1 kg grape tomatoes (about 3 pints/1 kg)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 small red onion, diced
4 oz/100 g black or green pitted olives (or a mix), coarsely chopped
2 tbsp/30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp/30 ml balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp/1.5 g kosher salt

Roasted Red Peppers
Yield: Enough for 6 sandwiches
3 large red bell peppers
2 garlic cloves, peeled
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 of a stirato (about 7 inches/18 cm; see page 101)
Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
3 or 4 fresh basil leaves

To make the Marinato Sauce, heat the oven to 350˚F/180°C.
Combine all ingredients in a shallow saucepan. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes pop and the surface begins to dry. Do not overcook—a chunky sauce is the goal here.

You can roast your red peppers two ways: For a firmer pepper, place directly on the flame of a gas stove, and, rotating regularly, singe each side until the surface of the entire pepper is black.
Alternatively, for a softer pepper, place on a sheet pan and roast in a 425˚F/220°C oven until the pepper is collapsed and blackened, about 30 to 40 minutes. Either way, place the hot peppers in a bowl and completely cover with plastic wrap. As the peppers cool, the skins will steam off.
Hold the cooled peppers under running water to remove the skins, and pull out the seeds and stem. Slice the peppers into 1/2-inch/1-cm strips and store in a container, covered in olive oil. Crush the garlic cloves and store in the oil with the peppers.

To assemble the sandwich,
Split the stirato lengthwise and spoon about ⅔ cup/160 ml of the Marinato Sauce onto the bread. Layer the mozzarella and red peppers on top, and garnish with the basil leaves.

Pancetta and Asparagus Tarts
These are so simple and tasty. When asparagus season rolls around in the spring, you have to give this recipe a try! Andy makes his own pancetta at home, so we always have a chunk of it ready to go. If you’re not into home curing, it is readily available at the grocery store as well.
Yield: Six 5-in/12-cm tarts

Pancetta-and-Asparagus-Tart

1 recipe Lazy Baker’s Puff Pastry Dough (below)
42 thin spears asparagus, trimmed of woody bottoms
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt
3 oz/75 g pancetta, diced small
Egg wash, consisting of 1 beaten egg and a splash of water

Preheat the oven to 450˚F/230°C, with the baking stone in place.

For the crust, roll out the dough to about 14 inches x 27 inches/35 x 70 cm, about ⅛ inch/3 mm thick, and cut out six 7-inch/18-cm circles. Place six 5-inch/12-cm flan rings on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and spray with cooking spray. Lay one circle on top of each ring. Lifting up around the entire perimeter of the disk, “settle” the dough into the corners of the rings. Then, working from the outside in, roll the overlapping dough until you can press the roll into the side of the flan ring, creating a thicker outer crust with a thin bottom. Chill until ready to use. Chop off the top 3 inches/7 cm of the asparagus. Hold them off to the side, and dice up the remainder of the spears for a total of 8 ounces/250 g. Toss the diced asparagus with a little bit of olive oil to lightly coat and sprinkle with just a little bit of salt; remember, the pancetta is salty on its own. Add the chopped pancetta to the asparagus and evenly combine it. Egg wash the rim of each crust and fill each tart with 1.5 ounces/45 g of this mixture. Next, lightly toss the asparagus tips with oil, and fan six or seven of them out on top of each of the filled tart shells.

Bake the pan of tarts directly on the baking stone. After about 10 minutes, the pastry dough will start to puff and may need to be pricked with the tip of a knife or a wooden skewer to release the steam. You may need to prick it a few times at various points. Rotate the pan and bake for another 10 minutes. Then, move the pan up to the middle rack and bake for another 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the asparagus has started to shrink slightly and take on a little bit of color.

Remove from the oven and remove the rings. Cool and eat warm or at room temperature.

Doesn’t this sound absolutely heavenly? I didn’t get a lot of photos, but there are more than enough photos to help you see what the presentation is and for help in creating these recipes. YUM!!

Winners of two “Best of Boston” awards by Boston Magazine and featured in a recent Food and Wine article, the Kings share a host of innovative methods and time-tested recipes in BAKING BY HAND that will turn readers from novice to pro in no-time.

BAKING BY HAND , Page Street Publishing ALSO AVAILABLE AS EBOOK!
August 2013 $22.99 US / $24.99 CAN Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-62414-000-6

The next book is a real gem! An Apple a Day:365 Recipes with Creative Crafts, Fun Facts, and 12 Recipes from Celebrity Chefs is a fabulous apple-oriented cookbook by Karen Berman and Melissa Petitto.

An-Apple-a-Day-Cover

Taking something classic and giving it a new twist, An Apple a Day is a fresh, daily cookbook, filled to the brim with 365 apple recipes carefully selected to reflect the holidays, seasons, and months of the year (Pumpkin-Apple Soup in October; Grilled Turkey Burger with Apple-Chipotle Sauce in July), as well as current culinary trends and decorating projects.

Different from other apple cookbooks on the market, this extensive collection of recipes will go far beyond the tried and true apple dishes, to include novel recipes for savory meals such as Risotto with Apples and Crêpes, salads such as Thai-Style Pork Belly with Apples; cocktails such as Frozen Apple Daiquiri—and so much more. Nor will traditional favorites be neglected; the book will offer multiple ways to make applesauce, baked apples, pies, tarts, muffins, crisps, pastries and cookies. The recipes in the book will be accompanied by crafty, room decor and ambience-enhancing projects such as seasonal centerpieces and apple-scented candles, designed for a delightful, multi-sensory apple experience.

Notes on apple varieties will instruct on picking the perfect apple for any occasion and sidebars will be used to reflect interesting apple stats, tales from literature and folklore, pairing tips, and surprising apple fun facts. Also sprinkled throughout are quotations and favorite apple recipes shared by some of today’s popular celebrity chefs, reflecting a variety of different cultures and styles of cuisine, such as Michael Gilligan and Ian Kittichai.

There are 365 different recipes in this cookbook! There’s enough to keep you busy and mixing up different things for special events and also a variety of recipe categories from drinks to desserts, side dishes to main courses in a variety of different styles from Italian to American. This is one de-lush-cious cookbook.

Apple-Stuffed Acorn Squash Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, this is a tasty and relatively easy recipe. Easy to take to a buffet or “share a dish” event!
Serve as an elegant side dish or as a complete vegetarian meal.

Makes 4 servings
2 acorn squash
Olive oil spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup diced sweet onion
1½ cups diced Granny Smith apples
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup cubed challah bread
2 tablespoons dried cherries
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup chicken or vegetable broth
Maple syrup, warmed (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.

Halve the acorn squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Spray all four halves with olive oil spray and place face down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, or until tender.

To make the filling, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan set over medium heat. Add the onion and apple and saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, thyme, challah bread, cherries, salt, and pepper; saute for 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden and the vegetables are soft. Add the broth and set aside.

Stuff the squash with the apple stuffing, return to the oven, and bake for another 30 minutes. Serve with warm maple syrup, if desired.

For those seeking something that they can use as basic beverage or one that can be tweaked into a tasty cocktail, this is a great recipe to play with.

Cover-Photo---Apple-Cider-w
Recipe found on page 328: a very simple but tasty Hot Apple Cider spiced with Cinnamon, Cloves and Allspice!

Caramel Apple Crème Brulee

Caramel-Apple-Creme-Brulee

Breaking into a hard caramel shell for a spoonful of rich custard is one of the delights of this classic dessert. This version is all the more delicious with apple slices at the bottom.

Makes 6 servings
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
2 cups thinly sliced Granny Smith apples
2 cups water
6 tablespoons storebought dulce de leche
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of cardamom (optional)
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Place the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven just until lightly brown and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes (watch them carefully).

Place the sliced apples and water in a 4-quart saucepan set over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the apples are tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain well. Arrange the apples in the bottoms of 6 ramekins or custard cups. Sprinkle toasted walnuts over apples and top with 1 tablespoon dulce de leche in each; place the ramekins in a deep-dish pan and set aside.

In a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat, whisk together ¼ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and heavy cream. Cook, stirring, over medium
heat until bubbles form around the edges, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Slowly add in a ladleful of the hot cream, whisking constantly. Add 1 more ladle of cream, stir to combine, and then pour the egg mixture into the remaining cream in the saucepan. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes over medium-low heat. The mixture is ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Pour the custard into the prepared ramekins, filling them to the top. Transfer the pan with the filled ramekins to the oven and pour the boiling water into the bottom of the pan. Bake, uncovered, until the centers are just set, about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the water bath and let cool for 20 minutes. Transfer back to the pan, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to serve, let the creme brulee come to room temperature for 15 minutes.
Combine 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the custards.

If using a kitchen torch, sprinkle the sugar evenly over the custards and heat the sugar with the torch until caramelized.

If using a broiler, preheat the oven to broil. Broil 8 inches from the heat until the sugar
is caramelized, about 5 minutes.

Such a luscious and tasty recipe– it’s definitely a multi-step recipe but the end result will win you kudos because the taste of the caramel to the apples will be so unusual for a creme brulee. What’s not to love here? If you have a like-minded friend who want to share some of the work, you could make double the recipe and send her or him home with some tasty treats!

Karen Berman is writer and editor who specializes in food and lifestyle topics. Her previous cookbooks include Friday Night Bites: Kick Off the Weekend with Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family, The Little Black Book of Hors d’ Oeuvres and The Little Black Book of Coffee. She has worked in various editorial capacities on more than 30 cookbooks and has written more articles than she can count for magazines, newspapers and websites. She holds a certificate in cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

Melissa Petitto is a registered dietician and personal chef with an A-list clientele that includes Lucy Liu, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Christy Turlington. After studying at Johnson & Wales University – where she received the top honor of Apprentice Cuisinier – Petitto worked in the test kitchen at Cooking Light magazine. This is her first book

An Apple a Day:365 Recipes with Creative Crafts, Fun Facts, and 12 Recipes from Celebrity Chefs
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Race Point Publishing; First edition (March 21, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937994112

Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com

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