The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from an Obsessive Home Cook by Deb Perelman | 2012 | Knopf Doubleday | Hardcover $ 35
Deb Perelman loves to cook. It’s as simple as that. She isn’t a chef or a restaurant owner—she’s never even waitressed. Cooking in her tiny Manhattan kitchen was, at least at first, for special occasions — and, too often, an unnecessarily daunting venture. Deb found herself overwhelmed by the number of recipes available to her. So, she founded her award-winning blog, smittenkitchen.com, on the premise that cooking should be a pleasure, and that the results of your labor can — and should be — delicious… every time.
Deb is a firm believer that there are no bad cooks, just bad recipes. And now, with the same warmth, candor, and can-do spirit her blog is known for, Deb presents her first cookbook — more than 100 new recipes, plus a few favorites from her site, all gorgeously illustrated with hundreds of Deb’s beautiful color photographs.
This is actually a repost and update of a review for this book that I originally published here a little over a decade ago, not long after it was first released. I acquired a copy at an author tour event hosted by a local bookshop and tried a few recipes sort of willy-nilly… then put it on my cookbook shelf to languish for a while, except for the sporadic occasions when it was necessary to remake the really good stuff that’d made it into my regular rotation of recipes.
When deciding on which cookbooks to tackle for my cook-thru projects last year, I settled on revisiting The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. After all, I’d thoroughly enjoyed it the first time around, and have even remade a few of these multiple times already. I figured it was high time to do another experimental run through the book.
Deb Perelman has been blogging at her website, the eponymous Smitten Kitchen, for going on two decades now. (In blog years, that’s an eternity.) It’s still going strong, and she’s now up to three best-selling cookbooks, has been published in several magazines, and has made appearances on multiple television shows and podcasts. Her expertise is evident in this book.
First, and most obviously, the book is beautiful. Deb Perelman did all of the photos herself in her tiny little kitchen. And every single recipe has at least one photo — the more complicated ones have more when needed to demonstrate a particular process. Plus, the cover looks great with or without the dust jacket. Oh, yeah, and it opens flat on your kitchen counter. Details like this make me so happy.
I do want to make it clear that this is not a cookbook for complete beginners. The instructions are all clear and the author has included plenty of little asides and tips, but if you can barely boil an egg this book is not for you! And it isn’t for folks who only like beef-and-potato type meals, either. The author was once a vegetarian, and that comes across in her creative use of fresh produce (and relative dearth of heavy meats).
If you think cooking is a fun hobby, if you like trying new ingredients and combinations, if you want to try something different but not unrealistically complicated, and if you appreciate recipes that have been tested and perfected by a foodie who knows what she’s doing — this is the cookbook for you.
Apricot breakfast crisp
Up until now, when it comes to stone fruit, I’ve always been more of a fan of peaches and plums… but now whenever those ripe apricots show up in the produce section in the early summer, well, I know what to do!
Avocado tartine with cucumber and sesame
This sort of thing is why it took us so long to save up for a house downpayment.
Baked potato crisps with the works
This recipe is in a section titled Party Snacks. I guess you’re supposed to serve these to guests. I may have just eaten the entire tray on my own.
Broccoli slaw
If you, like me, have slightly delicate plumbing, do yourself a favor and use blanched or frozen-and-thawed broccoli instead of just the raw stuff.
Butternut squash and caramelized onion galette
I will fully admit to cheating and using store-bought pie crust and pre-diced squash for this one. No regrets.
Cinnamon French toast
This one got all the thumbs-up from the husband. We don’t usually do a weekend family brunch together, but when we do, this is my go-to.
Coffee toffee
A little dangerous for dental work, true, but sometimes you just need a festive little treat for Christmas.
Emmentaler on rye with sweet and sour onions
I love a good classic grilled cheese sandwich, but at this is actually my favorite version of the sandwich!
Gnocchi in tomato broth
I’m not really cut out for regular gnocchi-making, but if a need for gnocchi should ever strike again, this is absolutely the recipe to reach for.
Gooey cinnamon squares
OK, so the gooey-ness of my final product might not be entirely up to snuff, but the flavor was fun regardless. I guess I just need to practice this one a few more times!
Harissa and honey farro salad
This may be my favorite recipe of all the ones we’ve bookmarked — and that’s really saying something; I mean, look at this list! (And not even all the recipes on this list are bookmarked, but there’s not a single dud among them.)
Heart-stuffed shells with lemon ricotta
A little fiddly to make, but a good flavor combo (and not a bad meal prep option, IMHO).
Mustard Milanese with arugula salad
This is a chicken recipe, in case you’re wondering why the cutlet is a little smallish (big slices of veal are more traditional for Milanese). Also — TBH, the recipe for the salad also calls for fennel, but (a) I could not for the life of me find fennel at the grocery store + (b) it’s not my fav, anyway… so I just left it out.
Sugar snap salad with miso dressing
Pretty quick work if you have a mandoline slicer; interesting dressing, too.
Vinegar slaw with cucumbers and dill
I’ll admit to preferring classic creamy coleslaw, but this vinegar-y version is a nice option to have when you want to provide a bright contrast side for some kind of creamy or carb-heavy main dish.
Whole lemon bars
Maybe I don’t need these, but I NEED THESE, if you get me. You might need them, too.
I tried a couple other recipes that were entirely enjoyable but the photos didn’t turn out all that great:
- Seared halibut with gazpacho salsa and tomato vinaigrette
- Spaghetti squash and black bean tacos with queso fresco
When I inevitably dive back into this cookbook again, these are some other recipes on my list to try:
- Baked ranchero eggs with blistered cheese and lime crema
- Big breakfast latkes
- Blueberry cornmeal butter cake
- Buttered popcorn cookies
- Chocolate silk pie
- Slow-cooker black bean ragout
- Strawberry cheesecake fools
- Sweet and sour holiday brisket and roasted carrot and potato coins
- Sweet peas and shells in Alfredo
- Sweet potato blintzes with farmer’s cheese
- Tiny but intense chocolate cake
- Tomato-glazed meatloaves with brown butter mashed potatoes
- Tomato scallion shortcakes with whipped goat cheese
- Whole wheat raspberry ricotta scones
If you would like to see more of my adventures through this book and several others, check out my Cookbook Cook-Thru Project Page:
Links:
- The Smitten Kitchen
- “Smitten Kitchen takes the fuss out of cooking” interview at NPR
- “Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen’s Favorite Cookbooks” interview at Serious Eats
- “The Best Smitten Kitchen Recipes, According to Eater Editors” article at Eater
Publication information: Perelman, Deb. The Smitten Kitchen cookbook: Recipes and wisdom from an obsessive home cook. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. Print.
Source: Personal library.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.
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