Cookbook Wishlist

I love cookbooks for all of the wrong reasons. To be honest, I never really follow a recipe unless I absolutely have to (ie, baking one of my grandmothers' recipes).

Before I could even read, I would sit with my mother's massive encyclopedia-sized cookbook (I don't remember what it was, just that it was big and blue and full of pictures) and just look at photos of amazing recipes for ages. My love affair with food porn started at a really young age.

I use cookbooks for inspiration more than the actual recipes. I don't think I ever go to the grocery store with a list of food to buy; I start with whatever looks freshest and best (and isn't ridiculously expensive), and then I come home and browse for my inspiration based on the ingredients I have on hand. My current favorite cookbook is Cicchetti, a beautiful styled cookbook full of simplistic preparations of the freshest veg and seafood in Venetian tapas style. I scored it during a holiday sale at Anthropologie last year (an awesome place to find good cookbooks, by the way) and I've been obsessed with it ever since.

I think the lure of cookbooks is in the beautiful photography, the inspirational nature of all of the varied recipes, and how they motivate me to cook outside of my day-to-day comfort zone. If I'm in a cultural cuisine rut and I've been cooking Italian for a week straight, my cookbooks can switch my mentality and give my food a little Moroccan flare instead.

Here are a few of my favorite wish list wants in the cookbook department:

Plenty - Yotam Ottolenghi
The chef of the wildly successful Ottolenghi restaurants released this beautiful vegetarian homage to the flavorful cuisine of the Meditteranean & Middle East. His restaurant in London is definitely on my bucket list for a special occasion.

Pok Pok  - Andy Ricker
One of my deepest regrets of my time living in New York was that I did not get to eat at the famed Pok Pok. Yet. I will. I will be back, and I will eat there. Until then, I'll be dreaming of this fabulous northern Thai cookbook.

The French Market Cookbook - Cldaotilde Dusoulier
I'd love to get my hands on this book of veg-centric Parisian recipes that rely on seasonal ingredients and working with what's fresh today - much like the way I like to cook. I have a sample of this cookbook on my Kindle, and it's chock full of inspirational flavor combinations like chocolate & zucchini.

The Sriracha Cookbook
This one's just for fun. I don't anticipate anything extraordinarily exciting in this book, but I still might be surprised. My obsession with rooster sauce prompts me to find actual recipes based on my favorite condiment.

So what type of cookbooks do you like? What's your go-to for favorite recipes? Leave a comment below!

'Tis the Season: Figs!

Each season brings with it new weather, endings, beginnings, and most importantly, new foods! Shopping at farmers' markets are a perfect way to see what is fresh and in season right now.

With September blending now into October, a few of my favorite foods are fresh from the harvest. 

Butternut & acorn squash, pumpkin (of course), artichokes, pears, beets, and figs, just to name a few. Here's an unusual use for a bounty of figs, using one of my favorite vegetarian salad recipes. 

I've always had the opinion that "salad" doesn't only have to refer to "lettuce + toppings + dressing". No, to me, salad is the combination of a variety of vegetables and cold items (and even some warm), tossed together with plenty of complimentary flavors, colors, and textures. It can be made of vegetables, proteins, grains - anything that tastes good and is whipped up without actually cooking. 

Some of my very favorite salad recipes don't involve any type of lettuce or greens at all (and this is one of them!) I actually came up with this classic in my college days, when I lived with several vegetarian roommates, and today I thought that these ripe figs would be a perfect addition. It's a hearty, filling white bean salad with floral-y herbs de provence and a tangy balsamic vinaigrette. There's a bite from some fresh onion, and the mellow sweetness of the figs blends in just wonderfully. It would also be fantastic with some feta cheese sprinkled on top (but leave that out if you're opting for the vegan version). 

Roasted Eggplant Tapenade

Every great culinary tradition seems to involve or contain a recipe made from roasted eggplants that are mashed or beaten into a rough paste with garlic and spices. As a rule of thumb, if you happen to notice the Russians, Indians, Greeks, Italians, Spanish, and Turks doing the same thing culinarily, it's probably a really good idea. And so, here is my interpretation of my very favorite variation of an eggplant tapenade. It's best served at room temperature on some nice crusty bread, and is even better if you make it a few hours (or a day) in advance, so that the flavors can really mingle.

 I'm getting hungry already.