Cookbook Review Day

Today I want to talk about some new cookbooks that I recently received.  I have become very particular about the cookbooks that grace my shelves these days, and that is for one reason really, room.  My coobook shelves are literally bursting, I have filled all the shelf space and have now started stacking them on top of the shelves. So when I really want a new cookbook, I really need to think about it and think about whether or not it is worthy of my precious space. I decided that both of these books today are worthy of my space, and I actually got rid of one little used book to make room.

This first one is simply one of the most beautiful cookbooks I have ever seen.  Spain And The World Table is a compilation of Spanish recipes from the most highly respected Spanish chefs. From the Culinary Institute of America, this book takes recipes created by such greats as Jose Andres and Norman Van Aken and presents them in a way which they can be recreated by the home cook.  Martha Rose Shulman, whose work I am very familiar with, provides the writing and commentary all throughout the book.  Yet it’s not just a cookbook. This is also a reference book.  Anything you ever wanted to know about Spanish cuisine is in this book.  After a recipe Mission Figs stuffed with blue cheese is a reference page full of details about Spanish cheeses, after a recipe for Consomme with Saffron, we get a tutorial on saffron and when and where we should use it- and is it worth its hefty price tag?  There are bits about the different regions of Spain, and I have to say, there is a lot of information in this book, but it’s presented in such an accessible way.  The book itself is beautiful enough- with a picture for almost every single recipe, that if I had a coffee table, this would be on it.

The caveat is that I haven’t cooked out of it yet, so I can’t attest to the nature of the specific recipes. However, reading through several of them that caught my eye, they don’t seem particularly difficult or too avant garde to give them a whirl in my home kitchen.  Every once in a while a recipe will mention a lengthy reduction or there is one recipe specifically that uses a foam- where did I put that foam-making device anyway?  But overall, they really seem geared toward the home cook, and give us an opportunity to try at home the dishes that the world is talking about.  Spanish cuisine is hot right now- but there are so few cookbooks devoted to the cuisine that this is a very welcome addition to my world parade of cookbooks.  With recipes like Hazelnut Passion Fruit Ice Cream, Lamb and Roasted Pepper Ragout, Sea Scallops with Green Raisin Salsa, and Mango, Scotch Bonnet, and Sesame Mojo, this is a book I could read through several times over and not get bored with it.  I can’t wait to give some of these recipes a whirl.

The second book I wanted to mention today is more fun and less intensive than the Spanish tome, but an equally wonderful addition to my cookbook collection.  Grilled Pizzas and Piadianas brings the art of grilled pizza back home where it belongs.  It wasn’t that long ago that Andy and I figured out just how to make a grilled pizza in the first place.  A careful ballet of flipping crust and adding toppings at just the right time elevates pizza to a whole new level.  This book shows us exactly what we could be doing to make it easier, as well as gives us a virtual parade of pizza topping ideas.  As an example, The New Orlean pizza has blackened crawfish, Andouille sausage, fontina cheese, and a spicy apricot sauce as it’s toppings.  I would have never thought of those toppings for pizza- but now that I’ve seen it, it sounds and looks amazing. The Moroccan pizza is topped with curried chicken, roasted garlic and kalamata olives, The Millenium is topped with ground lamb, feta and cucumber!  There are dozens of new pizza ideas here, and every turn of the page gives me a new mouth-watering picture, and the desire to make pizza!

Then there’s the piadinas. What exactly is a piadina? Well, it’s like a flatbread sandwich.  It’s sort of like making a pizza dough and then rolling it around toppings like a wrap, and apparently, they are very popular in Italy. These also look amazing!  Piadina Firenze is stuffed with grilled eggplant and peppers, and is one I’ll be trying when the eggplant comes up in the garden. There’s also a special chapter here for my husband, who is always wanting to make a dessert on the grill.  We have an Apple Tart- a pizza crust topped with cinnamon glazed apples and almonds, a Grilled Banana Split, and something called The S’more, a pizza topped with chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows!  There are also tips on throwing the ultimate grilled pizza party as well as suggestions for beverages that accompany some of the pizzas.  I have to say, as much as I love this book, this would have made a fantastic Father’s Day gift for Andy, since he’s always wanting to make grilled pizzas.  We’ll be taking this book for a spin this weekend if the weather cooperates.

Uncategorized - by Erika

145,438 thoughts on “Cookbook Review Day”

  13. By Elias Biryabarema

    KAMPALA, April 9 (Reuters) – Scovia Nakawooya’s unborn child died inside her as she struggled to reach a hospital on foot.
    She died hours later – one of at least seven women in labour to
    become casualties of Uganda’s coronavirus lockdown, a rights group said.

    Fearful that the viral pandemic could overwhelm already overburdened hospitals, authorities have banned private transport without special authorisation. But in a poor country with few ambulances, the travel ban can be deadly for
    some.

    A human rights group in the East African country
    says seven women in labour and two babies have died because they were forced
    to walk to hospital to give birth. The Ministry of Health
    said it was investigating the reports and could not comment yet.

    The government ban on private transport in place since March
    30 includes people suffering medical emergencies.
    But public health officials say barring vehicles from the road is making it hard for patients and personnel to reach
    medical facilities.

    “Very ridiculous,” Dr. Muhereza Mukuzi, general secretary of the Uganda
    Medical Association, said in reference to the ban.

    With public ambulances scarce, Ugandans typically reach hospital in private vehicles, but now
    need special permits to drive from resident district commissioners.

    There is no central number to call and only one or two officials can authorise a journey in each of Uganda’s 134 districts.
    Many commissioners have not shared their numbers
    or do not answer, citizens have complained in local media.

    Nakawooya’s family had no idea who to call as the 39-year-old mother of four writhed in pain on April 3.
    Her husband, Francis Kibenge, begged drivers
    to take her to a hospital a mile and a half away.

    “No one was willing,” the brickmaker told Reuters at
    their modest house in a suburb west of the capital Kampala.

    Fresh concrete was drying on Nakawooya’s grave outside.
    Her infant rested next to her under a small mound of red soil.

    STRUGGLE

    Grace Nagawa, the couple’s 19-year-old daughter, curled into a fetal position and wept as she described her mother’s 90-minute struggle to reach
    help. “Sometimes she would stop, bend and put her hand on her thigh to support her body, just to rest a bit,” Nagawa said.

    A doctor who examined Nakawooya at the BMC Medical Centre said she appeared to be suffering a
    premature separation of the placenta from the uterus.

    “Walking a long distance in that condition was very dangerous,”
    Dr. Denis Tumwesigye told Reuters.

    Nakawooya died at the medical centre the next morning.

    Primah Kwagala, head of the Women’s Pro
    Bono legal initiative in Uganda, cited six other reports of women who died in labour because they could not reach
    a hospital.

    In Wakiso, police drove a woman in labour to hospital
    after she bled heavily all night, but she died anyway, Kwagala said.

    In Alebtong district, two babies died in childbirth, although their mothers survived,
    she said.

    In neighbouring Kenya, the family of a motorbike taxi driver say police beat him
    to death when he violated a coronavirus curfew on March 27 to take a woman in labour
    to hospital.

    Police did not respond to requests for comment this week.

    Uganda had recorded 53 cases of coronavirus infections, and no deaths, as of Thursday afternoon. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema with additional reporting by Joseph Akwiri in Mombasa Editing by Katharine Houreld, Alexandra
    Zavis and Mark Heinrich)

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