Paladares #AbramsDinnerParty

The Abrams Dinner Party is keeping me well stocked with new cookbooks - they're sending me their complete library of new cookbooks for this season. This time, it's Paladares by Anya von Bremzen.

This is a book inspired by private restaurants in Cuba, and it's one that I was looking forward to since I saw the list of books we'd be getting. I love Cuban food and there are a few recipes that I've made a number of time. I figured this book would give me a wider repertoire.

I sure as heck wasn't disappointed.

The really good news was that although these are inspired by restaurants, the ingredients are very accessible. Plantains are easy to find at my local supermarket and yuca is available at the local Mexican market.

Of all of the recipes in this book, I think the least available ingredient is rabbit, but I'd just substitute chicken to make Chicken with Sour Orange and Rosemary Sauce.

One of the things I love about Cuban food is the use of rice. I'm a rice fiend. So I was fascinated that there was a recipe for Black Beans and Rice followed by a recipe for Red Beans and Rice. The recipes are similar (I mean, we're talking beans and rice), but they're not identical.

But my love for rice is just about equal to my love for polenta, so I was particularly interested in the Cuban Polenta (Tamal en Cazuela), which looks like the perfect comfort food. Like a tamale in a bowl.

Stuffed Chicken with Apricots and Poached Pears would be great for company. But if I'm making chicken, I think I'd go for the Adobo Chicken. There are a whole lot of recipes here that I've bookmarked to make later. Perhaps starting with the rice pudding. Oh yeah!

I received this book at no cost to me.

Kid Chef Bakes

I love it when fellow bloggers get cookbooks published, and I'm usually willing to do a review of their books, even if the book isn't totally in my wheelhouse.

When it came to Kid Chef Bakes by Lisa Huff, I said YES even though I don't happen to have any small humans living with me. I mean, it was a baking book. I'm perfectly happy to bake some easy recipes. Not everything needs a bazillion hard-to-find ingredients.

At worst, I figured I'd have some recipes I could make when I have an urge to bake at 8pm and I don't want to think too hard about it.

The book is better than I hoped for, with a wide variety of recipes and an easy-to-follow format. While it's marketed for kids, this would be an awesome baking book for anyone who is a little skittish about using their oven for breads and desserts.

One thing I particularly love about this book (and that is handy even in books for adults) is that it lists the required tools and equipment. While most of the tools are pretty simple - bowls, spatulas, and measuring cups, for example - it's still nice to know that I should grab two bowls at once rather than grabbing one, then going back for the second one after I'm partway through the recipe.

While the recipes are written with an eye at making them easy for kids to follow, they're certainly more sophisticated than anything that I was eating when I was a kid. Scones, for example, are something I didn't encounter until I was an adult.

One recipe that's going to be a must-try for me (as soon as it's strawberry season, which is not now) is the old-fashioned strawberry pie. I remember making this as a teenager, after going strawberry picking. I have no idea where I got the recipe, but I suspect it was from a newspaper, since I couldn't find anything like it in any of my mother's cookbooks.

The recipe is fairly simple, with fresh strawberries covered in a cornstarch-thickened strawberry glaze. I can still remember that pie, even though I only made it once.

I'd write more about this book, but honestly, I'm feeling the urge to go make the cinnamon nut coffee cake. Oh, yum!

If you've got kids who are interested in cooking or baking, this is highly recommended. But I'd also recommend it for adults who aren't comfortable with baking. Just ignore the cover, and dig in.

Southern Girl Meets Vegetarian Boy #AbramsDinnerParty

Yes, I'll admit it. I watch some of the competition shows on Food Network.

Damaris Phillips was one of the cooks I enjoyed on her season of ... whatever show she was on. She was warm and charming and I thought she'd be fun to hang out with. And her recipes looked like I'd enjoy them. They were homey and not overwrought.

So, when her new cookbook, Southern Girl Meets Vegetarian Boy dropped onto my doorstep, I was pretty curious about it.

This book is yet another one that's part of the Abrams Dinner Party - they're sending me their complete library of new cookbooks for this season.

Let's get it out there, shall we? I'm not at all a vegetarian. Nope. I have pointy teeth and enjoy a good burger or a rack of ribs.

On the other hand, I've been eating a lot of meatless meals lately. It seems like it's a lot easier to cook a small meatless meal than it is to cook a meat-centric meal. Even a single steak or chicken breast is two meals for me - if not more - and meatloaf or pretty much any roast piece of meat is a commitment. It's hard to cook a small amount of stew or chili or ... a whole lot of other meaty meals.

On the other hand, a vegetable-centric main dish can easily be a side dish the next day.

So. The cookbook. That's where we were before I went rambling.

The book is an interesting mix. There are some recipes designed for vegetarians, using something like tempeh as the protein, and then there is an option to substitute meat for the tempeh. Some recipes are naturally vegetarian, like fried green tomatoes, cole slaw, or grits & greens.

Some recipes are those where you might expect meat, but it's not totally necessary, like baked beans. The version in this book includes blackberries, which I thought was really intriguing, and not just baked beans with the pork ripped out.

Since this is aimed at vegetarians rather than vegans, there are plenty of recipes featuring cheese or eggs like the beer mac and cheese or the deviled eggs. Those will make everyone happy.

And then sometimes there are recipes where the whole shebang has two different recipes. For example, the bourbon spaghetti and meatballs has one recipe that uses meat for the meatballs, while the other recipe has pecan meatballs.

And then there are the desserts, because it's a comprehensive cookbook.

I've got to say that if you're a meat eater cooking for a vegetarian family member, this book would certainly make it easier. For me, while I'm not likely to cook seitan "chicken" any time soon, there are plenty of recipes here that look appealing, possibly starting with the grilled succotash pasta salad. Because I'm a sucker for pasta salad.