Cookbook Love: It's All Good

Cookbook review time!

Disclaimer, I have had to buy or steal all of my cookbooks. Other than as birthday or Christmas presents, none were given to me, much less in exchange for anything. I just straight up love cookbooks and I make too many Amazon purchases.

First things first: it’s not that easy to impress me with a cookbook. I don’t exactly have a library of cookbooks, but I do have more than anyone else I know so I think I’ve got a good grasp of what’s on offer. I’m pickier than most about the quality of the recipes, and my background in design means I’m much more critical of package as a whole (layout, formatting, photography, etc.). I have dozens of sticky notes on every recipe I’ve tried, with copious notes scribbled on the variations I made and how I might improve it next time. So with that in mind, I thought maybe these reviews would be helpful for any non-beginner cooks considering making a new purchase.

So...feel free to roll your eyes when I tell you that I bought Gwyneth Paltrow’s newest cookbook, It’s All Good. I’ll even tell you, friend, that I PRE-ORDERED THIS THING.

via

Straight up, I know that she is a polarizing figure, and we’re all certainly entitled to our own opinions of people we do not know and will never meet. I totally get it—I love/hate Kim Kardashian just as much as everyone else and don't even get me started on Kanye and Nori. 

However, I have to say that I have a lot of respect for Gwyneth’s food knowledge and she strikes me as someone genuinely in love with food (holla). Mario Batali even let her travel through Spain with him, and if he wants to work with her then I do too. On a side note, she speaks perfect, fluent, beautifully accented Catalan Spanish. I mean, it’s mesmerizing to hear. If I were a baby I’d like my mother to put it on repeat as I was falling asleep. I’d also like my mother to do that for me now but I digress.

Anyway, I bought this book with a different set of expectations/requirements than I usually have for a cookbook:

• Given the state of Gwyneth’s thighs, she is evidently doing something right and honestly, I wanna get in on that. Her body alone is enough of a testimony for these recipes. I was also confident she wasn’t going to tell me that only half a cup of sugar in something is healthy, and as a bonus, the recipes call for a lot of ingredients that I already cook with along with some that I’ve wanted to try.
• While I would love to spend all day every day immersed in food, between work and the gym and remodeling my house and watching Workaholics with my cat/boyfriend (shockingly those two are separate people), I’ve got a pretty full schedule. Most of the time it’s just not realistic for me to even spend 30 minutes fixing dinner. Thankfully, I get to cook whatever I feel like since I don’t have to cook full meals for a family and because Jake likes anything that is defrosted (and even that is sometimes negotiable). Sometimes that means I eat a bowl of cereal, and sometimes it’s mascarpone polenta with mushroom fricassee in a port wine reduction. All that to say that like me, Gwyneth is not a professional chef and she is a busy lady, so I knew this book would have simpler recipes that did not veer into Rachel Ray or Sandra Lee territory.
• Gwyneth’s thighs.

In summary, I like this book a lot! I think it can be very useful for a lot of people. There’s a lot of interesting and accessible recipes in here, and if you’ve got a Whole Foods nearby you’ll be especially golden. A few of the recipes sound like they might be a little bit meh (I’m probably gonna pass on steamed white fish topped with only soy sauce) but so far everything I’ve actually made has been pretty tasty and quicker than getting a sandwich made at said Whole Foods. I made an Old Bay/Vegenaise sauce that is unexpectedly addictive as a dip for a Schlotzsky’s turkey bacon club sandwich. Please believe me when I say that I rarely eat fast food, but I’d been painting the entire upstairs of my house, my fridge only had condiments in there, and it was late. This only happened twice. In one week. Swear.

I also made two sauces for vegetables: one was a miso/almond butter sauce that totally and unexpectedly rocked my world on top of sautéed spinach, and the other was a shallot vinaigrette for some roasted leeks that also made its way onto several other dishes (her leek method needs some more testing though—I didn’t love my results). There’s also these sea salt/almond butter cookies that took about 10 minutes from the time I sat on my couch thinking ‘I should make cookies’ to the time I was sitting there again waiting for them to come out of the oven. Y’all, those cookies were something else and the dough was even better. They're my new go-to cookie recipe and provided they don't instantly disappear, I eat them for breakfast. Because I can. 

Something else I really appreciate about this book is that she gives ideas for different ways to use sauces and techniques and ingredients—and she straight up laughs at herself when she calls something a “recipe” when it’s just a method or a combo of two ingredients. It’s endearing and slightly self-deprecating and I just really like her you guys.

I’ve also been careful to serve all of these recipes to a variety of eaters, all without mentioning the source of the recipes, and everyone agrees that they’re really good. So in summation, It’s All Good is a really practical book for modern home cooks of varying talent levels, and I’d recommend it without shame to anyone looking for healthy, quick meals.

Sea Salt Almond Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

adapted from It's All Good

1.5 cups all purpose flour (if you use gluten free flour you may need to add 3/4 tsp. xantham gum)

1/2 tsp. fine sea salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup natural almond butter (I use Justin's)

1 cup grade A maple syrup

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I use Nielssen Massey)

coarse sea salt or gray salt, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, fine sea salt and baking powder (and xantham gum if using). In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond butter, maple syrup and vanilla. Thoroughly combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Using 2 spoons, form the cookies into small balls (each about a generous tablespoon) and space them about an inch apart on the prepared sheet pans. Wet your fingertips and smooth out the cookies on the sides, pressing down lightly on the top to flatten into a small disk. Sprinkle each cookie with the coarse sea salt (I switch between Maldon and a French gray sea salt).

Bake until the cookies are just firm, about 10 to 12 minutes (they won't brown so you'll have to check them). Let them cool on the pans before serving.

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End of Summer Corn Salad

We had a small Labor Day get together at our house last weekend, and it was a runaway success if I may be so bold. Getting food together for 20 people only took about two hours and most of that was assembly and beer drinking time--I only turned the stove on for one dish out of like, eight. I did delegate the meat to Jake though--two racks of ribs, a brisket and a week later and we are all still making the sign of the cross every time we see meat. For someone that eats meat maybe once a week at most, I have eaten my weight in it this summer thanks to Jake's smoker, so I knew I was going to need some light and veggie-centric sides to keep the party going. This corn salad totally fit the bill--it's so fresh and summery, with the perfect amount of sweet and spicy. And the best part is it literally took me twelve minutes from start to finish.

You heard me--TWELVE. Go crazy, kids.

Summer Corn Salad
Serves 6 as main course, many more as a party app

6 ears fresh corn, kernels cut off
1.5 punnets of champagne sweet tomatoes (or any small tomato), halved
8 oz. bocconcini (small mozzarella balls), drained and quartered
1-2 jalapenos, very thinly sliced (I de-seeded about half of what I put in)

Dressing:
4 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp. lime zest
1/2 small red onion (about a few tablespoons), 1/4 inch dice
2 tsp. maple syrup
3-4 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper

In a small bowl combine the lime juice, zest and red onion and let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl prepare the corn, mozzarella, tomatoes and jalapenos.

When the onion is done marinating, you can either strain and discard or add it into the salad (I discard, I hate eating a red onion more than anything). Combine the lime juice mixture with the maple syrup and drizzle in olive oil while whisking, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper as you go.

Drizzle the dressing over the veggies and toss. Taste again for seasoning and adjust as needed.

You can serve this immediately at room temperature, or let it hang out in the fridge for a few hours. I think it tastes great warmed or cold so feel free to eat it however you like. I personally like to eat this with a spoon, but it's also great with hardy tortilla chips, pita chips, or on some toasted bread like bruschetta.

Enjoy!

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Healthy Mac + Cheese

This is one of the most requested dishes when I cook for friends, and it’s also one I always make and leave in the fridge for Jake to eat when I’m out of town (otherwise he defaults to eating like a sewer rat. Love you!).

You guys, I love macaroni. Everyone loves macaroni. Unfortunately, macaroni also makes me go comatose on the couch after partaking, and then compels me to kill myself at the gym the next day. Macaroni is a cruel mistress, but she’s my mistress, so I found a recipe to keep my tongue and my thighs both happy.

This recipe is one of Grace Parisi’s that I adapted from Food & Wine. As far as macaroni goes, I don’t think I’ve found a healthier option that actually contains real pasta or cheese. This one contains very little cheese, no cream or roux of any kind, and the sauce is actually made of pureed carrots simmered with orange zest. The bulk of your calories come just from the pasta itself so if you want to try substituting with things like shirataki noodles, be my guest (I personally can’t abide that toothsome bite, but to each his own). But to be quite honest, this mac is awesome and you can’t tell that it’s healthy! There are several additions you can make as well—I got a big bunch of sweet potato greens in my CSA basket yesterday and threw them in when I combined the sauce and pasta, it was ACES. And if you want to indulge or just use up some leftover cream in the fridge, you can always throw some of that in too. I do encourage you to make it the healthy way first though. It’s so good as-is, and while I love full-fat dairy products just as much as the now-infamous Miz Paula Deen, adding cheese/butter/cream is going to put you in coma-territory in addition to muting the flavors of the tarragon and carrot puree. Happy eating!

Healthy Mac + Cheese

1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4" coins
zest of 1 orange, in large strips
juice of 1 orange
3 cups penne pasta
1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
1 Tbsp. chopped tarragon
1/4 cup water
1 cup reserved pasta water
white pepper (black is okay too)
salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large saucepan, combine the carrots with the orange zest, orange juice and 1/4 cup water. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover and summer over medium heat until carrots are very soft, about 20 minutes. If all the liquid evaporates and the carrots still aren't soft enough, add a little bit more orange juice or water. Discard the zest and transfer carrots and any liquid to a blender/food processor and puree until completely smooth.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta to al dente according to package directions (make sure to generously salt your water!). Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

Add the cooked pasta and carrot puree to the saucepan you cooked your carrots in. Add the reserved water and cook over medium low heat, stirring frequently until pasta is coated. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese and stir until the cheese is melted. Stir in the tarragon and season with salt and white pepper.

Transfer the pasta to a medium baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake until the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Eat!!

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