The best New England Cooking, Food & Wine books: Reddit reviews

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My second baby started having green bloody poops and GI discomfort about two weeks before I was set to begin (remote) work again :( My first had MPSI and still has a dairy allergy, so I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at cooking dairy free, but would love to know your favorite quick recipes/products! Meat + roasted veggie + rice is getting boring.

My favorites:

1. Whole Foods Veggie Ravioli (pictured)
2. The Milk Street Fast & Slow cookbook — I’ve found those recipes pretty easy to adapt!
3. Chocolate Oatly cold brew/iced lattes
4. Van Leewun Mint Chip ice cream
5. Peanut butter banana smoothies
6. BLT sandwiches

This book has an excellent technical background for the sciencey side of things: https://www.amazon.ca/American-Farmstead-Cheese-Complete-Selling/dp/1931498776/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1489332935&sr=8-18&keywords=cheese+making

I adapted my recipe from The Homemade Pantry.

4 cups flour (I use 2 unbleached all purpose, 2 whole wheat) 2 Tablespoons butter (I use salted because I'm a salt fiend, unsalted works fine) 4 Tablespoons of shortening (OR, if I have bacon fat in the fridge I use that) 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons salt

Mix dry ingredients. Kneed in butter and lard/shortening by hand until it forms a pebbly texture. Slowly kneed in about 1.5 cups warm water until you have a wet dough, but not too wet. Let sit for 10 minutes. Form into balls (I usually get 9-11), let sit for 10 minutes. During this second rest I put my pan on the stove at 5 to get it pre-heated. Roll out on a floured surface to maybe 1/8" toss in a hot pan for one minute on each side. Put on cooling rack instead of stacking on a plate so they don't get mushy.

Let me know if that doesn't make sense. Explaining recipes is definitely not my forte.

From The New England Soup Factory Cookbook (2007). I have yet to make a bad recipe from this book. This chowder is the epitome of comfort food, is surprisingly filling, and immediately became a family favorite.

7 Large Sweet Potatoes, peeled & divided

4 Tbsp butter

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 Spanish Onion, peeled & diced

2 ribs celery, diced

3 carrots, peeled & diced

8 cups chicken stock

5 dashes Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp ground coriander

1 can (14 - 16 oz) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (14 - 16 oz) creamed corn

Salt & pepper to taste

• In large saucepan bring 6 cups of lightly salted water to boil over high heat. Dice 2 of the potatoes and add to the boiling water. Boil 10 minutes. Drain in colander, rinse with cool water and set aside. Roughly chop the remaining potatoes.

• In large pot melt butter over medium/high heat. Add garlic, onion, celery, carrots and remaining potatoes. Sauté for 10 minutes. Add stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft and tender, about 30 minutes.

• Remove from heat and add Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, cream, and coriander. Working in batches, puree in blender until smooth and creamy. Add reserved potatoes and both cans of corn. Return to stove and simmer additional 5 - 7 minutes, or until hot. Season with salt and pepper.

Simple to Spectacular, by Mark Bittman (renown cookbook author and "The Minimalist" food columnist) and Jean-George Vongerichten (celebrity chef of multiple top NYC restaurants including Michelin 3-star Jean-George).

It literally has this exact premise. A fundamental technique applied to four levels of complexity.

I have two going right now. For leasure, I am reading "Knights of Dark Renown" for the first time. The Homemade Pantry is my current non-fiction. It's very good so far.

Lobster!: 55 Fresh and Simple Recipes for Everyday Eating

I love all the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. Barefoot Contessa at Home is my favorite.

My favorite and most-used appliance is definitely my Cuisinart food processor. Not cheap, but it will last forever and she'll use it all the time. There are certain appliances where I think it's ok to go cheap (blender, toaster) but a great food processor makes a big difference.