About this feature
New cookbooks flood the market every week. This feature will help you make sense of what’s new and what’s worth trying out. Email your questions and ideas to connie.post@coxinc.com
Farmers Markets
If you’re accustomed to shopping at large supermarkets, it’s worth the effort to check out the farmers markets in your community. Right now you’ll find all sorts of locally grown produce, including tomatoes, peppers, corn and melons. For this recipe, I gathered some of the ingredients at Five Rivers Metroparks’ 2nd Street Market, 600 E. 2nd St., Dayton., which is open on Saturday, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. all year long. The items I bought included red, green and yellow bell peppers from Russell Garber of Garber Farm.
I’ve heard all sorts of reasons why people don’t cook:
- Their parents never taught them how.
- They don't have time.
- They have a tiny kitchen.
- Their spouses do it for them.
- They live alone and microwave frozen meals.
- They only eat pizza.
When I hear these things, I usually nod and smile politely because maybe those people don’t want to cook for more complicated reasons than what they’re declaring.
But from now on, when people tell me they don’t cook because recipes frustrate and confuse them, I will now recommend “Eat! The Quick-Look Cookbook” by Gabriela Scolik +Team/Infographics: No.Parking (256 pages, $25; published by Weldon Owen, 2015).
The book includes more than 400 fully illustrated recipes arranged by category: Cook Without Heat, Cook, Roast, Stew, Fry and Deep-fry, Grill, Bake, Preserve and Drink; plus sections on Need, Know and Prepare. This is a great approach for people who are strong visual learners and anyone whose preferred method of communication is thumb-texting emoticons. :-).
Just because it’s a picture book, don’t assume the recipes are plain and lack pizzazz. Many of the recipes do cover the basics, such as how to blanch green beans and fry eggs, but you’ll also learn how to carve a radish rose; make a bouquet garnish, tiramisu and marinated lamb chops; bake a flourless chocolate cake and pair pinot noir, chardonnay and other wines with a meal.
Being in the middle of August, I thought I’d try out a recipe that takes advantage of fresh tomatoes and other vegetables. For verbal learners, I’ve translated the images into conventional text below.
GAZPACHO SOUP (Page 98)
2½ cups/1 pound tomatoes, skinned and diced
½ cucumber, diced
1 (each) green, yellow and red bell pepper, diced
½ cup/1 ounce bread crumbs
1 can pureed tomatoes
¾ cup/6 fluid ounces water
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small chile, minced
Mix and blend the ingredients. Chill for 2 hours. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.
Our assessment: Cold, flavorful and a tad spicy — a perfect and easy dish for the sweltering days of August. To skin the tomatoes, I first blanched them. Here's how: Boil a pot of water. Score an X through the skin of the bottom of each tomato. Using a slotted spoon, drop them one at a time into the boiling water. Cook about 1 minute or until the skins begin to split. Remove the tomatoes one at a time with the spoon, and cool them in a large bowl of water with ice cubes for 5 minutes. Now the skins will peel right off.
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