The popular website comes in cookbook form in "The Epicurious Cookbook" by Tanya Steel and the editors of Epicurious.
More than 250 of the popular 4-fork rated recipes are collected out of the 180,000 recipes on the site. Started in 1995, the website has now grown and expanded, and due to demand, now featured in cookbook form. The recipes are divided up seasonally, so home cooks can make the most of fresh, local ingredients. The seasons are then broken up into breakfast, starters, mains, sides, sandwiches and breads and desserts. The layout and the colorful pictures, plus comments and tips from users of the site make this a cookbook that you will page through leisurely instead of jumping to whichever section you are looking for.
Since we are in winter, looking through the book, breakfast examples are extreme granola with dried fruit and cinnamon rolls with cream cheese glaze. Starters are little bites like meatballs with parsley and parmesan, quick cucumber pickles with rye bread and cheese and classic spinach and artichoke dip. Main dishes include three-bean veggie chili, turkey jambalaya and spicy orange tilapia. Sides feature bacon smashed potatoes, roasted sweet-potato rounds with garlic oil and fried sage and stir-fried chinese broccoli. Sandwiches and breads include sage and honey skillet cornbread and grilled cheese with onion jam, taleggio and escarole. Desserts are sweet treats like chocolate and peppermint candy ice cream sandwiches, dried cranberry and white chocolate biscotti and double chocolate layer cake.
I made Spicy Mac and Cheese with Pancetta one night for dinner. This simple homemade macaroni dish is kicked up with red pepper flakes, mushrooms and fire-roasted tomatoes and gets extra flavor out of fresh mozzarella cheese. I liked the spiciness of it, though I'm not a huge fan of fire-roasted tomatoes, and the girls thought it was way too spicy. The recipe said it made 6 servings, but they must mean very large servings as there was a lot left over. There is a lot of variety in this book and its look at seasonal ingredients will give home cooks a different way of thinking about cooking. "The Epicurious Cookbook" is published by Clarkson Potter. It is $27.99.
Contact Amy Phelps at aphelps@newsandsentinel.com
