Food52 Genius Recipes by Kristen Miglore (cookbook review)
Reviewing "Food52 Genius Recipes" by Kristen Miglore was really intriguing to me. I'm a new cook. I have taught myself everything I know about cooking in the last 5 years, I'd say. I'm not great but I've learned to bake bread and make pies and I throw together one heck of a pan of ham sammies. So the subtitle of this cookbook was really exciting for me: "100 recipes that will change the way you cook." I don't have one certain "way" so if these can make me a better cook, why not try?
It took me awhile to work in a recipe from this cookbook due to time obligations and ingredients on hand. I don't have wine vinegar, muscovado sugar, steel-cut oats, hulled raw pumpkin or sunflower seeds, red quinoa (or any other kind), pistachios, scallions, a waffle maker (really need to get one, though), nuts of any variety other than peanuts, tahini (have tried to find it in a few stores with no luck), fava beans, fleur de sel (what is that?)...OK you get the idea! We are simple meat and potatoes kind of people and we live in a rural area so sometimes this stuff is hard to find or expensive.
However, I did find a wonderful recipe to try that I had everything on hand for: Crepes from Kenny Shopsin. I describe these as french toast with tortillas instead of bread. The book calls these "lazy crepes" but considering I've never had a real crepe, these were delicious. And SOOO easy! The creator of these cheater crepes said "Not one person has ever figured out that I wasn't making crepes in the traditional way (of course, I would tell anyone who asked)." They must taste the same as real ones, but I think real ones are much more difficult (hence why I've never attempted).
I had the eggs, heavy cream, vanilla extract, flour tortillas, and butter on hand. I even warmed some frozen strawberries and blueberries up for a compote. My youngest did not like the blueberries, so I made him a savory crepe with cheese. He liked that better but it just wasn't his cup of tea. Which was fine by me because I ate his up.
I'm excited to try a few other recipes in this cookbook like the Fried Eggs with Wine Vinegar, Touch-of-Grace Biscuits, No-Knead Bread, Garlic Green Beans, and Marie-Helene's Apple Cake (are you hungry yet?). There are a few that will never grace my table, too, like the Kale Salad (I just cannot get on board with kale), Shrimp Grits, Tomato Water Bloody Mary, Cauliflower Soup, or Grilled Favas. Not every recipe is for every family, right? The recipe I'll try next will probably be the Poached Scrambled Eggs - sounds quick and easy! Who doesn't love that in a recipe as long as it's delicious in the end?!
Disclaimer: I received this book in order to write an honest review. Others' opinions may differ from my own.
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| image via Food52 website |
It took me awhile to work in a recipe from this cookbook due to time obligations and ingredients on hand. I don't have wine vinegar, muscovado sugar, steel-cut oats, hulled raw pumpkin or sunflower seeds, red quinoa (or any other kind), pistachios, scallions, a waffle maker (really need to get one, though), nuts of any variety other than peanuts, tahini (have tried to find it in a few stores with no luck), fava beans, fleur de sel (what is that?)...OK you get the idea! We are simple meat and potatoes kind of people and we live in a rural area so sometimes this stuff is hard to find or expensive.
However, I did find a wonderful recipe to try that I had everything on hand for: Crepes from Kenny Shopsin. I describe these as french toast with tortillas instead of bread. The book calls these "lazy crepes" but considering I've never had a real crepe, these were delicious. And SOOO easy! The creator of these cheater crepes said "Not one person has ever figured out that I wasn't making crepes in the traditional way (of course, I would tell anyone who asked)." They must taste the same as real ones, but I think real ones are much more difficult (hence why I've never attempted).
I had the eggs, heavy cream, vanilla extract, flour tortillas, and butter on hand. I even warmed some frozen strawberries and blueberries up for a compote. My youngest did not like the blueberries, so I made him a savory crepe with cheese. He liked that better but it just wasn't his cup of tea. Which was fine by me because I ate his up.
I'm excited to try a few other recipes in this cookbook like the Fried Eggs with Wine Vinegar, Touch-of-Grace Biscuits, No-Knead Bread, Garlic Green Beans, and Marie-Helene's Apple Cake (are you hungry yet?). There are a few that will never grace my table, too, like the Kale Salad (I just cannot get on board with kale), Shrimp Grits, Tomato Water Bloody Mary, Cauliflower Soup, or Grilled Favas. Not every recipe is for every family, right? The recipe I'll try next will probably be the Poached Scrambled Eggs - sounds quick and easy! Who doesn't love that in a recipe as long as it's delicious in the end?!
Disclaimer: I received this book in order to write an honest review. Others' opinions may differ from my own.
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