Books that cook

To your health, the solo diner and the hungry

Taste Pure and Simple: Irresistible Recipes for Good Food and Good Health:

By Michel Nischan and Mary Goodbody. Chronicle Books, $35

At first glance, Taste Pure and Simple is overwhelming. An oversized cookbook with impeccably styled, full-color photographs is bound to intimidate novice cooks with recipes such as Roast Turkey with Sweet Potato Gravy and Heirloom Squash Dressing and Roasted Vegetables with Sweet Corn and Fire-Roasted Sweet Pepper Sauce.

But don't judge this book by its cover, size or long recipe names. This collection of recipes requires minimal preparation time and no difficult techniques. The only down side is that there may not be broad family appeal so these dishes may be better served at a dinner party with adults. Children may not be interested in fresh tuna and radish salad with wasabi dressing, mustard roasted tenderloin of pork with rutabaga and golden beets or squash pancake with fig syrup.

A well-stocked pantry is essential in making these recipes, including ingredients such as cardamom, wasabi powder and grapeseed oil. Some, on the other hand, will require a trip to the market for tahini (sesame paste), mirin, star anise pods and oyster sauce. Possibly a specialty market.

Taste Pure and Simple will appeal to vegetarians and nonvegetarians. There is a vegetarian chapter, however, many recipes throughout the cookbook could be considered vegetarian including cured salmon with caramelized cauliflower, pan-toasted garlic and wilted spinach soup, roasted root vegetables and baby greens salad just to mention a few.

Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself: By Joyce Goldstein. Chronicle Books, $19.95

Author Joyce Goldstein writes, "The average recipe in cookbooks is designed for four to six portions and not every recipe reduces easily or well." So, if you're one of the millions of Americans dining alone, Solo Suppers is the cookbook for you. An entire chapter is devoted to tips and techniques about shopping for one. Plus, there are sections covering planning meals and stocking the basic pantry.

There are many positive aspects of Solo Suppers including recipe variations that take advantage of seasonal ingredients and a variety of sauces such as romesco sauce, which is great for lamb chops, peanut sauce for kabobs, or Indonesian sweet soy sauce perfect for fish, poultry or pork. There is a vast selection of recipes for everything from eggs and cheese to soups and salads to pastas, seafood, meats and desserts.

A sampling of recipes includes orecchiette with broccoli and chickpeas, poached salmon with mushrooms, tarragon and cream, Tuscan-style rib-eye steak with rosemary, garlic and pepper, and tortilla and lime soup.

Goldstein shows just how delicious and easy dinner for one can be. Options are a big part of easy. For example, swordfish in a Sicilian sauce offers the choice of using 1/4 cup fish stock, dry white wine or water, while roast chicken with garlic, lemon and herbs suggests dried oregano or chopped fresh rosemary or tarragon. These recipes are not necessarily difficult to make, just somewhat time consuming.

There is a minimal amount of chopping, peeling and mincing in recipes such as kabob with peanut sauce, pork tenderloin with two marinades, black bean salad Latin American style and chicken and bread soup. Some recipes make more than one serving, however, Goldstein does not share that information. It would take a more experienced home chef to recognize those recipes. Experimentation will be key in determining which ones will make more than one meal.

Cooking from the Heart: 100 Great American Chefs Share Recipes They Cherish, A Share Our Strength Book to Fight Hunger: By Michael J. Rosen. Broadway Books, $29.95

Cooking from the Heart is a special cookbook. One hundred American chefs have contributed a cherished recipe and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this cookbook benefit Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength is an antihunger, antipoverty organization which distributes funds worldwide to fight hunger.

The chefs, including Emeril Lagasse, Rick Bayless, Charlie Trotter, Alice Waters and Sara Moulton, among others, have contributed recipes that are near and dear to them plus a story about why.

This cookbook is more about those stories than recipes. With the exception of a few chefs, each has contributed one recipe, most of which do not offer broad appeal. These are not recipe for busy families, that's for sure.

Most dishes require two or more recipes to make one meal, such as marinated trout with blue cheese grits and mushrooms, honey-fried chicken with minted cream sauce and spicy sweet potato puree, and roasted wild Scottish salmon with crushed English peas, wild spring onions and morel vinaigrette.

Most dishes do not require difficult techniques, however they are time-consuming with a lot of mincing, dicing and chopping and may be better suited for a weekend meal - such as sausage and sage pork loin with baby roasted carrots, Bombay chicken with curried tomatoes and veal ravioli with a red wine reduction. Other recipes, such as coconut cupcakes, niku-jaga and seared walleye with verjuice and walnut oil, will require a trip to a specialty store for items like cream of coconut powder, mirin, shichimi and verjuice, the juice of unripe fruit, usually grapes.

- Ellen Folkman's cookbook review column appears monthly in the Taste section.

4 baby red beets, roasted and halved

4 baby golden beets, roasted and halved

4 cipollini or pearl onions, roasted

4 large baby carrots, roasted and halved lengthwise

2 tablespoons red beet syrup (see recipe)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

8 cups mixed baby salad greens

For the syrup:

3 cups beet juice

Arrange the vegetables so that they circle the centers of four chilled salad plates. Drizzle the syrup on the plate just inside the vegetable circles.

Note: To roast vegetables, prepare them and then roast in a hot oven, about 400 degrees, until soft, about 1 hour.

Serves 4.

For the Red Beet Syrup: Put the beet juice in a saucepan and set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and skim the thick foam that rises to the surface.

- Source: "Taste Pure and Simple: Irresistible Recipes for Good Food and Good Health" by Michel Nischan and Mary Goodbody (Chronicle Books, $35).

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup diced onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon finely minced jalapeno chile or to taste

1/2 cup peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)

Kernels from ear of corn (about 3/4 cup)

2 tablespoons minced green onion, including tender green tops

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Canola or corn oil for frying tortillas

1 or 2 corn tortillas, cut into strips 11/2-inches long and 1/2-inch wide

1/2 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced

2 paper-thin lime slices, each quartered

If using raw chicken, poach the chicken breast in a saucepan with stock to cover until just cooked through, about 8 minutes. You may poach the breast whole and then shred the meat or you may cut the breast into 1/2-inch wide pieces and poach them. They will cook in half the time. If using cooked chicken or turkey, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips. You should have about 1 cup. If using raw shrimp, simmer them in stock to cover for 2 minutes. You can instead cook them in their shells in the stock used for the soup ahead of time, to give the soup more shrimp taste, then peel and devein them, or you may add them, already peeled and deveined, during the last 2 minutes of cooking the soup.

To make the soup base, in a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauteuntil translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and chile and saute, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the reduced stock and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, corn, green onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes to blend the flavors. If you are using shrimp and haven't cooked them yet, add them now. If you are using leftover cooked chicken, add it now as well. Cook for 2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

While the soup simmers, pour the canola oil to the depth of about 1 inch in a small, deep saute pan and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the tortilla strips and fry briefly until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels.

Put the avocado in a large bowl and pour the hot soup over it. Top with pieces of lime and the tortilla strips.

Variation: For a version that is less soupy and more like chilaquiles, use only 3/4 cup stock and add 2 torn tortillas to the mixture to heat through. Omit the fried tortilla strips and top with 1/3 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese.

Serves 1.

- Source: "Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself" by Joyce Goldstein (Chronicle Books, $19.95).

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 pound bulk pork sausage

4 celery ribs, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, minced

3 fresh thyme springs, leaves minced

2 large eggs

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 medium loaf dried bread, cut into 1/2-inch cube (8 cups of cubes)

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

For the pork loin:

One 21/2 to 3 pound pork loin, trimmed and butterflied

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 large onion, sliced

2 celery ribs, halved

1 pound baby carrots with 1 inch of stem attached

For the stuffing, melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat and add the sausage, celery and onion. Cook until the meat is no longer pink and the vegetables are translucent, about 7 minutes. Crumble the sausage into medium bits. Whisk the garlic, herbs, eggs and stock together in a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and the cooked meat. Season with salt and pepper, mix well and refrigerate.

To prepare the pork loin for stuffing, open up the loin (the meat should be of even thickness) and pound the meat in any thick areas to create an even surface. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover the surface with a thin layer of the stuffing, leaving a 2 inch strip on one side without any filling. Roll the loin starting with the covered side and secure with butcher's twine. Season the outside of the loin with salt and pepper. Place the extra stuffing in a buttered gratin dish and bake along with the roast. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole or a large saute pan over medium heat. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Brown the pork on all sides. Add the onion slices, celery and baby carrots (remove the carrots when tender 20 to 30 minutes). Roast the loin in the oven for 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Remove the pork from the pan and cut away the twine. Place the roast on a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep it warm.

To prepare the sauce, remove any excess oil from the pan and deglaze the remaining pan drippings with 2 cups water. Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Let the sauce reduce by half and then strain.

Slice the roast and arrange the carrots around the platter. Spoon the reduce juice over the meat. Offer the additional stuffing on the side.

Serves 6 to 8.

- Source: From Noel Cunningham of Strings in Denver printed in "Cooking from the Heart: 100 Great American Chefs Share Recipes They Cherish, A Share Our Strength Book to Fight Hunger" by Michael J. Rosen (Broadway Books, $29.95).

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright