March 2023 MBR The Cookbook Shelf

The Cookbook Shelf

Plantbased
Alexander Gershberg
Smith Street Books
c/o Rizzoli
300 Park Avenue South, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10010
www.rizzoliusa.com
9781922754134, $40.00, HC, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Plantbased-nourishing-umami-rich-recipes-passionate/dp/1922754137

Synopsis: "Plantbased: 80 nourishing, umami-rich recipes from the kitchen of a passionate chef" by Alexander Gershberg a complete culinary guide to creating a rich vegan diet. Family cooks and vegan/vegetarians will discover how to cook delicious and simple meals, ferment at home, and get the most from your grains, legumes, and vegetables.

Alexander Gershberg "Plantbased" is a fascinating introduction to the versatility of plant-based cooking, enhanced by Japanese and Israeli techniques. His cookbook makes extensive use of vegetables like parsnips, celeriac, kohlrabi, Jerusalem artichoke, and others that are often overlooked, with recipes that don't require complicated methods or equipment.

The recipes comprising "Plantbased" are easy to follow and focus on ingredients that build a healthy diet and a delicious dish. The recipes are divided into eight chapters by ingredients: Whole grains; Legumes; Root vegetables; Sweet vegetables; Sea vegetables; Greens. With two chapters dedicated to: Preserving & fermenting; Fruit & desserts.

By focusing on simple and affordable products, Plantbased's recipes create beautiful food that's delicious and sustainable.

Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated with full page, full color photographs of finished dishes, "Plantbased: 80 nourishing, umami-rich recipes from the kitchen of a passionate chef" is a delight to browse and inspiring to plan menus from. This coffee-table style (7.9 x 1.21 x 11 inches, 3.3 pounds) volume is a welcome and recommended addition to personal, family, professional, and community library Vegan/Vegetarian cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Alexander Gershberg (https://alexandergershberg.com) is a vegan chef, cooking teacher, and writer. He was raised in Israel and moved to Amsterdam in 2006. Over the past ten years, he has set up various creative and innovative culinary projects that have received international acclaim. His cooking style is rich, creative, dynamic, and full of flavor. "Plantbased" is his third cookbook.

The Slimming Foodie in Minutes
Pip Payne
https://www.theslimmingfoodie.com
Aster
c/o Octopus Books
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781783254989, $26.99, HC, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/Slimming-Foodie-Minutes-quick-cook-calories/dp/178325498X

Synopsis: With the publication of "The Slimming Foodie in Minutes: 100+ quick-cook recipes under 600 calories", culinary and dieting expert Pip Payne is back with speedy recipes that prove fast food doesn't have to be unhealthy.

One of the biggest barriers to healthy eating is time -- after a long day's work it can be tempting to cave into a high-calorie takeout. However, the Slimming Foodie's new cookbook showcases 100 new delicious recipes, all under 600 calories, that can be prepped or cooked in 30 minutes or less!

Critique: With mouth-watering, low calorie food this fast, "The Slimming Foodie in Minutes" will ensure cooking for the family can be accomplished by even the most time stressed family cook! Of special note is that each individual dish is accompanied by a full page, full color photograph making this culinary compendium of palate-pleasing, appetite satisfying, diet-friendly recipes is an ideal resource for menu planning. A pleasure to simply browse through, "The Slimming Foodie in Minutes" is certain to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, professional, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Pip Payne (https://www.theslimmingfoodie.com) is behind the award-winning blog The Slimming Foodie. Keeping a love of food at the fore, Pip's approach is about bringing back convenient home cooking by making healthy recipes that are accessible to a new wave of home cooks. Creating great tasting meals that are cooked from scratch and cut down on fat and sugar while following science-led nutrition advice.

Natural Bakes
Caroline Griffths
Smith Street Books
c/o Rizzoli
300 Park Avenue South, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10010
www.rizzoliusa.com
9781922754141, $27.50, HC, 160pp

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Bakes-Everyday-gluten-free-sugar-free/dp/1922754145

Synopsis: Rather than relying on gluten or harmful sugars, "Natural Bakes" is a compendium of everyday gluten-free, sugar-free baking recipes that uses fruits and vegetables, as well as other natural ingredients including vanilla, nut-based flours, and spices, to create all manner of incredibly delicious - and guilt-free baked goods.

With "Natural Bakes" even the most novice of kitchen cooks can now whip up a tray of almond, mandarin, and orange blossom madeleines, finish a meal with a warming crumble, or wow the family with a chocolate layer cake with peanut butter frosting.

Critique: Profusely and beautifully illustrated with full page, full color pictures of finished baked goods, "Natural Bakes" showcases more than seventy recipes, each of which is a palate-pleasing, appetite-satisfying, dessert inspiring masterpiece of the baker's art. A delight to simply browse through and plan menus with, "Natural Bakes" is a fine and recommended addition to personal, professional, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Caroline Griffiths (https://www.sbs.com.au/food/person/caroline-griffiths) is an author, home economist, cook, food writer, and food stylist with a keen interest in nutrition. She is a passionate food expert with over twenty years of food industry experience, having worked in several of Australia's best-known test kitchens. She has authored four books and has contributed to many cookbooks, food magazines, and websites. Griffiths passion is to create flavorful, wholesome, creative, and achievable recipes.

SatisFRY: The Air Fryer Cookbook
Mona Dolgov
You Live Right Publishers
www.youliveright.com
9781736675618, $19.99 Paper/$8.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/satisFRY-Simply-Delicious-Satisfying-Recipes/dp/1736675613

SatisFRY: The Air Fryer Cookbook should be boxed along with one's new air fryer as a basic manual to both using the fryer and linking its cooking method to healthier eating practices. Specific meals, such as breakfasts or snacks, accompany dishes such as desserts. The latter may not immediately come to the mind of a new owner of an air fryer, but needs to be explored as part of the fryer's wide-ranging possible applications. The introduction begins with a discussion of which fryer accessories should be added to one's kitchen tools to expand the air fryer's potential. This moves into a discussion of spices, then a chapter of breakfast recipes. These form a foundation of knowledge for the different uses of the air fryer, from baking muffins to making "perfect" grilled sandwiches. Rather than attempting an all-encompassing cookbook, each dish is designed to profile the different types of cooking possible in the air fryer. Appealing, full-page color photos of finished dishes add visual emphasis to the ways in which the air fryer excels over many conventional approaches. Chapters move on to complete meals with the same attention to methods of cooking, nutritional content, and Mona's own tips for shopping for ingredients or adding value to the recipes. The result should ideally be presented to a new air fryer owner, along with the device. It's the easiest way of getting started quickly and pursuing all the different options the air fryer holds for producing a wide range of dishes.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.

The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com

Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review