Mmmmm... cookbooks

I just read a post from my current favorite web site, The Toast, with reviews of cookbooks. Yes, please! I love cookbooks! Like comic books (the old kind, not graphic novels) you can pick them up, read a page or two and put them down -- that's a great feature.

So anyway, this post got me to thinking about my go-to cookbooks. Joy of Cooking, for sure; Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book; Feeding the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair -- all great for everyday cooking and even for special occasions. Great Food without Fuss is a terrific compilation of recipes from cooks and chefs, but sometimes I want something even more special...

For the past year I've been drooling over the stories, pictures, and the dishes I've made from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. Her roast chicken Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux* has become my company standard.  Here's its essence: butter or oil a Dutch oven**; put a sturdy piece of bread in the bottom of the pan; stuff some herbs and garlic, maybe a lemon wedge in the chicken's cavity; and put it in a 450 oven. Pour yourself some wine and put your feet up for 90 minutes. Okay, if you really want to impress people you can throw some olive oil-glistened veggies in about half way through. After 90 minutes the skin will be all crispy and roasted, the meat will be tender and flavorful. Once you lift it out of the Dutch oven and put it on your cutting board or serving platter, you can snack on the gloriously dripping-saturated piece of bread while you are in the kitchen putting together the meal's last details. "Oh no, honey. Thanks, I've got it all covered."***

Sure, Greenspan's recipe has more specific directions, ingredients and amounts, but one of the things I love about her cookbook is that her recipes really are more guidelines than formulas. I love that! That's how I cook! I also love the stories in Around My French Table. Her anecdotes about living, shopping and cooking in France are transporting.

The school year has started; I can't go to Paris this week, but I can be there with Dorie, hearing about how two trips to the cheese shop made her "Janine's American customer" and how her husband achieved celebrity-status on a flight when he opened his black truffle sandwich en route. Gather your most essential French treats, settle in with Dorie Greenspan, and have a great trip!


*Lazy People's Roast Chicken -- sounds tres better in French, no?
**This is one brilliant step that makes this perfect for us lazy cooks -- those high sides? No more splatters all over the inside of your oven!!!
***You really don't want to share this.