My cookbook Jones started in high school, c. 1955, with a fat two-volume edition of Meta Given's Encyclopedia of Cooking, a name not hallowed in today's culinary hall of fame, but one that started me cooking and reading cookbooks the way other girls sneaked smokes behind the gym. For more than fifty years I lugged that treasure from coast to coast, nesting it with my growing collection of cookbooks on shelves in more than twenty residences. At one point, when I was researching my second cookbook, I owned more than twelve hundred cookbooks. Though some were slim pamphlets tucked in the boxes with Waring, Oster and other appliances, the bulk of my collection included all of Julia's works, of course, but also tracked the evolution of American cooking from the Joy of Cooking to Thomas Keller and eventually included two of my very own cookbooks (top shelf, tenth from the left in the photo). When I began teaching cooking and writing cookbooks I justified my sagging bookshelves as my professional library, though truth be told,Meta Givens hooked me and I may have acquired them even if I hadn't been lucky enough to publish my own cookbooks. But since I do not call the San Francisco Public Library my home, I recently had to downsize my treasures--it was either the cookbooks or the bed! Parting with fifteen boxes of books, most of them of the culinary persuasion was like parting with my fingers and toes. What is left, however, would make me the envy of most serious cooks because I still have almost seven hundred books. If I can slip into the confessional mode for a moment, as I was lamenting my recent loss, I was overcome with shame as I realized how many of these books were virgins. I had wooed and fondled them, but had not yet gone the whole way with them. leaving their delights untried and untested. This blog is my commitment to my beauties, my vow to bring each one down from the shelf each day and test its wares. I will reveal the good, the bad and the ugly in these books and photograph the results. And as soon as I work my way through my cookbooks, I'll tackle my mountain of food magazines!
I'm starting with Susan Spungen's Recipes, a collection for the modern cook. I bought this book as a shower gift for a bride-to-be but discovered when I got home that it was a sale book with the telltale black marking pen stripe on the edge of the book. So it became my seven hundred and first cookbook book. I'm a sucker for food photo porn and was lured in by the clean, fresh look of the cover and the appealing recipes that appeared simple with a twist. On a recent brownie binge I tried her Saucepan Brownies. So easy, but middle of the road in taste. However, I realized you could use her one pot method with most brownie recipes and so Susan earned her keep with that one. I have two more dishes earmarked, a lentil salad and the Peanut Noodles with Mango, listed below. Susan broke my heart and put a dent in my bank account--a real turnoff for me--with my first attempt at the peanut sauce. One-quarter cup plus two tablespoons of soy sauce overwhelmed everything else and I had to throw it out. Susan, how could you? But the flavor combination had me hooked, and what was I going to do with all the peanuts, mango and cilantro, but try again. This time I used 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and it was a winner.
Dressing:
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 heaping tablespoon grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon sugar.
Blend well (preferable in a Blendtek-more about that later) and set aside. You can make this several days ahead but keep it refrigerated and tightly covered or the ginger will overpower everything else in your refrigerator.
Salad ingredients:
1 pound thick spaghetti or dried soba noodles
Large pot of boiling water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups snow peas
2 ripe mangoes, peeled and cubed and juice saved
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of salt
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, chopped
In a large pot of water, cook the spaghetti with the salt until al dente, stirring from time to time. Drain thoroughly.
Steam the peas for 2 minutes and set aside to cool, then cut in half.
Place the mangoes, their juice and the lime juice in a bowl. Season with a pinch of salt.
In a serving bowl, toss the noodles with the peanut sauce to coat thoroughly. Add the peas and 2/3rds of the scallions and toss well. Add the mango to the bowl but do not toss, sprinkle with the remaining scallions, the snow peas, cilantro and the peanuts and serve.
