Spring Cookbook Club Selection + Updates!

Hello my fellow cookbook lovers! I am so excited to announce the April/May cookbook selection and give a few updates! 

After talking to a few readers, I’ve decided our cookbook club will “meet” every other month, instead of on a monthly basis. This gives everyone more time to pick up a copy of the book from the library or your favorite bookstore, and more importantly, more time to cook along! 

I’ll be trying new recipes alongside you and posting a few sneak peeks of my favorites on Instagram. Be sure to follow along and leave a comment with the recipes you’ve tried or are excited to try next!

The Feast & Fable Cookbook Club is for you, if you want to: 

1. Try new things! Get out of your cooking routines (or rut) and shake things up a bit! 
2. Celebrate beautiful, inspired cookbooks that change the way you think, eat and cook. 
3. Expand your knowledge in the kitchen. Learn about new ingredients, new techniques and also…have some FUN! 
4. Join the conversation! Tell us about what  you've tried, want to try or are afraid to try! What are you learning or loving? And also, if you’ve got a cookbook you want to recommend, by all means, share away! You can comment here or on Instagram!

Okay, so now that the housekeeping stuff is out of the way, it’s time to announce the April/May selection! 

THE APRIL/MAY COOKBOOK SELECTION IS....

Get ready for some homemade tortillas my friends, because next up, we’re reading Nopalito by Gonzalo Guzmán! 

I mean, just look at some of the book's insanely beautiful photographs taken by Eva Kolenko! Can you say, delicioso!? 

I spotted this cookbook at a foodie conference in New York City this past winter and I was immediately pulled in by its inspired recipes, gorgeous photographs (Eva Kolenko is one of my new fave photographers!) and an introduction that left me saying, "yes, yes, yes!!".  

The recipes are created by Nopalito's head chef, Gonazalo Guzmán, and are inspired by the spirit, roots and flavors of regional Mexican cooking.

I adore Mexican food, but like many of us, I often feel intimidated by chiles and find myself reaching for store-bought tortillas to use in less authentic, Americanized recipes. 

Which is one of the many reasons I'm excited to dive into this book, it teaches readers how to build a Mexican Pantry, how to layer intricate, authentic Mexican flavors and how to make your own Masa and tortillas at home! 

Now let's talk about some of the dishes that have me salivating: Crispy Red Quesadillas with Braised Pork, Toasted Corn with Crema, Ground Chile and Queso Fresco, Chocolate-Cinnamon Paletas, Vegetable Enchiladas with Cilantro Salsa, Pozole Rojo and the list goes on and on and on. 

Sound good to you to? Let’s dive in!

Pick up a copy of the book from your local library or purchase a new copy to add to your collection! 

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“For too long we have been fed the intimidating notion that the professional chef’s world is distinct and distant from our own. Restaurant food, we’ve been led to believe, requires a knowledge and artistry far beyond what we can achieve in our home kitchens. So we grow to believe we can’t possibly produce those dishes ourselves…This, I’ve noticed, proves especially true with ethnic cuisines. Cooking international cuisine at home still carries an aura of difficulty. There is a lingering myth that foreign food demands more from us as cooks - more from our kitchens, our supplies, our spice cabinets, our schedules - than does continuing to make the foods that are already in our comfort zones.

This is also why I am so honored and excited to help give the world a window into Gonzalo Guzman - a chef with so much nostalgia, passion and love for cooking the food from his Mexican upbringing that he wants to break down whatever walls it takes for you to embrace this cooking, too. ”

— Stacy Adimando

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All photographs by Eva Kolenko for the Nopalito Cookbook

Deborah Madison's Pinto Bean Soup with Chilies and Mint | February Cookbook Club Recap

In case you’re just jumping in, this month we selected Deborah Madison’s “The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” as our Cookbook of the month and I’m so excited to talk about it with you today! 

For anyone just getting to know Deborah Madison, she is a bit of a vegetable guru. The author of 11 cookbooks on the subject, she’s really mastered the art of creating approachable recipes that help expand your palate and mind.

Every time I open one of her books, I’m always amazed at just how many vegetable varieties, spices and ingredients there are to play with, and I leave eager to find a head of Purple Peacock Broccoli or Kohlrabi. 

And while she gives just a few sentences at the top of each recipe, these words are always incredibly insightful, arming the home-cook with options, alternative cooking methods and a deeper understanding of flavor pairings and ingredients. 

It’s this kind of writing that empowers and inspires us, and I think makes for a timeless cookbook. 

One thing I have to note about both the recipes in this book and Deb (okay if I call her Deb now?) is how she’s managed to evade the internet. Unlike most cookbook authors today, Deb doesn’t really have an updated blog, you won’t find photos of her recipes on Pinterest and her book doesn’t feature a single photograph! 

As a person whose life revolves around creating and absorbing visual stimulation, I find this oddly refreshing. The lack of imagery really forced me to analyze the ingredients and techniques used throughout the book. Instead of just breezing through and finding the tastiest looking images, I found I paid attention more, used my imagination a bit and developed a deeper understanding of the process.

All in all, I’ll definitely continue cooking and seeking inspiration from "The New Vegetarian Cookbook for Everyone" and I’m excited to share a few of the recipes I tried! 

At over 600 pages, it was a bit daunting to pick and choose just a few recipes to try over the last few weeks. But here is a list of some of my favorites with recipes notes: 

1. Braised Collard Greens - delicious! This is a new go-to recipe for me as my current collards recipe is delightful, but very time consuming. It’s quick, flavorful and an easy way to prepare one of my favorite greens. 
2. Frittata with Tomatoes and Feta - incredible! I love the use of marjoram in this dish and found it to be wonderfully flavorful and perfect for serving a crowd. Pair it with a light salad for lunch or dinner or alongside some fruit for breakfast. 
3. Wilted Spinach Salad - My mother makes this recipe all the time and it’s one of my favorites! Packed with flavor, simple to make and more interesting than a raw spinach salad. 
4. Cashew Curry - so many amazingly flavorful ingredients go into this dish, but even still, I wanted more flavor at the end! It seems the addition of creamy coconut milk cooled down the spices a bit, so I would have added a bit more of the spices to begin with. I also found myself wanting to cut back on the amount of cashews, and add a variety of vegetables (and dare I say chicken).

And now for the feature recipe… 

Pinto Bean Soup with Chilies and Mint! 

RECIPE NOTES:

As difficult as it was to pick just one recipe to feature, I thought I’d leave you with a simple soup to celebrate these last few weeks of cooler weather. I also thought a recipe that featured Pinto Beans was appropriate considering Deb hails from New Mexico. 

This recipe is incredibly simple to make and can be embellished in so many ways. To begin, I made this recipe as she suggests, with just water. However, boiling the pinto beans in a stock of sorts or adding a bit of warmed stock at the end could deeply enhance the flavor. I found myself adding a good bit more water after I’d pureed the beans to give it a soupier texture, however, this would work so well as a side of beans to a Mexican meal. 

The addition of Adobo Sauce is essential for that smoky, spicy flavor and I was pleasantly surprised at just how delicious it was served with mint leaves. You can go crazy with the toppings, adding everything from pickled red onion and avocado, to cotija cheese, cilantro and radish. Just be sure to top each bowl of with a little drizzle of that adobo sauce - it really is the star ingredient! 

I hope you enjoyed cooking through this book as much as I did! If you had recipes you tried and want to share, feel free to comment below! 

Xx

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Deborah Madison's Pinto Bean Soup with Chilies and Mint

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups pinto beans, soaked for 4 hours or overnight (or use the Quick Boil method below) 
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried or fresh epazote
• sea salt
• 1 can chipotle chili in adobo sauce

Optional Garnishes: 

• red wine vinegar
• slivered green onions
• diced jalopeno chile
• chopped cilantro
• chopped mint
• chopped radish
• avocado
• Tortilla strips
• sour cream or greek yogurt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soak the beans for 4 hours or overnight. Or, use this quick boiling method: rinse the beans, cover with water, bring to a boil for about 5 minutes, remove from the heat, cover and let set for 1 hour.
2. Then, drain the beans, cover them with 8 cups water, and boil for 10 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, oregano, epazote. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about 1.5 hours. Season with salt. Remove from the heat, and use an immersion blender to puree the beans (you can puree all of them, or leave a few whole for texture). You can also do this in a blender, then add the beans back to the pot. 
3. Then, thin the soup with water or stock (or milk/cream) and stir in the sauce from the chipotle chili, one teaspoon at a time until you've reached your desired level of spice. You can also puree the chipotle chiles and add those in a teaspoon at a time for a bigger kick. 
4. Stir to combine, taste and add salt and black pepper as needed. I liked to add a few splashes of red wine vinegar as well. Lastly, serve and garnish with your preferred toppings and enjoy! 

join the Feast & Fable Cookbook Club!

So here’s a fun little fact about me: I’m in 3 bookclubs. And surprisingly, I still can’t get enough of them! I love to read and if I could build an entire house out of books I most certainly would. But while my current bookclubs keep me busy reading literary classics and the latest fiction, I am yet to partake in a bookclub dedicated solely to the great art of food writing. 

So I’ve decided to start a virtual Cookbook Club right here on the blog and you are invited to join! (insert spirit fingers!) 

This Cookbook Club is for you if:

1. Your shelves are overflowing with gorgeous cookbooks and you don’t know where to begin!
2. You place cookbooks on your coffee table, because art. 
3. You want to get out of a cooking rut and explore new recipes, new cooking philosophies and new ingredients! 
4. And you don’t want to do it alone! 

If any of those things sound like you, then let’s get started! 

Here’s how it will work. At the beginning of each month, I’ll select and announce a new Cookbook for us to read through and try! The selection will celebrate books both new and old that explore different cooking philosophies, inspire us to learn new techniques and ingredients and overall encourage us to have fun in the kitchen!

Then, it’s time to get cooking! 

At the end of each month, I’ll feature one of my favorite recipes from the book right here on the blog along with a list of other recipes I tried or am looking forward to trying. And I want you to cook along with me! Try a new recipe or two from the book and share it with us by tagging #feastandfablecookbookclub on Instagram! Or simply follow along and chime in with your favorite recipes or what you're looking forward to trying next! 

Sound like fun? I thought so, too! 

So without further ado, I want to announce this month’s cookbook selection: The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. 

Deborah is a complete and total badass when it comes to cooking with plants. She’s the author of *eleven* cookbooks and is well known for her simple, seasonal recipes that inspire intuitive cooking and support locally-sourced, quality ingredients. She got her start at Chez Panisse in San Francisco before opening her own restaurant, Greens, in one of my favorite states, New Mexico. This book was ahead of its time when it was originally published in 1997, and today it’s been updated to include more than 200 new recipes!

photo by Aya Brackett

“Regardless of what we cook, nothing is more important than starting with ingredients that are of the best quality we can manage, both for the way they nourish us and our environment, and because our results in the kitchen will never be better than the ingredients we start with. The advantage of using good ingredients is that they allow us to cook simply and eat well. And because our efforts in the kitchen today are so hard won, we want to be sure that the meals we make will add enjoyment to our lives and nourish us well. ”

— Deborah Madison

My favorite thing about this book is that it’s for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike! It also encourages the reader to explore new vegetables, herbs and spices and helps recommend ways to prepare vegetarian entrees (something I struggle with!). I have no doubt that we’ll all love this cookbook and I can’t wait to see what you cook up next!