{Cookbook Corner} The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Many people are surprised to hear that I use to not be able to cook at all. Like seriously....I couldn't cook. At all. Dusty use to be the cook in the early days of our relationship, which I thought was super adorable and attractive. The more time we spent together, the more time we spent in the kitchen and watching Food Network, and suddenly I wanted to learn how to cook and impress my man. 

Although, I must tell you that my cooking endeavors didn't start out so smoothly. I once made a crusted fish that was crusted with red pepper flakes! OUCH! I also once made a sandwich from "A Man, A Can, A Plan" that I slathered in horseradish sauce! DOUBLE OUCH! There were lots of tears and pain with my early cooking experiments. 

Thankfully, my cooking skills have progressed exponentially from where I was 6 years ago, and that is because I have come to love reading cookbooks! I would actually consider myself a cookbook-aholic. If I go to the bookstore, I instantly beeline it to the cookbook section and pour over all the fabulous books. I absolutely love all the possibilities of potential meals I can create for me and my husband, and love the beautiful food photography. Dusty thinks it's funny because I will sit down and read a cookbook as if it was a novel. I just love the short stories at the beginning of each recipe telling the background and inspiration for how a recipe came to be. When I think about it, I can't even remember the last time I read a real book...maybe a year ago???

I decided to start this fun series {Cookbook Corner} because of my love for cookbooks. They are educational, fun and most importantly, they give you the instructions to make some really good food...usually. 

For the most part, the books I buy are gems. They are covered in sauce, grease and the pages are torn (the sign of a good cookbook!) Although, there is the occasional book I've purchased on a whim that has turned out to be a dud or isn't realistic for my lifestyle or the ingredients are impossible to find for rural Montana living. Each month I want to highlight a different book that I think is a "must-have" and feature the fabulous recipes I tried from the book. 

To kick off the {Cookbook Corner} series I want to feature my recent cookbook obsession....

 

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook!

 

This beautiful collection of recipes, stories and food photography was brought together by Deb Perelman, the author of the popular and delicious blog....Smitten Kitchen. She is a self-taught home cook (like myself) who enhances regular ingredients and recipes to make them truly spectacular. I greatly appreciate the fact that she uses real ingredients that are commonly found in typical grocery stores. I hate it when recipes call for really odd and unusual ingredients that would require me living in a large city to find. Where the heck am I going to find duck bacon in rural Montana? Truffle butter? Not in this book! Deb uses typical fresh ingredients that are twisted and tweaked to become something really special and delicious!

 

One of the first recipes I made was this Iceberg Stack with Blue Cheese & Radishes. I loved the concept of cutting the iceberg lettuce horizontally and then pouring the dressing over so each nook and cranny gets a grasp of the creamy dressing. It's absolutely genius! Way better than the typical wedge you are served at restaurants. I also loved the variety of color provided from the darkness of the blue cheese to the bright pink from the radishes. The celery and radishes give the best extra crunch to the salad while not being overwhelming in flavor (I don't really like celery, but I liked the subtle notes it played in this salad!). The presentation of the salad also is very grand and impressive with the multi-layered tower of salad. This recipe was a definite win! 

 

Out of all the mouth-watering breakfast recipes, I decided to try out the Potato Frittata with Feta & Scallions. I pretty much had all the ingredients in my refrigerator, which is a bonus! That's one thing I really love about all of these recipes in the book, you most likely have 75-90% of the ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator! What I loved about this recipe was the perfect amount of flavor and saltiness the feta cheese provided. I also loved the idea of roasting the sliced potatoes and then making them as the "crust" for the frittata. The recipe instructed to leave all the bacon grease in the pan, which ended up making Dusty and I feel bogged down after eating it for breakfast. Also, the clean up after this dish was very difficult. I had to soak my cast iron for 12 hours and then intensely scrub it afterwards. Other than those few detail, it was delicious. Next time I would remove some of the bacon grease and bake it in a non-stick pan....problem solved!



Where is the beef? Not here! The cookbook has a whole section of vegetarian main courses that look even better than the meat and seafood-based recipes. I absolutely love Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon, but it is so labor intensive and has a lot of beef fat skimming the top of the stew. That is totally not the case with this vegetarian version of Mushroom Bourguignon. It contains all the wonderful flavors and heartiness of the meat version, but takes under an hour to put together. Dusty and I absolutely loved it and the leftovers were just as good, if not better, than the night before. It was absolutely perfect for the cold windy days/nights we have been having lately.

I have so many other recipes from the book I'm dying to try, but I didn't have enough time to get them made! Here is what is on my "To-Make" list:

-Baked Ranchero Eggs with Blistered Jack Cheese & Lime Crema
-Whole-Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones
-Peach and Sour Cream Pancakes
-Cheddar Swirl Breakfast Buns
-Tomato Scallion Shortcakes with Whipped Goat Cheese
-Broccoli Slaw
-Avocado Tartine with Cucumber and Sesame Seeds
-Wild Mushroom Tart
-Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette
-Shaved Asparagus Pizza
-Gnocchi in Tomato Broth
-Sweet Peas &  Shells Alfredo

And the list goes on and on....
So many good recipes! You should see my book, almost every page is bookmarked!

Do you have The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook? What have you made from it and loved?

{Giveaway}

 

To kick off this new {Cookbook Corner} series, I'm sponsoring a $50 Sur La Table gift card giveaway! Sur La Table is a food lovers dream. I haven't been to the actual store itself, but I love shopping online and perusing the pages upon pages of cookware, bakeware, tabletop and linens, fun food and much, much more!

To Enter: 

 

Tell me...What is your favorite cookbook of all time!?!

 

Additional Entries:

 

-Follow The Girly Girl Cooks on Facebook

 

-Follow The Girly Girl Cooks on Twitter

 

-Follow The Girly Girl Cooks on Pinterest

 

-Follow The Girly Girl Cooks on Instagram

 

-Follow The Girly Girl Cooks on Google+

 

Good luck! 

 

Fine Print: This giveaway ends on Sunday, January 26th at midnight. The winner will be randomly selected and emailed being notified that they have won. The winner has 48 hours to claim their prize, otherwise another winner will be selected. This giveaway was sponsored and provided by myself, The Girly Girl Cooks. I was not sponsored or encouraged to review The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and all opinions are my own. Unfortunately, this giveaway is open to US residents only. Thank you!