Four Cookbooks - Thanks Mom!!

My mom's weakness is buying opals, and my weakness is buying cookbooks. I spend considerably less money on my obsession than she does on hers, but I also have considerably more cookbooks than she does opals, so I'm not sure who has the bigger problem! She gave me money for my birthday back in December, as she does every year, and these four (used) cookbooks are what I eventually bought with it. I so appreciate the thrill of having money earmarked solely 'for your pleasure only.' Thanks, Mom!

KOTO -A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl is just that. It reads like both a cookbook and a travel adventure. KOTO is a culinary training center in Vietnam for street youth with royalties from this book going to help support KOTO. The photos of the food and Vietnam are inspiring, and this Stir-fried Venison with Peanuts and Lemongrass recipe I made awhile ago was delicious.



In Jam Today, Tod Davies highly praises The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman, so I figured given her praises and a title such as this, it was pretty much a sure bet. Though it has no photos, this is a great cookbook. I personally don't mind, but there are some people who don't get the point of a cookbook without photos. I think that more often than not, food photos don't really convey what the food looks like on our plates, how we feel about preparing and serving it to those we love, and of course, how it actually tastes. There is a wide range of countries and cuisines represented in this cookbook -I really love and appreciate this diversity- and he includes lots of directions and side information. I used his recipes (there are two) to refer to when I made Meatball Beef Pho last month, and there are at least a dozen other recipes in this cookbook I want to make.

The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater is simply lovely. Really. This is my first Nigel Slater book, and it is a diary for one year -with recipes- of what he cooked at home in his kitchen. This may sound boring to some, but in this book he has distilled the essence of why I read cookbooks: to know about the foods others eat, the spirit and flavor of those foods, and how these other home cooks think and feel about those foods as they prepare them in their homes. I used an adaptation of his Five Spice Quail recipe when roasting a small chicken awhile back. It was simple to do, but it gave truly amazing results. I don't so much use this book as a 'follow the recipe' type cookbook -it has LOTS of recipes, but with weight measurements- but I simply love to read it for its distinct charm and seasonality, and because I personally relate to so many of his kitchen writings, like the 'Inspiration for a lamb chop' that he wrote on March 7: "I have no idea what I had in mind when I bought the two lamb chops that are now sitting on the kitchen worktop. Actually they are leg steaks and there's enough for two. Whatever it was, the flash of inspiration must have got lost on the way home." He then goes on to describe making a simple marinade, cooking the chops, and then creating a simple but stunning salad with them and what was in his fridge at the time.

Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson is a another book I checked out from the library. I had already flagged over ten recipes in this book to copy, when I spotted Grandma Freeman's jam cake with brown sugar rum glaze described as a southern secret baking recipe from several generations back with the original recipe that was typed on tissue paper. I immediately pulled my flags and ordered the book. It is full of recipes, similar to these favorites of mine (click here) and (click here), like rhubarb buckle with ginger crumb, upside-down sweet cherry cake, and marionberry pie -all Pacific Northwest flavor-focused country fruit desserts.

Meatballs in Sweet and Pungent Sauce

"A meatball never says 'Look at me, aren't I clever?' It just says 'Eat me.' -Nigel Slater



And that is just one of the things I love about meatballs. Another is they can successfully be made of any meat, whether you grind (or mince) your own, or buy it -all meat makes tasty meatballs. Ground meat, seasonings, a binder, and a carbohydrate to absorb the moisture are the components needed to make meatballs, but the possible variations within each of these individual components is almost limitless. These meatballs I made are perfect in this sauce, but they would also be fantastic served with Sweet Chili Sauce, my Red Pepper Jam, or any number of other possibilities.



Meatballs for Sweet and Pungent Sauce
2 c. ground chicken, turkey, or rabbit
3/4 c. bread crumbs (I used Italian Seasoned bread crumbs)
1 egg
1/4 c. soy milk
1 T. oyster sauce
1 T. dried parsley
1 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 small onion, minced
Form small meatballs and refrigerate (they'll hold their shape better during cooking). I simply mixed this all together this time, but if the onion and garlic had been sauteed in a bit of oil or butter first, they would have been even better.

And another thing I love about meatballs: they freeze well. I froze half of these and now I have meatballs waiting to be cooked at a moments notice.



Meatballs can be baked, pan fried, or as I did here, deep fried. Deep fried tofu cubes in this Chinese-style sauce is one of my well-received vegetarian stand-bys. I wanted meatballs AND tofu cubes when I made this, and since I already had the oil hot, I deep-fried these meatballs. If I have any vegetarians at the table, it is easy enough to serve the tofu and meat separately with this, and of course, the tofu is not necessary with the meatballs.



I learned to make Sweet and Pungent Sauce from The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook (you could spend a lifetime cooking with just this book), and I have been making variations of it for years. A bare-bones version (no meatballs, no tofu, little or no vegetables) is my daughter's go-to recipe when food and money are low, and we both have made it at different levels between the bare-bones and this whole-hog version. It is incredibly flexible and all versions are good served over rice.



Sweet and Pungent Sauce

Bring 3/4 c. water to a boil.
Add:
1/2 c. sugar, brown sugar or honey
1/2 c. vinegar (cider or white)

Add:
1-2 T. catsup or tomato sauce
2 minced garlic cloves
few drops each Tabasco and Worcestershire Sauce

Add what you have, or desire, of the following, or any other vegetables you choose to add:
1 carrot, peeled and sliced (I prefer less crisp carrot slices, and add them to the water at the beginning of the recipe)
1/2 red or green bell pepper, sliced or cut in chunks
1/2 onion, sliced in crescents
1 medium Roma tomato (I left this out)
5-6 mushrooms, sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced (I'm not overly fond of celery and almost always leave this out)
8 oz. pineapple chunks



Bring to a boil. Blend and add:
1/4 c. cold water
1 T. cornstarch
1 T. soy sauce



Add, or serve over, fried tofu cubes, shrimp, chicken, or meatballs. And serve with rice.