Back To The Library: The Essential New York Times Cookbook

I’ve had so much fun taking a deep dive into this book, but alas it’s due back at the library this week. I never even got to desserts! That’s a sure sign I should buy my own copy at some point.

All in all I made 14 recipes from this book. None, except for the mint julep, were terrible, but there are three that I really can’t wait to make again:

1. Yette’s Garden Platter

2. Boston Baked Beans

3. Elizabeth Frink’s Roast Lemon Chicken

Elizabeth Frink’s Roast Lemon Chicken

My love of recipes from the New York Times remains strong!

Next month I’m Mastering The Art of French Cooking!

Legumes, Legumes, The Magical Fruit: The Essential New York Times Cookbook

The New York Times Essential Cookbook Five Bean Salad

We’re a bean eating family. Even the meat eaters expect some kind of bean and cornbread meal once a week. It’s just what we like. And then come to find out that Amanda Hesser has a whole chapter on Potatoes, Corn, and Legumes? Be still my carb loving heart.

We tried three recipes from this chapter. Italian Roasted Potatoes were a good, basic potato dish. My son put them together for us one night when we were having sausages and peppers. He didn’t complain so they were probably pretty easy to make. We ate the five bean salad with sandwiches. I think I liked it more than anyone else. I made it with the garlic scapes that my friend rejected from her crop share instead of the scallions the recipe called for. Last but not least was the Boston Baked Beans which we all loved! I made it half with meat and half veggie. There was not a complaint that night. These beans were so good, flavorful without being syrupy. These will be on repeat for the rest of the summer. We ate them with hot dogs and corn bread - a cheap meal if you’re feeling pain at the grocery store like I am!

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Eat Your Vegetables! The Essential New York Times Cookbook

Yette’s Garden Platter from The Essential New York Times Cookbook

Amanda Hesser said that the first half of the 20th century was a black hole for vegetables in the New York Times food section. I can see that she struggled because there wasn’t a lot in this chapter. HOWEVER! I “discovered” Yette’s Garden Platter, a casserole of various vegetables on a potato base, and I will definitely be cooking this ALL SUMMER LONG. It was so simple and good. This is definitly one worth looking up. I cooked most with sausage to make it a main meal, and cooked about 1/3 as written for my vegetarian. Next time I’ll add chickpeas for her to give it some protein. There was not a single speck of food left in either dish after dinner that night.

NOTE: I used cherry tomatoes instead of the whole peeled tomatoes. You know I look for shortcuts wherever I can. I am not peeling tomatoes.

I also made the tomatoes vinaigrette from 1963, and they were nothing special. Just tomatoes in dressing. I did appreciate that the recipe used some of my capers though. I have a lot of capers for some reason.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

My Salad Days - The New York Times Essential Cookbook

There’s nothing I love more in the summer than having a variety of salads in my fridge for packed lunches, but I admit I did get to this chapter and immediately wonder how much mayo this will involve.

Hesser defines salad as an adaptable composition of loosely related ingredients ( not necessarily vegetables) unified by a dressing.

I tried two salads from this chapter.

Spicy Orange Salad Moroccan-Style

This was a great food waste reducer when I made a different recipe that called for orange peels. I used the naked orange insides for this salad and really liked it. I ate it for lunch along with rosemary bread from another favorite cookbook Kneadlessly Simple. It called for fresh parsley, but my garden isn’t there yet so I used mint.

Spicy Cucumber Salad

I sent this in my daughter’s packed lunch, and unfortunately it got a thumbs down. She said the sesame taste was way too strong. Oh well!

Two salads, no mayo globs. Yay!

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

A New Way To Use Mint - Greek Lentil Soup : The Essential New York Times Cookbook

My trusty mini sow cooker

I bought this mini slow cooker for myself about six months back so I could cook oats overnight. I’ve cooked oats maybe once, but that’s only because I’ve found so many other uses for it. It came in really handy last week for Craig Clairborne’s 1977 recipe for Greek Lentil Soup.

I picked this one out of many that sounded good because it helped use up some of my flourishing mint plants from the back yard. I’ve never had mint in soup before, and I have to say it was nice. The fact that this was a vegetarian soup was a big plus too since my daughter is vegetarian, and I am halfway there. This would have been good with some crusty bread, but it was also fine with some cornbread from a box mix.

There were a bunch more good looking soup recipes I want to try, but it’s time to move on to salads.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Carefully Constructed Soup: The Essential New York Times Cookbook

Garden Minestrone from 1973 was the most fun soup to cook ever. You start by layering a huge pot full of tomatoes, zucchini, romaine lettuce (!), peas, beans, and herbs, and then browning the whole thing. Only then do you stir and it magically becomes a delicious stew. No broth added!

The recipe called for the whole thing to be done in a glass casserole dish so you can dump it out later, but I did it in my crockpot. The presentation sounds amazing, but it was a weeknight and we had 30 minutes to eat then get to 4 different places. I served this over polenta with chicken sausages just to bulk it up a little, but I would have been completely happy with just the veggies.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

It's Soup Week! The Essential New York Times Cookbook

I had some terrible not-covid bug last week that had me not feeling like cooking at all. But now I’m back among the living recovering and what a great time to start soup week. Actually, it will be soup weeks because I’m behind so I’ll be cooking soup the rest of this week into the next. What great timing!

I’m excited for this chapter. Soup is my favorite meal since the days when my mom used to make me non stop Lipton cups of noodles. Hesser says soups have changed the most in 100 years, and I’m wondering if they’ve changed even more since 2010. I guess I’ll have to shell out for the updated cookbook if I want to know.

Some soups looked great but I had to take them off the list because there was just too much cream involved, but there were quite a few that I can’t wait to make. Soup week!

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Passive Aggressive Quotation Marks: The Essential New York Times Cookbook

I knew my husband would like this 1970’s Chinese Meatball recipe. Hesser cracked me up by mentioning in the comments that they were more “Chinese” than Chinese. Ah, food of my youth!

The recipe in the book made about 100 of these so I only made 1/4 but kept the sauce recipe as is because we love sauce. Also it called for frying the meatballs and then cooking the sauce separately. Last week was over scheduled beyond my ability to cope so I just baked them and then cooked them with the sauce in my slow cooker. Big thumbs up from the fam, although I thought the sauce was a little too vinegary.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Who Wouldn't Make Something Called Eggs Suffragette? The Essential New York Times Cookbook

My first recipe from the snacks chapter was called Eggs Suffragette. I love this title from a 1909 article about eggs.

They weren’t bad to make and tasted pretty good. My kids won’t eat pre-cooked eggs so I made the batch for myself and ate them all week for breakfast or lunch. Then in the spirit of my eggs I made plans to vote because what the heck is going on? Thank you suffragettes for your sacrifices and your delicious stuffed eggs.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Hors Doeuvres, Snacks, And Small Dishes: Chapter Two The Essential New York Times Cookbook

I was excited about this chapter because I’ve been wanting to make more snacks, but also disappointed because Amanda skipped her usual chatty intro and just slapped a timeline in here.

After reading through I can see why. The New York Times is decidedly short on snacks. I had to read through twice just to find three things I felt like cooking and eating.

It was during this chapter when I came up with my rules for this little project:

1. I need to stay within my usual grocery budget.

2. Not too many ingredients that I’ll never use again. (A few experiments here and there are fine.)

3. No all day cooking projects. I need food I can throw together and serve.

One more note: when I was looking up this book on amazon I realized there’s an updated version. I’m sticking with the 2010 though because I love the early 2000’s food scene and snobbery. Plus this is the version my library has, and I feel like a modern cookbook would have too much Covid inspired sourdough in it.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

My Ideal Hot Buttered Rum: The Essential New York Times Cookbook

I have searched for years for the perfect Hot Buttered Run recipe and I think I have found it. Hesser’s recipe, from the 1984 article “Spirits: Rum For All Seasons” was amazing. It was easy to make and smelled so good. Plus I had a reason to use up all of those whole spices I bought last year for one single recipe. Thank you Amanda!

I made this last Friday night after a long, long week and took it to bed with a good mystery. If you can tell me a better way to spend a Friday night I would be surprised.

This is the last recipe I made (for now) from the drinks section, and I think this book is probably worth buying based on this chapter alone. I can’t wait to move on to the next one!

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Mint Juleps Are Not For Me

I thought I knew better than everyone else who told me not to plant mint in my yard because it would spread. Guess what? The mint spread. Oh well, there are worse problems to have, particularly when you like to cook.

I tried to solve my mint “problem” by making mint juleps from The Essential New York Times Cookbook, but truthfully all the mint in the world isn’t going to hide the taste of bourbon. Sorry Amanda Hesser and the state of Kentucky.

On to the next recipe!

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Judge All You Want Amanda Hesser, I Love Smoothies

“And then we discovered the smoothie, and artfully - and often deliciously, repackaged shake.”

— The Essential New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser

This quote by Amanda Hesser cracked me up. It is true that we were all drinking smoothies for a while like they were the key to good health and slimness. Still, when your kid has an 8 am soccer game and you want to bring your breakfast with you is there anything better? Hesser featured an honey-orange banana smoothie from an article on hangover cures in the Essential Cookbook, and it was perfect. I didn’t have a hangover on the day of my daughter’s 8 am soccer game, but when you’re in your 40’s aren’t they really the same thing? Anyway, disguised milkshake or not I highly recommend this easy to make smoothie for the sidelines, when you have a hangover, or just any old time really.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

Acknowledgements and Introduction - The Essential New York Times Cookbook

I’ve read a few books by Amanda Hesser and I’ve always enjoyed her style. So, I loved this section about the process of creating a collection of recipes that spanned 150 years. In it she dishes about her husband’s irrational hate of biscotti (he despises its unfriendly crunch) and what it was like to test thousands of recipes while pregnant with twins.

My favorite part was the amazing timeline. It was interspersed throughout the section and it contained mind blowing tidbits about food history in the US. (I am so happy I live in a time when I can get Florida strawberries.)

Today I learned: meats cook 2 times as fast as they did 100 years ago because the way we raise them now makes them more tender. Sorry vegetarians for grossing you out; I found that fascinating.

This is going to be fun!