Rewind to two months ago... I quit cookbook blogging-- forever. I have a lot on my plate and something had to give... until two days later, when I became hopelessly nostalgic and yearned for the good ol' days of double-fisting my camera and spatula. I already missed the idea of being sent wonderful cookbooks from Morrow Publishing (an imprint of Harper Collins) to test recipes and write about them for their blog, The Secret Ingredient (which you can follow on
Facebook or subscribe to their
blog). The very next day, I'm back in the saddle with a copy of Ree Drummond's latest tome, "
Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier". My immediate instinct when first flipping through the cookbook is that she successfully evokes the romance of living on a ranch and having a cowboy for a husband. It's cute; interjected with family photos, silly captions, and seems user-friendly. It's an approachable cookbook.
I was excited to learn the Ham Sandwich (my friend and partner in culinary crime, Genevieve Reiner) was also slated to blog about the cookbook, so we decided to pool our efforts and make one big cowgirl feast. You can read Genevieve's take on our whiskified meal at her blog,
Ham Sandwich Indicted. (She's a lawyer by day, foodie by night). Speaking of whiskified... it's not at all surprising that, as we giddily flipped through our cookbooks independent of one another, we each chose a recipe: Peach-Whiskey Chicken and Whiskey-Glazed Carrots... see the theme? Anyone who knows us, knows our taste buds lean toward the boozy. After deciding we need to represent another food group besides whiskey, we opted to include Panfried Kale, which ultimately ended up doused in white wine (like me).
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| Mango Margaritas, PHOTO: Shawnie Kelley Foy |
One thing I appreciate about this cookbook is that Ree Drummond took all of the pictures herself (apart from a few). Another is the way it is formatted. I adore cookbooks that are well laid out. One of my biggest pet peeves is having to flip back and forth between pages to read measurements and such. Nearly all of her recipes fit on two facing pages or at least transition into the third page at opportune times. The recipes, in my opinion, are all pretty easy, so a quick perusal of the step-by-step photos were enough for us to have a good sense of each recipe. I definitely recommend this cookbook for people who are just beginning their foray into home cooking (and newlyweds- as
Hillary Davis, another food-blogging friend suggests), as Ree includes homey, traditional dishes, like rigatoni and meatballs (who doesn't like pasta and sauce?) to buttered rosemary rolls (which calls for frozen dinner rolls). The ingredients are accessible and recipes realistic to make on a Monday night after work... a refreshing change from the many cookbooks (which shall remain unnamed) that require loads of exotic spices, 20+ ingredients, and multi-tasking for one dish.
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| Mango Margaritas, PHOTO: Shawnie Kelley Foy |
We were, in fact, so comfortable taking on three recipes, that we threw a fourth in the mix--- the Mango Margaritas. I am not a huge fan of margaritas, but I sure like mango; it seemed an appropriate drink for an 80 degree day in March. They were sweet and mango-y-- and we even left out half the sugar. I enjoyed the sugar-lime mixture used to rim the glass, which will no doubt find its way into this summer's patio drink repertoire.
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| Whiskey Glazed Carrots, PHOTO: Shawnie Kelley Foy |
The carrots and kale were both straightforward to make. The carrots, cooked down in a buttery-brown sugar- whiskey mixture were positively delicious. I love butter. I love carmelized butter. And we even left out half of what was called for in this recipe only because we aren't nearly as active as all the cowboys Ree cooks for. If I were wrangling cattle and burning lots of calories during the day, I'd have no problem tossing in another half stick of butter. Regardless, the carrots were superb. The kale too. But, I'm not exactly sure searing kale in olive oil and garlic warrants a two page spread in the cookbook, but I appreciate her use of a green that is often overlooked in lieu of spinach or Swiss chard.
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| Panfried Kale, PHOTO: Shawnie Kelley Foy |
We did as the recipe directed and let the kale cook down in a pan of olive oil and chopped garlic. Given that every other dish was soaked in booze, we tossed in a bit of white wine for good measure.... and because we are both a bit rebellious when it comes to following recipes. After searing the chicken (we used skinless chicken breast rather than legs) and simmering it in a whiskey- onion- (frozen) peach concoction, we let it slow cook in the oven for another 30 or 40 minutes while working on the veggies. The outcome was a delicious, down-to-earth plate of food, with rich, buttery flavors and a nice crunch-- and it looked pretty too. Not bad for Tuesday night.
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| The Whole Shebang PHOTO: Genevieve Reiner |
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| Flowers from Todd Mills, PHOTO: Shawnie Kelley Foy |
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| Todd, Kevin, Genevieve and my left hand. |
I look forward to making several of the breakfast recipes: glazed donuts, Cowboy quiche, and Cowgirl quiche... The cookbook also has a quick intro to canning, which will come in handy since this is the first year I am trying my hand at preserving. Stay tuned....
