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Cookbook Project, Book #19
Feb. 12th, 2009 10:10 pm"The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American," Jeff Smith
This book technically belongs to my husband. He's got a bunch of Frugal Gourmet books, and I'll admit I've never used any of them - they're little, dull-looking paperbacks with small print and quirky flavor text, and I've just got so many others that I never got around to these ones. But last weekend I asked him to grab a couple of random books for this week's dinners, and this was the first one he handed me. I was dubious - I figured it was going to be a weird conglomeration of pseudo-modern ethnic food, and doubted I'd find anything worth trying inside.
I was wrong. It's a fascinating blend of regional and historical recipes, including sections on Colonial and Native American cooking, and I deeply regret not having looked through it earlier.
I wound up unable to narrow myself down to one recipe, so Monday's dinner was Fish and Potatoes (which is actually a pie made with kind of a codfish ball filling), with Apple Pudding for dessert. The fish and potatoes were unusual and interesting and tasty, though perhaps not something that's going to enter my daily repertoire. The apple pudding, though.... it's a kind of custard made with an applesauce base, and when it's made with homemade applesauce (which was made from fresh-picked apples) it's utterly to die for.
This book is definitely getting moved up to the 'active use' shelf, and is getting a sincere apology from me for overlooking its awesomeness just because of its humble outside....
This book technically belongs to my husband. He's got a bunch of Frugal Gourmet books, and I'll admit I've never used any of them - they're little, dull-looking paperbacks with small print and quirky flavor text, and I've just got so many others that I never got around to these ones. But last weekend I asked him to grab a couple of random books for this week's dinners, and this was the first one he handed me. I was dubious - I figured it was going to be a weird conglomeration of pseudo-modern ethnic food, and doubted I'd find anything worth trying inside.
I was wrong. It's a fascinating blend of regional and historical recipes, including sections on Colonial and Native American cooking, and I deeply regret not having looked through it earlier.
I wound up unable to narrow myself down to one recipe, so Monday's dinner was Fish and Potatoes (which is actually a pie made with kind of a codfish ball filling), with Apple Pudding for dessert. The fish and potatoes were unusual and interesting and tasty, though perhaps not something that's going to enter my daily repertoire. The apple pudding, though.... it's a kind of custard made with an applesauce base, and when it's made with homemade applesauce (which was made from fresh-picked apples) it's utterly to die for.
This book is definitely getting moved up to the 'active use' shelf, and is getting a sincere apology from me for overlooking its awesomeness just because of its humble outside....
