My favorite cookbooks . . .

Those who know me, know how much I love to cook. If I could make a living cooking, I would.

 It started when I was 13 and my Mommy started school to become an LPN. My Dad worked the 3-11 p.m. shift and the big meal of the day in our family was lunch. The summer before I started eighth grade, my Mom taught me to cook – even though she wasn’t in the kitchen at the time.

She started easy. She’d put together my Dad’s favorite dishes – and would slowly do less and less prep each time so over the weeks I’d get to where I cooked  the entire dish.  I learned to make fried chicken, salmon patties, pork chops with milk gravy – and the accompanying potatoes, butter beans, tomatoes and corn (because if my Dad didn’t have potatoes with a meal, it wasn’t a real meal).

Then I’d put the leftovers into a wide-mouth Thermos and that was Daddy’s dinner at the coal mine. It made me feel like I was doing my part to keep our household going while my Mom went to school.

When I started at Western Kentucky University, I started creating my own dishes.  Spaghetti sauce was one of my first tries – but I’d take bottled sauce and then add my own touches to it - spices, green peppers, meat – and over time, I gave up on the bottled sauce.  I learned to make chicken and dumplings, Swedish meatballs (which all the guys I hung out with at WKU loved – including Jimmy, Jamie and others), lasagna and more. My cooking still leaned towards Kentucky-style meals, but I started learning how to make my own creations.

When Larry and I married, one of the coolest gifts we received was a carbon steel wok from Bob and Murph  – it was the real thing (not electric, not non-stick), the real deal. I was terrified of trying it.  I found a cookbook – “Great Chinese Cooking: From Fire Pot to Food Processor” at the local bookstore and tentatively started trying.

My first attempt at Chinese cooking – seriously – was Stir-Fried Celery. Yup, sounds scary, huh – but it actually was pretty good. Over time, I started becoming pretty solid on the Chinese-cooking technique, and started coming up with my own combinations of meats, vegetables and the accompanying sauce. As you can see of the photo of the cookbook, I literally loved the cookbook to death – fried rice, egg drop soup, beef with broccoli, chicken and vegetables and egg rolls.

That experience gave me the confidence that I could learn to cook anything – because for me and most people - cooking Chinese is among the scariest.

So over time, I’ve devoured – and loved - a lot of cookbooks. If you’re interested in what I consider my favorite – and most-loved cookbooks, here they are:

·         The aforementioned “Great Chinese Cooking: From Fire Pot to Food Processor.” This cookbook, which is no longer in print, literally taught me who to cook what I consider the “hardest-to-learn cuisine.” These days, I make a killer Cashew Chicken and Shrimp, a spicy Beef and Vegetables, and Pork Fried Rice (I gave up on egg rolls – WAY too much effort).

·         Emeril’s “Louisiana Real and Rustic.” True story:  Emeril opened his first restaurant (named Emeril's) in New Orleans in 1990. In December 1991, we had a tasting menu there with our friends Mark and Robyn Sieron. This was before Emeril was anybody – literally, few people outside of New Orleans knew who he was. Of all his cookbooks – and I’ve had several (most of which didn’t make the move to NYC) – my favorite is “Real and Rustic.” It’s real Emeril – homemade cocktail sauce, the best recipe ever for boiled shrimp. You get the idea. It’s the real stuff. Not complicated. Not fru-fru. Just delicious.

·         Lynne Rosetto Kaplan’s Italian cookbooks are the best – “The Splendid Table” and “The Italian Country Table” may be my favorite cookbooks. Again, like Emeril’s “Real and Rustic,” these cookbooks are about real cooking – how to make the best sauces, how to use seasonal ingredients, how to cook the best from Northern Italy. If you have to buy just one, go with “The Italian Country Table;” it has wonderful tips, stories and history, but they are both terrific!

·         And finally, one of my new favorites: Dorie Greenspan’s “Around My French Table.”  A fabulous cookbook – a wonderful “Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux” – translated as “Roast Chicken for Lazy People,” “Gougeres,” and more.

Some of my favorites – share yours. I’m always looking for new cookbooks!!

A cool relief on a hot summer day: fresh tomato soup

One of my favorite recipes when the heat of July bears down (like it is today on the Fourth of July) is Chilled Fresh Tomato Soup. It is light, refreshing and can be made from ingredients you almost always have in your pantry and fridge. You can garnish it with a dollop of sour cream. Or some shredded cheddar and green onions. You can easily adjust the spices in the recipe if you like your soup with a little more kick. Here's to a refreshing Fourth of July for you and yours!

Chilled Fresh Tomato Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeno chili, chopped (or 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno, chopped)
1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, seeded, chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice (can also use lemon juice)
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish (more if you like more kick)
6 green onions, chopped (can also use 1/4 cup of chopped onion)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups tomato juice (can also substitute V-8 juice)

Heat oil in a heavy large saucepan over low heat. Add onions, peppers, garlic and jalapenos. Cover, cook until veggies are tender, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, lime juice and horseradish. Increase heat to medium high, boil uncovered until flavors blend, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Cool slightly. Working in batches puree soup in blender until smooth. Chill at least four hours.

To serve, mix 1/4 of sour cream with a little half and half to thin. Serve soup with a drizzle of the sour cream on top. Or garnish with shredded cheddar, a few chopped green onions and a dollop of sour cream.