Monday, December 29, 2008

Wild Sweets Chocolate or Classic Italian Cooking

Wild Sweets Chocolate: Savory, Sweet, Bites, Drinks

Author: Dominique Duby

Wild, exotic ways to incorporate chocolate into sweet and savory delicacies.

Decadence and creativity merge into a blissful package of fine chocolate in this new cookbook by renowned chocolatiers Dominique and Cindy Duby. Chocolate is not delegated solely to the desserts section of this book but is incorporated throughout in savory dishes, giving each plate a velvety, complex and delicious finish. Not to worry: there are decadent desserts like baked chocolate cream and spiced caramel dust spoons.

This new cookbook includes sections on cocktails and drinks, savory dishes (shellfish, fish, meat, vegetables) and sweet ends. Also included are professional add-on recipes, a section on basics, and a resource list.

All the exquisite recipes reflect the rationale at Wild Sweets, the authors' chocolate atelier. They blend the exotic and the familiar, and offer elements of surprise with a sense of comfort. Among the selections:


• Braised short ribs, choco-wine sauce, cauliflower water risotto, and filo crunch
• BBQ pork, crispy gnocchi, toasted cocoa nibs, and spiced brown butter
• Apple gelée, rock shrimp, celery leaf salad with cranraisins, and white chocolate-curry leaf milk
• Slow-roasted salmon, cocoa muscovado consommé, and vanilla potatoes
• Frozen chocolate pineapple freezy and white rum daiquiri.

Wild Sweets Chocolate will enchant the home cook. There are over 150 recipes in all.



Book review: Kingsford and More or New American Bartenders Guide

Classic Italian Cooking: Recipes for Mastering the Italian Kitchen

Author: Valentina Harris

Celebrity chef Valentina Harris makes traditional Italian cooking easy. Over 100 authentic Italian Recipes have been simplified for the contemporary kitchen- piquant ragus with fresh pasta, nutty risottos, succulent meat and poultry dishes, aromatic fish and creamy desserts. Her instructions cover all the techniques necessary to master Italian cooking, from rolling fresh pasta, perfecting polenta and non-sticky gnocchi, notes on cleaning and boning fish and how to pick the choicest ingredients. An engaging raconteur she enriches her recipes with fascinating food facts and anecdotes from her store of childhood memories of the family kitchen in Tuscany. Her recipes are beautifully decorated with charming illustrations.



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