Modern Comfort Food

July 20, 2020
Garten (Cook Like a Pro) admits in her delightful 12th outing that she’s been “a little grumpier” than usual during the pandemic and has been reaching for foods that soothe. Fittingly, she here offers simple spins on classic comfort fare: roasted shishito peppers with hollandaise is a new take on eggs Benedict, and chicken soup made with frozen peas and onions is a riff on chicken pot pie, the crust of which is frozen puff pastry punched out with a cookie cutter and baked into large croutons. Garten has a way with irresistible snacks, and a chapter on cocktails and foods for entertaining a crowd includes nachos topped with fresh crabmeat and a cream cheese and mayonnaise mixture. She also doesn’t shrink from fat: a free-form tomato and goat cheese pie that serves four for lunch uses one and a half sticks of butter, as well as a macaroni and cheese with mushrooms and truffle butter. To balance that out, there’s a salad comprising a bright mix of fresh peas, sugar snap peas, mint, and manchego cheese. A chapter of breakfast options includes a puffy apple Dutch baby and hash browns crisped in a waffle iron. Specific brands are frequently recommended, such as the Nabisco ginger snaps in a banana rum trifle, and Pepperidge Farm top-split buns for tuna and avocado rolls. Garten fans will dig into these inviting recipes, presented in her always friendly tone.

September 1, 2020

Culinary star Garten returns with her 12th cookbook, built around the timely theme of comfort food. Garten wishes to create dishes that are satisfying on a deep emotional level, and many of the recipes here are updated versions of American childhood favorites and nostalgic home-cooking staples. Standard party fare becomes refined with Garten's fresh crab nachos and fig and cheese toasts, while classic diner food gets an upgrade in the form of lobster BLTs and mac and cheese made with truffle butter. A few standards have been lightened up, as in spring green spaghetti carbonara, but heavy cream, butter, and melted cheese are generally present in vast quantities. As always, Garten relies on easily sourced frozen and store-bought ingredients and straightforward kitchen methods. VERDICT Garten's cookbooks are perennial best sellers. Anyone in search of nostalgic American comfort food with a twist will enjoy her latest offering.--Kelsy Peterson, Forest Hill Coll., Melbourne, Australia

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