A Twist of the Wrist: Quick Flavorful Meals with Ingredients from Jars, Cans, Bags, and Boxes

Award-winning chef Nancy Silverton has conquered the gourmet world as the original dessert chef at Spago and founder of the celebrated La Brea Bakery. Her recipes are legendary, innovative, and delicious. However, in the last few years, there has been a great shift in cooking toward the Home Meal Replacement (HMR), better known as “takeout.” Its impossible to spend hours in the kitchen after a hard days work, so more people are buying prepared foods and frozen meals, compromising taste for convenience. Realizing that peoples hectic workdays dont afford everyone the time to re-create her epicurean triumphs, Nancy has come up with the perfect solution . . .

Enter, the jar!

Compiling a list of her favorite products that come in jarsand cans, bags, and boxesNancy has created easy-to-follow recipes that require less than thirty minutes to prepare. With this book theres no need to sacrifice flavor, sophistication, and taste just because youre spending less time chopping, cleaning, cooking, or baking. Nancys shortcuts not only allow us to produce quick and easy meals at home, they let us bring back the pride and the joy of creating gourmet meals for our family and friends.

A Twist of the Wrist contains 137 quick and delicious gourmet recipes from salads to pasta to meats and desserts, such as:

Cumin Shrimp and Chickpea Salad with Roasted Carrots

Creamy Corn Soup with Bacon and Cheddar Crostini

Orzo with Dried Porcini Mushrooms, Radicchio, and Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Boneless Pork Chops, with Creamy Polenta and Fennel Pollen

Seared Rare Tuna with Tomato-Olive Salsa

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Pie with Hot Fudge Sauce, Cajeta, and Salty Spanish Peanuts

In addition to Nancys own creations, she includes recipes concocted with prepared ingredients from some of her chef friends, including Sara Foster, Tom Colicchio, Charlie Trotter, Mario Batali, Suzanne Goin, Ruth Reichl, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

There is also a pantry section, telling us where to getby the Internet and mail orderthe best of all things canned, jarred, and bottled.

This charming and utterly indispensable cookbook is suited for any type of cook, whether youre an on-the-go gourmand or you just love flavorful, accessible meals at home. A Twist of the Wrist fits perfectly into todays modern lifestyle and is a must-have for the contemporary kitchen.

"In this beautifully illustrated book, renowned Los Angeles baker and chef Silverton (Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book) uses premium prepared ingredients as shortcuts to ease the home cooking time crunch. Most recipes are timed at 30 minutes or less, but the elegance and seeming difficulty of the dishes set them apart from the usual quick-fix crowd pleasers: Pomegranate-Glazed Lamb Chops with Stuffed Grape Leaves and Tahini Sauce, or Buttermilk-Fried Oysters with Pickled Vegetables and Chipotle Mayonnaise sound like they should take much longer than half an hour, but with the ready-made ingredients, few cooks will have a problem. They might, however, have trouble actually finding those ingredients; even big-city dwellers may have to turn to the Internet for specialty items like green masala paste or fennel pollen, though a helpful glossary provides insight into locating them and some substitutions. Famous chef friends like Charlie Trotter and Mario Batali provide recipes revealing their own secret shortcuts. Fans of Silverton's last book will love the chapter on crostini with innovative toppings like ventresca, piquillo peppers and caper mayonnaise, using leftovers from jars bought for other recipes. Cooks looking for upscale yet quick meal ideas, and who will pay extra for pricey exotic items, are sure to appreciate this stylish cheat sheet. 38 color photos. 75,000 first printing." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Compiling a list of her favorite products that come in jars--and cans, bags, and boxes--an award-winning chef has created easy-to-follow recipes that require less than 30 minutes to prepare. This charming and utterly indispensable cookbook is suited for any type of cook--on-the-go gourmands to those who just love flavorful, accessible meals at home.

Nancy Silverton is the author of Nancy Silvertons Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (recipient of Food & Wine Best Cookbook award in 2000), Nancy Silvertons Breads from the La Brea Bakery (nominated for Julia Child and James Beard cookbook awards), Nancy Silvertons Sandwich Book, and Desserts. She will soon be opening a new restaurant in Los Angeles, Mozza, with Mario Batali. She lives in Los Angeles.

Carolynn Carreño is a James Beard Award-winning journalist and the coauthor of 100 Ways to Be Pasta (with Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene), Fresh Every Day (with Sara Foster), and Once Upon a Tart (with Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau). She lives in Los Angeles and New York.