Synopses & Reviews
This is the way we love to eat -- slowly braised, cut-with-a-spoon-tender meat resting in aromatic juices just waiting for the perfect piece of bread to come along and sop it up; a steaming bowl of chowder filled with chunks of fish and potatoes in rich broth laced with the smoky-sweet-salty flavor of bacon; a casserole that's spent some serious time in the oven as layer upon layer of creamy, soft cheese, pasta, herbs, and meat meld into a delectable whole. andlt;BRandgt; And as luck would have it, this is the way celebrated New York City chef Tom Valenti andlt;Iandgt;lovesandlt;/Iandgt; to cook. Considered Manhattan's grandmaster of comfort food, Valenti has made this beloved cooking his trademark. In fact, on any given night, you'll find him in his wildly successful Upper West Side restaurants Ouest and 'Cesca feeding the world's A-list -- Bill Clinton, Steven Spielberg, Charlie Rose, Jerry Seinfeld, Judy Collins, Joan Didion. Because, of course, this is the food they andlt;Iandgt;loveandlt;/Iandgt; to eat, too. andlt;BRandgt; In andlt;Iandgt;Tom Valenti's Soups, Stews, and One-Pot Meals,andlt;/Iandgt; Valenti and coauthor Andrew Friedman dish up the flavor we've come to expect from a New York chef, without any of the fuss. This is food that gets better a day or two after it's made, food to make on the weekend and savor throughout a busy week, food that is perfect for dinner parties and family celebrations. andlt;BRandgt; Here are 125 realistic recipes for the home cook -- most made in one pot -- and all based on the fact that the right ingredients, left alone to cook in a single vessel with virtually no intervention from the cook, steadily build glorious flavor and leave far fewer pots to clean. andlt;BRandgt; The book includes "Variations" and "Tomorrow's Table," tips on ways to embellish a dish by adding vegetables or meats or provide economy by stretching it into another satisfying meal by simply adding another ingredient. Valenti and Friedman embrace what they term "cooking in the real world," encouraging home cooks to use canned stocks and beans whenever appropriate. They discuss key ingredients; offer a section on condiments, garnishes, and accompaniments; provide a list of mail-order sources; and recommend cookware (though you won't need a lot).
Review
"If you enjoy the mellow, velvety, complex, and succulent flavors that come from one-pot meals cooked slowly, this is the book to have." Lidia Bastianich, chef-owner of Felidia, Becco, and Lidia's, and host of Public Television's Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen and Lidia's Italian Table
Review
"I crave the lusty and gutsy flavors of Tom Valenti's food twelve months a year. Now, instead of trying to steal his dishes from his menu, I have them all right here in Tom Valenti's Soups, Stews, and One-Pot Meals." Bobby Flay, chef-owner of Mesa Grill and Bolo and host of the Food Network's Boy Meets Grill and FoodNation
Review
"There's a slackness here...not in the recipes themselves, which are uniformly tight and well-written, but in the dishes....It's a shame, too, because when Valenti perks up a recipe with imagination he scores big..." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Valenti's recipes span the sumptuous and exotic, like Portuguese-Style Pork Roast with Steamed Clams (ridiculously easy, despite its glamorous appearance on the table), to the comfort-food stylings of Lamb Pasticcio, which Valenti gleefully admits tastes like a 'sophisticated version of the beefaroni they served you in your junior-high cafeteria.' And, don't get me started on his light and fluffy Macaroni and Goats Cheese. Gourmet comfort food of the highest order." Georgie Lewis, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
In an elegant version of Fix-It and Forget-It, chef Tom Valenti presents the dishes he feeds the A-list every night at Ouest, one of New York's hottest restaurants substantial, satisfying comfort food easily made at home. Beautifully designed with 16 pages of color photography, the book includes more than 125 recipes for delicious, deeply satisfying meals including Tomato, Bread, and Parmesan Soup; Creamy Smoked Cod Chowder; Lentil and Garlic Sausage Stew; Lobster Shepherd's Pie; Texas-style Chili; and meltingly tender meats, such as Florentine Pot Roast with Red Wine, Mushrooms, and Tomatoes and Slow-Cooked Chicken in a Pot.
Synopsis
Considered Manhattan's grandmaster of comfort food, celebrated chef Tom Valenti and his coauthor Andrew Friedman dish up the flavor his fans have come to expect without any of the fuss in 125 realistic recipes for the home cook. Slowly braised, cut-with-a-spoon-tender meat resting in aromatic juices just waiting for the perfect piece of bread to come along and sop it up. A steaming bowl of chowder filled with chunks of fish and potatoes in rich broth laced with the smoky-sweet-salty flavor of bacon. A casserole that's spent some serious time in the oven as layer upon layer of creamy, soft cheese, pasta, herbs, and meat meld into a delectable whole.
Satisfying fare like this is Tom Valenti's trademark. This is food that gets better a day or two after it's made, food to make on the weekend and savor throughout a busy week, food that is perfect for dinner parties and family celebrations. Make it at home with 125 recipes based on the guiding principle that the right ingredients left to cook in a single vessel steadily build glorious flavor--and leave far fewer pots to clean.
Also included are tips on ways to embellish a dish by adding vegetables or meats and to provide economy by stretching a recipe into another satisfying meal simply by adding another ingredient. Valenti and Friedman embrace what they term "cooking in the real world," encouraging home cooks to use canned stocks and beans whenever appropriate. They discuss key ingredients; offer a section on condiments, garnishes, and accompaniments; provide a list of mail-order sources; and recommend cookware.
About the Author
Andrew Friedman has made a career of getting to know the heads and hearts of professional cooks and athletes.andnbsp;For more than ten years, Friedman has collaborated with many of the nationand#8217;s best and most revered chefs on cookbooks and other writing projects.andnbsp;His writing career began in 1997, when Alfred Portale, asked him to collaborate on the andlt;iandgt;Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbookandlt;/iandgt;.andnbsp;The book received wide acclaim and since then he has worked as a cookbook collaborator on more than twenty projects, helping a number of the nationand#8217;s best chefs (Alfred Portale, David Waltuck, Tom Valenti, and many others) share their unique culinary viewpoints with readers.andnbsp; As coauthor of the andlt;iandgt;New York Times andlt;/iandgt;bestseller andlt;iandgt;Breaking Backandlt;/iandgt;, the memoir of American tennis star James Blake, he took readers inside an athleteand#8217;s mind during training and competition, and he does the same as a frequent contributor to andlt;iandgt;Tennis Magazineandlt;/iandgt;.andnbsp;In andlt;iandgt;KNIVES AT DAWN: The American Team and the Bocuse dand#8217;Or 2009andlt;/iandgt;, Friedman combines these two personal passions to tell the story of the premier cooking competition in the world.andnbsp;Friedman has contributed articles to andlt;iandgt;Oand#8212;The Oprah Magazineandlt;/iandgt; and other publications and websites.andnbsp;He has been profiled in andlt;iandgt;The New York Daily Newsandlt;/iandgt; and andlt;iandgt;New York Magazineandlt;/iandgt;, and interviewed for, or featured in articles in, andlt;iandgt;The New York Times andlt;/iandgt;and andlt;iandgt;The Wall Street Journalandlt;/iandgt;, as well as on NPRand#8217;s andlt;iandgt;Taste of the Nationandlt;/iandgt; and WOR Radioand#8217;s andlt;iandgt;Food Talkandlt;/iandgt;.andnbsp;He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from andlt;st1:placeandgt;andlt;st1:placenameandgt;Columbiaandlt;/st1:placenameandgt; andlt;st1:placetypeandgt;Universityandlt;/st1:placetypeandgt;andlt;/st1:placeandgt;, and is a graduate of the French Culinary Instituteand#8217;s and#8220;La Techniqueand#8221; cooking program.andnbsp;He lives in andlt;st1:cityandgt;andlt;st1:placeandgt;New York Cityandlt;/st1:placeandgt;andlt;/st1:cityandgt; with his family.
Table of Contents
andlt;Bandgt;Contentsandlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Foreword by Mario Bataliandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Introductionandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;How to Use This Bookandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Hearty Soups and Chowdersandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Casseroles, Stews, and Chiliandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Large Cuts and Catchesandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Accompaniments and Additionsandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Condiments and Garnishesandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Notes on Some Recurring Ingredientsandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Mail-Order Sourcesandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Acknowledgmentsandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Indexandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Copyright and#169; 2003 by Tom Valenti and Andrew Friedman