New Adventures: Christmas Cookbooks Plus One

I am a reader of cookbooks.

I am a lover of words.

I am a purveyor and a taker of food photographs.

I am an uber lover of cookbooks, with good words, and lots of photos. If you don't have photos with your recipes I usually find it disappointing. I want to know what things are suppose to look like when they are done. There is an aesthetic culinary appeal to it all. My imagination is sparked by ingredients and the photos just put the "happy" into the whole thing for me, plus it helps me moderate and plate my own food.

I have too many cookbooks. What is "too many?" Almost 200. There is no stop in sight, I'm going with it, it's what I do, it's what I love.

I have been collecting them for close to two decades. Some have been hand me downs from family, some found in second-hand bookstores, some of them sweet discoveries in my browsing online, and a handful of total duds which I can't quite part with because they are so awful. Amazon.com should love me for all of the business I have given them through the years. I keep waiting for them to make me the world-wide-prize-winner-of-awesomeness customer extraordinaire, and they reward me by sending me everything on my wishlist. I continue to wait. I think they might have a coronary if I won something like that, boxes would be coming to our house for days and days.

But I digress, as I periodically do.

Anyway.

In the above photo you will see several lovely, colorful covers of cookbooks that I received for Christmas . . . and as very-soon-after post Christmas gifts from my beloved, plus one that was a rediscovery from the bookshelf.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks A Year of Holidays by Ree Drummond
I love the Pioneer Woman. I have both of her other cookbooks and have cooked recipes out of both of them. I love, love, love the step by step processes that she gives, and the photographs. Fantastic photographs every step of the way, making the cooking easy. I have just begun to browse this particular tome and am loving it so far.

Ivan Ramen Love, Obsession, and Recipes From Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint by Ivan Orkin
I have been on a quest for a recipe and ingredients to make homemade Miso Soup. I love Miso Soup. I think the bowls they use in Japanese restaurants are cute and way, way too small for this simple, flavorful, comforting soup. Because it seems so simple, and because I have read that miso soup is to the Japanese what chicken noodle soup is to Americans, I know that it can't be overly complex. People have their variations but every mama makes her own and I want to be one of those mamas.

In my quest for Miso Soup, I came across this book on noodles. I love noodles.

I once had to catch a connecting flight through Hong Kong, and even though I would not be leaving the airport, I was on Chinese soil, and I was going to be there long enough to relax. I thought "How can I come to China, be in Hong Kong, and not eat noodles??" So I ate a delicious bowl of airport business class lounge noodles. I was tired, exhausted really, the soup was hot, and everything was piping-burn-your-mouth-delightful. The chef smiled at me as he handed me my bowl and I promptly took my chopsticks, found myself a quiet corner table and slurped to my hearts content. By the way, slurping, it's what you do. It's how it should be done. You are suppose to eat this stuff scaldingly hot, and the slurping helps as it goes in. Don't argue about it, just slurp it up.

Ivan Orkin is a Jewish kid from New York. He goes to Japan, he lives there, he works there, he falls in love there, he eats noodles and noodles and noodles. He comes to the U.S. suffers tremendous tragedy, picks himself back up, and without ruining the story with additional details, ends up back in Japan and opens a noodle shop and is the Gaijin wonder boy of noodles.

This book is a fascinating read, inspiring in one man's pursuit of a passion, a little rough here and there with the language but not overly obnoxious, and the story of victory of man over noodle, and the recipes that come with it are worth it. I read a bunch of it tonight after work and got all fired up about it and can't wait to try it out.

Washoku Recipes From the Japanese Home Kitchen by Elizabeth Andoh
I love Japanese food. Seconds ago you read about my obsession with Miso Soup. It bleeds over into other things as well. This is simple, homemade, down home Japanese food. This volume is nicely done, beautiful photographs, though not enough for my taste and also worth my time.

I'm looking to simplify the foods we eat, making them more natural and less processed, but without losing elegance, style and flavor. I'm embarking on some new recipes, flavors, songs that I want to add to my existing repertoire of Brazilian, American, Italian, Mexican and French culinary skills. Japanese food should help to round me out.

Japanese Hot Pots Comforting One-Pot Meals by Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat
We work. We spend a lot of time away from home because of said work. By the time I get home, get changed, relax for a minute or two, there is no time left for meatloaf and mashed potatoes. There is no time left for lasagna or chicken enchiladas and rice and beans. Besides, it's usually too late to start that kind of endeavor. Those kinds of meals are being gently relegated to days off, vacations and weekends. But I don't want to be a house of the lonely sandwich, or the can of soup, or the same ole same ole salad, and so I picked up Japanese Hot Pots.

There are some crazy ingredients in here . . . but there is also delightful broth, vegetables, dumplings and savory meats. I'm down with it. We'll see how it goes.

and

The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies 365 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day by Natalie Savona
This is the one book that is not new, but it is a new adventure. I bought it a couple-few years back when the whole juice/smoothie thing started trending. Cracked it open. Put it on the shelf and that was it.

I recently inherited my grandmother's Vitamix 3600. This thing is a beast, but it is also a well-tended beauty. I saw the shiny new red ones at Costco for $400-ish dollars, and it would look fabulous in red, in my kitchen, but, the times being what they are I figured I would crack the 1982 version out that I got for free and see if it is still in good working order. So, I yanked the juicing smoothie book out, blew the dust off, and bought a bunch of spinach, some kefir, carrots, meyer lemons and I'm getting ready for takeoff. I'm a little nervous about it. That's a lot of healthy vitamins in one place. I hope my body doesn't recoil in shock.

So there you have it. This is what is happening, right here, right now, in the kitchen of The Tempting Table. No doubt I will periodically regale you with tales of tragedy and success periodically. I'm excited about it and I think it will be fun. As is, my Bonito flakes arrived and I bought new tofu to begin my Miso Soup adventures. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy cooking kids!

Happy New Year! Roast Beef Au Jus With Swiss Cheese

Well, I've been away for awhile. A lot of changes in my life, good stuff, but they have kept me busy. I still love cooking and photography, I still love storytelling, so it's time to get back to all of it. What will you get here? Sometimes just recipes and the how to of it all, sometimes quips, sometimes memories, sometimes stories, sometimes the unexpected. It's how I roll.

So to kick off the new year we are going with an easy family favorite: Roast Beef Au Jus

• 1 lb. of Boar's Head London Broil, sliced as thin as you can get it
• 2-4 Crusty Rolls, Sub style
• 1 lb. Lacey Swiss Cheese (I used two slice per sandwich, you can definitely use more. I bought a pound, but then I'm making additional sandwiches for lunches this week.)
• Sea Salt
• Black Cracked Pepper
• Mayonnaise
• Extra Hot Horseradish, or just regular
• Sambal Olek: ground fresh chili paste
• 1-2 Packets Johnny's French Dip Au Jus, prepared according to directions (With just two of us, I usually make one packet, which provides for two sandwiches nicely. If you are preparing four sandwiches I would definitely make two packets.)

 Prepare the packet according to directions. Might I add here that there is a concentrate liquid version of this stuff that I am interested in trying, it sounds tasty, so that's on my least and I can't speak to it just yet.

Slice your rolls open, I leave a very small hinge to hold it together but otherwise cut them all the way through. Lightly toast these rolls under the broiler. Keep an eye on it, they will burn easily and quickly if you leave them in too long. Pull them out.

On one side of the toasted bread spread your desired amount of mayonnaise. On the other side spread your horseradish or the Sambal Olek. On the mayonnaise half generously layer your roast beef, add salt and pepper to taste if needed. On the other half lay your cheese across both sides so the cheese melts on the toast and on the roast beef when you put it under the broiler.

Place sandwiches back under the broiler until cheese is melted. In the interim ladle the hot au just into dipping dishes (you can use dessert bowls, regular bowls, square bowls, whatever it is that you have that is wide enough to accommodate the sandwiches.)

Serve your sandwiches while still hot. 

Serve with pickles, peppers, chips, avocado slices, or whatever else your family might like with this kind of a sandwich. Have plenty of napkins and dip away. Happy eating!