Jennifer Guerrero

Fesenjoon – Chicken (or eggplant) with Walnuts and Pomegranates recipe and cookbook review: The Saffron Tales by Yasmin Khan

jenniferguerrero1 August 21, 2019

#YasminKhan @YasminKhan #TheSaffronTales @TheSaffronTales #BloomsburyPub @BloomsburyPub

I flipped through The Saffron Tales, pasting little post-it notes on all the recipes I wanted to try. So many. She had four different variations on tahdig for her Chelow. Have you tried it? Chelow is Persian rice, and tahdig is the crispy layer that cooks in olive oil and butter right against the pan. So good. It’s one of those things that makes lovely manners rather difficult. I flagged all of them, and went back to flipping through the book. Then I saw it – Chelow filled with all sorts of herbs. When we lived in New York, my friend Firoozeh and I would take turns hosting family dinners on weekends, and that’s the rice she always used to spoil us with. Since we’ve moved to Texas, there are about 1600 miles between us. This isn’t a Firoozeh hug, but its as close as I can get without a plane ticket, so I had to make that one. It was perfect. Warm fuzzies all around.

Spicy Pepperoncini Beef recipe and cookbook review: No Crumbs Left by Teri Turner

jenniferguerrero1 August 16, 2019

#hmhco @hmhco @TeriTurner #NoCrumbsLeft @NoCrumbsLeft

I found the foodie’s Whole30-ish book! No Crumbs Left is such a delicious, beautiful, and interesting one! A lot of the recipes follow the Whole30 rules. You’ll see labels along the margin for Whole30, gluten-fee, dairy-free, paleo, and grain-free. Many have all of those. Melissa Hartwig and Michelle Tam compare Teri Turner’s food skills to Julia Child. I found myself wanting to try almost everything in the book, especially the super healthy ones. If you’re looking for really nourishing dishes with total foodies in mind, I think you’ll love it! She’s a strong flavorist!

There are a few base recipes that she makes at the front of the book that are ready-to-go ingredients in other recipes, like marinated red onions, garlic confit, and tomato confit. Yeah, they’re totally worth it.

I’ll tell you all about the dishes we tried, but first I wanted to share a fabulous recipe from the book, Spicy Pepperoncini Beef. Sweet and hot peppers with garlic, onions, and basil. It tastes phenomenal, yet it’s weeknight easy-breezy, and super good for you. Perfect!

David Sedaris, Calypso, and Fitbit

jenniferguerrero1 June 14, 2019

#DavidSedaris @DavidSedaris #Calypso #HalfPriceBooks @HalfPriceBooks #Fitbit @Fitbit

I scroll through my email and see An Evening with David Sedaris. It’s at the Half Price Books flagship store in Dallas, or as I lovingly refer to it, the mothership. Calypso. He’s got a new book? No. It came out a year ago. Thank God for that email, because we hadn’t heard of it. I ordered a copy and could barely stand the 24 hour wait.

Real Deal Holyfield Brisket Breakfast Tacos recipe and cookbook review: The Brisket Chronicles by Steven Raichlen

jenniferguerrero1 April 29, 2019

#StevenRaichlen @StevenRaichlen #WorkmanPub @WorkmanPub #BrisketChronicles @BrisketChronicles #HorizonSmokers @HorizonSmokers

Steven Raichlen’s got a new book coming out tomorrow (April 30th), The Brisket Chronicles, and it is wonderful! I’m in love with this book and wish I’d gone with the hardcover already, as it is sure to be oh-so-very well used. He’s got everything in here from barbecue brisket favorites to his family’s holiday braised briskets and even brisket dessert. Like his other books, this has that same welcoming tone and desire to teach you how to get everything just right. His instructions are casual, yet really thorough. If you want to become the brisket master, he’ll help get you there. I was delighted to see that Steven smokes on the exact same smoker that I do, a Horizon RD Marshal that I lovingly refer to as Billy Bob. Spoiler alert – No, he never tells us what he’s named his smoker.

A huge thanks to Workman Publishing for letting me share the recipe for Real Deal Holyfield Brisket Breakfast Tacos with you! I’ll tell you all about the rest of the book afterwards!

Green Springtime Pierogi with Spinach Kasza and Cheese recipe and cookbook review: Polska by Zuza Zak

jenniferguerrero1 April 22, 2019

#ZuzaZak #Polska #Polish #pierogis #QuadrilleBooks #HardieGrant

Polska is a wonderful book filled with gorgeous, inspirational photos, homey, delicious Polish comfort food, and special-occasion dishes. It filled our home with the inviting scent of marjoram and onions. Zuza’s tone is very casual and inviting, and her instructions are clear.

The simple and delicious Turkey Escalope is going to find its way to the table often in this house, but her lovely Green Springtime Pierogi with Spinach Kasza and Cheese were over-the-moon good. A big thanks to Quadrille for letting me share the recipe with you! I’ll tell you all about the other dishes we tried after the recipe.

Smoky Chocolate Baklava recipe and cookbook review: Orexi! by Theo A. Michaels

jenniferguerrero1 April 10, 2019

#TheoCooks @TheoCooks #Orexi @RylandPetersAndSmall @RylandPeters #RylandPetersAndSmall #RylandPeters

Smoky. Chocolate. Baklava. I’m listening. Theo Michaels has you smoke chocolate on the stovetop for a few layers in his baklava. Then there’s a few layers of pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, and cinnamon. Encased in flaky, buttery phyllo. Obviously, that needed to happen. I have one of those big old macho smokers in my backyard, so I smoked the chocolate in there. Then I made it a second time baking the whole baklava right in my smoker. Yeah. Either way, that baklava is even better than the title sounds. A huge thanks to Ryland Peters and Small for letting me share that recipe with you! I’ll tell you all about the book after the recipe. I have a terrible fondness for Greek cookbooks, and that shelf is extensive. Orexi! is my personal favorite to date. Hope you love it, too!

Where the Crawdads Sing, Whiskey in a Teacup, and Crab Puffs

jenniferguerrero1 March 31, 2019

#WheretheCrawdadsSing #DeliaOwens #WhiskeyInATeacup #ReeseWitherspoon #BookClub #southern #crab

My book club recently read Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. I was hook, line, and sinker in love with that book. It’s the story of a young girl, who spends her whole life struggling against the current, trying to find her way. It has everything – beauty, scientific curiosity, adaptability, trust, distrust, murder, plotting, hope, hopelessness, love, rejectance <I’m doubling down on that being a word>, and acceptance. She has a profound love and appreciation for her marsh, deemed unloveable by everyone else, echoing the world’s view of her.