There’s a good reason to leave your house on this first Monday of Spring: you can take a peek at Curtis Stone’s lively new Good Food, Good Life. Suzen and I happily indulge ourselves in all of Curtis’s books and this brand new one is right on par with his other delicious volumes.
There is a style to Curtis’s cooking that seems the perfect match for busy foodies. We want something really delicious, and we are happy to use several ingredients, but we don’t have hours and hours of time. Yes, the pot can sit on the stove for a bit — and tomorrow’s post does just that, his Porcini-Braised Beef with Horseradish Mascarpone — but the actual prep time has to fit into schedules for gym, soccer, shopping, spring cleaning, and hopefully a little siesta.
That beef recipe is great example of Curtis’s style. Beef is braised with mushroom for intensity and flavor, then the horseradish mascarpone is added in a final flourish. You have four serious flavors marching around in your mouth at the same time. Not only is it delicious, but you gain this sense of completeness and satisfaction from this recipes, and of course his others, that make you think of trying out everything possible in Good Food, Good Life.
A Curtis recipe has very distinct character. You are treated to layers of flavor, engendered by fair number of ingredients but remarkably little prep time. There can be some cooking time where you let the stovetop or the oven do the “mixing and blending” for you. It’s minimalist work for maximum flavor. These are deals you cannot forgo. If the stovetop or oven are not adding flavor, it’s additions to a base recipe: like the goat cheese, fennel and pecans in the first salad listed below or fiery salsas that adorning the side of a dish.
Here are the book’s chapters and more recipes ideas to inspire you to look at Good Food, Good Life, and I suspect cook from it, too:
Light Meals
Roasted Beet and Quinoa Salad with Goat Cheese, Fennel, and Pecans
Frisée and Apple Salad with Ale Vinaigrette and Rye Croutes
Pork Burger with Spicy Ginger Pickles
Dinners
Chicken Chile Verde [19 ingredients but oh so tempting]
Parm-Crusted Pork Chops with Lemony Kale Salad
Grilled Lamb Chops with Kalamatra Salsa Verde
Potato and Zucchini Enchiladas with Habanero Salsa
Sides
Grilled Eggplant with Mint Vinaigrette
Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chorizo
Peas with Rosemary-Parmesan Cream
Sweets
Winter Citrus Tart with Rosemary Whipped Cram
Bittersweet Chocolate Sabayon with Fresh Raspberries and Whipped Crème Fraiche
Roasted Banana Soufflés with Caramel Sauce
In The Morning
Crepes with Homemade Ricotta and Maple-Kumquat Syrup
Poaches Eggs with Bacon, Avocado and Lime Mojo
Yogurt Parfaits with Blackberries and Vanilla
Snacks
Smoked Salmon Tartines with Red Onion-Caper Relish
Bruschetta with Spring Pea Pesto and Burrata
Sesame Shrimp Toast with Sweet Chile Sauce
Drinks
Strawberry-Hibiscus Punch
Italian Rhubarb-Orange Soda
Pineapple-Lime Margaritas
Good Food, Good Life offers a multitude of temptations. Resistance is futile and actually unnecessary. One you have sampled a couple of Curtis’s recipes, you’ll be in for the entire book.
The recipes in Good Food, Good Life are clearly written, with some detail to make sure you have recipe success. There are no hurdles here for the home cook, only the promise of Curtis Stone satisfaction.
Oh, for a peek right now at a great recipe check out Quick-Braised Spring Vegetables which I posted yesterday: