The New American Cooking 280 Recipes Full of Delectable New Flavors From Around the World as Well as Fresh Ways with Old Favorites: A Cookbook

by NATHAN, JOAN

• ISBN13: 9781400040346
• ISBN10: 1400040345
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-25
• Publisher: Knopf

Summary

Joan Nathan, the author ofJewish Cooking in America, An American Folklife Cookbook, and many other treasured cookbooks, now gives us a fabulous feast ofnewAmerican recipes and the stories behind them that reflect the most innovative time in our culinary history. The huge influx of peoples from all over Asia--Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, India--and from the Middle East and Latin America in the past forty years has brought to our kitchens new exotic flavors, little-known herbs and condiments, and novel cooking techniques that make the most of every ingredient. At the same time, health and environmental concerns have dramatically affected how and what we eat. The result: American cooking has never been as exciting as it is today. And Joan Nathan proves it on every page of this wonderfully rewarding book. Crisscrossing the country, she talks to organic farmers, artisanal bread bakers and cheese makers, a Hmong farmer in Minnesota, a mango grower in Florida, an entrepreneur of Indian frozen foods in New Jersey, home cooks, and new-wave chefs. Among the many enticing dishes she discovers are a breakfast huevos rancheros casserole; starters such as Ecuadorean shrimp ceviche, Szechuan dumplings, and Malaysian swordfish satays; pea soup with kaffir leaves; gazpacho with sashimi; pasta dressed with pistachio pesto; Iraqi rice-stuffed Vidalia onions; and main courses of Ecuadoreancasuela, chickenyasafrom Gambia, and couscous from Timbuktu (with dates and lamb). And there are desserts for every taste. Old American favorites are featured, too, but often Nathan discovers a cook who has a new way with a dish, such as an asparagus salad with blood orange mayonnaise, pancakes made with blue cornmeal and pine nuts, a seafood chowder that includes monkfish, and a chocolate bread pudding with dried cherries. Because every recipe has a story behind it,The New American Cookingis a book that is as much fun to read as it is to cook from--amustfor every kitchen today. From the Hardcover edition.

Author Biography

Joan Nathan was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She has earned a master's degree from both the University of Michigan and Harvard University. Ms. Nathan writes for The New York Times and other publications and is the author of numerous books, including Jewish Cooking in America, which won both the James Beard Award and the IACP / Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award in 1994. Drawing on her research for The New Cooking in America, she was the guest curator of Food Culture USA at the 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. She is the mother of three grown children and lives with her husband in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 2
Breakfast and Brunch	p. 11
Bread	p. 45
Starters and Small Plates	p. 91
Soups	p. 123
Salads	p. 155
Pasta and Grains	p. 185
Vegetables and Vegetarian Dishes	p. 219
Fish and Shellfish	p. 261
Poultry	p. 297
Meat	p. 329
Desserts	p. 365
Acknowledgments	p. 416
Mail-Order Sources	p. 418
Bibliography	p. 421
Index	p. 423
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Chocolate Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Icing

When I was growing up, I always wanted a simple chocolate cake for my birthday. I still do. This velvety chocolate cake gets its name from its smooth texture and reddish hue. The original recipe called for red beet juice—in some parts of the country it is called beet cake—but was altered by manufacturers who added red food coloring to the cake. "Red coloring is evil and dangerous for children and other living things," Carole Greenwood, a chef in Washington, D.C. told me. She refuses to use food coloring but loves this buttermilk-based velvety chocolate cake, and uses red wine vinegar or beet juice for the color. She also makes her version less sweet, using both good-quality cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate.

For the cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup good-quality cocoa powder
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons pickled beet juice or red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

For the icing:
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Yield: 1 cake serving 8 people

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease two 9-inch round cake pans.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the water and cocoa powder, and allow the mixture to cool.

3. Beat the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer, then add the vanilla, buttermilk, baking soda, and beet juice or red wine vinegar and stir well.

4. Sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, salt, and sugar into the bowl. Pour in the butter and then the egg mixture and blend thoroughly on low.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. Cool the cakes for a few minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks, and frost and fill the center with the chocolate icing.

Chocolate Icing

1. Place the cream, butter, and sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until hot and bubbly.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring slowly until smooth and silky. Add the vanilla and the salt.Taste and adjust the sweetness to your taste. Cool for about 15 minutes before frosting the cake.

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Excerpted from The New American Cooking by Joan Nathan
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.