Overview
An exciting debut cookbook that confirms the arrival of a new guru chef . . . A moving, deeply personal journey of survival and discovery that tells of the evolution of a cuisine and of the transformative power and magic of food and cooking. From the two-time James Beard Award-winning chef whose celebrated New Orleans restaurants have been hailed as the country's most innovative and best by Bon App tit, Food & Wine, Saveur, GQ, and Esquire.
- Alon's journey is as gripping and as seductive as his cooking . . . Lovely stories, terrific food.
--Yotam Ottolenghi, author of Jerusalem: A Cookbook
- Breathtaking. Bravo. --Joan Nathan, author of King Solomon's Table
Alon Shaya's is no ordinary cookbook. It is a memoir of a culinary sensibility that begins in Israel and wends its way from the U.S.A. (Philadelphia) to Italy (Milan and Bergamo), back to Israel (Jerusalem) and comes together in the American South, in the heart of New Orleans. It's a book that tells of how food saved the author's life and how, through a circuitous path of (cooking) twists and (life-affirming) turns the author's celebrated cuisine--food of his native Israel with a creole New Orleans kick came to be, along with his award-winning New Orleans restaurants: Shaya, Domenica, and Pizza Domenica, ranked by Esquire, Bon App tit, and others as the best new restaurants in the United States.
These are stories of place, of people, and of the food that connects them, a memoir of one man's culinary sensibility, with food as the continuum throughout his journey--guiding his personal and professional decisions, punctuating every memory, choice, every turning point in his life. Interspersed with glorious full-color photographs and illustrations that follow the course of all the flavors Shaya has tried, places he's traveled, things he's experienced, lessons he's learned--more than one hundred recipes--from Roasted Chicken with Harissa to Speckled Trout with Tahini and Pine Nuts; Crab Cakes with Preserved Lemon Aioli; Roasted Cast-Iron Ribeye; Marinated Soft Cheese with Herbs and Spices; Buttermilk Biscuits; and Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Feta.
Details
- ISBN-13: 9780451494160
- ISBN-10: 0451494164
- Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
- Publish Date: March 2018
Related Categories
BookPage® Reviews
Cooking: Eat your vegetables
Plant-based eating is in, as more of us are incorporating more veggies into our everyday meals than ever before. Cookbook author and blogger Alana Chernila wants to celebrate this happy, healthy turn of events with a collection of recipes that brings out “the best in each root and leaf.” The result, Eating from the Ground Up, is for everyone—omnivores included. Chernila’s goal is to show us how to make each vegetable shine in all its glory, without disguises or fussy prep. Sometimes, she suggests, it’s knowing the little tricks that can highlight what’s best in a vegetable, and sometimes it’s knowing when to leave well enough alone—sprinkle tamari and sesame oil over quickly steamed baby bok choy, braise cabbage in an inch of water with a knob of butter, roast all the ingredients for Tomato and Vegetable Soup on one baking sheet to deepen the flavor, or combine raw corn kernels with nectarines or peaches and a squeeze of lime juice for a sensational summer salad. Easy and elegant, these 100 recipes will bring the pleasure of plants to your table all year-round.
POTLUCK PERFECT
“What can I bring?” is what we usually say when invited to a food-focused gathering, be it a summer picnic, a graduation celebration, a backyard barbecue or a birthday bash. A little edible outsourcing can be a big help when you’re hosting a gathering, and it’s a fun way to contribute as a guest. But no one wants to face six salads, each soggy in its own way. Ali Rosen, potluck maven par excellence, helps you avoid such dining disasters in Bring It!: Tried and True Recipes for Potlucks and Casual Entertaining. She shares her enthusiasm, her expertise in organizing meals and her “aspirational, attainable” recipes that make a multidish event practical and pleasing. Everything you need is here, from easy appetizers to no-bake desserts, plus vital advice on the nitty-gritty of menu planning—“an orchestrated dance of different cooks,” if you’re the host—making food ahead, transporting your delicious dish, reheating and much more. Potluck party or covered-dish dinner? Bring it on!
TOP PICK IN COOKBOOKS
Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel is Alon Shaya’s stunning debut cookbook, with over 100 recipes wrapped in a candid, compelling “autobiography” about his culinary sensibility and how he found his way to becoming an award-winning chef. If that sounds heavy, it’s not. Born in Israel and brought up in the U.S., Shaya cooks in a way that reflects his heritage and his ramblings from culinary school to Las Vegas, New Orleans, Italy and, most importantly, Israel, where he found the core of his cultural identity. And we’re the lucky beneficiaries of his unique, very personal take on what it means to meld the best of many food traditions. Za’atar Fried Chicken is a must, as are Spicy Scallop Rolls, feathery-light Bright Green Falafel, Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Feta, Avocado Toast with Whitefish and Shaya’s grandmother’s Bulgarian Lamb Kebabs—so many fabulous flavors, so many imaginative combos.
This article was originally published in the March 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
