Monday, November 27, 2017

Gathering And GIving

One of the hallmarks of Southern cooking is feeding others, and providing them with comfort. A new cookbook emphasizes this with a variety of sweet and savory recipes. It's perfect for the cooks who love to cook and give.

This great cookbook is Love, Welcome, Serve- Recipes That Gather And Give (The Hachette Book  Group 2017) written by Amy Nelson Hannon, the owner of Euna Mae's Kitchen Shop and   food blogger. She is a Southerner, straight from the heart of the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas and that homey hospitality shines in her recipes. There's even a section at the back of the book that tells home chefs what recipes gather people together and which ones give. Since Ms. Hannon is deeply religious and a preacher's wife, every section begins with a quote from Brilliant Saverin to Mother Teresa about opening up one's home to others/ The book opens up with a parsing out of kitchen ingredients, and true to her Southern roots, recommends using Hellman's mayonnaise along with full fat ingredients. Other recommendations include using richly flavored Vietnamese cinnamon, freshly squeezed lemon juice and the more expensive Neilsen-Massey vanilla extract.There is a handy must have list of equipment that every home chef must have as well as what foodstuffs should be in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

The recipes themselves are cozy, ribsticking ones.The book is divided into different sections from Bites That Welcome To Meats, Mains And Hearty Stews and finishes with For The Love Of Sweets. This is a Southern cookbook so there's a lot of cream cheese , butter and sweet tea used. Still, the book has a huge swath of Mexican and Italian dishes too.There are also regional ones such as Texas Firecracker a marinated Saltine, zinged up with red pepper flakes and garlic.She also gives a tasty pulled pork recipe, loaded with spices, perfect for a Saturday night get together with friends.Her Easy Mozzarella And Meatball Bake is kind of lasagna minus the pasta and would be a great weeknight meal. The sides cover everything from Roasted Honey Balsamic Brussels Sprouts to bacon and brown sugar collards. Southern baking is also represented. Home bakers will love Ms. Hannon's biscuits as well as her scratch pie dough recipes.Another plus of the book is that it has recipes for homemade chicken stock,tomato sauce, whipped cream and even hard shell chocolate sauce.

Love, Welcome, Serve, Recipes That Gather And Give is the perfect holiday gift for the home chef  and baker that open their kitchens.it has yummy recipes that can feed a whole table of guests or as a comfort to those in need. it shows that love not only comes from