“Charlie Palmer’s Practical Guide to the New American Kitchen,” by Charlie Palmer (Melcher Media, $35)
This is an accessible chef’s cookbook. Palmer, who has created of-the-moment restaurants from New York City to California wine country, has delivered 135 recipes that are basic yet sophisticated, organized into menus and accompanied by wine recommendations. The book itself claims to be “splatterproof, sauceproof, waterproof.”
It’s all delivered in a graphic style that’s clean to the point of clinical, but you can’t deny this book’s user-friendliness. The recipes are homey rather than showy.
That’s not to say you won’t want to show them off. A garlic-studded pot roast slow-cooked in a bottle of red wine was simple and delicious, with fingerling potatoes that made an effortless accompaniment. Palmer also includes a guide to his favorite equipment and pantry items, and offers recipes for one or two (for late-night suppers and dates) or up to 10 for holiday dinners and buffets.
As for those “sauceproof” claims? We anointed the paperback’s pages with red wine, pan juices and water – they wiped clean every time. We couldn’t even tear them.|Kate Shatzkin, The Baltimore Sun
GARLIC-STUDDED POT ROAST
INGREDIENTS
1 beef chuck roast, about 4 pounds
10 cloves garlic, peeled sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, washed and halved
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 bottle dry red wine
1/2 bunch fresh thyme
1 bay leaf, preferably fresh
1 pound fingerling potatoes, scrubbed clean
DIRECTIONS
Using a paring knife, make 1 1/2-inch slits in the beef and press a garlic clove into each one. If the cloves don’t fit, halve them, but make sure they’re in deep. The roast will shrink as it cooks, and if the garlic is too close to the surface it will be squeezed out and burn.
Season the meat liberally on all sides with salt and black pepper.
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat and sear the roast all over; turn the heat down after a few minutes so the meat develops a nice, thick crust. Remove roast from pan.
Add the butter to the pan and cook until lightly browned. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes longer. (The mushrooms will release a lot of liquid, which will deglaze and cool the pan.) Cook until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms begin to color, then sprinkle in the flour and stir to incorporate it.
Return the roast to the pan, pour the wine over it and add the thyme and bay leaf. Cover the pan and simmer the roast over low heat until fork-tender, about 4 hours (or cook it in a 325-degree oven for the same amount of time).
About 20 minutes before the pot roast is done, add the potatoes, pushing them down into the pan juices. When the roast is done, remove it and let it stand for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Meanwhile, turn heat to medium and reduce pan juices by about half to make a sauce. Remove from heat and discard thyme and bay leaf. Skim fat from the sauce and serve with roast. Offer sea salt on the side.
Serves 6.
Per serving: 788 calories, 80 grams protein, 43 grams fat, 15 grams saturated fat, 13 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams fiber, 219 milligrams cholesterol, 393 milligrams sodium
Note: Adapted from “Charlie Palmer’s Practical Guide to the New American Kitchen”
Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
