Weeknights With Giada: Quick And Simple Recipes To Revamp Dinner (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
This is my favorite cookbook by Giada. I think the recipes are all realistic and good tasting. Really simple good soups-my favorite: Beef and cannellini bean minestrone and shrimp and sausage cioppino. Her toasted ciabatta with shrimp, tarragon and arugula is really really good, it's one of my family's favorites. A couple panini sandwiches are also great: the grilled cheese with spinach and pancetta and her ham, gruyere and apple panini.There are more dinner items that were tasty as well. Love the book, but $35 for the hardcover is outrageous. It is always interesting to learn how to possibly do something differently and cooks are certainly not afraid to give their opinion as to how and why something should be done in a certain way. It is true that most of us can get into a bit of a rut with our regular meal planning and cooking if we don't force ourselves to make a change from the same old, same old from time to time. Here Giada De Laurentiis sets out to show how we can make our evening meals be a little brighter and a little different without it being a major hassle in the process. De Laurentiis is a star of the Food Network television channel and through this book she presents many recipes that are said to be quick and simple to prepare whilst combining fresh and flavoursome ingredients that can sustain our culinary interest.Simplicity is the key here, both in preparation and the cleaning up process! Consideration is given to the ever-busy lifestyle that we invariably lead - of course, where time permits many wish that they have time to prepare an intricate, gourmet meal but sadly those occasions can be few and far between and the family still needs to eat...Split into a number of sections - soups & salads, bruschettas, sandwiches & pizzas, pasta & grains, meat, poultry & fish, change of pace, breakfast for dinner, veggies and sides and finally desserts - it is clear that there should be something for everyone and every taste here. It is rarely right to treat one book as the de facto opinion of how to do things yet you will get a good overview and many suggestions here and, of course, you are free to experiment, customise and try different things as time, confidence and interest permit. The reader is also able to get a bit into the mindset of the author through the book's lengthy introduction. Sometimes introductions can be rather impersonal, fake-feeling and insincere, a sort of obligatory bit of filler, but it was a pleasure reading about the author and her family and her thoughts here.Each recipe fits onto a single page and is split between an overview and guide, the ingredients list and the actual instructions. Again an idea of the typical preparation and cooking time is missing - a particular bugbear of YUM - so one has to just assume that the recipe keeps to the author's promise of being something relatively quick to make after a busy day at work. However the writing style of each review is fairly simplistic, friendly yet detailed so that you should not have any major problems with the dish's execution.The range of dishes on offer is quite pleasing, covering more traditional dishes with a twist here and there, international favourites and maybe a few more innovative surprises to boot. Full page photographs of the finished dishes also help give you additional inspiration (and confidence that you have done it right?) along with various more personal imagery of the author and her family.The book is rounded off by a fairly good index that enables you to drill down between dish and ingredients, should browsing through the book not be sufficient. One can confidently use this book as part of your armoury to help fight the evening's hunger and to find a practical, viable alternative to the take-out restaurant as many of the dishes could (should?) be prepared and ready by the time that the takeout food has been ordered, delivered and unpackaged. Drat! Foiled again.Weeknights with Giada: Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner, written by Giada De Laurentiis and published by Clarkson Potter/Crown Publishing. ISBN 9780307451026, 240 pages. Typical price: USD35. YYYY.// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
What do You think about Weeknights With Giada: Quick And Simple Recipes To Revamp Dinner (2012)?
I found recipes easy and fun to make love the chocolate espresso bean cookies
—hamtaro331
It's good. Simple--which is to be expected with "Quick and Simple..." :-)
—Yul08
Wouldn't make any of these during the week. A little fancy for everyday.
—lilkytty
I use this on weekends & for company. Cooking with cleavage!
—BerryPatch
Great receipes from one of my favorite cooks!
—miriah
