Books
More than Just Chicken Soup
Homemade Chicken Pot Pie and homemade chicken soup are probably my two most favorite foods in the world. But I would have never imagined to blend them together into one doubly delicious family friendly elegant comfort food presentation that you can serve either for the soup course or as a main dish.
MBE partnered with Kosher by Design, Post contains Amazon affiliate links
Yet, that's exactly what Susie Fishbein came up with as one of 120 creative original recipes for her eighth cookbook, Kosher by Design Cooking Coach, the newest title in the Kosher by Design series.
I'm a mom keeping a kosher home who also loves to cook, bake and entertain creatively every week for Shabbat, which is our Sabbath -- so this new cookbook is a G-d send when it comes to keeping all the food I serve to my kids, hubbie and guests from getting boring.
Personally I'm a huge fan of the Kosher by Design cookbook dynasty (more than 450,000 copies sold to date) so I must disclose up front that I own some of this master cookbook author's other titles and I regard Fishbein as the Jewish Martha Stewart role model of our generation. Susie is definitely a Jersey girl who loves getting creative with food and turning it into art, not unlike fellow Garden State girls the Martha (raised in Nutley) and me (also born and bred in NJ but living on the West Coast now).
This cookbook's appeal reaches far beyond an audience of just Jews, though. Anyone, from beginner to pro home gourmet chef, of just about any religious faith or cultural background who enjoys cooking artistic beautiful food that also tastes delicious will likely find more than a few recipes that speak to you.
From Chicken Souvlaki Salad to Pretzel-Crusted Lamb Chops to Spinach-Artichoke Farfalle to Baked Coconut Brown Rice Pilaf to Pecan Pie French Toast Bake, the melting pot of recipes you'll discover inside this single cooking tome are like none that you've ever seen before. Good thing this one is heavy on images with over 400 full-color stunning photos, continuing the tradition of earlier Kosher by Design cookbooks. For sure all the pictures of the finished products will encourage and inspire you.
It's hands on, too, with something new this time around: ten coaching sessions that are intended to take your kitchen culinary skills to the next level. This is where, for example, you'll learn gourmet techniques through images and easy-to-follow text such as how to spatchcock a chicken, a cooking art skill that I'm now working to perfect in my own kitchen.
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| Fresh rosemary from my organic garden |
As is my custom I always test at least one recipe prior to reviewing any cookbook, so for this review project I made the Chicken Pot Pie Soup. Usually when I prepare a new dish, I play with it and adjust ratios of ingredients to suit both my family's tastes and my artsy whims. I also take ample creative liberties to make it my own by adding or substituting components.
This recipe is a very delicious and visually-appealing soup if you follow the recipe given exactly. The only thing I'd suggest to make it even getter is adding twice the amount of corn starch called for to truly replicate the thick creamy sauce that is typically associated with pot pie.
I found out this recipe can be just as good if you change things up a bit, too. To do this, I substituted rice for potatoes and fresh thyme for dill and left out the turnip in the soup. Then for the pastry accompaniment I decided to use minced roasted garlic and fresh chopped rosemary for the flavorings inside instead of using the fresh dill, salt and pepper that the recipe listed. I also added bright green frozen peas for color right before serving and as a garnish and to make this soup really interesting, I used one of my miniature Mogen David cookie cutters to cut out star shapes from thinly sliced raw carrots.
The pastry breadsticks that go with the soup use store-bought puff pasty and as a result are really easy to make. Here are some images I shot while I prepped and baked my version.
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Pastry breadsticks start with puff pastry, rosemary and garlic
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Raw stuffed & rolled pastry sticks spaced 1" apart
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| Breadsticks I baked, ready to serve with the soup! |
Whether you choose to make the same recipe I did or any of the more than 100 others, I'm betting that you'll enjoy cooking from this hardcover jewel of a cookbook as much as your family and friends will delight in what you've made for them.
Kosher by Design Cooking Coach - Recipes, Tips and Techniques to Make Anyone a Better Cook by Susie Fishbein is published by Artscroll Mesorah Publications. Buy the 347-page photo illustrated Kosher by Design Cooking Coach cookbook is available in select stores and on Amazon.
Don't own this cookbook yet? Not to worry. Read on to find out how YOU can win a copy Kosher by Design Cooking Coach for your own kitchen's book shelf.
Kosher by Design Cooking Coach
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Ends 3/18/13
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FTC Disclosure: I received the book featured to facilitate this review. In addition, Artscroll Mesorah Publications is providing the prize and shipping for this giveaway. However, thoughts in this blogpost are my own. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.
