Description:
Jody Adams, the award-winning chef-owner of Boston's Rialto restaurant, believes that anyone who loves to eat can cook delicious food. Her In the Hands of a Chef bolsters the claim with recipes that help readers follow their instincts to produce great dishes. This is restaurant food that's also approachable by home cooks; the 200-plus recipes, derived from classic European regional cooking but featuring ingredients indigenous to America, should provide pleasure to those who make and enjoy them. Beginning with chapters devoted to "starters and small bites," soups, salads, and sides, the book then gets down to basics with seafood, poultry, and meat fare, including game. Standout recipes among these include Chilled Smooth Corn Soup with Tomatoes, Avocado, and Lime; Pan-Roasted Salmon with Warm Cucumber Salad; and Braised Chicken Thighs with Ancho Peppers and Andouille Sausage. Chapters devoted to pasta and polenta feature dishes such as Linguine with Salsa Cruda and Semolina Gnocchi with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce and Roasted Marrowbones. The chapter "A Mile in a Chef's Shoes" includes her most beloved dishes, such as Roasted Marinated Long Island Duck with Green Olive and Balsamic Vinegar Sauce. There are also formulas for sweets, such as Lemon-Almond Butter Cake and Heather's Cranberry Chocolate Pecan Tart--"ease of preparation" desserts more typical of the savory cooks than of pastry chefs, Adams notes. This is a delightful collection, full of heart as well as good taste. --Arthur Boehm
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