Why yes, we are back to cookbooks in this week’s edition of What’s Rachel Reading. 🙂 Up today: Eat Delicious: 125 Recipes for Your Daily Dose of Awesome by Dennis the Prescott. This was another impulse find from the library’s new book shelf, because who doesn’t want to eat delicious?
The photos
The book serendipitously begins with a few pages on food photography. (Why serendipitous? Because “figure out the real camera” is one of the first things on my to-do list when the kids go back to school later this month…) The large and plentiful food photos in Eat Delicious are reliably gorgeous, and you can see more of Prescott’s food photos & recipes on his popular Instagram feed here, as well as on his website. This is an absolutely beautiful cookbook — the photos here make me want to eat foods I don’t even like. 😉
The food
That not liking, however, is more a personal ingredient preference in some places than a comment on the recipes themselves — and some actually make me believe that it might be the preparation of certain foods that have turned me off rather than the foods themselves. So, perhaps I’ll even screw up the courage to make bacon and Parmesan-roasted Brussels sprouts this fall, bolstered by the photo I’m currently devouring with my eyes.
The recipes themselves are easy to follow, approachable, and fun, and Prescott’s personality shines through in his descriptions and asides.
Bucket list of things I’ve yet to accomplish: fly in a hot-air balloon, swim with sharks in South Africa, visit New Zealand, successfully grow a vegetable garden.
One caveat: Realize that some of the recipes appear simple on the surface, but require make-ahead steps such as marinating overnight or freezing beef for an hour to make slicing easier. Plan accordingly so you’re not caught short.
The asides
Beyond the recipes themselves, don’t skip the helpful tips and sidebars scattered throughout the book — you might even want to skim through recipes that don’t themselves appeal to see what other tips and techniques you can pick up. Rigatoni with ricotta and basil pesto (yum), for instance, features sidebar tips on how to make pesto for freezing and how to freeze herbs in ice cube trays, while his smashed southwestern-style black bean burgers recipe includes info on making and flavoring homemade bread crumbs.
Real food, really good
Eat Delicious’s focus on quality ingredients, approachable yet adventurous recipes, and variety makes it deliciously worth the read! If you are a fan of Jamie Oliver, you’ll enjoy the tone and recipes here (and Oliver has unsurprisingly been a huge influence on the self-taught Prescott). Six years ago, Prescott was a musician who didn’t know how to cook — so he visited his public library and started cooking through Jamie Oliver books. Now he spends his time cooking and photographing delicious homemade recipes, writes for Food & Wine, and has a huge devoted Instagram following.
And yes, I’m now following too: From kale Caesar flatbreads to deconstructed sushi bowls, my copy currently bristles with bookmarks of recipes I’d like to try. Recommended.
What are you reading this week?
What have you been reading lately? Tell us about it! ? And, you can browse all the What’s Rachel Reading? book reviews here.
jane
Saturday 5th of August 2017
I followed your link to his website. Wow! That looks good!
rachel
Saturday 5th of August 2017
Check out his Instagram -- the photos are fantastic!