Forget about getting back to the land, David Tanis just wants you to get back to the kitchen For six months a year, David Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California, restaurant where he has worked alongside Alice Waters since the 1980s in creating a revolution in sustainable American cuisine. The other six months, Tanis lives in Paris in a seventeenth-century apartment, where he hosts intimate dinners for friends and paying guests, and prepares the food in a small kitchen equipped with nothing more than an old stove, a little counter space, and a handful of wellused pots and pans. This is the book for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table and nurture their conversation. Its not about showing off with complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Worlds away from the showy Food Network personalities, Tanis believes that the most satisfying mealsfor both the cook and the guestare invariably the simplest. Home cooks can easily re-create any of his 24 seasonal, market-driven menus, from springs Supper of the Lamb (Warm Asparagus Vinaigrette; Shoulder of Spring Lamb with Flageolet Beans and Olive Relish; Rum Baba with Cardamom) to winters North African Comfort Food (Carrot and Coriander Salad; Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas). Best of all, Tanis is an engaging guide with a genuine gift for words, whose soulful approach to food will make any kitchen, big or small, a warm and compelling place to spend time.
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
"Davis is a cook, but an artist, and there are so few of them in the world. I can count them on one hand." Alice Waters, author of The Art of Simple Food
From the Inside Flap
David Tanis might cook in the most famous restaurant in America, but here he is all about keeping meals simple at home. In this eloquent appeal for good sense in cooking great food, Davis Tanis serves up twenty-four seasonal menus that are simply conceived and simply served on platters, family style. His food bursts with invention and flavor, such as wild salmon with spicy Vietnamese cucumbers to celebrate spring and braised duck with fried ginger for a cool-weather dinner. Tanis has an elemental, unpretentious finesse with ingredients and a genuine gift for words. Deliciously down-to-earth, his intuitive menus make cooking a pleasure, not a stress whether you're "Feeling Italian" (Steamed Fennel with Red Pepper Oil; Roasted Quail with Grilled Radicchio and Creamy Polenta; Italian Plum Cake), "Slightly All-American" (Sliced Tomatoes with Sea Salt; Grilled Chicken Breasts; Corn, Squash, and Beans with Jalape??o Butter; Blueberry-Blackberry Crumble), or "Too Darned Hot, Alors!" (Proven??al Toasts; Melon and Figs with Prosciutto and Mint; Deconstructed Salade Ni??oise; Lavender Honey Ice Cream). "David s recipes are simple and marvelous," says cookbook author Paula Wolfert. "What more can a food lover want?" Tanis shows you how to slow down, pay attention, give ingredients their due, and provide meals that will delight friends and family. Here, at last, is a cookbook that has nothing to do with celebrity chefdom and everything to do with real life. Cancel the dinner reservations and pick up this book and rediscover the pleasure of cooking at home.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars
32 reviews
162 of 177 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful and inspiring
Sep 23 2008
By G. Constable
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
How can you not love someone who writes, "What makes a boy from Ohio, born in the wrong century, raised on Tater Tots and Birds Eye, end up wanting to eat like a Greek peasant for breakfast, a French peasant for lunch, and a Moroccan peasant for dinner?"
This book is beautiful, inspiring, intelligent and unpretentious. It is laid out by seasonal menu, rather than classes of food, and gets you thinking about the experience of food as much as the creation. The recipes are well written with lovely pictures, clear formatting, and good descriptions.
I'll also include another quote from Tanis that you might find useful if contemplating a purchase: "Simplicity is key. People who cook fussy food for their friends seem to have the least fun. I say leave that fussy food to those with a staff and a paid dishwasher... A meal needn't be fancy, nor should it take all day to make. But, that said, most of the menus in this book are not those 30-minute-specials-with-only-3-ingredients whose intent seems to be to keep youout of the kitchen. What's wrong with spending a little time in the kitchen?"
This book is beautiful, inspiring, intelligent and unpretentious. It is laid out by seasonal menu, rather than classes of food, and gets you thinking about the experience of food as much as the creation. The recipes are well written with lovely pictures, clear formatting, and good descriptions.
I'll also include another quote from Tanis that you might find useful if contemplating a purchase: "Simplicity is key. People who cook fussy food for their friends seem to have the least fun. I say leave that fussy food to those with a staff and a paid dishwasher... A meal needn't be fancy, nor should it take all day to make. But, that said, most of the menus in this book are not those 30-minute-specials-with-only-3-ingredients whose intent seems to be to keep youout of the kitchen. What's wrong with spending a little time in the kitchen?"
35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!
Jan 9 2009
By L. Hanzlicek
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I bought this cookbook for my husband for Christmas (he is the cook in the family) and he absolutely loves it. He has made several of the recipes, mostly the duck ones so far, and they have all turned out delicious AND beautiful. The recipes he has made have been fairly simple but still come off as "fancy" (meaning if you served these meals to guests they would be impressed).
He said his favorite thing about the book is that it has made it easy for him to try out new ingredients (this week it was turnips) without a lot of fuss. He also enjoys the organization of the book by menu. Finally, this is truly a beautifully made book, with gorgeous photography and nice paper.
I would say this book is great for a home chef with a bit of experience who is looking to try new things and expand their horizons.
He said his favorite thing about the book is that it has made it easy for him to try out new ingredients (this week it was turnips) without a lot of fuss. He also enjoys the organization of the book by menu. Finally, this is truly a beautifully made book, with gorgeous photography and nice paper.
I would say this book is great for a home chef with a bit of experience who is looking to try new things and expand their horizons.
52 of 65 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
So much better than I imagined
Nov 11 2008
By Steve Sando
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I feared this would be precious and silly but what a great book! Good, simple food and creative menus. Read this instead of Rachel Ray or Sandra Lee and you'll actually learn how to cook instead of just following recipes.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 32 reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
