From Amazon.com
Visitors to Nantucket usually return home with glowing food memories. Maybe the sea air livens appetites, but more likely it's the good Yankee cooking. Susan Simon's
The Nantucket Holiday Table offers 75 recipes interlarded with personal stories, historical lore, and interesting asides such as "What's It Like in the Wintertime?" Rooted in old New England culinary tradition, the recipes also take a modern approach. Readers should enjoy making Almond French Toast with Caramelized Applesauce, Roasted Squash Risotto, and Grilled Turkey with Corn Bread and Oyster Stuffing, among Simon's many savory dishes.
Arranged mainly by courses, the book also features chapters on holiday breakfasts, cocktail parties, and food gifts. Typically delightful recipes from these include Jimmy Gross's Christmas Day Crêpes, Root Vegetable Chips, and Green Tomato Preserves. Underscoring the island's diverse gastronomic character, Simon also presents cross-ethnic recipes such as Sweet Potato and Chorizo Frittata Squares, Caldo Verde, and Nantucket-Cuban-Connection Sandwich. Dessert formulas aren't neglected and include Cranberry Shortcakes, Pumpkin Caramel Pudding, and Spirited Gingerbread with Ginger Ice Cream. With 70 color illustrations, the book is both a useful source for special-occasion and everyday dishes and a tour of a deeply alluring American landscape. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
What do native Nantucket Islanders do during the winter when the summer visitors aren't looking? It turns out that they're doing quite a lot of sophisticated dining. Simon (The Nantucket Table), a part-time resident of the island, offers up a celebration of hearty dishes that she suggests for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's, such as Cider-Soaked Baked Ham with Honey-Rum Glaze and Turkey Shepherd's Pie, which sports a sweet-potato topping and a spicy filling. The breakfast section is particularly pleasing because Simon treats breakfast as the important opening act of a nourishing, joyful day with recipes like Salmon Hash with Poached Eggs and Coronation Scallops on a Bed of Parsley Rice. Some dishes that sound mouthwatering, like Apple-Molasses Pancakes with Honey Butter and Laura Simon's Root-Vegetable Latkes, are bland; however, the dessert section more than makes up for these few disappointments with innovations that make excellent use of native ingredients, including Cranberry Shortcakes, Cranberry Beach-Plum Cheesecake and Indian Pudding with Hard Sauce. Photographs by Jeffrey Allen of quaint island scenes and tantalizing foods complement the reliable, straightforward recipes to create a cookbook that works in the kitchen as well as on the coffee table. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
