If people on your gift list love spending time in the kitchen, there’s nothing they’d welcome more than a cookbook to keep them busy braising, broiling and baking new, delicious dishes to deliver all year long.
Here are a few recommendations, starting with a collection of recipes a teen cook published to give back to her school and honor a beloved educator.
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Sure, Calera Schlesinger loves to cook; it’s been a passion since she was 10. But that’s just skimming the surface of what motivated the 17-year-old to create "Cal’s Aloha Recipes: A Teenager’s Family Cookbook" ($27.95, Inspire).
Perhaps more than anything, the book was fueled by deep gratitude and affection.
The Sacred Hearts Academy senior has dedicated the book to her school and, in particular, a beloved lower-school dean, Antoinette Gopaul, who died in 2011. Gopaul supported young Calera as she struggled academically until being diagnosed with dyslexia.
"Mrs. Gopaul helped me so much when a lot of things were going on," said Calera.
| BUY THE BOOK
Purchase “Cal’s Aloha Recipes” from Sacred Hearts Academy for $17; add $3 for shipping. Call 734-5058, ext. 234, or email ahamilton@sacredhearts.org. It is also available on amazon.com for $27.95.
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In tribute to Gopaul, Calera is donating profits from the first 1,000 books purchased at Sacred Hearts to a scholarship fund set up in Gopaul’s name.
"Sales are pretty good — I sold 300 already," she said. The book was released in October.
Calera says the 30 recipes featured are a mix of dishes she created, family favorites and adaptations of recipes she found in magazines and cookbooks. Most required tweaking on Calera’s part, since her target audience is fellow teens. The secrets to appealing to youths, she says, are ease and a lineup of comfort foods.
"Recipes have to be simple — not too many steps — and popular foods, comfort foods like pizza and meatballs."
But there was more to the recipe selection than that. Calera wanted every dish to either be a favorite of someone important in her life or "something that reminds me of them." Each recipe is presented with a photo Calera shot herself, tips and a note that shares a bit about the dish and the person it represents.
Aunty Sarah’s Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers, for instance, is dedicated to Sarah Squire, her father’s employee, because "the colorful bell peppers is strikingly attractive just like her, but the spicy filling is such a delightful surprise to the palate like her strong and spicy personality."
Calera tested each recipe an average of four or five times to achieve the taste and texture she was looking for. Her mother, Arlene, served as sous-chef, prepping ingredients while Calera focused on experimenting with flavors and procedures.
The project took two years of weekends and "weekdays with no homework" to complete.
"Because I’m a teenager, I thought other teenagers who love cooking would like a book like this," she said. "Also, I want to encourage other teenagers to learn how to cook."
AUNTY SARAH’S MEXICAN STUFFED BELL PEPPERS
“Cal’s Aloha Recipes,” by Calera Schlesinger
4 large red bell peppers
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large round onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 package mild taco seasoning
1 (16-ounce) jar tomatillo salsa, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cooked long-grain white rice
1/2 cup canned black beans
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off top 1/2 inch of peppers and scoop out seeds. Discard the stems, finely chop pepper tops. Set aside.
On medium high, heat large skillet. When hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and saute beef until it just starts to turn pink. Add onions, cilantro, garlic and red pepper tops. Cook until onions are soft, about 8 minutes. Add taco seasoning and all but 1/2 cup salsa, plus salt and pepper. Cook 2 to 3 minutes.
Transfer to large bowl and add rice and beans. Toss together then add egg and cheese, reserving some cheese to use as topping.
Fill pepper cavities with beef mixture and arrange stuffed peppers in baking dish. Top each with remaining salsa and cheese. Pour 1/4 cup water in bottom of dish, cover with foil and bake until peppers are tender and filling is cooked, about 45 minutes. Serves 4.
Nutritional information unavailable.
| “6 Ingredient Solution: How to Coax More Flavor from Fewer Ingredients,” by the editors of America’s Test Kitchen ($26.95)
America’s Test Kitchen is a place where dishes are cooked over and over, with an eye toward perfection. So a cookbook by these editors — who also produce Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country magazines, as well as a PBS cooking show — provides recipes you can rely on.
It’s just that sometimes the recipes are fussy: long ingredient lists and techniques that may maximize flavor but also complicate the process (and make a lot of dirty dishes).
“6 Ingredient Solution”?is much more approachable for the average home cook. Rather than calling for every component to be made from scratch, these recipes really are limited to six ingredients, allowing for some convenience products, such as condensed soups and jarred pasta sauces, potato chips and pre-shredded cheeses. A purist might see these shortcuts as cheating, but they make the dishes weeknight-practical.
And still, the recipes uphold test-kitchen standards, so you can count on instructions that leave nothing to chance and results that will not disappoint.
“The Kimchi Cookbook: 60 Traditional and Modern Ways to Make and Eat Kimchi,” by Lauryn Chun ($19.99, Ten Speed Press)
Korea-born and California-raised Chun provides a readable, comprehensive book on the Korean staple.
Chun demystifies making kim chee in her explanations of the two general types of kim chee, which are based on the warm and cold seasons; her coverage of the basic steps; and an ingredient list of must-haves for the kim chee pantry.
The 60 recipes in this hardcover collection, illustrated with photography by Sara Rem?ing?ton, are organized into three sections: spring/summer kim chee, fall/winter kim chee and cooking with kim chee. Recipes in each section are a mix of traditional and contemporary offerings.
Chun owns Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi, a line of bottled kim chee sold on the mainland. She gets an assist from food writer Olga Massov, who started the noted blog sassyradish.com.
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