Book Details

Almost from Scratch: 600 Recipes for the New Convenience Cuisine

A jar of tapenade doesn't just give us something new to spread on bread. It flavors a grilled chicken breast and seasons a salad dressing. It can be dolloped on a baked potato, swirled into a soup, or used to thicken a lamb stew. With time and use, tapenade is transformed from an esoteric condiment to a kitchen staple that has pushed the way we cook and eat to a different level.

Almost from Scratch mines the trove of convenience ingredients which have take over the shelves in every section of the supermarket to create powerfully flavored recipes that can be made in a very short time.

When a chef prepares Pesto-Stuffed Grilled Chicken Breast with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce, the pesto has already been prepared, the sun-dried tomatoes are soaked and pureed, the garlic has been chopped, the stock is reduced, and the spice rub blended. A few years ago, the home cook who wanted to duplicate this dish faced half a day in the kitchen. Now, her local supermarket provides all the prep work: pesto is available in jars, refrigerated or frozen; sun-dried tomatoes come in pureed or in oil.. There are spice rubs for every palate, and chicken parts come trimmed in every form imaginable. It is the vision of Almost from Scratch that this is not a phenomenon confined to individual ingredients; rather, it is a new way of cooking that streamlines the way home cooks can prepare everything from soup through dessert.

With sumptuous recipes from every category imaginable (appetizers, salads, soups, sauces, meat dishes, seafood, pasta, grains, stir-fries, vegetables, and dessert), no palate will go unsatisfied. Recipes include Herbed Artichoke Dip, Parmesan Shortbread, Tomato Tarragon Tart, Pesto Grilled Shrimp, Thai Big Noodle Bowl, Dark Chocolate Souffle, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, Blueberry Cornmeal Upside Down Cake, and Bourbon Pecan Spice Cake with Honey Bourbon Sour Cream, the home cook will find both her time and culinary needs satisfied.

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