Alfred Portale

#132

Acknowledgements; Introduction; "How to Use This book" (seriously?); The Modern Pantry (good tips here); Modern Equipment; Salads, Starters & Small Plates; Soups, Sandwiches, & Pizza; Pasta & Risotto; Main Courses; Accompaniments & Side Dishes; and Desserts

Recipes are in a not too small sized font & easy to read: Ingredients are sans-serif & instructions are serif. Then on the same page which are almost impossible to read, are: Pairings (Red), Variations (light almost invisible Red) and Flavor Building (light gray). The photos, for the most part, are very nice & clean looking.

Recipes (although they really didn't catch my interest)

Shaved Fennel, Green Apple, & Pecorino Romano Salad
Endive Salad w/ Tangerines, Golden Beets, & Hazelnut Vinaigrette
Frisee Salad w/ Smoked bacon, Shitake, & Aged Goat Cheese

Preserved Tuna (which is good, but expensive) w/ Potatoes, Arugula, & Scallions
Mussel Soup w/ Saffron, fennel, & White Beans
Pumpkin & Caramelized Onion soup w/ Gruyère & Sage

Fettuccine w/ Preserved Tuna, Capers & Olives
Farfalle w/ Smoked Salmon, Snow Peas & Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette
Risotto w/ Pancetta, Bibb Lettuce, Peas, & Mint

Steamed Clams w/ Chorizo, Chiles, & Cilantro
Seared Atlantic Salmon w/ Arugula & Horseradish

Curried Cream Corn
Creamed Spinach Custards w/ Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Parmesan Cheese
Pan Roasted Zucchini w/ Cilantro-Mint Gremolata
Baby Turnips w/ Apricots & Pistachios

Cranberry Poached Pears w/ Ginger & Tea Infusion
Italian Prune Compote w/Ginger & Star Anise
Yogurt Mousse w/ Red Berry Compote

Do not get me wrong..... There were many good down-to-earth recipes which I would happily eat (and maybe even make); But, yes I only noted the weird ones, because I found this difficult to read (thus use) and I wouldn't pay full price for this.

Good News: If you really want it; Amazon has this:
Hardcover
$0.25(119 used & new offers)

Paperback
$6.89(4 used & new offers)… (más)

More user-friendly than a lot of my restaurant cookbooks. There's a nice chapter in the beginning describing some of the more exotic ingredients, complete with photos of the most common brands and information on where you're most likely to find them in the supermarket (or not). There are plenty of substitution options if the original ingredient is too difficult to find (or too expensive, sometimes). Most of the salads would make a lovely light meal all on their own. Only about 1/3 of the recipes have photos, and sometimes the dish in the photo used different prep techniques than what is given in the recipe. There are no wine pairing suggestions. Many of the desserts will conveniently last several days, allowing you to either make them ahead or to be able to eat them more than once, but somehow none of them really grabbed me.… (más)