4 New Cookbooks Enter The Villa

Plus, a cookbook worth revisiting.

My cookbook collection continues to balloon. Common sense dictates that I should pause intake until I’ve actually used the recipes I’ve amassed, but unfortunately, common sense doesn’t get a lot of mileage these days.

It’s hard for me to resist a shiny, new cookbook, especially since I’ve now carved out a tradition wherein I trek down to local cookbook shop Now Serving with my bestie / co-enabler Sylvia and scope out new titles meticulously. The two of us are nothing short of ridiculous in our process, spending upwards of an hour and change leafing slowly through each and every volume we can get our paws on. IRS auditors have nothing on our methodical inspections.

The two of us really don’t need any more cookbooks, but how could we have resisted flittering down yet again to Now Serving after they announced there’d be a storewide sale? And so here I am, indulging in my excesses by presenting my baubles for everyone to see.

What follows are my four purchases plus some updates about a book in my collection that I’ve been revisiting extensively. (This begs a question: would people like a “cookbook of the month” feature for NBD Fancy? I have so many cookbooks that I wouldn’t mind the excuse to deep-dive them more. Let me know in the comments).

More Is More by Molly Baz

I have a complicated relationship with Molly Baz. Not in real life. Never met her in real life. But in food life - it’s tricky. On the one hand, her slangy writing can teeter from cute to obnoxious. But then again, as an avid user of slang and abreevs, am I really one to judge? They say the things you dislike in other people are really the things you dislike in yourself. So, maybe I just have slangy self-loathing that I’m projecting onto Molly.

But then there’s this part: her recipes are consistently terrific. Everything I’ve made from Molly’s first book, Cook This Book, has been a home run, and recently in December, my friends and I randomly convened for an all-Baz Christmas Eve potluck (life is weird sometimes) that was honestly exceptional. Despite deep reservations about More Is More’s graphic design (Old West fonts? Really?), I have now given myself over to it.

Recipes I’m most excited to try: Sizzled Dolmas; Brussels Sprouts with Shallots & Sticky Fish Sauce; Drunken Cacio e Pepe; Umam Lasagn; Stuffed Focaccia; Gingery Clams with Chili Crisp & Tofu; Last Meal Scallops; Spicy Green Fregola with Salty Yog; Dilly Beans; Tahini Date Shake Smoo.

Familia by Marcela Valladolid

I have a lovely selection of Mexican cuisine cookbooks from acclaimed authors Pati Jinich, Rick Bayless, and Rick Martinez, among others. I’ve plundered these volumes countless times over the years to spectacular effect.

Recently, however, while menu-planning for a tamale-centric dinner, I found there were not a huge amount of modern, main-dish vegetable options in these books. Vegetables have really taken center stage over the past fifteen years, but they still felt like benchwarmers in my Mexican cookbooks.

I decided what my collection needed was a book that paired the classic flavors and ingredients of Mexico with a robust variety of vegetable-forward recipes. (And to clarify, I wasn’t looking for vegan versions of Mexican classics, although, not opposed to that either). I wound up with Familia by TV chef Marcela Valladolid.

The book features classics, for sure (tacos gobernador, burritos de machaca, etc), but also new and intriguing concepts: hatch chiles stuffed with calabacitas; roasted beet salad with macha pecans; Brussels sprouts with guajillos and piloncillo-caramelized pancetta. (And yes, pancetta is not a vegetable, but it’s playing a supporting role; so everyone back off.)

It’s not that this book is overflowing with vegetable recipes, but I’m incredibly drawn to its emphasis on using traditional Mexican flavors with a contemporary approach.

Recipes I’m most excited to try: Ribeye Aguachile; Tacos de Jamaica; Hatch Chiles Stuffed with Calabacitas; Roasted Beet Salad with Macha Pecans; Brussels Sprouts with Guajillos and Piloncillo-caramelized Pancetta; Chiles En Nogada; Plant Based Latkes and Salsa Verde; Quinoa ceviche Tostadas; Papas con Chorizo, Green Onions, and Chipotle Crema.

Our South by Ashleigh Shanti

Southern food is undeniably wonderful - so wonderful that there seems to be a new Southern cookbook every three days. For one to break through the noise, it needs to do something a little different than the standard mac ‘n’ cheese and collard greens recipes (although, can anyone really have too many of those?).

I almost left Now Serving without even looking at Our South, a book whose fairly generic title belies its large collection of fascinating recipes (or, rather, fascinating to me - a Northerner who has spent half of his life in Los Angeles). Pawpaw apple stack cake, anyone? I don’t even know what that IS but I want to make it!

Ashleigh Shanti, famous to me from Top Chef: Houston, doesn’t just provide the boilerplate hits from the South. She folds in a wide swath of regional specialties from “Backcountry, Lowcountry, Midlands, Lowlands, and Homeland.” The book is a reminder that Southern food is actually so much more textured and varied than its greatest hits. Of all the books in my haul, I am arguably most excited and surprised by this one, and specifically, I can’t wait to dive into Shanti’s signature Appalachian recipes.

Recipes I’m most excited to try: Fish Camp Hush Puppies with Sour Corn Ketchup; Vinegar Bars; Cheesy Crawfish Croustade; Brothy Mussels and Turnip Greens; Carrot Salad with Honeyed Peanuts; Cabbage and Mushroom Pancakes; Collar and Sweet Potato Chowder; Smoked Trout, Sunflower Seeds, and Watermelon Rind on a Johnnycake; Loaded Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Beet Chow Chow and White BBQ Sauce

Keep It Zesty by Edy Massih

Like Southern cuisine, food from the Middle East has reached new levels of cookbook saturation. I have entirely too many books covering the region; so clearly I needed no further additions. But then, moments before I approached checkout, I spied Keep It Zesty, “A celebration of Lebanese flavors.” It only took a few page turns for me to instantly know this was a Ben book.

Keep It Zesty is littered with bright, colorful recipes that bring modern updates to classic Lebanese dishes. I’m most drawn to the extensive “Taste the Rainbow” chapter which features a wide variety of “Dips, Cheeses, Pickles & All the Fixin’s.” I have a nagging feeling that this may be the book I cook from the most from this group.

Bonus points go to Keep It Zesty for the declaration “Spicy tomato jam is the RuPaul of this book.”

Recipes I’m most excited to try: Nutty Muhammara; Turmeric Cauliflower; Orangey Date Carrot Dip; Baked Mediterranean Feta; Spicy Fig Jam & Ricotta Manoushe; Za’atar Shakshuka; Chocolate Tahini Overnight Oats; Kale Tabbouleh Salad; Everything Sumac Salmon; Kibbeh Bi Labnan; Pistachio Halva Rice Krispy

I Guess (are we doing this?) Cookbook of the Month: The Cook You Want To Be by Andy Baraghani

I purchased The Cook You Want To Be about two years ago, and I’ve steadily cooked from it since. When the book won a James Beard Award in 2023, I was hardly surprised, given the inventive recipes and inviting prose. The Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, despite imploding in controversy, has churned out a generation of excellent food writers, each with a keen awareness of (and ability to shape) modern palettes - Baraghani is no exception.

Recently I’ve gone on a bit of a Baraghani bender; so it felt like a good time to shine a spotlight on this book.

Here’s what I’ve made:

So many condiments: Pistachio Za’atar, Sweet and Toasty Nuts, Hot Green Tahini, Crunchy Romesco, Creamy Nuoc Cham - all great, all easy. They brighten up ordinary meals effortlessly.

Borani - I remember that I made this, and I believe it was very good.

Broken Feta with sizzled Mint and Walnuts - I made this for New Years and was a big fan, which was fortunate since everyone else was lactose intolerant.

Super Crunchy Celery Salad - Fresh, bright, and elegant in its simplicity. The key is to really taste for seasoning to make sure the celery flavor hits the bullseye. When it does, you’ll have a happy, snappy dish.

Spicy and Sour Grilled Cabbage with Chopped Peanut Vinaigrette - This was a great success, but the grilling was a little annoying. I might do this under the broiler next time.

Sweet and Sour Caramelized Squash with Pistachio Za’atar - roasted squash recipes are a dime a dozen. Luckily I tend to like them all. This one stands out for using a sweet and tangy agrodolce sauce to coax more flavor out of the squash. A pistachio za’atar adds bonus texture. This is an upper-echelon squash recipe. Memo to self: Do I need to do a squash recipe listicle?

Roasted Carrots with Hot Green Tahini - Probably my second favorite recipe in the book. The sauce offers a spicy, nutty backdrop for the sweet carrots.

Crisped Potatoes with Romesco - Readers of this Substack will recognize this recipe as one of my all time favorite potato recipes. I seem to reference it every three months. Sensational.

Charred Brussels Sprouts with Creamy Nuoc Cham - I made these for the first time the other night, and I must confess that I cheated: I made the Brussels sprouts in the air fryer. And, honestly, the dish was all the stronger for it. Love the cashew spin on one of Vietnam’s most famous condiments.

Chickpea Cacio e Pepe with Caramelized Lemon - This pasta dish wasn’t an outright success for me. There were seasoning errors, which were probably just user errors. I blame me, not the book.

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What cookbooks have you acquired recently? And have you cooked from The Cook You Want To Be? Tell me everything!