Henry - Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food

Editor: Holly Dolce

Managing Editor: Glenn Ramirez

Design Manager: Danielle Youngsmith

Production Manager: Kathleen Gaffney

Book and cover design by: Alaina Sullivan

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021946807

ISBN: 978-1-4197-4780-9

eISBN: 978-1-64700-671-6

Text copyright 2022 Colu Henry

Photographs copyright 2022 Tara Donne

Cover 2022 Abrams

Published in 2022 by Abrams, an imprint of ABRAMS.

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For my Chad and
our Joshie.
You make me whole.

This book didnt start as a book at all, but as recipes that I was jotting down hastily on a thick sketch pad as I was cooking. (Why, of course I keep weighted paper and a felt-tip pen by the stove, dont you?) The more I flipped through the pages and began thinking of them as a collection, the more I also began to notice an organic pattern of what I was trying to convey.

Similarly to my first cookbook, Back Pocket Pasta, I wanted to write a personal book that inspired home cooks to make simple yet sophisticated dishes theyd feel proud of. And I hope you do and will! But I noticed something else, too. The more I wrote, the more I realized what was truly bringing me joy. It wasnt just the food; it was sharing stories through food and recipes about the people I chose to surround myself with and the places Im lucky enough to visit.

Theres something thats elemental and identifying about the way we choose to eat. I once sat next to a woman similar in age who, like me, was dining alone at the bar at LExpress in Montreal. It was noon and she was eating a half-dozen oysters while drinking a glass of Chablis and reading a book of short stories entitled Mise en Bouche. A kindred spirit. Whether she noticed me or not, I saw her, and I saw myself and our extended bunch, in her.

These recipes and moments reflect my life. Chad and I have chosen to be a family of two (well, three, if you count our eighteen-year-old rescue pup Joshie, which I certainly do). And whether were gathered around our table, sitting on the front porch plates in laps, or standing in the kitchen drinks in hand, when you come over to my house for a meal, you are part of the story.

Eight years ago, we left Brooklyn and moved upstate to Hudson, New York. It was a big lifestyle shift change that didnt come without fear. I, who vowed to be the last of our friends standing in Brooklyn, was the first to leave. And now instead of taking the subway to the supermarket, I drive (white-knuckled) to a barn in Blundstone boots to pick up my winter farm share and weekly loaf of Sparrowbush Farm sesame bread. Yes, I know it sounds bucolic. It is. Since we have a lot more space and many less options for dining out, we also throw a lot of dinner parties and have friends over for drinks and snacks more often than we dont. I am cooking five to six nights a week for them, for Chad, and sometimes just for myself (an underrated pleasure in my opinion).

My food is rooted in my Italian-American upbringing, so youre going to see pastas, chicories, anchovies, olives, and citrus strewn throughout, and maybe a very special eggplant Parmesan. (Yes, you do need another recipe for one.) But my cooking is also influenced by the rich farmland of the Hudson Valley, time spent in Spain and France, the south shore of Nova Scotia, and other travels abroad. It would be remiss not to include the other beloved valleys in my lifeNapa and Sonomawhich have been incredibly formative, specifically in regard to the way I approach vegetables. You will see these elements reflected throughout the book in the form of recipes that rely heavily on seasonal produce, an amply stocked pantry, and more often than not, meat used as an accessory. Of course there are some exceptions. I do love to roast a chicken (lime pickle anyone?) and serve a meat sauce thats been simmering all day, as well as a slow-roasted pork shoulder and braised lamb shanks that fall off the bone.

And while I am a very relaxed and go-with-the-flow-cook, the one thing in the kitchen I am not is a baker. So in this book, I decided to do what I do when having people over for dinner: I called on some incredibly talented friends to please bring dessert and contribute their favorite simple recipes. Given the fact that I am also not a sweets person this decision to offer up some of my friends best dessert recipes here makes a lot of sense. You dont have to be able to do everything perfectlyor even want to, for that matterin order to get the payoff of making dinner and memories at home with people you love. (Trust me, Ive worked very hard to accept this.) So even through Im more of a savory person, who am I to deprive you of a sweet way ot end a meal? Its not very hospitable.

As you can hopefully see, I took some inspiration from 1970s Gourmet magazines for the aesthetic of this book; their vibe spoke to me in a big way and I listened. (I was born in the seventies, after all.) My grandmother collected Gourmets starting in the 1930s, so I grew up looking at a lot of magazines. I inherited decades worth of them in my mid-twenties, but after a few moves, Chad put his foot down and said that we would no longer be schlepping the many, many, maybe-starting-to-mildew(?) boxes to our new home in Hudson. I get it. They are now on permanent loan at the Brooklyn Kitchen, a cooking school in Industry City, if you find yourself nearby and want to take a look. I visited them when this book was beginning to take shape.

But unlike the beloved magazine in its heyday, Im not putting any menus together. I want you to create your own, plus no one eats like that anymore! More often than not when people are coming over to my house, Im ransacking my well-stocked pantry and farmers marketpacked fridge drawers to pull something together, and thats how many of the recipe ideas in this book came about. A smoked trout dip appeared the same night as a saucy pasta and everyone was more than ok with that. Try cooking with the philosophy that you are dining out at a restaurant with friends. Someone might want the roast chicken, the steak, or the pasta, but you know everyone also really wants the tater tots (no recipe for tots in this book though; I just buy them in the freezer section and sometimes deep-fry them). So you order those too, as well as a salad for the table. Everyone just ends up sharing everything anyway. Its more fun that way.