James Peterson - Kitchen Simple: Essential Recipes for Everyday Cooking

Copyright 2011 by James Peterson
Photographs copyright 2011 by James Peterson
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com

Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Peterson, James.
Kitchen simple / James Peterson. 1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Quick and easy cooking. I. Title.
TX833.5.P48 2011
641.555--dc22
2011004435

eISBN: 978-1-60774-049-0

Cover design by Nancy Austin

v3.1

Im deeply indebted to a dedicated group of people who worked tirelessly to make Kitchen Simple come to fruition.

Id like to thank Alice Piacenza for her hard work and input that made the photography and recipes what they are. Id also like to thank Sara Kaluzshner for her enthusiasm, energy, and dedication.

Im deeply grateful to the staff at Ten Speed Press for turning a raw manuscript into an actual book. First are my editors, Jenny Wapner and Dawn Yanagihara, whose incredible attention to detail kept the book on course. My copy editor, Andrea Chesman, cannot be thanked enough. Ive never worked with anyone so thorough. Her attention to every possible detail was invaluable. The attractive design of the book and the layout of the photos is the work of Nancy Austin, whose eye and experience have proven indispensable. We couldnt have done it without her. And I must say thanks to Jean Blomquist who caught little (and sometimes not so little) mistakes and prevented them from showing up in the final book. Aaron Wehner, who oversaw the whole operation, also deserves high praise.

Last, but in no way least, are those people who surround me in my everyday life. These include my agents, Elise and Arnold Goodman with whom I have been working for over twenty years and who have, all that time, kept my interests at heart. Joel Hoffman has offered continued encouragement in my career and specifically for this book. His professionalism and pursuit of excellence are to be commended. And, of course, there is my husband, Zelik Mintz, whose love, commitment, and encouragement have sustained me for many years.

Kitchen Simple is a book of simple recipes that can be executed in a half hour or less. It is designed for people who have worked all day and dont want to spend hours in the kitchen And while some of the recipes may require a bit longer than a half hour to cook, most of that time is when a cake is baking or a pot is simmering away, and you are free to prepare another recipe, perhaps a side dish.

Kitchen Simple does make certain assumptions. It assumes youre smart but that you know little about cooking and just want to put good food on the table. In many of my books, there are pages and pages of context and explanation before the recipe proper begins. In Kitchen Simple, I get right to the matter at hand. Many of the recipes will be familiar and seem almost ridiculously easy, but they are included to remind you of the infinite possibilities of simple recipes. These simple recipes lend themselves well to improvisation such that you might find yourself fooling around in the kitchen inventing your own recipes.

While Kitchen Simple doesnt call for a lot of exotic ingredients, it does assume that you have access to a good supermarket, and that youre willing to shop. Keep in mind that its helpful to have a pantry of dry goods and supplies so when you shop youre only looking for meat or fish, and produce. Most of the recipes in Kitchen Simple are inexpensive to prepare, but it is not a book for cooking on the cheap or for someone on a diet. Many recipes contain small amounts of cream and butter. My attitude has always been that moderation in all things is best, including moderation itself.

A good number of the recipes in Kitchen Simple are designed as first courses. While Americans usually dont eat in courses (at least not at home), there are many dishes that work best when served on their own. Salads are a prime example of dishes that dont work as side dishes, yet most arent substantial enough to be served as main courses. But remember, if you serve a salad as a first course, you can dispense with a vegetable to accompany the main course.

Kitchen Simple includes ideas for a well-stocked pantry so you can be prepared for unexpected guests or for nights when shopping is just not an option. And, while Kitchen Simple is not a technique book designed to teach the ins and outs (and the context) of various cooking styles, it does contain a discussion of the (surprisingly small number of) basic cooking techniques needed by any competent cook.

A few of the dishes are more time-intensive than others. These are included as weekend projects, and even though the cooking is long, the prep time is less than 30 minutes.

So how much time is needed to make an entire meal? Most of the dishes included here are designed to take a half hour of active preparation, not total cooking time. If youre making three dishesa salad, a piece of fish, and a dessert for exampleits not going to take you an hour and a half to make the three dishes. The time will be closer to 45 minutes since the fish can be cooking while youre chopping vegetables for the salad. This is a good thing to keep in mind when constructing a menuplan so that you can work on more than one dish at a time. Try to organize yourself so youre not making three dishes that require the stove or oven. For example, you might serve a salad as a first course, a piece of sauted meat or fish as a main course, and roast potatoes as an accompaniment.

Youll save a lot of time if you have a well-stocked pantry with things like olive oil, anchovies, pasta, dried beans, canned things, spices, dried herbs, and so on. When writing this book Ive made several assumptions, including that youll have a well-equipped pantry and a fairly well-equipped kitchen.

Most anchovies come packed in oil; look for ones packed in olive oil, and that come in bottles, not cans. You can also find anchovies packed in salt, which is preferable. If you find these, soak them in cold water for 30 minutes before you use them. Theyll come tightly packed and will cling together; you should separate them as they soak. The best come from Sicily in large blue tins.

Dont confuse these two. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate and releases carbon dioxide in the presence of an acid. Baking powder contains acid that releases carbon dioxide when it becomes moist. Baking soda is called for in baked goods that contain something acidic, such as sour cream. Baking powder is called for in situations where theres no ingredient to provide acid. Be sure to use double acting baking powder, which is what most baking powder is anyway.