Amanda Hesser - The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks

For home cooks, who inspire us every day.

Photography by Sarah Shatz

We met six years ago, when Amanda was looking for someone to help her with a dauntingly large cookbook she was writing for the New York Times. After testing more than 1,400 recipes together, eating countless dinners at 11 P.M. , and doing all the necessary research and proofreading and dishwashing, we finished the book, which was published by W.W. Norton last year. We also became great friends and discovered how much we love cooking together.

Food52 grew out of an insight we had while working on The Essential New York Times Cookbook : many of the best recipes come from home cooks. It occurred to us that home cooks are both practical and inventive, and these qualities tend to lead to great recipes. At Food52.com, we recognize talented home cooks by giving them a place to show off their work, a place where cooks of all levels come to be inspired and to be part of a constructive and supportive community.

We love spending time in the kitchen, and we believe, like many cooks out thereboth professional and amateurthat memorable cooking doesnt have to be complicated or precious. Its about discovering that frying an egg in olive oil over high heat gives the white a great crackly texture, that slashing the legs of a chicken before roasting allows the dark and white meat to cook evenly, that maple syrup adds not only sweetness but depth to an otherwise ho-hum vinaigrette.

We think cooking is really importantespecially now. Over the past decade, many studies have shown that children from families who eat together do better in school, that eating whole foods is healthier, that eating sustainably will save the environment. But no one has pointed out that the only way to achieve all this in a comprehensive, lasting way is for people to cook.

Because:

If you cook, your family will eat dinner together.

If you cook, you will naturally have a more sustainable household.

If you cook, youll set a lifelong example for your children.

If you cook, youll understand what goes into food and eat more healthily.

If you cook, youll make your home an important place in your life.

If you cook, youll make others happy.

If you cook, people will remember you.

This cookbook is the love child of the Food52 community, and the result of a years worth of recipe contestsevery recipe comes from one of our members and was chosen as a winner by his or her peers. Its not just the delicious concoctions, but the creativity and voice behind each recipe that make this cookbook truly special; no one chef could come up with this many great recipes in one year, and no one cookbook author could dream up this many entertaining backstories. We hope youll get in the kitchen and have as much fun as we did making all of these terrific recipes and learning from talented home cooks from all over.

Before we even started building the website, we did an e-mail test among our friends and family. Merrills mother, Veronica, dominated the field at a time when nepotism was still acceptable (two of the three winning recipes are hers). It turns out these early winners have stood the test of timeeven after 52 weeks of official contests, we thought all three winners deserved to be included in the book.

Your Best Salad Using Beets and Citrus

Your Best Rag/Bolognese

Your Best Holiday Cookies

Photography by Sarah Shatz

A&M: Teresa wrote: Seems to me beets and oranges are a classic winter salad combination that you see everywhere. But this is no run-of-the-mill beet and orange salad. Teresa explained, My friend Sophies dad, Jim Broderick, gave me the idea that really makes this salad great: fennel and orange rind in the dressing. Shes right: this trick gives her winter salad lift and fragrance and makes you want to keep eating it.

2 medium beets, trimmed and scrubbed

Olive oil

teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 head red leaf lettuce, rinsed, dried, and torn into pieces

2 navel oranges

1 tablespoon minced shallot

teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed in a mortar and pestle

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

cup walnut oil

1. Heat the oven to 350F. Lay the beets on one half of a large piece of aluminum foil. Sprinkle with olive oil and season with salt. Fold the foil in half to make a packet and roll the edges to seal. Lay on a baking sheet and roast until tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool. Peel the beets and slice into -inch-thick wedges.
2. Keep the oven at 350F; toast the walnuts on a baking sheet for a few minutes, 5 to 7, until they smell good. Remove the nuts and let them cool while you wash and dry the lettuce and tear it into a salad bowl.
3. Zest one orangeyou need 1 teaspoon grated zest. Using a very sharp knife, cut the ends from the oranges, slicing just deep enough to expose the flesh. Cut off the remaining peel and pith. Then, working over a bowl, remove the segments, cutting between the membrane. Place the segments in a strainer to drain off excess juice.
4. Whisk together the dressing ingredientsthe shallot, fennel seeds, and lemon juicein a small bowl, adding the oil last, whisking as you pour it in so the dressing emulsifies a bit. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
5. Toss the nuts, beets, oranges, and the dressing with the salad, adjust the seasoning, and serve immediately.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Teresa: The oranges and beets are best tossed in at the last minute, when you dress the salad to serve it, lest the o-juice and beety color run amok.

ABOUT THE COOK

Teresa Parker is an expert on Catalonia and its cuisine, and runs culinary tours in Spain. Shes a good friend of Merrills and splits her time between New York City and Wellfleet, Massachusetts.