Claire Thomas - The Kitchy Kitchen New Classics for Living Deliciously

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A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2014 by Claire Thomas, LLC

Photographs on page by Yayo Ahumada.

Photographs on page 231 by Dylan Ho.

All other photographs courtesy of author.

Wine Chart on page 269 made in collaboration with Whitney Adams, Tina Thomas, and Brent Thomas.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books hardcover edition August 2014

EMILY BESTLER BOOKS / ATRIA BOOKS and colophons are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Interior design by Elizabeth Van Itallie

Cover design by Elizabeth Van Itallie

Cover photographs by Yayo Ahumada

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thomas, Claire.

The kitchy kitchen / Claire Thomas.

pages cm

Includes index.

1. Cooking. I. Title.

TX714.T4937 2014

641.5dc23

2014000561

ISBN 978-1-4767-1073-0

ISBN 978-1-4767-1075-4 (ebook)

TO MY FAMILY

Have you cried yet? You know those tears. Kitchen tears. The ones that go down your cheeks and drop into the smoldering pile of whatever it was you were planning on serving. Maybe its your tenth attempt at a recipe that still just doesnt want to work. Maybe its your third date with someone you really wanted to impress and your entre completely fell apart. Maybe its just one of those days that you needed a warm cookie, but your fraught relationship with your oven prevented it.

I have cried over many a failed dish. Its nothing to be embarrassed about (okay, maybe a little...), because thats what happens when were frustrated, confused, and feel like something should be simple... and then it isnt and no one was there to help you.

When you flip through a food magazine or check out a cooking show, everyone looks so calm, dont they? People are smiling, there is no burnt toast, no wine spilled on the couch... there arent any sliced fingers or Oh crap, I forgot to add the salt moments. This has not been my particular experience in learning to cook, and I imagine it isnt yours, either. After all, were only human. We novices dont know all the secrets to making a recipe work or hosting a fabulous party... yet. Especially when youre just learning how to cook for yourself and your friends, its easy to be discouraged if the finished product doesnt mirror (or even remotely resemble) the manicured photographs or carefully edited clips. So: How are we beginner cooks supposed to cope?

What no one ever told me, not even my experienced cook of a mom, is that all dishes derive from one very basic set of techniques. Once youve got a dish down, those techniques allow you to play around with and tweak the recipe in a lot of delicious ways.

Which is where cookbooks come in. Cookbooks can be super helpful, but they can make a lot of assumptions about what kind of cook you are and what you know, along with what your budget is and how much time you have. Usually they assume you have endless quantities of all of the above. Im not a professionally trained chef, so all I know is what Ive experienced in my own kitchen.

And those experiences have informed this cookbook. Though it may seem obvious, since I wrote it, this is my kind of cookbook. Its a useful one. You can tell what recipes are easy and which ones are for lazy Sunday afternoons. Ill show you how to take a simple dish and gussy it up into a gourmet one that the ultimate fussy foodie would approve. Ill help you plan a party that will be fun not just for your guests, but for you, too. Ill show you what to buy when, and how to make a last-minute dinner when a hungry friend pops by. Ill try to do for you what I wish was done for me. (Past Claire, this is Future Claire speaking. Stop freaking out over your tenth failed mac and cheese. Clean up the dishes, and Ill tell you how to make a bchamel that works. Dont worry, youll get the hang of it, and itll taste awesome.)

While I love eating seasonally, I tend to cook based on what event Im making my dish for, or where my appetite happens to direct me. So, youll find that the chapters are organized by type of dish, and alternatives are listed with each recipe so you can play around with seasonality.

In some chapters youll find a sidebar where I delve a little further into a technique or ways to enjoy a dish a number of ways.

We all know how frustrating it is to get halfway through a recipe only to realize youre in over your head. To make navigating this cookbook a little easier, whether youre a total newbie or an old pro, Ive organized the recipes into three different categories:

These recipes are great for new cooks or people looking for something simple and quick.

If this isnt your first time in the kitchen, these recipes are a little more complex and have multiple components or techniques.

Showstopper! These are the more complicated recipes that require a little extra love and attention in the kitchen, and potentially need special equipment or have multiple components.

It should be mentioned that none of the recipes in this cookbook is ultrachallenging (thats not my style), but ones labeled wow require the most time and effort.

Ultimately, my hope is that this book will make your daily life a little easier, a little more fabulous, and positively delicious. I think we are going to have a lot of fun cooking together through this book, but always remember, no matter how ugly it gets, no matter how many dishes scorch or souffls flop, you can always order Thai food. Nothing sops up kitchen tears like a container of noodles.