Amare Stoudemire - Cooking with Amare 100 Easy Recipes for Pros and Rookies in the Kitchen

Art credit Am Media Group

AMARE

Id like to thank Alexis Stoudemire, my wife, and my children, Are, Amare Jr., Assata, and Alijah Stoudemire.

MAX:

Team Chef MaxI would like to thank Hnede Lamphey, Aisha Shackerford, Chef Richard Roberts, Chef Nichole Mooney, Chef Troy Tingley, Chef Rudy Straker (NYC), Chef Rudy Pondexter (MIA), Tylesis Nelson. You have all truly made my life a lot easier. You have been loyal and been the best support system a chef could ask for, in all my moments. Many thanks to Rosemary Black for being a wonderful cowriter. It has been a short but sweet ride. Thanks for your professionalism and experience. Stacey Glick, our literary agent, wow! I remember the first meeting we had in your office. It was like a dream come true. Thanks for allowing my talents to be illustrated on paper.

AM Media GroupAmerick Lewis, Nicholas Sosin, and Lonut Vacar: guys, Im so happy you all were part of this experience. It truly made my life easier shooting the pictures of the book and my day-to-day life. We have seen each others lives and companies grow, and it has been amazing. Thanks so much.

Rebecca Bentthanks so much for the introduction to Stacey. This wouldnt be a book if it werent for you. Thanks for the amazing support and all the great advice you have given me over the years. Wow! Thank you; I owe you.

BakehouseChef Philip, thanks for opening up your door to shoot so many of the amazing recipes and allowing me to take book meetings in your restaurant (laughter). Mixologist Louie Estrada, my man!!!!!! Thanks so much; it was great creating some wonderful cocktails with you that will always be my favorites, and now Im sure the world will be enjoying them as well.

To the fansto everyone who has been a fan of Chef Max and who rocked with me from day one. We have shared the greatest gifts God could bless us withall the laughter and fun. Thanks for showing me love and support.

Finally, Amare Stoudemire. Man, I reflect back five years ago and remember sitting in my house in Miami praying and thanking God for this new opportunity of being your personal chef. To fast forward over all the amazing years: the fun, the accomplishments, and the rough times, and we always kept God first. To my boss, business partner, friend, brother, I say, Thank you, the sky is the limit!

W e first met five years ago in Miami. At the time Max was a rising culinary star and Amare was a pro ball player in need of someone to cater a dinner party he was havingthat very night. Max, a genius in the kitchen even under great pressure, whipped up a lavish meal on short notice and the rest is history. Within a year, our working arrangement was set. But as our friendship blossomed, our relationship morphed from chef and client to teacher and student. The kitchen became a classroom where the questions flowed: How do you use this knife? How do you make salsa from scratch? What vegetarian dishes could you make for the kids that they would actually enjoy eating? Through impromptu cooking lessons, lessons that over time became more formalized and complex, Amare gained confidence and skills in the kitchen. Weve come a long way from that dinner party back in Miami. These days, Amare not only hosts but also cooks for his guests. But the real joy of cooking comes when preparing a healthy and tasty meal the kids love.

This book expands upon these informal cooking lessons and is meant to help you find your stride in the kitchen by teaching you the important cooking techniques and basic ingredients every cook should become familiar with. We have given you a wide range of recipes that are tailored to every level of expertise, from beginner to pro. And weve provided you with tips and ideas to streamline your cooking.

Before you tie on an apron, take a few minutes to read through the Essentials chapter, where youll learn about ingredients, techniques, and tools, and get some basic recipes. Then, as you move on through the rest of the recipes, youll find each one labeled according to the level of difficulty. Easy recipes are marked Layup, those that can be made by anyone who has been cooking for a while are called Jump Shot, and the most challenging recipes are labeled Slam Dunk.

New to the kitchen? Cook up some of the Layup dishes, the same ones Amare got started with, until you feel more comfortable at the stove. Before you know it, youll have mastered the basics and be ready to impress your family and friends with the more complex dishes.

Each recipe also contains a headnote that is written with you in mind. These notes may highlight a serving suggestion, a tip on storage, guidance on how to execute the directions, or advice on how to streamline the preparation. Youll also find instructional sidebars scattered throughout the bookthese are to assist you as you cook and to give you confidence (and some swag!) as you whip up breakfasts and brunches, lunches and snacks, and dinners to wow your family and friends.

Finally, a couple of practical notes: When a recipe calls for eggs, they should be large unless otherwise specified. Flour is always all-purpose unbleached flour. When a recipe calls for salt, it should be kosher salt, and when it calls for pepper, it should be freshly ground. Usually, the instructions for seasoning with salt and pepper are to taste. It makes sense to add just a little, then taste, and then add a little more as needed. Cooking is all about flexibility, trying out new tastes, and realizing that you can and should personalize these recipes until they taste just the way you want them to.

We hope this book will be a starting point for you to enhance your kitchen skills, that it will help you feel creative and comfortable around the stove, and that the food you prepare for your family and friends will always be full of love.

Amare and Max

AMARE

The first thing that Chef Max taught me about cooking is that before you even start, its important to have all the ingredients you need all set and ready to go. This is called your mise en place (a French term) and it really makes a lot of sense. Before I realized how crucial it is to check and double-check that all you need to make a particular dish is close at hand, cooking was much harder.

The other piece of great advice that I got from Max is to read your recipe all the way through before you proceed. Its easy to be impatient, because you want to see delicious results, but in order to make a winning dish that will score points with your family and friends, its important to take the time to read the recipe from start to finish.

What is not so important, when it comes to being a good cook, is the size of your kitchen. My family and I live in an apartment in New York City, with a kitchen that can barely fit two grown people into itespecially when one of them is nearly seven feet tall. Yet all the great cooking that happens in that small space is nothing short of amazing. Thats because what it lacks in size, our kitchen makes up for in efficiency. Packed into the tight space are all the essential tools and cookware that Chef Max needs to turn out the breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners that wow my family every day.