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A Book of Fast, Gluten-Free Food

"Once you're used to it, you can do wonderful things."

So says Sara De Leeuw, co-author of "The Gluten-Free Instant Pot Cookbook." De Leeuw was speaking of the pot that's today's hot kitchen tool.

She could also have been speaking of gluten-free, but that's the specialty of co-author Jane Bonacci, who's at left in the photo. 

Together, they've put together a must-have cookbook with recipes like the double chocolate fudge cheesecake at the top. "It's very rich, very decadent," De Leeuw says. 

Even if you have no dietary restrictions, you will love this book, because the recipes are really good, not healthy diet food that lacks the punch of real food.

I can say this because I tasted a whole buffet from the book when the authors appeared at Melissa's Produce. And you can always substitute your own pantry items, if you prefer.  

But you just might want to experiment with ingredients such as coconut aminos, which replace soy sauce in Asian dishes like sweet-and-sour pork, above.

Coconut aminos are not just gluten-free but also soy free, kosher and vegan and add umami without the high level of sodium that is in soy sauce. So they hit a lot of dietary issues.

You'll learn about them in a chapter on Asian dishes that is in the revised and expanded edition of the book. It's now up to 100 recipes, all tested in the six-quart Instant Pot.

Other superlative dishes include black bean soup to serve with cilantro-lime cream.  "It [the Instant Pot} does beans in no time," Bonacci says, "and it does them beautifully." Once the bean mixture comes to pressure, it is done in only 12 minutes. 

One of my favorites is this "rib stickin' chili." It's Texas style, without beans, Bonacci points out. The meats are ground beef and gluten-free sausage, and the book tells how to make your own gluten-free sausage if you can't find it in a market.

"It's done in less than an hour, and it tastes like it simmered all day long," Bonacci says. 

And if you want beans, BBQ baked beans with bacon are the ticket.  

These teriyaki meatballs are sensational. Made with turkey, they're another recipe that substitutes coconut aminos (or gluten-free soy sauce) for regular soy sauce.

Among the salads is this millet and chicken Greek salad, made here in a vegetarian version without the chicken. Millet is a wonder grain for gluten avoiders, Bonacci says. The book also includes millet tabbouleh and maple-kissed millet porridge

Throughout the book, Bonacci and De Leeuw give useful pointers on what ingredients are gluten-free, naming the brands to look for.

And De Leeuw's tips on using the Instant Pot are a real plus, because she's a cooking teacher, recipe developer and Instant Pot expert. For more of her recipes, check her blog, My Imperfect Kitchen.  And follow Bonacci at her blog, The Heritage Cook, which has a section on gluten-free cooking. 

A Book with Good Food and a Purpose

There are two good reasons to buy "The Lula Cocina Cookbook." 

One, it's a beautiful book, as colorful as the Mexico you picture in your wildest dreams.  The author, Geraldine Gilliland, opened the restaurant Lula Cocina Mexicana in Santa Monica 28 years ago. The subtitle tells what's inside: "My favorite Recipes from Mexico to Malibu."   

The food is genuinely Mexican. Gilliland (above) has devoted herself to the cuisine since she went to Mexico City to study with Lula Bertran, a Mexican culinary great. Bertran is the Lula of the restaurant name, and some of her dishes are in the book.  

The other reason to buy it is, all proceeds go to a project Gilliland is as passionate about as Mexican food: rescuing abused and abandoned dogs. If you watch the video on her nonprofit site, Chiquita's Friends, you'll for sure want to buy the book, and help in any other way that you can. 

So take a look at what you can learn to make. These versions of the dishes were presented at Melissa's Produce, where Gilliland appeared to talk about the book, now in its third printing.

Guacamole--it's everywhere, but nothing like Lula's version, which Gilliland attributes to bar manager, Raphael Lizarde. Look below for the recipe.

Crab salpicon (above) goes onto tostadas, a recipe created by Lula Bertran during a visit to Santa Monica.

Poblano chiles stuffed with picadillo (above) are fabulous, but you can use the filling on its own, making two recipes in one. Picadillo is ground beef mixed with raisins, almonds and seasonings that include cinnamon and cumin.

For 20 years, Gilliland refused to put fajitas on Lula's menu, because this grilled meat dish did not originate in Mexico. Now it's the biggest seller, she said. The photo above shows the grilled meat, ready to be stuffed into tacos. 

"Malibu" in the book title is where Gilliland established a ranch and accounts for a few non-Mexican dishes. One of them is this vegan arugula, kale and quinoa salad with agave-lime vinaigrette. 

And, surprise, what Gilliland thinks is "the most amazing recipe in the book" isn't Mexican at all, but raw vegan chocolate coconut truffles. 

But the way she makes Mexican flan is also amazing. Tasters at Melissa's raved about her vanilla flan, which contains canned cream of coconut, a sweet seasoning for drinks. Gilliland presented the flan with churros that were amazing too, flavored with orange zest and not greasy. 

The beverage was chia limeade, which startled diners when it first appeared at the restaurant. "Everyone thought there were bugs in the drink," Gilliland said, meaning the tiny chia seeds.

The fact that Lula Cocina Mexicana exists and that we have Gilliland's wonderful Mexican recipes is pure chance. Gilliland is Irish, from Belfast. Coming here for a vacation in 1975, she delighted in the fresh ingredients available and fell in love with Mexican food.

After reading an article about the Círculo Mexicano de Arte Culinario, an organization of elite women chefs in Mexico, she contacted Bertran, who was part of this group, and asked to study with her.

Mexican ingredients are totally lacking in Ireland, she said, so it was inevitable that she remained in Southern California. With her in the photo above is Viktor Budnik, whose mouth-watering photos will make you want to cook everything in Gilliland's book and go to Lula Cocina Mexicana to eat the food in person.  

RAPHAEL'S GUACAMOLE
From "The Lula Cocina Cookbook" by Geraldine Gilliland.

4 large jalapeños
3 large Hass avocados, ripe but not soft
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1 good squeeze of fresh lime juice
1/4 medium white onion, peeled and diced
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
Tortilla chips, for scooping

Roast the jalapeños over an open gas flame, until charred all over. Rub off the burnt skin using a paper towel. Cut the chiles open and remove the stems and the seeds. Place in a bowl and mash with a fork to a thick green paste.

Cut the avocados in half and dislodge the pit with a large knife. Scoop out the flesh into the bowl and mash with a fork to a chunky consistency. Season with salt, pepper, and lime juice. Add onion and cilantro and serve at once. This is best not made ahead of time, as it will discolor badly.

Makes 6 servings.

Faye Levy's Feast of Mideastern Food

In all the cookbook presentations I've attended in the last few years, I never heard a dish get so many raves as Faye Levy's fesanjan.

This Persian dish of chicken in walnut and pomegranate sauce (at the top) appears in two of her cookbooks: "Feast from the Mideast" and "1,000 Jewish Recipes." 

It was one of seven dishes set out for tasting when Faye appeared at Melissa's Produce to talk about Middle Eastern cuisines. Although the chicken stole the show, the others were very good too. They were: 

Cauliflower baba ghanoush, a version of a dish usually made with eggplant.

A spinach, yellow squash and grilled pepper dip with yogurt, which had a wonderful smoky taste. 

Matbuha, a roasted pepper and tomato salad/dip.

A diced vegetable salad with sumac, pine nuts and olives.

Majadra, or lentils and rice with sautéed mushrooms.

And a citrus-yogurt cake with honey and walnuts, which evoked almost the same rapture among tasters as the chicken. A recipe from "Feast from the Mideast," the cake was turned into cupcakes for the lunch at Melissa's.

No wonder the food was good. I've watched Faye in action on many occasions, and I've never met anyone who digs so thoroughly into how a dish is prepared, no matter how ordinary it may be. 

She has written 23 cookbooks, some of them in Hebrew and French, plus zillions of articles for Bon Appétit, The Los Angeles Times, The Jerusalem Post and other publications. And this is only a small part of her achievements. 

Her husband Yakir (above) works with her, photographing and recording her appearances and the events she attends.

Faye met Yakir in Israel and learned to cook there. Having lived and traveled in the Middle East, she knew how her audience could duplicate some of the same experiences in southern California, where she now lives.

They could, for example, eat a tremendous variety of Middle Eastern food in Anaheim's Little Arabia, where restaurants offer sumptuous feasts to break the daily fast during Ramadan. And she suggested visiting Persian bakeries to try breads such as sangak and barbari.

And, of course, they can cook from "Feast from the Mideast," the book on which her presentation was based. It's at the right in the photo. 

Then they watched her demo two of her recipes, first the wildly popular dish of eggs in tomato sauce, known as shakshuka (above).

Followed by sabich, an eggplant and egg sandwich that is eaten with a spicy, sour and salty mango relish.  

Versions of both are in "Feast from the Mideast" and "1,000 Jewish Recipes." 

So far, I have collected seven of Faye's 23 cookbooks. And I am already congratulating her on book No. 24, which I hope is not far off.

Here is the recipe for the chicken dish that aroused such an uproar at Melissa's.

It's easy to make because you can buy packaged pomegranate arils (seeds) rather than having to dig them out of the fruit yourself.  

CHICKEN IN PERSIAN POMEGRANATE WALNUT SAUCE
From "Feast from the Mideast" by Faye Levy

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, or 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter
2 1/2 pounds chicken pieces, rinsed and patted dry
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 to 2 cups walnuts
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (optional)
1 1/2 to 2 cups pomegranate juice, or 1/3 to 1/2 cup pomegranate paste
1/2 cup water or chicken broth (if using pomegranate juice), or 1 1/2 cups water or broth (if using paste)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons tomato paste, or 3 to 4 tablespoons tomato sauce (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice, or to taste
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
1/3 to 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley (optional)
A few toasted walnuts (optional)

Heat oil in heavy wide casserole or Dutch oven. Add chicken in batches and sauté over medium-high heat until brown. Remove chicken to plate. Discard fat from pan, leaving 1 to 2 tablespoons. 

Add onion to pan and saute over medium heat for 7 minutes, or until golden. Meanwhile, finely chop walnuts with pulsing motion of food processor. Reduce heat under onion pan to low. Stir in flour, then walnuts, and cook over low heat, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in pomegranate juice and 1/2 cup water, or pomegranate paste and 1 1/2 cups water, and bring to a simmer, stirring. 

Add chicken and any juices on plate to pan. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat about 35 minutes for breast pieces or 40 to 45 minutes for leg and thigh pieces, or until chicken is tender, stirring occasionally. 

Remove chicken from pan. Add tomato paste, if you like, and cardamom to sauce and simmer until thickened to your taste. Taste, adjust seasoning, and add lemon juice and sugar if needed. If you like, whisk in a few more teaspoons pomegranate juice or paste. Return chicken to sauce and heat through. Serve hot, garnished if you like with pomegranate seeds, parsley, or walnuts, or all three.

Makes 4 servings.

A Healthy Salad from Gordon Ramsay

You'll love this salad if you like fresh, light, healthy food.

It's Cauliflower Tabbouleh from a new cookbook, "Gordon Ramsay's Healthy, Lean & Fit."  As a celebrated chef, Ramsay doesn't deal in deprivation and denial, ugly words that come to mind when you think about dieting. His book is about eating well according to what shape you're in or need to be. The subtitle describes it well: Mouthwatering Recipes to Fuel You for Life." 

The title represents the three sections of the book.  "Healthy" means food to keep you in that shape. "Lean" recipes help with weight loss.

"Fit" applies to athletes who may need to power up for exertion or power down afterwards. Ramsay is qualified to write about this because he's a serious fitness buff himself (Ironman, ultra triathlons).

The tabbouleh is in the "healthy" section, paired with pan-grilled lamb leg steaks and a lemon wedge.  It's great to eat as is, or you can sprinkle a little onto other salads as a garnish. Perfect for potlucks, it's easy to make and transport, doesn't wilt, and, what's really important, it looks so good on the table.

CAULIFLOWER TABBOULEH    
From "Gordon Ramsay's Healthy, Lean & Fit)

1 medium cauliflower, leaves removed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 small red onion, peeled and very finely diced
1 cucumber, finely diced (do not remove peel and seeds)
1/2 bunch parsley
Leaves from 1/2 bunch mint
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

To prepare the cauliflower, either hold the stalk of the cauliflower and grate it on the large holes of a box grater, or break into florets and pulse briefly in a food processor until you get a rice-like consistency.

Put the cauliflower into a large serving bowl and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, then toss to coat.

Add the cherry tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber to the bowl and mix. 
Roll the bunch of parsley up tightly into a cigar shape and thinly slice the leaves until you reach the stems. Discard the stems, or save them for stock, and add the thinly sliced leaves to the bowl. Thinly slice the mint leaves and add them to the bowl.

Mix everything together well and squeeze over the juice of the lemon. Pour in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix and taste, and add a little more olive oil or salt and pepper if needed. 

Makes 4 servings. 

A New Look at Southern Cooking

Southern cooking today isn't just grits, fried chicken, peach cobbler and the like.  

It's also Chinese char siu pork, Mexican posole, Thai larb, Venezuelan arepas and Korean grilled beef ribs.

These are among the 80 recipes in "Secrets of the Southern Table" by Virginia Willis, a book that is as much about diversity as it is about food.

Willis (above) is a classically French-trained chef and author of five other cookbooks including "Lighten Up Y'all," which won a James Beard award.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, she notes that people outside the South don't understand it. As a result, she gets saddled with old-fashioned expectations. 

For TV appearances to promote the new book, she's asked to make biscuits rather than something that would reflect the subtitle, "A Food Lovers Tour of the Global South."

Of course the book includes biscuits and a 12-photo layout on how to make them and also recipes for gumbo Z'herbes, Nashville hot grilled chicken, peach upside-down cake and other regional favorites. 

But Willis wanted to present the South as it really is, a fascinating conglomeration of cultures in an area one million miles square.

The Chinese have been in the Mississippi Delta since the 1860s, when they came to supply labor after emancipation of the slaves, she said during a talk at Melissa's Produce.

By 1870, there were more Italians in New Orleans than anywhere else in the United States. Birmingham attracted a large Greek population. Mexicans came to work for Kentucky horse farms. And the war in Vietnam brought in so many Vietnamese that Houston is now the second largest Viet settlement after California.

Some global recipes have acquired southern flavor. There is ketchup in the char siu glaze, for example, and Georgia peanuts in larb. The reverse is true too, as shown by lemongrass in Cajun BBQ Shrimp, basmati or jasmine rice in jambalaya and fresh ginger in the green beans she is showing here instead of the usual bacon, fat back or hog jowl. 

True southern cuisine is basically agricultural, Willis said, and so the book deals with farms and food producers, local products, cooks, markets and eating places as well as recipes, captured in enticing photographs by Angie Mosier.

At Melissa's, a Mexican chocolate pudding with bourbon cream was a top draw--"one of the best things I've ever had," said one enthusiast. The Mexican touch comes from cinnamon and a dash of cayenne. Here is the recipe. 

MEXICAN CHOCOLATE PUDDING WITH BOURBON CREAM
From "Secrets of the Southern Table" by Virginia Willis

6 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream plus 1/2 cup for topping
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon bourbon

Whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, espresso powder, cinnamon, cayenne and salt in a saucepan. In a large measuring cup, combine 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, the milk and vanilla. Add to the saucepan and whisk until smooth.

Place the saucepan over medium heat. Cook, whisking continuously, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the chocolate and cook, whisking continuously, until the chocolate has melted, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Whisk in the butter until melted. Divide the mixture equally among 6 serving dishes such as dessert coupes or ramekins.  To prevent a skin from forming, place plastic wrap directly against the surface of each pudding. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. 

To make the bourbon cream, combine 1/2 cup heavy cream and bourbon in a large bowl. Refrigerate, along with a whisk, for at least 15 minutes. Once chilled, beat the cream with the chilled whisk until it holds soft peaks, 3 to 5 minutes.

When the pudding is chilled completely, top each glass with a spoonful of bourbon cream and dust with cocoa powder. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings. 

The Sweetest Kind of Addiction

TV cook Siri Daly confesses that she's an addict.

Her addiction is to sweets. And it's so serious that she limits consumption in her household to four nights a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. These are known as treat nights, and everybody (a husband and three kids) looks forward to them.

No wonder, when the treat might be intensely rich, seriously addictive lemon bars. These had lots of takers when Daly introduced her debut cookbook, "Siriously Delicious," at Melissa's Produce.

The lemon bars have her own touch--she adds crushed gingersnaps to the shortbread crust. 

An equally addictive rival at her appearance were these Perfect Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies, topped with flaky sea salt. "I've made about a billion chocolate chip cookies in my lifetime," she said. This is her favorite.  

Is all of her cookbook so decadent? Not really. It's family friendly, with plenty of homey comfort foods, like pulled pork, tortilla soup, a pasta salad, meatloaf, tuna casserole and a spaghetti pie. "I'm a passionate home cook," she said.

You may have seen Daly cooking on the Today show--her husband is Carson Daly, Today's co-host and host of The Voice. When motherhood sidelined her for a spell, she began the food blog Siriously Delicious, and this led to the cookbook.

It's subtitled "100 Nutritious (and Not So Nutritious) Simple Recipes for the Real Home Cook." Instead of the usual recipe categories, it's divided into breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner and, finally, what must be her favorite section, Sweet Treats. Here you'll find the lemon bars, the chocolate chip cookies and plenty of other goodies for your own treat nights.

"I'm not very good at depriving myself," Daly confessed. And she demonstrated that by  adding more chocolate chips than the recipe called for when she made cookie dough during her demo at Melissa's. 

LEMON BARS
From "Siriously Delicious" by Siri Daly

2 3/4 cups plus 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 gingersnap cookies, crushed
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons lemon zest, plus 1 cup fresh juice (from about 10 lemons)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 13x9-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper, allowing 2 to 3 inches to extend over sides.

Place 2 3/4 cups of the flour in a large bowl, and stir in the 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add the butter, cookie crumbs and salt and use your hands to incorporate the mixture into a crumbly but smooth dough.

Pat into an even layer in the prepared baking dish. Freeze for 15 minutes, then transfer to the oven, and bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the granulated sugar and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the lemon zest and juice. Whisk in the remaining 2/3 cup flour until smooth. Pour the mixture over the hot crust; return to the oven, and bake until set but the mixture still moves together as a unit when lightly shaken, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

Run a paring knife along the edges of the cooled baking dish to loosen the parchment, if needed. Using the parchment handles, lift the bars out of the baking dish. Cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour.

Using sharp knife, cut the bars into 24 squares. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

Makes 24 bars. 

Fioretto--Cook It Indian Style

There's something different about this Indian cauliflower dish.

The difference is, I've made it with tender sweet flowering cauliflower, called fioretto, instead of the usual clumpy florets.

See how light and delicate the fioretto sprigs are? 


Here's how you'll find fioretto in the market. You can saute, steam, roast, put it in salads, really anything you would do with ordinary cauliflower. 

Because I love Indian food, and Indian cooks are masters at fixing cauliflower, I turned to an Indian cookbook for a recipe.

The book was "Crack the Code" by Nandita Godbole, in which she breaks down the steps to make Indian cooking easy for anybody.

Godbole's cauliflower with peas was a winner. I adapted it slightly, using cut-up green beans instead of peas because I had those on hand and not peas. And I simplified by leaving out the potatoes she suggests but would include them next time.

The steps are to saute spices in a large wok, then add the cauliflower and peas and finally tomatoes, then decorate the finished dish with cilantro.  This is how it looks in the wok.

Godbole (above) suggests serving the cauliflower as a vegetarian main dish accompanied by bread or, for a gluten-free meal, with daal (lentils) and steamed rice.

ESSENTIAL PEAS AND CAULIFLOWER
From "Crack the Code" by Nandita Godbole

2 tablespoons oil
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/2 cup diced yellow or white onions
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (I used less)
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 cup diced red-skinned potatoes, optional
3 cups trimmed cauliflowerets
1/4 cup peas, parboiled
Salt
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

Heat the oil in a large wok. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and allow them to pop. Add the onions and saute until lightly golden. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and and saute until fragrant. Add the turmeric, cayenne, ground cumin and coriander Give a quick stir. If using potatoes, add them now and saute until their edges start to sear.

After this has cooked on medium-low for about 2 minutes, add the cauliflower and peas and mix until the vegetables are evenly coated with the spices. Lightly cover, allowing the steam to escape, and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir every few minutes.

When the cauliflower is tender, season it with salt and add the tomatoes. Stir and cook, uncovered, for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the tomatoes soften a little. Garnish with cilantro.

When I made this with fioretto, which is very light, it made about 4 servings. 

"Not For You," an Indian Food Novel

Pick up the novel "Not For You" and you may not be able to put it down. That is, if you want to learn what Indian village life is really like.

The stories interwoven in the book tell of huts plastered with dung, days spent in hot fields, lives that are poor but rich and women who flout old customs, making this a timely read.

The subtitle is "Family Narratives of Denial & Comfort Foods," appropriate because author Nandita Godbole (above) is a cookbook author, and one of her books is "Treasured Indian Comfort Foods."

Appearing at Melissa's Produce, Godbole called "Not For You" a "novel with recipes."  A meal in the book might be only a banana or two, or sugar cane stolen from a field, or nothing at all. But it could also be a richly flavored bean stew, a spicy shrimp dish or sweet cracked wheat pilaf. These are three of the 16 recipes that appear at the end of the book, all drawn from the story.

The characters in this short first novel are so compelling that you want to learn how their lives turn out. Godbole has taken care of that with a sequel (above) and more recipes.

The introduction to Book Two is by Neela Paniz, an early promoter of Indian cooking in Los Angeles with her restaurant, The Bombay Cafe. Paniz was in the audience for Godbole's presentation.

At Melissa's, Godbole showed how to make the spicy shrimp (above) along with other dishes from her books (click here to see what she has written). From an episode set in Goa, the shrimp are in a tomato sauce spiced with cayenne, cumin, coriander and turmeric. "Think of it as a marinara with an Indian edge to it," Godbole said.

Vegetarians can add potatoes instead of shrimp, she suggested, or mushrooms or even bananas, as was done in her family. The sauce could also be tossed with pasta. It's a mother sauce, she said, and can be prepared in advance and kept handy for a last-minute dinner.  

KOLMBI
Spicy Shrimp in Tomatoes
From "Not For You" by Nandita Godbole

2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup diced yellow or white onions
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric 
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 cup water
1 to 1 1/2 pounds shelled and deveined raw shrimp
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup cilantro leaves for garnish, optional

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and saute until lightly golden. Then add the ginger and garlic pastes and saute until fragrant. Add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin and coriander. Add the tomatoes and water. Let this mixture cook on medium low heat for a few minutes until it becomes a thick sauce.

Add the shrimp, mix well, cover lightly and cook 5 to 7 minutes, until the shrimp are cooked through. Season with salt to taste and cilantro. Serve hot with warm bread.

Makes 8 servings.

How to Practice Kitchen Creativity

Read "Kitchen Creativity," the new book by Karen Page, and you're likely to come away with:

A yoga position.

A meditation practice.

Quotes by Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle.

And a lot of miscellaneous information about food and chefs.

Page, known for such landmark books as "The Flavor Bible" and "Culinary Artistry," and Andrew Dornenburg, her husband and photographer, have dedicated this new book to chefs and how they create.

They've come up with a collection of random information that you can dip into now and then for an entertaining snippet. Or you can check out lists such as blue food, red food, winter food, ingredients that add sweetness, umami ingredients and so forth.

When the couple appeared at Melissa's Produce, Page talked about presenting the essence of a dish in a new way. For example, the caramel apples in the photo could be transformed into an apple martini rimmed with caramel and chopped nuts. 

Or gazpacho (above) could be modified by changing its essential acidic element, usually tomato, to something else, such as Wolfgang Puck's carrot-orange gazpacho.

The three stages of creativity, each with a section in the book, start with mastering skills. Next is alchemy, "converting the common into the precious," the book says. The final stage is creating from scratch something that is "new, useful and surprising," the hallmarks of creativity, according to Page. 

A simple example at "Melissa's" was grilled "chicken-on-the-side" Caesar salad, shown on the plate along with gazpacho, which was elevated by garnishing with grilled shrimp, and garlic mashed potatoes. 

Tools include lists of ingredients favored by top chefs and what they consider the top 20 culinary books. 

Another list, "The Kitchen Creativity 50," gives 50 quick tricks for transforming a dish into something new. 

An A to Z section covers a grab bag of topics including Ayurveda, chickpea water, Ramadan, social consciousness, Super Bowl and waffles, but not potatoes, soup, ghee, tofu or vegan.  It's for browsing, not a comprehensive guide.

The international cuisines listed under Ramadan represent countries with large Muslim populations that observe Ramadan. The book doesn't explain this, though. Like other lists in the book, it's shorthand to nudge the brain into action. 

Photo by Andrew Dornenburg

The yoga position? Check the photo of Rick Bayless doing a hand stand on a kitchen counter. The meditation practice?  Mindfulness and meditation provide the calmness that allows fresh ideas to come forth. Two pages in the book are allotted to comments on meditation by Eric Ripert, who has a meditation room in his home.

The Chopra and Tolle quotes? These and other non-food philosophical remarks provide encouragement and enlightenment. "One of the most important ways to triple your creativity is through choosing to be happy," Page said. 

You'll like this book if you're a chef follower, a high-end food admirer, a cooking show devotee, a student of the creative process and/or a fan of previous books by Page and Dornenburg. 

It's not a how-to guide and contains no recipes. As Page says, it's "a brainstorming tool," a collection of check lists and chef tips to help when you want to do something more than throw dinner together at the last minute.    

A Great, Easy Beef Stew from Georgia

Chashushuli--I can't pronounce it, but I love it.

What is it? A beef stew from the country of Georgia that's like no beef stew I've ever tasted. It's full of fresh herbs, stirred in just before serving. And it contains an ingredient that I haven't seen in other recipes--ground fenugreek.

This is easy to get, if you are anywhere near an Indian market. Just ask for methi seeds--they're an Indian staple--then powder them in a spice grinder and enjoy the delightful celerylike aroma they produce.

Where did I have chashushuli? In my own kitchen, thanks to the recipe in "Tasting Georgia," an extraordinary book by writer/photographer/cook Carla Capalbo.

This is the photo of the stew that she took for the book. My version is at the top. It's practical and easy to make. 

A travel guide as well as a cookbook, "Tasting Georgia" tells what to see, where to stay, where to eat, what to drink and introduces you to local cooks. The subtitle is "A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus."

Be aware that after reading it, you're likely to scrap your vacation plans and go to Georgia instead of to the beach. Capalbo's stunning photos alone are enough to convince you.  

Chashushuli is in a section that covers the route toward Georgia's southern borders with Turkey and Armenia. The recipe was inspired by a beef and tomato stew served at Valodia's Cottage, a hotel near the cave city of Vardzia.

Capalbo tested this and the other recipes at her home in London but gives American equivalents to the metric and Imperial measures.

On my first try--and there will be more--chashushuli worked like a dream. It's especially congenial to California cooks, with its striking use of cilantro--a small bunch is plunged into the center of the stew (above) and more is stirred in at the end, along with basil, parsley and raw garlic. There's a speck of heat from chile too.  

Capalbo cooks the stew in the oven but says that Georgian cooks would probably simmer it on top of the stove. I tried that alternative and it worked just fine, but the oven might be handy if you are making a large amount for a party. 

There's much more in this book, including instructions on how to make the famous Georgian cheese-filled bread khachapuri. It's available in my area, but I have yet to try it.

What I have tried is Georgian wines, thanks to a couple of tastings in Los Angeles. They're a bit startling at first but grow in appeal as you taste them and learn how they are made, buried in the ground in terra-cotta pots called qvevri. 


Capalbo focuses on these natural, artisanal wines, not the big scale, commercial producers in Georgia. The wine that stood out for me was Saperavi, a lively red  made from an indigenous Georgian grape. This is what I would serve with chashushuli, if I could locate a bottle--a challenge, because Georgian wine distribution is growing but still pretty limited.

BEEF AND TOMATO STEW
Chashushuli
From "Tasting Georgia" by Carla Capalbo

3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 pound stewing beef, cut into 1 1/4-inch cubes
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups water or plain meat broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup tomato pulp, fresh or canned (without juice)
Finely chopped medium-hot fresh chile to taste
1 ounce cilantro, tied into a bunch

To finish:
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup chopped basil, purple and green
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a heavy, cast-iron or other ovenproof casserole, melt half the butter. Stir in the onions and cook over low heat until translucent, 7 minutes. 
Turn the onions onto a side plate and add the remaining butter to the pan. Stir in the meat, raise the heat and brown the beef on all sides. Add the onions the fenugreek and half the garlic. Cook for a minute more.

Add the water, salt and tomato pulp and bring to a boil. Add the chile. Remove from the heat, pushing the bunch of coriander into the middle of the stew.

Cover the casserole and place in the center of the preheated oven. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 70 to 90 minutes or until the meat is tender but not dry. 

Remove the stew from the oven. Pull out the cilantro bouquet, squeezing it against a spoon to extract all the flavor; discard. Stir in the chopped cilantro, basil, parsley and the remaining garlic and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 3 to 4 servings.