February’s Cookbook of the Month will be “Bistro Cooking At Home” by Gordon Hamersley

[blue room]

This author runs a very well-thought-of restaurant in Boston. (I saw a breathless headline, something like "Obama visits Hamersley's Bistro, eats meat and potatoes.")
I do have this book (if anybody needs paraphrasing, just ask) and it looks great. The author likes "simmering, braising, roasting" -- cooking you can walk away from. Nice, but haha I noticed some other cooking terms too, like candied pistachios and shaved apples and souffléed Roquefort. It will be interesting!
On February 1st I'll put up a thread for our reports.

A few online recipes : http://starchefs.com/GHamersley/html/...

[blue room]

Hello COTM participants and followers --

The process for choosing a book for March should begin soon, in the next 7 days would probably be ideal. Someone needs to step in to coordinate for the 6 months of March through August 2013.

As they say on the Internets: discuss.

Thanks you all!

[greedygirl]

I'm happy to do it if you all can put up with funny spelling and the time difference.

[Gio]

What a gal! As long as you learn to say, "Y'All."

[greedygirl]

I'll give it a go! Did I mention we're planning a trip Stateside in September? It will be West coast though. San Francisco to Sattle via Portland, then over the border to Victoria and Vancouver.

[Gio]

That sounds like a wonderful trip GG. Many great C'hounds on the left coast. Oh, and sights to see and food to eat.

[geekmom]

Ooh, excellent trip itinerary! There's a great and very active board on CH for each of those cities where locals are happy to recommend food destinations for any budget & location... you will no doubt have your own ideas too!

Thank you for offering to do COTM!

[LulusMom]

Fantastic itinerary! You'll love it. If you get a chance while in Oregan, take a side trip along the Columbia River gorge. And I hope you're planning on doing Napa/Sonoma?

[greedygirl]

We've been to Sonoma/Napa already, but I'm not ruling out another visit! Thanks for the tip about the Columbia River gorge.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Please don't hesitate to give me a shout in a few months, greedygirl, if you'd be up for breaking bread or sharing a bottle with a local when in the SF Bay Area. Would love to meet up.

And thanks for taking over the COTM reins!

[greedygirl]

I definitely will Caitlin, thanks.

[blue room]

You'll need to change your name to generousgirl.

[greedygirl]

Am I right in thinking there's a COTM idiot-proof guide? If so can you email it to me?

[blue room]

Of course, I will tell you everything I know, it will be forthcoming and it will fit in a cupcake paper! Thank you so much!

[greedygirl]

OK - first stupid question. How do I post in the Quick Links thread in Home Cooking? Or do I just post the nomination thread in the general Home Cooking section and ask the mods to put it in the quick links? I am confused already!

The other thing is, I will probably need help posting the reporting threads if it's a book I don't own, as the library system isn't nearly as good here as it is in the US for cookbooks, and the book stores don't always carry US titles. TIA!

[blue room]

Good morning, greedygirl! I'll email.

[Gio]

I'll try to help you if I have a cookbook you don't have...

[LulusMom]

Add me to the list of willing helpers, if I have the book or can get it at the library.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I'm also willing to help if I can look through a book from my bookshelf/local library/bookstore.

[Breadcrumbs]

Absolutely gg and even though I'm going to be travelling a lot this year, mr bc said he'd be happy to scan and email tables of contents if you need them so please don't hesitate to ask.

[delys77]

Well I voted for Burma because I have a good number of bistro style books already, but given the large number of lovely looking recipes online I might pop in every so often.

[nomadchowwoman]

I'm also extremely fond of this book, having cooked quite successfully from it; its recipes are very accessible, yielding sophisticated comfort food.

The salads, especially the winter-y ones, are wonderful. As are the soups I've tried (beet-ginger; hearty lentil). And, yes, Hamersley's legendary roast chicken recipe is here, along with great recipes for gougeres and profiteroles.

Also delicious: gratin of potatoes and caramelized onions; grilled flank steak in coffee marinade; short ribs braised in dark beer; beef braised in red wine;spicy lamb shanks; pot-roasted pork with prunes and armagnac; braised leeks with orange vinaigrette; lemony braised endive; souffleed lemon custard.

Should be a yummy month; I hope I have more time to cook than I have this month.

[prima]

Love this book.
I loved his Beet & Ginger Soup so much, that I often use the same flavours (orange, ginger, garlic, fennel, tarragon, red onion, balsamic) when I make beets as a side dish. http://ottotarchincooking.blogspot.ca...

[DebHo]

I admit I voted for Bistro and am excited, but after reading rave reviews about Burma I might try that on my own too.

[LulusMom]

I *think* this is a thread on cooking from it. If not, you can start one, or you can wait and keep voting on it. I have a strong feeling it will be COTM soon.

[Caitlin McGrath]

LLM, did you mean to include a link? Anyway, this thread is about Burmese in general/from various books, but it has lots about cooking from Duguid's book: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/875497

[LulusMom]

Thanks for including the link Caitlin. I think I had one of those brain moments ...

[geekmom]

I'll be extremely surprised if Burma doesn't end up being COTM in the next couple of months...

[L.Nightshade]

Agree with the other posters. Burma will soon have its day. Or month, rather.

[blue room]

Wow, I go Internet-lite for a couple days, and a riot erupts! So many sound *so* excited for this one. I saw an outward sameness with the Union Square Cafe books -- big city cafe/bistro, dishes like roast chicken, fruit crisp/crumbles. That's way over-simplified, but do you get what I mean? The Union Square books were not huge here, so I wonder how this bistro book will go.

[C. Hamster]

Does he divulge the chicken recipe?

I'm glad the confit recipe is there. Had there been a Justice of the Peace handy I would have married it last time I ate there.

[dkennedy]

The roasted chicken recipe is included, and it comes out perfectly. I believe a link to the recipe is provided on EYB, referenced above.

[Gio]

February is going to be Great. I haven't been to Hamersley's Bistro for a long time even though I live in close proximity to Boston. The book has been languishing on the shelf for quite some time and although I have made a few recipes from it I can't remember what they are and how they fared. Now I'll have a chance to revisit both the restaurant and the book... Thanks Blue Room.

[Breadcrumbs]

blue room sincere thanks!

I'm delighted to see this book as our February COTM. I pulled it off the shelf tonight for a quick reminder and there are soooo many stickies in this book it's ridiculous! I'm super-excited!

[LulusMom]

Just had a chance to go through the book again. I'm pretty excited. I wanted to tell people 3 things we made and absolutely loved, and one that we liked very much. The 3 loved items were: Oven-baked penne with onions, walnuts and goat cheese; Oven-roasted skate (I may have subbed flounder) with horseradish and walnut crumbs; Rabbit (in our case chicken thighs) in red wine with (turkey) bacon, pearl onions and chantarelles. The liked very much item (and I believe I made this before our Lulu came along) is Lu Lu's favorite pasta.

[geekmom]

Great idea, LLM - I have a few bookmarks already in this book but would love to hear others' favourites too.

That baked penne dish is truly outstanding and gets a +1 from me.

So far our most loved recipe in this book is the autumn vegetable stew with cheddar-garlic crumble crust. We made it with gf flour & it turned out extremely well.

[The Dairy Queen]

Oven baked penne
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=20050407&id=BvVOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pv8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3090,5883119

Oven roasted skate
http://www.starchefs.com/recipes/quic...

Can't find the rabbit one, alas.

~TDQ

[alliegator]

TDQ, thanks for posting this and the earlier link for Eat Your Books. I must have been living with my head in a hole, but I'd never come across the site. It's great, and I'll use it often :)

[The Dairy Queen]

EYB is a fantastic site for cookbook lovers, but honestly, lately I'm getting a ton of use out of it for "online" recipes for books I don't even own. (Such as Bistro Cooking at Home).

You can get recipe links for certain blogs, too, though I'm not much of a follower of blogs so I usually keep those results out of my EYB searches.

~TDQ

[herby]

I love this skate wing recipe - thank you for posting, TDQ! My local produce store has a lovely fish counter where they often have fresh skate wings. I am always tempted but do not have a go-to recipe - maybe this will become the one.

[dkennedy]

LLM, thanks for the tip re the oven baked penne. I am having guests over on Wednesday night and now I know what I will make.

[LulusMom]

Really absolutely heavenly. I hope I'm not steering you wrong, but if it *sounds* good to you, then I think you'll like it. And perfect for guests because the work is done beforehand. Good luck!

[dkennedy]

LLM, made the baked pasta last night. Really loved it. I will post about my results when the thread opens next week but I just wanted to quickly post a thank you. I have now made 3 recipes from the book so I am in good shape to participate next month.

[LulusMom]

Thrilled to hear that it was a hit for you too! Thanks for letting me know. I always get nervous when recommending dishes since everyone's tastes are different.

[herby]

DK, I made baked penne with tiny meatballs (Marcella Hazan) for company last week and it was super easy since everything is ready before guests arrive and the dish goes in the oven 1/2 hour or so before serving! I am sure the Bistro recipe is just as convenient.

[The Dairy Queen]

Was it this recipe herby? http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/baked-...

I was just looking at this today because I want to make tiny meatballs, but with turkey.

~TDQ

[herby]

That's it! I made my meatballs with beef and I am sure turkey will be just as tasty. I actually rolled two meatballs at once as Marcella instructs but found rolling one at a time to be more enjoyable :)

[alliegator]

Thanks for posting links to the recipes available online. Not sure it was a book I wanted to go ahead and buy, but I see a couple of things on the links I'd like to try--so I can still participate a bit !

[The Dairy Queen]

Here's a link to the available "online" recipes per EYB: http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/r...

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

That's amazing TDQ - thank you so much for doing that. I never knew EYB had that facility, it's absolutely brilliant! I may be able to cook along a bit in February now.

[The Dairy Queen]

It's a newish feature on EYB...

EYB only lists the "official" online recipes, so there are likely many more online, too, if you search around.

~TDQ

[abby d]

thank you from me too - i've already spotted a few recipes i fancy trying.

[LulusMom]

Woohoo!!! I've had this book for years (since it came out) and the few things I've made I've loved. Good to have a fire under my bottom to get me to try more. Thanks blue room.

[Dirtywextraolives]

Me too! That braised beef short ribs recipe is unbelievably good.....

Went to the resto maybe 20+ years ago....hard to believe its still around.....

[dkennedy]

As always, thanks so much for all your hard work, Blue Room.

So excited Bistro Cooking at Home was selected this time, I can't wait for February to get here and to see what everyone make. I just re-upped with Weight Watchers, so I will be walking a very delicate rope this month. Participating while staying true to my diet. Lots of yummy dishes to choose from, and as long as I only eat a small plate, I should be ok.

Again, if anyone who wants to participate needs a recipe, I'd be happy to email it or paraphrase.

[juliejulez]

dkennedy, that's another thing I liked about this book. I'm a pretty healthy cook 80% of the time and I think many of the recipes already look pretty good, health-wise, and if they're not, they look to be adaptable to be more healthy. Many of the salads looked great, and I'm not even a salad person usually.

[dkennedy]

I have earmarked the duck confit with french lentil salad for tonight's dinner. I hope I can find duck legs at the market today.

[eperdu]

I'm excited too ... I picked up my copy at the library the other day and have tagged a dozen or so recipes in the first half. Wheeee! I may actually participate this month.

[herby]

As Pikawika, I was hoping for Burma and an excuse to buy it since I am at least four months away from getting it from the library. But maybe for the best since I have a surgery scheduled for the end of january and most likely won't be cooking much. It will be interesting to see if Burma comes up again or will be forgotten as many did before it.

I will be lurking and if a dish tempts me, I'll ask for paraphrase - thanks for the offer, Blue Room!

[geekmom]

Yaaaayyyy!!!

I'm also willing to help with paraphrasing recipes.

[L.Nightshade]

Great work blue room! Thanks so much.
I'm looking forward to February!

[juliejulez]

I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED!!! My book arrived in yesterday's mail and I've marked maybe 4 dozen recipes already! Also, almost all the recipes have ingredients I can buy in my normal grocery stores, since I don't have good access to ethnic or specialty groceries, that's huge for me. Again, so thrilled that it won :)

[pikawicca]

I was hoping for Burma, but since I can't cook this month, maybe this is a good thing and Burma will prevail at a later date.