Real Fast Vegetarian Food - Ursula Ferrigno

The title of this book is certainly a misnomer. There is nothing "fast" about a lot of these recipes, as many of them involve numerous steps. The Southern Italian Layered Potato Pie sounded great on paper. It's chock full of mozzarella, potatoes, onions and mushrooms. But you have to chop about a billion onions, and then cook everything separately, before smashing the potatoes into oblivion and then layering everything into a baking pan. In the end, you basically get glorified mashed potatoes and I really didn't see the need to bake the whole thing when you could just as easily just stir it all together. The Beetroot Salad however, was fast, very simple, and incredibly delicious. The longest step for this recipe was boiling the beets, which let's face it, doesn't exactly take a whole lot of attention or effort. After that you add some chopped onions, basil, parsley and a little oil and vinegar and salt and pepper. I also made Parmesan Potato Pancakes (glorified hashbrowns) and a Wild Mushroom and Basil Tart, which, while not fast, was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten. So I don't know, I'll probably hold onto this one for the time being and do a little more exploration in it once I'm through the first round of all my books. It may end up being one of those that I only pull a couple of recipes out of and then dump the rest. We shall see.

Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection

Mmm. That's all I have to say about this book. It's a collection taken from some of Le Cordon Bleu's best recipes. Some of the recipes require numerous steps, but none of it is terribly complicated...just time consuming. And so, so worth it in the end. First thing I made was a Salmon, leek, and potato gratin and omg was it ever good. Chock full of two smoked and fresh salmon, cream, leeks, Gruyere. Yeah, pretty much to die for. 

Yesterday I did a little entertaining and did a menu of 

Melting Morsels

Chicken with mushrooms and onions

Sauteed Potatoes

Lemon Delicious (which I mistakenly, but more appropriately called Lemon Surprise)

The morsels were these little cheesy pastry things. I was expecting them to be like, well, little pastries, but they ended up being the size of puffy crackers. Still tasted crisp and buttery and cheesy, but I'd definitely cut them larger next time. The chicken recipe was rather involved, but ended up being the quintessential country French chicken dish...baked in the oven and chock full of browned chicken, bacon and mushrooms. Who doesn't like that? The Sauteed potatoes are now going to be in my personal arsenal. They were SO easy and so delicious. I think I will be making them very, very frequently. 

And then we have the Lemon SURPRISE. It was supposed to be one of those pudding-on-the-bottom type things, only I had to double the recipe to feed my crowd, and let's just say the pudding didn't really pud. So it was more like a runny-lemon-slop-on-the-bottom type thing. Still tasted good and lemony, it just wasn't very appetizing to look at. I may try a do-over on that and just follow the recipe exactly.

One of the best things about this book (besides everything from it tasting fabulous) is that each recipe has a large color picture, so you always know exactly how it's supposed to turn out. The recipes aren't new, and if you have a number of other Cordon Bleu cookbooks, it's probably not worth your money to get this one (they'll be all repeats), but if not, this is a lovely book to look through and use!