Not Your Mother's Casseroles

November 15, 2010
With a light tone and lightened-up recipes, Durand delivers the sort of book fans of the Not Your Mother's series expect: practical, user-friendly, and filled with plenty of everyday recipes for one-dish oven-baked meals. The author acknowledges casseroles' fuddy-duddy reputation, then proceeds to challenge it with ideas for everything from breakfast (breakfast brown rice with blueberries and almonds) to dessert (rhubarb-lavender oat crisp). In between are the bulk of recipes, perfect for weeknight dinners. Though some recipes actually are reminiscent of "your mother's" casseroles, such as a tortilla chicken casserole, many feel fresh and contemporary: tomato, arugula, and mushroom casserole; beet gratin with goat cheese and greens; roasted autumn vegetables with parmesan and sage; cinnamon lamb orzo bake. Because, as the author notes, "even the most complete casserole needs at least one complementary dish to round it out into a meal," she helpfully concludes with a "While it bakes" chapter of quick and healthy salads, soups, and breads, including a winter salad with fennel, cabbage, and citrus that will strike the right crisp balance with even the heartiest of traditional casseroles.

November 15, 2010

Durand, managing editor of Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn (www.thekitchn.com), defines casseroles as baked dishes and will change the way you think of them. She first covers essentials tools, baking pans, and pantry items and includes more than 200 recipes--you'll find a casserole perfect for any occasion or meal. For breakfast, there are Baked Buttermilk Pancake and Baked Cheesy Chile Grits. After meals of Quick and Easy Ham and Potato Casserole and Saucy Shells Stuffed with Spiced Tofu, you can enjoy desserts like Baked Custard with Port Wine Sauce. This eighth book in the best-selling "Not Your Mother's" series should prove popular.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2011
A passion for the freshest, most seasonal ingredients, without butters and fats, distinguishes this all-in-one casserole cookbook from the others. One in a series, this collection of more than 200 recipe surprises and delights. Durand takes her mission of educating home chefs very seriously. Sprinkled liberally throughout are short sidebars on ingredients and tools, including an introduction to the mandolin and information about polenta, the unknown grana padano cheeses, and the goodness of almond meal. The dishes range from breakfasts to desserts, with vegetables heavily emphasized: root vegetable cobbler with whole-grain biscuit topping, tender turkey with sausage and mushrooms, basic oat crisp with fruit, and so on. Durand admits to lightening and modernizing some dishes adapted from those of such more famous author-chefs as Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters. Too bad, though, that calorie counts are not included. Think of this as a contemporary convenience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)