Carla's Comfort Foods

January 20, 2014
Hall’s enthusiasm for fast, easy, and affordable home cooking bubbles over at every exclamation in her latest cookbook on comfort food. (Hall also wrote Cooking with Love; she is the co-host of ABC’s The Chew and a former contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars.) In this collection of 130 new recipes, Hall offers her take on homey dishes from around the world—including the American South, Italy, Morocco, Thailand, Hungary, etc.—connecting cultures over the communal meal. Organized by category (soups & salads, vegetables, meat) and subcategory (creamy soups, spinach, short ribs), the book is a useful resource for beginner cooks looking for different ways to prepare staple dishes. Each recipe uses basic ingredients easily found in pantries or local groceries, and includes clear, concise instructions and at least one cooking tip. Meant to address the less-seasoned cook who enjoys cheerful reassurances in the kitchen, the book’s tone throughout is conversational—“That’s how we all relate to food, right?”—personal, and confessional.

February 15, 2014

Hall (Cooking with Love) is a popular former Top Chef contestant who owns an artisan cookie company and cohosts the ABC talk show The Chew. Coauthored with Ko (Home Cooking with Jean-Georges), her latest cookbook tempts adventurous eaters with 130 recipes for international comfort foods. Hall gives Mexican tomato-corn chowder, Southeast Asian cilantro fish stew, and other dishes her own twist, incorporating her preparations and tips. Recipe headnotes touch on Halls' career, personal life, and ingredient preferences. VERDICT Hall's unintimidating take on world cuisine isn't always authentic but can help novice cooks explore new spices.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2014
Any longtime fan of Bravo's Top Chef series will smile and nod at Hootie hoo, Hall's key signature phrase of delight, surprise, and you-fill-in-the-blank. What's even better in her second recipe collection (Cooking with Love, 2012) is her enthusiastic and knowledgeable embrace of all things spice, whether it be a mild lemongrass or a heated habanero chili. In fact, her cookbook centers on the philosophy that food and dishes are pretty much the same the world 'round; you change them by changing their spices. She starts with an easy foundational dish (with a heavy emphasis on vegetables), say, roasted fingerling potatoes, followed by at least two variationsin this case, curried potatoes and peas and double-mustard potato salad. No worries, because Hall won't let any home chef flounder. Each dish includes a snappy personal introduction, directions (naturally), and Carla's tips, ranging from ideas for swap-outs (substitute curry powder for vadouvan) to specific explanations about certain ingredients. Sidebars also show off her chatty style, such as her first experience cooking red lentils. Get ready for 111 different goodnesses, including baked corn pudding, hot fried chicken, and rustic bacon-apple pie. Nothing says lovin' better.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)