The Art of Simple Food

Starred review from September 3, 2007
The delicious dishes described in the latest cookbook from Chez Panisse founder Waters, such as a four-ingredient Soda Bread and Cauliflower Salad with Olives and Capers, are simple indeed, though the book's structure is complex, if intuitive. After a useful discussion of ingredients and equipment come chapters on techniques, such as making broth and soup. Each of these includes three or four recipes that rely on the technique described, which can lead to repetition (still preferable to a lack of guidance): a chapter on roasting contains two pages of instructions on roasting a chicken (including a hint to salt it a day in advance for juicy results), followed by a recipe for Roast Chicken that is simply an abbreviated version of those two pages. The final third of the book divides many more recipes traditionally into salads, pasta and so forth. Waters taps an almost endless supply of ideas for appealing and fresh yet low-stress dishes: Zucchini Ragout with Bacon and Tomato, Onion Custard Pie, Chocolate Crackle Cookies with almonds and a little brandy. Whether explaining why salting food properly is key or describing the steps to creating the ideal Grilled Cheese Sandwich, she continues to prove herself one of our best modern-day food writers.

October 15, 2007
This long-awaited volume sums up what Alice Waters learned as she rose from feeding the Berkeley counterculture to the very pinnacle of American cookery. Much more than a mere collection of recipes, this book takes the reader through Waters cookings first principles: ingredients, techniques, and menu planning. She identifies four essential sauces for basic flavoring, favoring garlicky aioli over plain mayonnaise. Her pizza dough calls for rye flour. Soups, salads, and pastas form the backbone for much of Waters cuisine, and recipes range from classics such as linguini with clams to an intensely spicy cauliflower soup. Slow-cooked stews, perfect for cold nights, include beef, chicken, and pork versions. For Waters, simple has many meanings. She includes her own version of bouillabaisse, calling for upward of two-dozen ingredients and some serious preparation time and skill. Waters influence and her vast following will create significant demand for this very well-conceived and -executed cookbook.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)