Repertoire

March 19, 2018
San Francisco Chronicle food columnist Battilana delivers 75 classic recipes in this valuable cookbook, arguing that home cooks don’t need a collection of hundreds of recipes to be well-rounded, but a “set of durable, flexible recipes that... form the backbone” of their cooking. The book is logically broken up into appetizers (“Ways to Start”), main dishes, and desserts, each providing familiar flavors, including Italian-American classic comforts (garlicky broccoli rabe and provolone crostini; eggplant parm; and spaghetti aglio e olio) and those with an Eastern flair (harissa and honey chicken thighs; vermicelli noodles with lemongrass pork meatballs; and rice pudding with citrus and pistachios). Battilana also equips the reader with tips and tricks needed to make homemade sweet and savory tart shells, pretzel rolls, gnocchi (paired with a brown butter sauce), dumplings, chocolate ice cream, and crème fraîche. While the author claims that these recipes are appropriate for weeknight cooking and dinner entertaining alike, some are too time-consuming to truly be called weeknight dishes (to make corn fritters, for example, batter has to sit in the fridge for an hour before prepping and frying). That said, readers will appreciate her agreeable philosophy (“I believe in repeats, in making a dish so often and for so many people that it becomes inextricably linked to you”) that make this book accessible and promise to boost home cooks’ confidence. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, InkWell.

May 15, 2018

Battilana, a frequent cookbook coauthor (Home Cooked) and Repertoire columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, steps out on her own and shares 75 favorites from her personal repertoire, including sweet corn fritters, grilled tahini chicken, and pavlova with lime curd and blueberries. The recipes are more luxe than those in other similar collections of doable dinners, making them perfect for readers who envision snacking on duck rillettes while dressing tender vegetables with homemade aioli. Expect a few premium ingredients, such as food-grade lye, mixed chicories, and palm sugar. VERDICT Although it's less unfussy than it claims to be, this volume contains stellar gourmet recipes that will nicely pair with those found in Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion's Keepers or Melissa Clark's Dinner.

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