EATING YOUR WORDS
Find your next favorite recipe in the pages of these cookbooks
BOOKS
Spring brings with it sunny invitations to peruse weekend farmers markets and vibrant produce aisles. It's also a great time to find your next fix of inspiration in the pages of new cookbooks. Here are five new titles that offer gorgeous recipes from culinary traditions around the world, from Greek keftedakia to sea bass ceviche with finger limes to an apricot-saffron frangipane galette.
'The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook'
By Sana Javeri Kadri and Asha Loupy (Harvest, $35)
Highlighting the work of the Diaspora Spice Co., a company that sources spices from regenerative farms in India and Sri Lanka, this cookbook includes 85 regional recipes covering 10 states across India and Sri Lanka. Learn how to make Kerala-style grilled prawns in 45 minutes or under, contribute to a dinner party with an apricot-saffron frangipane galette or cook coconut lamb biryani for a Diwali feast. Recipe contributors, all women, hailed from around India and Sri Lanka and were paid directly at rates "as close to U.S. recipe development rates as possible," according to the authors.
'I Sleep in My Kitchen'
By Mariam Daud with Emily Timberlake (Clarkson Potter, $35)
Daud, a Palestinian American chef, grew up in a family with 10 kids, whose parents ran the Pyramid, a restaurant in the Cleveland area from 1996 to 2004.
Daud draws inspiration from her mom's approach to cooking, and adds her own Californian flair. "She loves teaching people about her food and her culture; that is why there are no 'secret recipes' in our family," she writes about her mom in the cookbook's introduction.
In its pages, you'll find recipes for dishes like msakhan, a flatbread with chicken, sumac and caramelized onions; macarona bechamel, an Egyptian-style pasta bake; and saniyeh kofta, beef patties in tomato sauce.
'Citrus, Illustrated'
By George Geary (Chronicle Books, $20)
Geary, a former pastry chef for the Walt Disney Company, hails from Corona, California — a city near Riverside known as the Lemon Capital of the World — and celebrates all things citrus in his new cookbook.
The book covers the histories of different citrus variants and highlights beautiful ways to use them in your cooking. In its pages, you'll find recipes for dishes like the grapefruit cake from the Brown Derby in Los Angeles, kumquat and chile baked salmon, shrimp and sea bass ceviche with finger limes, blood orange glazed carrots, tangerine maple barbecue spareribs and, of course, lemon curd.
'Hello, Home Cooking'
By Ham El-Waylly (Clarkson Potter, $35)
A longtime chef contributor to the New York Times and the chef behind Brooklyn restaurant Strange Delight, El-Waylly shares recipes for dishes like tahini-roasted swordfish, chicken and mochi dumpling soup, green beans with dill butter and kofta meatballs in the pages of this colorful, creative celebration of home cooking, putting a modern twist on nostalgic favorites.
'My Greek Mom's Recipes'
By Gus Constantellis (Rock Point, $30)
The author behind this cookbook isn't your traditional chef. In fact, he's a stand-up comedian. Constantellis rose to online fame first from impersonating his Greek mother, and then began filming with her. Her wit and no-nonsense qualities — and passion for food — drew fans from across the internet, before she died suddenly on vacation in Greece. Constantellis and his mom had been planning to write this cookbook together.
You'll find recipes for traditional Greek dishes interspersed with heartfelt anecdotes and stories about Constantellis' mom and family.
"First and foremost, the seventy-five recipes in this cookbook are absolutely delectable," he writes. "These are tried and true. But beyond that, this cookbook is an exploration of grief told through the lens of food. Some of these stories are funny, some are sad, some are both at the same time. I wanted to find ways to keep my mother's sharp wit alive in every recipe."
