Today I'm linking up with Trish's Cook it Up! Challenge over at Love Laughter and a Touch of Insanity and Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
So when you're learning to cook where do you start? For me it was Southern Living, Taste of Home and lots of allrecipes.com which was fairly new at the time. I think over time I ended up with all of the cookbooks. This is the only one I had left and it was sitting in the back of the pantry collecting dust when I dug it out for this challenge.
So I dug this out back in December and it's been front and center on my shelf for two months. It's good. It's useful and it's a great resource for weekday dinners. But... I don't even know what the but is but there is one. This is a book that's hard to get excited about. Every recipe in this book is good, quick to make and for the most part doesn't require processed ingredients but there aren't really any recipes where I'd finish dinner and think "I've GOT to make that again soon."
Which brings me to the question I've been asking myself for the last couple of weeks. What makes a cookbook a keep worthy cookbook? I mean obviously if none of the recipes come out good that's instant toss. But what about a cookbook that's okay? Is that worth the shelf space? The majority of these recipes can be found online so that's definitely a point towards getting rid of it but most of Barefoot Contessa's recipes can be found online and you'd have to pry Back to Basics out of my hands.
So while I ponder the keep or toss conundrum I'll give you my favorite recipe we've had this month -
Skillet Herbed Chicken with Mustard
3 tablespoons prepared Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dried tarragon (I cut this in half- that's a LOT of tarragon)
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I pounded mine fairly thin)
1 cup white wine, divided
In a small bowl, blend mustard and honey. Mix in the tarragon, basil, thyme, salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brush chicken on both sides with mustard mixture and add to the skillet. Pour 1/4 cup wine around the chicken. Reduce heat, cover, adn simmer about 10 minutes or until liquid is reduced.
Add another 1/4 cup wine to skillet and continue to cook 5 more minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove chicken, reserving liquid in skillet.
Mix remaining wine into the skillet, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by about 1/3. Serve as a sauce over chicken.
This is quick and tasty without being boring and goes with just about any side dish.
This does sounds like a good, basic chicken recipe. For me, shelf space is a prime issue in the keep or toss cookbook dilemma. I'd hang on to this one until something wonderful comes along to take its place :)
ReplyDeleteThat's my issue as well. I'll probably pin the recipes I want from this one and then toss it.
DeleteOh that is a different issue. I've had that with some. Maybe because there's nothing that pushes my skills a little? Still good for a quickie though :D
ReplyDeleteI think that's my thing too. While there's a lot of good recipes there's nothing that's really interesting.
DeleteFor me, the cookbook collection is part of my kitchen, BUT, the older I get, the more I keep thinking I want to weed them out. Nobody--NOBODY really needs 200 cookbooks! Do they?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I can say you don't need 200 cookbooks! I do love my cookbooks but I don't think this is interesting enough to merit shelf space.
DeleteIf I don't have any connection to the cookbook, it's definitely easier for me to get rid of it. Though I think up ALL sorts of reasons to get sentimental. I'd say if the recipes are available online, print out the ones that you're interested in (I have a binder on my counter where I keep Internet recipes in page protectors) and donate the book.
ReplyDeleteThe chicken recipe sounds delicious, at this stage of my cooking period, I find most recipes are available online and since my bookshelves are already bursting I tend to mark and file recipes in a folder.
ReplyDeleteThat chicken recipe sounds like my speed, and it's gluten-free, too! I haven't started weeding out my cookbooks yet, but I find that I tend to like the ones best that have an actual author with a personality that comes through in the cookbooks, so that's what's missing for me in the ones that come from Taste of Home or Good Housekeeping or a company/organization rather than a cook/chef. They're serviceable enough, but not particularly loveable!
ReplyDeleteHmm, that chicken sounds delicious. I hardly ever invest in a cookbook because I'm a rebel and never, ever follow the recipe. It's a problem sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your review. This skillet recipe sounds wonderful. Tarragon is an herb I have not used much, but I'll keep it in mind now.
ReplyDeleteI was basically on the road in the music business from 16 to 26, and then I went to college for four years. So, I got a real first apartment when I was almost 30! My mother, knowing my cooking skills were basically ZERO, gave me The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook as a housewarming present. That book is the Queen of cookbooks. It has everything in it, even beyond recipes. It was/is the only cookbook I have ever needed.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteI know that you can find most recipes on line but I love my cookbooks.
ReplyDeleteI have hundreds of cookbooks! But I started collecting cookbooks in the late 70s, before the Internet and scanners and home computers. Now I have so many that I never look at. I really need to weed.
ReplyDeleteThat recipe looks easy and tasty.
I have started to weed out cookbooks. Some of them I am keeping for just one recipe though. Some just because I hope to try a couple someday. Some just because I like to read them.
ReplyDeleteYou can always find copies of Southern Living magazine in our break room at work, it's a staple! I have had about an 90% success rate with their recipes. Great cookbooks!
ReplyDeleteI remember when I first moved out. I didn't know how to cook either. It was a nightmare. I learned to cook by calling home and getting the recipes I grew up on from my mom and dad. I still make a bunch of them. Well... maybe all of them. Though since I have been eating them my whole life they are getting a little boring.
ReplyDeleteThe recipe sounds delicious! I will have to try it; I'm always on the lookout for good things to do with chicken that don't use tomato (or anything containing tomato.)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I am not much of a cookbook reader. I have some that I like, but mostly I use the same old recipes all the time - and some of them aren't really recipes, just guidelines that I use to build a dish. Like quiche: I have a quiche book, but usually I just take the egg-milk mixture and add whatever fillers and spices I think will work.
I do keep cookbooks that have several recipes I use regularly. I also look for recipes online: "Hey, I have all these chicken thighs, what can I do with them?" "Oh, I need a good muffin recipe." That sort of thing. I really like to know that someone has made and enjoyed the recipe before I try it!
I love your line that you have a college degree but you're afraid of chicken. That made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not attached to it...recycle. Cookbooks can be like buying CDs - you like maybe half the recipes and somewhat regret that money spent on it. My cookbooks are neglected in our cabinet.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not attached to it...recycle. Cookbooks can be like buying CDs - you like maybe half the recipes and somewhat regret that money spent on it. My cookbooks are neglected in our cabinet.
ReplyDelete