TU CASA MI CASA and Listen to Your Vegetables
The two cookbooks I’ve chosen to highlight for the fall months are Tu Casa Mi Casa and Listen to Your Vegetables. These authors are highly accomplished, well-known chefs in their respective cooking genres.
Enrique Olvera was born in Mexico City and his passion for cooking was sparked early in life. He is an alumna of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. After graduating from culinary school, he returned to Mexico and began cooking for his parents and their friends. He shared his desire to open a restaurant and he was encouraged by their enthusiasm, subsequently many of them became investors and he opened his Mexico City restaurant, Pujol in 2000. He is a considered a pioneer in Mexican cooking and he successfully transports diners to the intersection of sophistication, culture, and flavor, where his history and food memories culminate on the plate. In his Chef’s Table episode on Netflix, he says that many beautiful moments from his childhood end up on his menus. For example, his moles at Pujol are a blend of old and new. Additionally, he has had a profound influence on the cooks that have had the good fortune to work with him at Pujol and in his kitchens around the globe.
“The typical kitchen, Olvera said, is “almost like a monarchy, where there’s this king that everybody needs to listen to,” but at Pujol, he wanted the learning to be horizontal rather than vertical, with cooks learning from one another as much as from the chefs above them. Olvera doesn’t see himself as a mentor, although the chefs who’ve worked for him continue to seek his advice. “I tell them to find their own path,” he said, because his career arc was so atypical. In that sense, they are his teachers, too.” ~ Ligaya Mishan
Sarah Grueneberg was raised in Houston. She began laying the groundwork for her extraordinary culinary skills as a young girl on her German grandparent’s farm in rural Texas. This is where her ardor for cooking with vegetables began. She graduated from The Art Institute of Houston in 2001 with an associate degree in culinary arts and launched her professional cooking career at Brennan’s of Houston. It didn’t take long for her talent to become noticed and by 2003 she was named the restaurants youngest, and first female sous chef at Brennan’s. She has appeared on such cooking competition shows as “Beat Bobby Flay” and “Iron Chef Gauntlet”. She was also a finalist on Bravo’s Top Chef season 9. She is the current Chef/partner at Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in Chicago. She embraces influences from her global travels and creates distinctive dishes by “listening” to the seasonal vegetables she cooks with. The cookbook is vegetable focused but is not vegetarian.
“Her casual, approachable treatment of vegetables might surprise fans who know her accolades. The former executive chef of Chicago’s Michelin-starred Spiaggia opened Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in 2015, and has stacked up dozens of awards and TV appearances over the years. But fame has not spoiled her down-to-earth charm.” ~ Lisa Futterman
TU CASA MI CASA
“Cooking at home is enjoying the process, taking time to smell, taste and listen. It is lived through setting the table, shaping the flower arrangement, fixing a drink, playing music. It is a therapy of reconnecting and reconstructing the relationship with yourself. By using external factors – the food, the market, the music – we can delve inside and celebrate who we are and where we come from. Cooking at home is offering the best of who you are, without thinking about it” ~ Enrique Olvera
Authored by: Enrique Olvera with Luis Arellano, Gonzalo Goût, and Daniela Soto-Innes. Photographs by Araceli Paz
Forward by Peter Meehan
Focus: Mexican recipes for the home cook
Published by Phaidon Press in 2019
Page Count: 240
Recipe Count: 100
Photos of completed dishes? Yes, most recipes are accompanied by vividly colored images.
Are the required tools listed along with the recipes? Necessary pans, equipment and tools are mentioned in the recipes. For example, he touches on the fact that although blenders are used commonly to prepare salsas, traditionally they are made in the molcajete (meaning stone tools or the Spanish word for mortar and pestle). The level of instruction in the cookbook is easy to digest and makes cooking authentic Mexican food at home achievable.
Chapters are broken down into sections titled Basics, Breakfast, Weekday Meals, Food for Sharing, Sweets, and Drinks. There is a Legend at the beginning of the book so cooks will know whether the recipe is designated as dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, less than 30 minutes and less than 5 ingredients. There is also an ingredient glossary on page 230.
Dish Cooked: Huevos Rancheros with Salsa Roja
If you go, Pujol restaurant address: Tennyson 133, Polanco, 11570, Mexico City, Mexico
Additional Enrique Olvera projects: Atla, Damian, Cosme, and Jerónimo, Ticuchi (temple to agave spirits)
Listen to Your Vegetables
“I have a secret to share: Fruits and vegetables are singing loudly around you, begging you to take them home and try something new. Are you listening?” ~ Sarah Grueneberg
Authored by: Sarah Grueneberg with Kate Heddings. Photographs by Stephen Hamilton and Illustrations by Andrew Jesering.
Focus: Italian inspired recipes for every season
Published in 2022 by Harvest
Page Count: 432
Recipe Count: More than 180
Photos of completed dishes? Yes, most have an accompanying image, and they are vibrant & hunger inducing. There is an abundance of creative and entertaining illustrations interspersed as well.
Are the required tools listed along with the recipes? Yes, required tools are noted with the recipes as well as instructions for use. She directs readers on techniques like how to tie a roast, how to clean Morel mushrooms, how to clean and prepare artichokes in the “Get It Get it” tutorials throughout the book. There is a section at the beginning of the book titled A Few Cooking Staples which includes a glossary of some of the more commonly used ingredients and on page 11 you will find several Kitchen Tools listed.
Chef Sarah Grueneberg uses her recipes in this cookbook to tempt readers with the vast number of Italian dishes that can be created with vegetables, whether they are served as dish unto themselves or partnered with a protein, the point is that the vegetables are the star of the show. They tell you what they should be and ultimately “sing” on the plate.
Clear instructions regarding dish execution, best ingredients to utilize for the dish, acceptable substitutions and more are mentioned. Chapters are broken down by vegetables, i.e. Asparagus, Beans & Peas, mushrooms, fruit etc.
Dish cooked: Cast Iron Roasted Carrots
If you go, restaurant address:
Monteverde® Restaurant & Pastificio, 1020 West Madison Street, Chicago , IL 60607
Book Club thought questions for the reader:
How often do you embark on travel inspired by food or books?
Does food take on an elevated importance when you know the history of its origin?
Please comment and share your most loved cookbooks. Be sure to tag Book Club Restaurant in your posts on social media if you are inspired to create and share dishes from the cookbooks featured on the blog.
Do you have a list of “go-to” cookbooks and recipes in your kitchen?
Book Club Restaurant would welcome the opportunity to host your next book club gathering. If you are looking for a place to gather and discuss what you are currently reading, this is the spot. Call to reserve one of the cozy spaces for your discussion at (612) 822-5411.
Coming soon to the Book Club menu: dishes inspired by these cookbooks.
About Lisa Patrin
Lisa Patrin is a Minnesota based recipe creator, food writer, and global traveler. She is the author of The Empty Nesters Kitchen blog and the recently released Eat Your Words puzzle book: 125 Food & Beverage Themed Puzzles for Hungry Minds. She is passionate about bringing attention to important sustainability and food justice issues and she strives to promote and support local restaurants, farmers, and food producers. Lisa is an avid cookbook collector and looks forward to taking Book Club blog followers on inspiring journeys into the exciting and diverse world of global cuisines & food cultures via her cookbook reviews.
You can follow Lisa's blog at emptynesterskitchen.com You can also stay connected to Lisa's local and global food & travel experiences on Twitter and Facebook at The Empty Nesters Kitchen and via Instagram @emptynesterskitchen and @emptynesterskitchentravels
July 12, 2023