We are very excited to be nearing the launch of our spring 2012 catalog. The current catalog is a collection of books being published this season that we have worked on, either as a literary agent or on PR campaigns. We love these books and are exceedingly proud of all the hard work that has gone into them. See a preview of what’s coming here!

‘Tis the season of the cookbook roundup! Here is a collection of just some of the end-of-year lists we read this season. Happy cookbook reading to all!

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/24851/Cookbooks_to_Warm_Winters_Chilly/

http://www.metropulse.com/news/2011/nov/30/best-cookbooks-2011/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/dining/notable-cookbooks-of-2011.html

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/gallery/cookbooks11/

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/21/142598710/2011s-best-cookbooks-revenge-of-the-kitchen-nerds

http://www.chow.com/galleries/251/chow-holiday-gift-guide-2011-cookbooks

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/01/best-cookbooks-2011_n_1123545.html

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2011/12/food-memoirs-narratives-2011.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/04/FDOR1M4SND.DTL

http://nanciemcdermott.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/nancies-holiday-gift-list-cookbooks-from-the-2011-bumper-crop/

One of the biggest challenges of cooking for holiday gatherings is addressing everyone’s dietary needs and preferences.  It was with this very challenge in mind–the challenge of making something delicious that everyone can eat–that Carol Fenster wrote her latest book, 125 Gluten Free Vegetarian Recipes. Her recipes were created to be accessible to as many people as possible, including those with allergies or sensitivities to gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, and corn. And the recipes are delicious enough to be happily eaten up by anyone!

Check out three recent blog posts featuring recipes from 125 Gluten Free Vegetarian Recipes:

http://delightfullyglutenfree.com/2011/11/gluten-free-vegetarian-entertaining-for-the-holidays/

http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/2011/11/ginger-molasses-cookies-gluten-free-guest-post-by-carol-fenster

http://gingerlemongirl.blogspot.com/2011/12/gluten-free-roasted-vegetables-guest.html

Persimmon Bread Pudding with Warm Cider Caramel

We are thrilled to have veteran cookbook author Judith Fertig (Author of Heartland, BBQ Bash, and 25 Essentials: Techniques for Grilling Fish, among many others) write a guest blog post about seasonal breakfast options.

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Rise and Shine. That’s what breakfast is supposed to help us do—revive us after a night’s sleep and get us ready for the day ahead.

When North Americans mainly lived on farms, breakfasts had to be hearty to fuel the body for a day of physical labor—milking cows, feeding livestock, mucking out stalls, planting and harvesting. Breakfasts of sourdough biscuits, salt pork and gravy, and fried potatoes sustained the Ingalls family throughout their “Little House on the Prairie” days.

Today, most of us plow through our e-mail rather than fields, so breakfast has changed, too. It’s more about flavor than fuel.

With the change of season, why not bring fall’s favorite flavors—pumpkin, sweet potato, cider, and spice—into breakfast dishes?

Get out that bread machine again and take it for a spin. You can set the delay timer and wake up to the sweet and spicy aroma of Great Plains Granola Bread, still warm from the “oven.”

Whip up a batch or two of Sweet Potato Waffles with Whipped Orange Butter made with sweet potato puree. You can make them on weekends, freeze some, then enjoy them warmed in the toaster or microwave.

For brunch, bake a Persimmon Bread Pudding (that’s also good for dessert) and finish it off with a Cider Caramel Sauce.

Now, if only someone could put the coffee on. . . .

Great Plains Granola Bread

Great Plains Granola Bread

In the 1970s, Peavey Flour Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota, milled a granola flour that made a wonderful, nutty-tasting bread. Today, you can make a terrific granola bread yourself by grinding granola in the food processor. If you can’t find milder-tasting white whole wheat flour in your area, then just use regular whole wheat flour. This whole-grain loaf has wonderful texture. Recipe from The Artisan Bread Machine by Judith Fertig (Robert Rose, 2011).

1. In food processor, pulse granola until it resembles coarse crumbs.

2. Add granola, oats, dried cherries, salt, oil and honey to the bread pan. Pour in boiling water, stir and let cool for 15 to 25 minutes or until mixture has cooled to lukewarm (between 86°F and 95°F/30°C and 35°C).

3. Spoon flour on top of liquid. Add yeast. Place raisins and almonds (if using) in the dispenser (or add at the “add ingredient” or “mix in” signal).

4. Select the Whole Wheat cycle and the Light Crust setting and press Start.

Tips:

• You can vary the flavor of this bread by using different varieties of prepared granola.

• Use the Light Crust setting for a medium brown crust; some prepared granolas have a higher sugar content than others and can cause the bread to brown at darker crust settings.

Sweet Potato Waffles with Whipped Orange Butter

Pioneers in Missouri and Kansas used sweet potato plants to help break up the prairie soil in their gardens. This recipe uses the same tuber to break up the monotony of ho-hum pancakes. With a boost of color and Vitamins A and C from sweet potatoes, these waffles are delicious any time of year. Topped with a dollop of fluffy orange butter, the waffles don’t really need syrup. But go ahead if you must. This batter also makes delicious pancakes. From Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig (Andrews McMeel 2011).

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar and spices. Add milk, sorghum, pumpkin, and egg. Whisk until smooth. For best results, bake in a waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions, about 90 seconds. Baking time will vary with the consistency of the batter and your preference for browning.

2. For the butter, place the butter, orange zest, and sugar in a mixing bowl and whip until light and fluffy with an electric mixer. Serve with the waffles. Will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Is this a brunch dish—or a dessert? Just for autumn or any time of year? You be the judge. In my opinion, this luscious bread pudding baked in a springform pan is delicious at any meal all year long. It looks great on a cake pedestal and can be made ahead, so it’s perfect for entertaining. If you can get your hands on native persimmon pulp, go for it. If not, use canned pumpkin or pureed squash or sweet potato. The Warm Cider Caramel is an easy version that makes up in minutes. From Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig (Andrews McMeel 2011).

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter the inside of a 10-inch springform pan and wrap the outside with aluminum foil. Set the springform pan in a roasting pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and granulated sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla extract, cream, milk, persimmon, cake spice, and salt. Dip the bread slices, one by one, in the egg mixture and arrange in an overlapping pattern that rises in the center in the prepared pan. You will use about half of the egg mixture for the slices. Carefully pour the remaining custard over the slices and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

3. Make a water bath by pouring about 3 cups hot tap water in the roasting pan so that the water comes about halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake for 45 minutes.

4. Combine the chopped pecans and brown sugar. Remove the bread pudding from the oven and sprinkle this mixture on topping. Return the bread pudding to the oven and bake for 15 additional minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then carefully peel back the aluminum foil, lift the pan out of the water bath and remove the sides.

5. For the Warm Cider Caramel, whisk the brown sugar and cornstarch together in a large saucepan. Press out any lumps with your fingers. Stir in the cider and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until large bubbles form around the perimeter of the pan and the sauce thickens, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, butter, and salt. Serve drizzled over each slice.

As another mother of a child who had cancer when she was 3-1/2, I share in Gretchen Holt-Witt’s deep commitment to making a difference: of working to raise funds to eradicate childhood cancers. My own daughter, Sally, is a 24-year survivor of leukemia, and is running in her very first marathon on October 2nd to raise money for LLS. To date she has raised more than $16,000! To read Sally’s story, click here.

You can check out Gretchen’s organization, Cookies for Kids Cancer, here. You can find their new cookbook here. I urge you all to donate, buy a book, kiss your child(ren) and count your blessings. For they are many.

With the heatwave looming, what better way to cool down than with homemade popsicles? Not the  neon-colored, plastic-wrapped ones we remember from being a kid, but the homemade–dare we say healthy?–kind.

Start with a super-cute popsicle mold for easy freezing (or something a little more classic.)

We’re used to strawberry, grape, and lime flavored popsicles, but check out these recipes that put a spin on classic fruit pops (Coconut-pineapple anyone?).

If you’re craving something a bit richer, how about Maple Mocha Pops? Or Mexican Hot Chocolate?

Picky eaters may find popsicles a less objectionable source of  veggies. Try these tomato avocado pops.

When you’ve gotten your fill of [frozen] fruits and veggies, this New York Times article includes “boozy” pops for grown ups!

For further recipe inspiration, may we recommend two excellent books?  Ice Pop Joy is a new title from TLEG author Anni Daulter with simple, organic recipes like Pure Sunshine (strawberry lemon), Cool-n-Fresh (cucumber-pineapple-zucchini) and Treehouse Pops (with ground nuts and bananas).  Paletas by Fany Gerson features new and classic recipes for paletas, aguas frescas, and shaved ice. Popsicle recipes like Sangrita (tomato-tequila) and Arroz con Leche (rice pudding) are sure to be crowd-pleasers.

Image Courtesy of Ice Pop Joy (Sellers 2011) by Anni Daulter.

For me, the best part about Easy Chinese Recipes by Bee Yinn Low (Tuttle 2011) was the realization that Chinese food does not always have to mean take out. In my family, take out always means Chinese precisely because the flavors and ingredients are not what we eat or cook on a regular basis. Being part of an Italian-American family means an Italian pasta dish (pasta with meat sauce, pasta primavera, cavatelli and broccoli) will be served AT LEAST 4 nights of the week. By the weekend, we are desperate for new flavors and usually settle on Chinese.

Never would I have even considered cooking any of the takeout Chinese dishes we order at home because they always seem too complex with too many ingredients. But Bee’s recipes are easy to understand and accessible because she created them after moving to the United States and realizing she no longer had time to spend hours cooking her favorite meals. I can immediately appreciate this because the 9 to 5 schedule (usually longer) does not allow for much time in the kitchen. Bee’s recipes for Chinese dishes don’t require spending the whole night chopping vegetables and slowly stirring sauces.

She takes the time to explain techniques like creating the “Perfect Stir-fry” and “How to Cut Beef.” She lays out the different types of Asian noodles, from rice sticks to Shanghai noodles, which are important for those who (like me) aren’t familiar with Asian cuisine. Bee’s simple recipes make it possible for Chinese to be added to the weekly dinner menu.

Easy Chinese Recipes is a beautiful book, and I find myself channeling my six-year old self as I turn the pages, savoring the photos without reading the text. The photos reveal the simplicity and texture of each dish. Each tiny crack in the caramel colored egg shell of the Tea Leaf Eggs is visible. I can see each charred, tender bit of pork on the BBQ Ribs. Every sesame seed sitting atop the Sesame Shrimp Toasts looks plump and crispy.

Did I mention that Bee is the writer of Rasa Malaysia? Currently, one of the most popular Asian food blogs. What’s great about her blog, and probably the reason for its popularity, is Bee tackles all kinds of Asian cuisines in one place. There you can find Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, and even Indian recipes.  Rasa Malaysia has roughly the same set-up as the cookbook, with the same, sharp photos focusing on details of each dish. But where Easy Chinese Recipes differs is the inclusion of step-by-step pictures for her more intricate recipes and numbered, spaced instructions for clarity. Bee’s recipes ease the intimidation of cooking a new cuisine and rid of the time crunch when it comes to dinner.

I am by no means an Indian cuisine connoisseur. My first experience with Indian food was two weeks ago. I entered the restaurant excited to try something new, but, to be honest, I was a little nervous. I had always been advised that “curry smells weird” and “the spices are too different for a ‘foreigner’ to appreciate.” People actually told me that my body might violently reject these “foreign” spices and leave me helpless for three days in the bathroom. I mean people actually told me this! And sadly, I believed them. So, needless to say, I was slightly terrified. My fears were eased with the first bite of tender Naan. I fell into the layers of creamy tomatoes, freshly cooked spinach, succulent chicken, and the vibrant spice of curry. Each bite lured me into pleasurable complacency until I was satisfactorily full. I am proud and relieved to say the warnings were full of crap (no pun intended).

My newfound love of Indian food led me to My Indian Kitchen by Hari Nayak, which is one of the nicest cookbooks I have ever laid eyes on. The cover is gorgeous and layered with deep navy hues and a sudden contrast of yellow rice as the centerpiece. The left side displays several beautifully photographed spices, which I can only assume are commonly used in Indian cuisine. It’s a solid and large hardcover book. So, in a nutshell, I’m impressed.

The recipes are split into 9 chapters ranging from chutneys, to soups and dals, to desserts and drinks. Each recipe has numbered steps and a short explanation of the dish, perfect for those new to Indian food (like me). Recipes like Garlic and Peanut Chutney, Pureed Spinach and Cheese Balls, Curry in a Hurry, and even Indian Lemonade made me wish I could dig into each dish right then. The recipes are thorough, very easy to understand, and smart. While many recipes require several ingredients, the recipes themselves are not too complicated. Hari breaks down common Indian ingredients, explaining their purpose and flavor, as well as techniques, from sautéing to deep frying, and different useful tools. There’s even a wine pairing section! Yes, a wine pairing section. Each page has a picture, so you know what the finished product should look like. All of this, plus the index in the back and Hari’s book is a wonderful introduction for those not so familiar with Indian food, but is also a fantastic collection of Indian dishes for the seasoned veteran.

The vibrant flavors in this book have piqued my senses, particularly because I am not familiar with Indian cuisine. I am floored by the colors, and my mouth is watering at the picture of coconut shrimp biriyani, even though I haven’t a clue what the hell biriyani is. I’ll keep this dish in mind the next time I’m out for Indian, which I’m proud to say is no longer a terrifying experience.

DISCLAIMER: the end of this blog post contains pictures of a chicken slaughter. Vegan clients, friends, and anyone who is going to bitch at me for showing you how it all went down, you have been warned.

I have been talking about killing a chicken for over two years now. Ever since I read Washington Post food editor, Joe Yonan’s proposal for his now published book Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One (Ten Speed Press, 2010) I had been on the search for a chicken to kill. I vividly remember reading Joe’s essay (included in the book) on his chicken-killing experience and why it was so important for him to connect with his food. I was struck instantly by the realization that, as someone who absolutely loves eating meat, that I really had no idea what the process of turning animal into meat was. I wanted to learn. I needed to.

I started by talking about my desire to kill a chicken. Not in the murderous sense, not like I was jumping up and down to take the life of an animal (in fact, just the opposite). But I needed to know that I could put my money where my mouth was—that my swooning over perfectly roasted chicken was justified by my ability to put that food on the table.

Then, I went with local chef and restaurant owner Deborah Snow to Adams, MA where we visited a slaughter house. Deb is a chef who uses the utmost care in sourcing her ingredients, so I knew I would be safe in her hands for my first slaughter house visit.  I remember walking through the swinging double doors and being hit with the pungent smell of slaughter—it was goat day, and the grassy farm smell was fresh in the sterile air. Designed by Temple Grandin, the slaughterhouse was shockingly clean, fast, and humane. I recognize my slaughterhouse experience was nothing like touring the closed-door factory farms in Food, Inc. but I am grateful that we have places like this to process the meat we eat locally.

I participated in a number of whole animal feasts on the path to getting back to the animals I eat. The pig dinner at The Breslin was delicious, and if “connecting with your food” was going to be that much fun, then I was ready to kill a chicken. I also roasted a whole goat with Neftali (owner of El Jardin Bakery) and Rose, friends and culinary adventurists. They showed me how to build a oven in the ground, rub down a goat, and feast on a whole animal in the company of good people. And it was through Rose and Nef that I first met Tim and Caroline of The Kitchen Garden.

Tim and Caroline are two of the most talented, honest, and real people I have met in a while. Over the past few years we have bonded over glasses of wine, great conversation, and seriously good food. They have known for a while now that I have been looking for people who not only had a chicken to kill, but would be willing to be patient with me while I pulled my emotions together to get the job done. It was this past week that I got what should probably be titled The Best Text of all Time: “hey got plans tonight? I might kill some chickens at like 7:30-8pm if you want to join in ”  You know you have found great new friends when they invite you over to kill a chicken.

Instantly my heart started racing.

This past Wednesday,  around 8pm I found myself in the basement (it was pouring rain) of Tim and Caroline’s house. The very same house where I had, just months earlier, visited tiny, cute, fuzzy chirping chicks that tonight would be full-grown and face down in a killing cone. There I was, with a cat carrier full of chickens, a wicked sharp chicken-killing knife, a pot of steaming water, and the realization that two years of saying yea sure, I want to connect with my food and kill a chicken, was about to become very real.

People who are keeping chickens because they have space (or a rooftop) and want to save money on groceries and be one with their food, well, they are keeping layers—not meat chickens. Most of what we read is about the miracle of a freshly-laid, bright-orange-yolked egg sizzling in a hot pan as children frolic around the kitchen table, holding hands and thanking you for raising them on sustainable, backyard-grown, real food. Sure, it makes for gorgeous blog posts and some really beautiful cookbooks, but that’s not where our meat comes from. As someone who loves to eat meat and has a solid appreciation for where my food comes from—well I just wasn’t prepared.

If the camera adds ten pounds, then it also adds a lot of emotional distance. I had watched videos of how to kill a chicken, and had even become mildly obsessed with how to properly break down animals after working with famed female butcher Kari Underly on her new book The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professional’s Guide to Butchering and Merchandising (Wiley, 2011). But nothing had prepared me for this. Not Gabrielle Hamilton’s honest account of her first time, not Joe Yonan’s hesitant hatchet, and not the past two years of convincing myself this is what I really wanted to do.

Not only was I nervous about killing this animal, I had never even held a chicken before!

Would they bite me? Would they flap like crazy, look into my eyes, and cluck for their lives? Would I freak out, drop the chicken, run up the stairs, into my car and drive away never to see Tim and Caroline again? Would I never set foot in a grocery store again?

No. I had asked for this. I needed to do this. I pulled it together and watched closely as Tim pulled the first one out of the cage. He was beautiful. His feathers were dark and iridescent green. I was transported back to being 8 years old at the zoo,  praying that there would be a long, shiny blue and green feather for me to take home from the peacock cage. Now I was face-to-face with as many beautiful feathers as I wanted, but it definitely didn’t feel the same.

I wanted to say thank you to the chicken, for sacrificing its life to become my food. But honestly, that chicken was just being a f*cking chicken. It didn’t choose to give its life to be food. It didn’t hatch just so it could one day be face down in a killing cone. If I am to really understand what being a meat eater is all about, to really embrace all parts of my love of meat, then I better be able to admit that this chicken is about to die because I am going to kill it, not because it has hopes and dreams of becoming something crispy, juicy, and delicious.

The images below are graphic. But who knows, maybe you are a little curious, too. Maybe you want to take a look because you also want to get a little closer to your food. And why not let me go first, right? These images are intense, but they are real. And trust me, they are not as intense as being there, chicken in cone and knife in hand.

Tim mounting the cone on the wall

The view from the cone

The water is getting up to temp to dunk the chicken before we pluck

This is the chicken I killed

This is me, holding a chicken for the very first time. The chicken and I shared a racing heart

To be honest I was freaking out

But I pulled it together. I wanted to get this done for both our sake's. Mainly the chicken's though

This is where I poked the brain up through a slit in the mouth, to execute the kill fast, before slicing the throat

At this point I am squeamish but want to get the throat draining fast

The body thrashes for a little while and then goes still

It's over

I don't know what to feel at this point

And so we pluck

The white part is what lies under the skin

This is when they started to look like the chicken I know. food.

Caroline cleaned the murder scene while Tim and I cleaned the chickens

This was one of the most profound food experiences I have ever had. Thank you Joe for inspiring me to do this. Thank you Tim and Caroline for including me, encouraging me, and educating me. Thank you chickens for being chickens. I killed you last night and I will never look at chicken the same way again. But I most certainly will eat it. I will cherish the work that went into raising, killing, plucking, cleaning, and distributing the chicken I eat. And I will most certainly continue to educate myself about the food I eat and share my experiences with anyone else interested.