“Gather & Graze: 120 Favorite Recipes for Tasty Good Times”
“My cooking, in general, is very home-cook style,” Stephanie Izard told the Tribune’s Bill Daley this spring. “We don’t choose a lot of crazy cooking techniques; not a lot of crazy ingredients.” Izard’s entertaining second cookbook (with Rachel Holtzman) doesn’t stint on flashy stuff, but most of the recipes can actually be made and embellished in your own modest (or not-so-modest) home kitchen. There’s fancy, little that’s schmancy but a lot of elemental goodness from the former Top Chef. Her trademark pairings are in evidence, amplified by her husband Gary Valentine’s beer selections, and both Girl and the Goat favorites and Izard’s home staples are in the mix. Divided by type of gathering, the featured tasty faves include duck breast with brown butter kimchi, roasted shishito peppers with sesame miso and Parmesan and sticky-sweet potato cake with blueberry-tomatillo jam. Crafty sidebars offer insight into less-than-common ingredients that bring the extra zing. (Ray Pride)
