national olive month

One more day until National Olive Month officially ends, but if you love olives, it's quite obvious that every month should celebrate their awesomeness.  Click here for Lindsay Olives' delicious Olive and Brie Pizza, or for many other great recipes featuring superstar olives and/or equally super wonderful olive oil.

step-by-step asian

Step-by-Step Asian (2011) is part of Parragon Books' LOVE FOOD series, giving you easy-to-follow written and visual guides for a nice assortment of Asian recipes (appetizers and soups, noodles and rice, main meals and desserts).  In the intro, basic equipment is detailed, with strong suggestions to use a bamboo steamer rather than a traditional stainless steel version, along with a carbon steel wok vs. stainless steel or non-stick.  Of course if you don't have a carbon steel wok, you can always use a large sauté pan for stir frying -- and if you're just purchasing a new wok and need to season it, here's a good guide on how to start the whole process.  

Beyond all that, Step-by-Step Asian has the usual appealing photography that Parragon is known for, and the recipes include Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian offerings.  Standards include Spring Rolls, Hot and Sour Soup, Teriyaki Chicken, Green Chicken Curry and Vegetable Tempura, while standouts feature a Chicken Noodle Soup (the broth spiced with garlic, ginger, peppercorns, cloves and star anise), Vietnamese-Style Vegetable Wraps, Sesame Noodles with Shrimp, Sliced Beef in Black Bean Sauce, Gado Gado and Honey-Glazed Roast Pork.

Difficulty ranges from the quick and easy Fried Tofu with Lemongrass and Egg-Fried Rice, to the more complicated but surely worthwhile Tea-Smoked Duck with Jasmine Rice or the Thai Fish Cakes with cucumber chili sauce.  And there are excellent desserts, like Green Tea Ice Cream, Coconut Pancakes with Pineapple, Sweet Wontons (filled with bananas, dates, almonds and cinnamon), Fried Banana Dumplings, the classic Almond Cookies and a Fruit Salad made with lime, lemongrass, watermelon, dragon fruit, star fruit and mint.  Also a Burmese Semolina Cake which I haven't tried but find kind of intriguing -- Burmese food isn't as well-known as Chinese or Indian cuisine but is influenced by both in its own unique way.

beet it

French chef Jacques Pépin is a living legend, with decades of cooking excellence to his credit, a long-running PBS series and numerous acclaimed cookbooks.  And now he has an exclusive collection at Sur La Table, including this colorful, whimsical, hand-crafted and hand-painted Beet Bowl and accompanying serving plate.  Very much love them both, and speaking of beets, I also love Chef Pépin's recipe for chilled Vegetarian Borscht (click for link) which might be served up nicely at this time of year.

Photo from Sur La Table

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