Everyday Dorie

Starred review from June 4, 2018
Greenspan (Around My French Table), five-time James Beard Award winner, shares her favorite day-to-day recipes in this standout cookbook. Greenspan spends part of the year in France, and the Gallic influence is felt in such recipes as a roast chicken with a Dijon vinaigrette, and a salmon brandade. New York’s flavors show up in a smoked-salmon and cream-cheese–filled Lower East Side brunch tart; stuffed cabbage; and Basta Pasta potato salad, named for a Manhattan Italian restaurant. There are tastes of her travels as well, such as a Luang Prabang chicken-chili sandwich she ate nightly on a visit to Laos, and a bourbon roasted pork loin inspired by a trip to Kentucky. She offers a wide range of intriguing soups and salads, including a gingered turkey meatball soup; tomato and berry gazpacho; and cauliflower tabbouleh. Easy, delicious weeknight meals abound, such as a quick tahini pork tenderloin; umami-heavy burgers; and squid with miso-seasoned corn; Giverny tomatoes (prepared with lime zest, sugar, and flake salt) and a sheet-pan supper of balsamic chicken with baby potatoes. She includes such exceptional desserts as a molasses coffee cake and chocolate-covered chai tea bars. Whether readers are just discovering Greenspan or are part of her fan base, they will be thrilled with this.

Starred review from October 1, 2018
James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Greenspan (Dorie's Cookies?, 2016) joyfully proclaims herself a mixer-and-matcher, a play-arounder, a snacker, a nibbler and a picknicker and encourages readers to be so, too, with these recipes fit for enjoying without fuss. Whether entertaining a crowd or throwing together a rushed weeknight meal, home chefs will find plenty of snack, soup, salad, meat, fish, and vegetable recipes to fit their needs (and scarcely any hard-to-find ingredients or fancy gadgets and techniques). Charming headnotes tell recipes' backstories, which often involve inspiration from Greenspan's favorite restaurants, her love of unexpected twists (e.g., lettuce soup was born to stretch a planned salad when more dinner guests than were expected showed up), and her knack for sheer invention. Her clear, longish instructions are written in a conversational style, making them both easy and fun to follow. Recipes finish with Playing Around notes for modification and include guidelines for storing and making ahead of time. And because all rules but one? There must be dessert! ?are meant to be broken, the book's largest section includes 20 drop-dead recipes for just that. Greenspan's devoted following will eat this up.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 1, 2018

More meandering than her previous titles, Greenspan's latest collects the casual foods she makes for family and friends. American and French dishes abound (Greenspan splits her time among New York, Connecticut, and Paris), complemented by international additions not found in Around my French Table. Stunners include candied cocktail almonds, spring avocado and berry salad, Luang Prabang chicken-chili sandwich, and drop-biscuit peach cobbler. The recipes are generally simple and foolproof; the kind most cooks feel confident making for guests without any advance practice. VERDICT Greenspan's huge popularity and cult following will assure high demand. Though this title is potentially of less interest to Greenspan's baker fans, it will excite devotees of Ina Garten, Deb Perelman, and David Lebovitz.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.