1. Snacks for Dinner: Small Plates, Full Bites, Can’t Lose
Especially in these unusual times, who hasn’t had snacks for dinner? (We’ve been there, scarfing hunks of cheese with crackers out of the box in front of the TV.) In his new book, Snacks for Dinner (Harper Wave, May 3, 2022) Lukas Volger shows us a better way. His grazing plan offers seven components that cover the flavor and texture gamut, including salads and soups for when you want something “small but mighty.” Since cheese is, of course, the ultimate snack food, Volger’s recipes feature plenty of it: Artichokes with Cottage Cheese Gribiche; White Beans and Asparagus with Crispy Cheddar; and Feta and Toasted Walnut Dip, to name a few.
2. Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin’ in New Orleans
“Were we prepared to call a quirky, nostalgic, counter-service only spot our No. 1 new restaurant in America?” then-restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton wrote in Bon Appetit in August 2017. Yes, he was. Knowlton goes on to wax rhapsodic about the New Orleans restaurant, Turkey and the Wolf, where madcap chef Mason Hereford serves his collard green melt (“the best sandwich I’ve ever crammed into my mouth,” wrote Knowlton), deviled eggs with fried chicken skins and house-made hot sauce, and fried bologna sandwich with vinegar- brined potato chips served on vintage Disney plastic plates. Hereford shares these recipes, and nearly 100 more, in Turkey and the Wolf, (Ten Speed Press, June 21, 2022). It’s original release date was in February, but the ship transporting the books lost 60 containers overboard in a storm— Turkey and the Wolf and Dinner in One by Melissa Clark were presumed to be among the lost cargo.
3. Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food
The look of Colu Henry’s latest cookbook intentionally recalls the late, lamented (at least
by some of us old enough to remember it) Gourmet magazine in the 1970s. But appearance is where any similarity ends. Henry, a regular contributor to The New York Times and Food & Wine, has a much looser cooking and entertaining style than Gourmet would have allowed back in the day. In Easy Fancy Food (Harry N. Abrams, April 26, 2022) she offers recipes that are unfussy, yet pack a wow-factor punch, for example: Broiled Mussels with Panko and Pecorino; Indian- Spiced Yogurt Chicken with Quick Pickled Onion and Herbs; and Ricotta, ‘Nduja, and Mint on Toast. Since Henry admits in the introduction that she is not a baker, so the dessert recipes are all contributed by friends. Perfection isn’t the goal, it’s “making dinner and memories at home with people you love.”
4. Just a Spritz: 57 Sparkling Sips with Low to No Alcohol
Danielle Centoni’s Just a Spritz (Artisan, May 20, 2022) couldn’t have come along at a more opportune time. According to Bacardi’s 2022 Cocktail Trends Report, 58 percent of people are drinking more low-alcohol and no-alcohol cocktails than a year ago. Among the best known of the former is Italy’s famous Aperol spritz; it was little known stateside a decade ago and now shows up on cocktail menus nearly everywhere. Centoni riffs on its formula of sweet-tart liqueur, fizzy water, and sparkling wine with a generous range of drinks featuring amari and other liqueurs, drinking vinegars and kombuchas, and suggestions for snacks to accompany them.
Susan Axelrod
Susan Sherrill Axelrod is a former editor of Culture. Her love affair with cheese began at age 12, when she bicycled to a gourmet shop to taste an exotic newcomer—French brie. She lives with her partner in midcoast Maine, where she enjoys a well-made cocktail, hiking with their dog, Lucy, and spending as much time as possible on the water.
