I was lucky enough to get sent an advanced, not-for-sale copy of Cat Cora's new cookbook, Cooking From The Hip. Cat Cora is the executive chef at Bon Appetit magazine and Food Network's only female Iron Chef. She believes in "cooking from the hip" (a phrase that I still don't fully understand, I keep picturing her in a kitchen doing Shakira style hip motions while she cooks...) which is her term for creating dishes from fresh ingredients and pantry staples. Cat advises stocking your kitchen with a variety of oils, vinegars, and canned goods so you can create simple, delicious, and healthy meals at all times. Her book isn't laid out like your normal cookbook, instead she organizes her recipes into five interesting categories: fast, easy, fun, phenomenal, and good to know. I especially enjoyed her praises for the importance of adult time which she celebrates with daily happy hours (a girl after my own heart!) and the cocktail recipes she includes: sake margaritas, mint juleps and mojitos to name a few.
I used a few of the recipes to pack a picnic lunch (perfect a blog party) for YumSugar and I to enjoy at work. The pasta salad was very light and fresh and the sandwich uncomplicated elegance. However the best recipe by far was Cat's lemonade cookies. These cake like cookies were a hit at the office and while many people believe I spent hours zesting lemon after lemon, all of the flavor comes from frozen lemonade concentrate...genious! Cat Cora's cookbook doesn't hit the book shelves until April 10, but you can enjoy a sneak peak of a few of her recipes, and pack yourself a perfect picnic, just read more
Recipes From Cat Cora's Cooking From The Hip
I was lucky enough to get sent an advanced, not-for-sale copy of Cat Cora's new cookbook, Cooking From The Hip.
