Get Cooking: 150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen

by Mollie Katzen

Overview

Get Cooking is the first in a series of cookbooks geared toward beginners by Mollie Katzen, the author of the bestselling Moosewood Cookbook. Here are 125 foolproof , basic recipes for soups, homemade pasta, roast chicken, burgers, vegan specialities, chocolate chip cookies—and more—that anyone can enjoy making, no matter how inexperienced they are in the kitchen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061732430
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/13/2009
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

With more than six million books in print, Mollie Katzen is listed by the New York Times as one of the bestselling cookbook authors of all time. A 2007 inductee into the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, and largely credited with moving healthful food from the "fringe" to the center of the American dinner plate, Mollie has been named by Health magazine as one of the "Five Women Who Changed the Way We Eat."

In addition, she is a charter member of the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Roundtable and an inaugural honoree of the Natural Health Hall of Fame. An award-winning illustrator and designer as well as a bestselling cookbook author and popular public speaker, Mollie is best known as the creator of the groundbreaking classics Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Her other books include the children's trilogy Pretend Soup, Honest Pretzels, and Salad People (referred to as the "gold standard" of children's cookbooks) by the New York Times), and a collaboration with Walter Willett, M.D., of Harvard, on Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less.

Since 2003, Mollie Katzen has been an adviser to Harvard University Dining Services, and cocreator of their new Food Literacy Project. This is the first volume of her new Get Cooking series, continuing Mollie's lifelong mission to spread cooking knowledge and food literacy as broadly as possible.

Editorial Reviews

Katzen’s latest is a fresh, contemporary entry in the 101 subgenre...Her enthusiasm for the subject and her ability to keep the proceedings truly simple makes for the rare beginner’s book that accomplishes its mission.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher

Mollie Katzen earned her place in the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame and countless eaters' hearts with classics like The Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Here, she answers calls from novices who want to learn to cook pronto. She fills the table with 150 basic, foolproof recipes that even the most apprehensive kitchen-phobe can conquer. The goodies include soups, homemade pastas, roast chicken, burgers, vegan specialties, chocolate chip cookies, and more.

There’s an inherent difficulty in encapsulating basic kitchen knowledge in a single book, but Katzen’s latest is a fresh, contemporary entry in the 101 subgenre. This is likely because she has some experience—Katzen’s The Moosewood Cookbook and Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbooks have been unofficial required reading for cooking students for decades, and her latest speaks directly to a newer, more food-savvy generation of just-starting-out cooks. Launched in conjunction with a companion Web site and illustrated by Katzen’s own photographs, this newest is divided into basic categories like soups, salads, pastas and desserts. Naturally, given her meatless pedigree, she gives vegetarian options with bright flavors (acorn squash stuffed with fruited basmati pilaf; mango curry) their own chapter. While the recipes cover the traditional home repertoire—spaghetti and meatballs, an excellent and simple roast chicken, apple crisp—Katzen also sneaks in some more intriguing flavors by way of a North African red lentil soup, cherry clafouti and Thai green curry along with explanations of more unusual ingredients like jicama and panko. Encouraging cooks to experiment with additions and flavor combinations, she suggests alternatives in a running “Get Creative” sidebar. Rounding out the training is a short primer on kitchen tools, pantry items and photos that illustrate vegetable chopping techniques. Katzen’s enthusiasm for the subject and her ability to keep the proceedings truly simple makes for the rare beginner’s book that accomplishes its mission. Photos. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Katzen's (Moosewood Cookbook; The Enchanted Broccoli Forest) first cookbook for aspiring cooks will have a companion web site, www.get-cooking.com, live this month, offering video cooking lessons. The book itself offers an invaluable list of equipment and advice (you can never have too many cutting boards), plus an illustrated vegetable-chopping guide. The 150 recipes for such common dishes as chicken noodle soup, potato salad, and spaghetti and meatballs are a good starting place for beginners. The recipes note variations, complementary dishes, and vegan dishes. Highly recommended for new cooks. Author tour and library marketing.

Library Journal