Cookbooks hitting shelves in April include an ode to vegetables from a pioneer of the snout-to-tail movement, one that gives a slice of life on the ranch, and a culinary tour of the West Coast.
A Taste of Cowboy: Ranch Recipes and Tales from the Trail by Kent Rollins, with Shannon Keller Rollins (HMH), April 7
Kent, a chuck-wagon cook and owner of Red River Ranch Chuck Wagon Catering, has served up meals for ranches across New Mexico, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. In A Taste of Cowboy, he shares “good, honest food” and a “glimpse of a vanishing way of life.” Breakfast includes Blueberry Lemon Morning Cake, lunch has Ms. O’Donnell’s Fried Meat Pies, and supper offers Throwdown-Winning Chicken Fried Steak (the dish featured in his match-up with Chef Bobby Flay on Flay’s TV show Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Rollins won).
Milk Bar Life by Christina Tosi (Clarkson Potter), April 7
The woman behind Milk Bar, the New York City-based branch of the Momofuku restaurant group specializing in inventive riffs on childhood classics (offerings include the milk that remains after finishing a bowl of cereal), follows her 2011 Momofuku Milk Bar with a cookbook that brings savory recipes into the mix. In Milk Bar Life you’ll find Kimcheez-its with Blue Cheese Dip, Burnt-Honey-Butter Kale with Sesame Seeds, and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Chorizo Burgers.
The Wild Diet: Get Back to Your Roots, Burn Fat, and Drop Up to 20 Pounds in 40 Days by Abel James (Avery), April 7
James is the host of the web series, The Fat-Burning Man Show, which pulls in, says Avery, a half a million visitors each month. After moving from a small farm to a big city, James eschewed the natural foods he grew up on for the “modern diet” found in supermarkets—and reports that, as a result, he took on digestive issues, acne, and love handles. The problems were fixed by increasing his fat intake and decreasing his reliance on carbs and processed low-calorie food, and eating “wild.” The book’s recipes serve the goal of “getting back to our wild roots and eating the way we have for centuries.”
Home: Recipes to Cook with Family and Friends by Bryan Voltaggio (Little, Brown), April 7
Top Chef Masters finalist Bryan Voltaggio's gives a “tribute to the American comfort food he enjoyed growing up, elevated with sophisticated and irresistible new recipes.” He celebrates his Mid-Atlantic roots with recipes like Crab Waffle Benedict, Chicken Pot Pie Fritters, Sweet Potato and Chickpea Fries, and Spring Onion and Rhubarb Salad. Check out the "Why I Write" piece Voltaggio contributed to PW, where he talks about crafting the new book.
Cookie Love: 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary by Mindy Segal with Kate Leahy (Ten Speed), April 7
Segal, James Beard-winner and the owner of Chicago’s popular HotChocolate Restaurant and Dessert Bar, shares secrets for turning “classic recipes into more elevated, fun interpretations of everyone’s favorite sweet treat.” Recipes include Peanut Butter Brittle Cookies and Fleur de Sel Shortbread with Vanilla Halvah.
Healthy Pasta: The Sexy, Skinny, and Smart Way to Eat Your Favorite Food by Joseph Bastianich Tanya Bastianich Manuali (Knopf), April 7
Brother and sister, Joseph Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, who are also the children of Italian cooking guru Lidia Bastianich and veterans of the culinary world themselves, have teamed on a book that shares 100 pasta recipes, each under 500 calories per serving.
A Girl and Her Greens: Hearty Meals from the Garden by April Bloomfield, with J.J. Goode (Ecco), April 21
According to PW’s starred review of chef and restaurateur Bloomfield’s follow-up to A Girl and her Pig, the new cookbook gives “vegetables the same inventive and creative treatment that made her previous book such a success.” Winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef: New York City, Bloomfield drew upon her time in famous kitchens around the world, including Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse to bring a veggie, but not vegetarian, focus to A Girl and Her Greens. The 80 recipes include Braised Collards with Bacon, Vinegar, and Chiles, Salt Crusted Boiled Potatoes with Herbed Vinegar, and Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Parmesan Fonduta.
Charlie Palmer's American Fare: Everyday Recipes from My Kitchens to Yours by Charlie Palmer (Grand Central Life & Style), April 28
This is famed chef and restaurateur Palmer’s first book since 2006’s A Guide to the New American Kitchen. American Fare includes more than 100 recipes such as Charlie's Famous Corn Chowder with Shrimp, Cheese Strata, and Prosciutto-Wrapped Zucchini to Baked Lemon Chicken, as well as Palmer’s insights on food and family.
The Hungry Girl Diet Cookbook: Healthy Recipes for Mix-n-Match Meals & Snacks by Lisa Lillien (St. Martin’s Griffin), April 28
A companion book to Lillien’s The Hungry Girl Diet, which was a bestseller out of the gate when it was released last spring. The book’s 200 new recipes work with the diet plan Lillien outlined in the previous title, emphasizing lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and big portions.
Eating Up the West Coast: The Best Road Trips, Restaurants, and Recipes from California to Washington by Brigit Binns (Oxmoor House), April 28
As the East Coast continues to wait on springlike temperatures, author Binns and the editors of Sunset magazine have a sun-splashed, gastronomic guidebook to the ultimate West Coast culinary road trip. With her dog, Stella, Binns visited more than 75 cafes, steakhouses, diners, upscale eateries, breakfast joints, and dives. Divided into four sections—Southern California, Northern California, Oregon, and Washington—each offers distinct routes showcasing the West’s “unmatched coastal beauty.”
Rose Water and Orange Blossoms: Fresh & Classic Recipes from My Lebanese Kitchen by Maureen Abood (Running Press), April 28
This book landed on PW’s Top Ten Cookbooks of spring 2015, and has pulled in blurbs from the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Mimi Sheraton. Abood, blogger behind the site of the same name, calls on her childhood growing up as a Lebanese-American in Michigan as inspiration for the book’s 100-plus recipes, including Spiced Lamb Kofta Burgers, Avocado Tabbouleh in Little Gems, and Pomegranate Rose Sorbet.
Year of the Cow: How 420 Pounds of Beef Built a Better Life for One American Family by Jared Stone (Flatiron), April 28
A Los Angeles television producer set out on a mission to rediscover the food he and his family eats, starting with where it comes from. Stone chronicles his experience cooking his way through one grass-fed cow he purchased directly from a rancher, forgoing his usual store-bought grain-fed beef. Each chapter closes with a new recipe from Stone’s kitchen, designed for “optimizing every part of the animal.”
