Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files

Keeper recipes should bring chefs joy, writes Smitten Kitchen blogger Perelman (Smitten Kitchen Every Day) in this fuss-free collection that aims to make “food more reliably delicious.” Those on offer here cover a range of options, from weeknight fare to more elaborate offerings, and easily earn their place in home cooks’ “forever” files. Salad options pack some surprises, as in a deli pickle potato salad that can be kept in the fridge for up to four days. Filling, meat-centric dinners include cabbage and kielbasa with rye croutons, roasted lemon chicken wings, and turkey meatloaf, which is topped off with a glaze of ketchup, molasses, apple cider vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Perelman excels at tricking out vegetables to create such appetizing dishes as charred salt and vinegar cabbage with butter and garlic, and a spiced winter squash soup with red onion crisp. The desserts are standouts, among them brownielike chocolate peanut butter cup cookies, thick molasses spice cookies, brown butter carrot cake, and crumb pie bars. On the beverage and snack end, there are salt and pepper limeades and a chocolate olive oil spread. Perelman’s mastery of culinary magic is evident on every page, and the recipes are clearly the work of someone who knows what she is doing in the kitchen. Practical and versatile, this is a boon to home cooks. (Nov.)