Recipes from the Night Kitchen: A Practical Guide to Spectacular Soups, Stews, and Chilies

This eclectic collection offers brief, no-nonsense recipes for an array of easily prepared soups and stews. However, this is no teaching cookbook: soup lovers must, for example, figure out for themselves the most efficient way to peel, seed and cube a whole squash for butternut squash and tomato soup. Also, some dishes are conspicuous for their lack of subtlety, such as a chicken stew that drowns the flavor of curry powder under mango chutney. However, cooks who know their own tastes and can read between the lines may uncover some new favorites, particularly in the varied soup offerings, such as cauliflower with cheddar or vegetable with smoked turkey, romaine and parmesan. Several soups, including a carrot with ginger cream and a broccoli rabe and orzo, can be served hot or cold. Chili dishes, like one made with spicy Italian sausage, and stews, including a rosemary chicken combination, constitute only a handful of the offerings. Nirenberg is chef and owner of From the Night Kitchen, a takeout establishment in Brookline, Mass. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Nov.)