Cookbooks provide me with inspiration, not only for great food but also for life. Cookbooks, if they are good, take you on a tour of the intellect, spirit and philosphy. A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes is one of these. rare beasts. Author David Tanis is also a chef who will entice you with great skill with his simple, seasonal menus and recipes. Tanis's book is about pleasure. The undeniable pleasure of eating and creating wonderful dishes A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes illustrates how easy it is to maintain a sustainable kitchen simply.
Tanis has an enviable lifestyle. Six months of the year he is head chef of Alice Water's iconic Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. The remaining six months are spent in Paris preparing meals in a tiny galley kitchen in his 17th century apartment. Here Tanis plays host to a private dining club whimsically known as Aux Chiens Lunatiques for a dozen or so guests. His kitchen is ill equipped but proof that if you pay attention to detail, do it slowly and respect the inherent goodness of ingredients you can cook anywhere, anytime with whatever equipment happens to be at hand.
Tanis's book is accompanied by photographs that will remind you of home which is precisely where he wants you to be. A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes provides 24 simple seasonal menus. This is not haute cuisine but rather home cooking at its best. No restuarant staff to bother you and your guests as you enjoy simply wonderful food. Clean flavors like wonderful olive oil or the crunchy anise flavor of raw fennel leading to a classic Italian spaghetti alio olio. The pure pleasure of a just ripe pear accompanied by Parmigiano Reggiano. How much more perfect can a fall dinner be!
All of Tanis's menus begin with stories that will take you to the time and place of his inspiration. Barcelona after a sitting in the rafters for a performance of the Bejart Ballet finds him alone in a bar eating anchovy sandwiches for the first time in Menu fourteen. Menu twenty two is that Italian Feeling part 3 where his Aunt Sally, a sophistcate from Dayton, a woman who of an elegance that many of her contemporaries lacked. Aunt Sally taught him a cooking lesson he never forgot. The lesson: one pound of pasta in one pot no matter the number of guests or how long they must wait. Aunt Sally's spaghetti evenings were famous and many were the guests who gladly waited for the one pound, one pot experience. Although Tanis never forgot the lesson he tells us Aunt Sally never actually cooked for him!
Tanis illustrates in A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes that he is an artist. The book is disarming in its simplicity but do not be tempted to elaborate. Take his vision and match it with your own. To cook this way requires the each reader to teach themselves about the products and to use their characteristics as inspriation. Do it simply. Do it slowly and enjoy the experience. The charm of this style of cooking will make you as famous as Aunt Sally. - 30289
Tanis has an enviable lifestyle. Six months of the year he is head chef of Alice Water's iconic Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. The remaining six months are spent in Paris preparing meals in a tiny galley kitchen in his 17th century apartment. Here Tanis plays host to a private dining club whimsically known as Aux Chiens Lunatiques for a dozen or so guests. His kitchen is ill equipped but proof that if you pay attention to detail, do it slowly and respect the inherent goodness of ingredients you can cook anywhere, anytime with whatever equipment happens to be at hand.
Tanis's book is accompanied by photographs that will remind you of home which is precisely where he wants you to be. A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes provides 24 simple seasonal menus. This is not haute cuisine but rather home cooking at its best. No restuarant staff to bother you and your guests as you enjoy simply wonderful food. Clean flavors like wonderful olive oil or the crunchy anise flavor of raw fennel leading to a classic Italian spaghetti alio olio. The pure pleasure of a just ripe pear accompanied by Parmigiano Reggiano. How much more perfect can a fall dinner be!
All of Tanis's menus begin with stories that will take you to the time and place of his inspiration. Barcelona after a sitting in the rafters for a performance of the Bejart Ballet finds him alone in a bar eating anchovy sandwiches for the first time in Menu fourteen. Menu twenty two is that Italian Feeling part 3 where his Aunt Sally, a sophistcate from Dayton, a woman who of an elegance that many of her contemporaries lacked. Aunt Sally taught him a cooking lesson he never forgot. The lesson: one pound of pasta in one pot no matter the number of guests or how long they must wait. Aunt Sally's spaghetti evenings were famous and many were the guests who gladly waited for the one pound, one pot experience. Although Tanis never forgot the lesson he tells us Aunt Sally never actually cooked for him!
Tanis illustrates in A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes that he is an artist. The book is disarming in its simplicity but do not be tempted to elaborate. Take his vision and match it with your own. To cook this way requires the each reader to teach themselves about the products and to use their characteristics as inspriation. Do it simply. Do it slowly and enjoy the experience. The charm of this style of cooking will make you as famous as Aunt Sally. - 30289
