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What’s On Your Plate: Cookbook Confidential

Retirement Reflections

In last month’s What’s On Your Plate, I mentioned Cookbook Confidential, a cookbook book club hosted by Bernadette of New Classic Recipes. In that post, I shared the Greek Baked Vegetables that I made from our first book explored, Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean.

Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean
125 Simple Weeknight Recipes from the World’s Healthiest Cuisines, Chris Kimball.
Hardcover 304 pages (including large colour photos of each dish).
Voracious Publishers, also available on Kindle.
My rating: 4/5 Stars (4.75 Amazon, 4.11 Goodreads)

This month, I made the Sardinian Herb Soup with Fregola and White Beans. (S’erbuzzu). This recipe called for three ingredients with which I was unfamiliar — fregola, pancetta and ricotta salsa cheese.

My local grocery store staff were able to point me to the fregola (similar to Israeli couscous) and the pancetta (which a good friend calls “fancy bacon”). The recipe indicated that grated pecorino Romano could be substituted for the ricotta salsa (which I did), but you could also sub with a mild feta.

Once I picked up the ingredients needed, I invited my friend, Deb, to be a third judge. (She might have mumbled something about being used as a ‘guinea pig’–which was kinda true!)

The recipe states that it takes 45 minutes from start to finish. With my husband and I working side-by-side, it took us 45 minutes together. He chopped while I added ingredients that I then browned, stirred, cooked and simmered.

The final result was tasty and wonderfully fragrant. Deb and I both loved it. I was especially taken by the intense freshness. Deb enjoyed the aromas as well as the texture added by the fregola. Richard liked this dish but ultimately said he just can’t get overly excited about soup. Luckily there were two others giving a rating.

I enjoyed Tuesday Night Mediterranean and can see myself making more recipes from this book. Still, I recommend getting this cookbook from your local library first and then deciding how much you are likely to use it. If you can handle the massive amount of emails generated, you could consider a free trial subscription (there is also a 12-week trial subscription for 1 USD). As my cookbook shelf is overflowing, I’ll stick with borrowing from our library until I am confident how much I will use the broader range of recipes. I will definitely make both the Sardinian Herb Soup and the Greek Baked Vegetables again (and again)!

Our eight members recently finished and posted their reviews, making me want to sample every single dish. You can find their reviews here. I highly recommend checking them out.

Bernadette, New Classic Recipes
Dorothy, The New Vintage Kitchen
Sue, Women Living Well Over 50
Darlene, Darlene Foster’s Blog
Robbie, Robbie’s Inspiration
Jo, And Anyways
Judy, In Plain View (book)
John, Bite! Eat! Repeat! (Cookbook Confidential reviews to be next round.)
And my post (the original version of this one) is here,

Our next set of reviews will be posted in April using the Moosewood Cookbooks. Last night, I made the Moosewood Fudge Brownies – amazingly simple and wonderfully delicious. The recipe helpfully indicated how you could use up any leftover brownies. Leftover brownies?! Surely they jest!.

Read any good cookbooks lately? What’s been on your plate?

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Published by Retirement Reflections

Prior to retirement, I lived and worked in Beijing China for fourteen years (Middle School Principal/Deputy Director at The Western Academy of Beijing). Leaving international life behind, my husband and I retired to Vancouver Island in June 2015. To document both this transition and our new adventures, ‘Retirement Reflections’ was born. I hope that you enjoy reading these reflections, and will be willing to share your own.

81 thoughts on “What’s On Your Plate: Cookbook Confidential”

    1. Hi, Sue – Us living closer (instead of continents apart) has long been my manta. Regardless of the distance, you have a open-ended, non-expiring invitation for dinner at my house anytime. Your room is ready!

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  6. I think i’d take the brownies over the soup. It’s been so hot here for the last couple of months that I can’t even imagine having soup……but I could definitely knock off a brownie or two. I’m sure you could post them to me far more easily than sending soup too 🙂

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    1. Hi, Leanne – I remain jealous of your warm weather. We’ve had snow for over a week. We are now supposed to get rain all day today and tomorrow. At least we don’t need to shovel rain! Thank you for the kind words about my brownies. It was a simple recipe that turned out to be just as delicious as the reviews stated! 😀

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  7. Hi Donna, I managed to read an additional cookbook in February. I added the link. It is my pleasure to work with you all and look forward to our next cookbook adventure.

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  9. Boy oh boy, wish I lived close enough to be a guinea pig! The soup sounds so good. And leftover brownies is foreign concept in our house. 😉 Bring on Moosewood! I have Moosewood Cooks at Home, and I love it.

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    1. Hi, Laurie – For some strange and unknown reason, I had never heard of the Moosewood cookbooks before this book club. I have no idea how I missed them. Although my cookbook bookshelf is overflowing, this is one cookbook that I will definitely purchase.
      You and Clif have a standing invitation to dinner here anytime.

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    1. Hi, Dorothy – I learned a great deal from each of the posts generated from this cookbook. I loved the diversity of experiences and opinions. Although I was able to borrow this cookbook from our local library, this soup recipe is also free online. Thank you so much for dropping by and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

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  13. Love soup in all its iterations. I made a version of zucchini, potato & ham chowder soup yesterday, a recipe in the Oct 22 Canadian Living magazine. Stick to a recipe? Not. Used grated zucchini & corn (from the garden) from the freezer. No ham so used shredded chicken. I see what’s in the freezer, fridge or pantry & concoct a soup. Also made pea & bean soup this month. I get menu inspiration from magazines & tv cooking shows. Another food adventure this month was a cheesy asparagus pie from the Pioneer Woman. Also on the menu: quesadillas, fried pickerel, seared scallops, pork tenderloin, cabbage roll casserole, veggie noodle bowl, cheesy corn risotto, I made 7 doz potato cheddar pyrogies for the freezer. I never think to borrow cookbooks from the library. I culled my cookbooks a few years back & vow not to bring any new ones in to the house. It will certainly be a party when we all arrive at your door for dinner on the same day!

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    1. Hi, Mona – If all of my blogging friends arrived at my door for dinner at the same time – it would be an awesome party that I would deeply cherish. And if you all arrived unannounced, I would definitely be ordering pizza!
      Your recent food adventures sound absolutely amazing. I especially LOVE pyrogies!

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  14. The last cookbook I read was an old one I found forgotten on the top shelf in one of our kitchen cabinets. It’s Woman’s Day Collector’s Cook Book from 1960. It has recipes for “the modern homemaker.” One recipe that caught my eye [and by caught my eye I mean no stinking way] was an appetizer in which you rolled a stuffed green olive in flavored cream cheese then rolled it in chopped salted almonds. Not gonna try it…

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  16. This sounds like such fun Donna and I like your recommendation to check out the books from the library first just in case they’re not to your taste – haha see what I did there? 🙂

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  18. You look like you are having fun cooking together and experimenting with new recipes, Donna! Great idea on borrowing cookbooks from the library first. Unless you’re like my hubby and “wins” a stack of dusty cookbooks at our recent White Elephant party.

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  21. Hi Donna – that soup looks delicious – I love how you use your library to check out the cookbooks. That’s one of our most popular sections at our library! Your club sounds so fun and I know several other members – how nice for your all 🙂

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    1. Hi, Barb – I hadn’t thought of borrowing cookbooks from our local library until last year. Now that It is such a fabulous resource. I am incredibly impressed by the diverse selection of cookbooks offered. No wonder it is one of the most popular sections at your library. 😀

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  22. I grew up with soup being a meal rather than an accompaniment. I also learned to like it as a dessert, which as you probably know, is a Chinese peculiarity. My hubby thinks of soup as an optional side dish, emphasis on the ‘optional’ 😉

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  23. I walked over to the Soup Shack on Cliffe and got the yummiest Mulligatawny soup ever. No leftovers. $ 10 with cheese scone. Last week it was Salmon chowder. Also delicious. Best soup in town. I should bring my own container so I can put it in my backpack.

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  24. Unlike Richard, I definitely get overly excited about soup. Thanks for the cookbook recommendation. For some reason, I had never considered borrowing a cookbook from the library. Good idea. I tried two new recipes this month from cookbooks I have been gifted over the years: spaghetti with kale and walnut pesto (delicious) and a chicken spinach quinoa that wasn’t bad. I’ll definitely make the pesto again!

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  30. Thanks for the soup recommendation, always on the lookout for a new recipe. Searched Christopher Kimball on local library, only thing that came up was 2006 DVD for True Romance. No idea why, but I want to watch that as well. Don’t think I’ve seen it since then…crikey, time flies!

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  31. Hi Donna – for some reason it’s in my head that this is a sardine dish … which totally entices me anyway. Sounds delicious … and perhaps Richard would be happy with herby/garlicky bread to go with it … oh oh … entices me so much! Cheers Hilary

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    1. Hi, Hilary – This dish does not have sardines in it (the only meat in pancetta). But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be made with sardines instead (or in addition). And you made a very good call — Richard would definitely like herby/garlicky bread to go with it! 😀

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  33. Haha- your husband’s comment that he can’t really get overly excited about soup did make me chuckle! I feel a little the same but your soup did look very fresh and tasty.

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  34. fun post and I agree about borrowing the book before just buying more and more…
    and I had to smile at the comment about “not getting overly excited abut soup” – even though I love soups and continue to get amazed at how much they vary (from a Consomé to a bisque…. mmmmm – soups can have great variety and I wish I could have tried the one here

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