Notes about Recipes in this book

• Crunchy napa cabbage slaw

  • louie734 on January 07, 2014

    Woah - This is a huge amount of vegetables, and there are only 2 of us. I made a scant full recipe of the veggies and we ate the whole thing (dressing the 2nd half before eating) in practically 2 sittings. Don't skip the peas (I used snaps). Might try swapping out the nuts for sesame or honey roasted almonds, crushed, for a pop of sweetness, or using peanuts, which the salad faintly tastes like. Get ready to make this one again! (Recipe online at http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/crunchy-napa-cabbage-slaw-10000001010541/)

  • lmhester on January 10, 2017

    I had to talk myself into trying this one since I typically am not a fan of radishes. But I'm all about learning to like things and decided to give it a shot. I did use a Pampered Chef Simple Slicer to slice my radishes so that I could get them really thin and then sliced them in half as well -- that way I wouldn't get a big bite of radish. Whatever the case -- this recipe is a keeper! It was really tasty and I felt as if I was doing something good for myself with each bite I took! YUM! Because the recipe says that it serves 14-16, I halved the recipe for four of us. Yes, we had a tiny bit left over, but I wish I'd made the full portion so that I'd have more leftovers for tomorrow. It was that good. :)

• Baja fish tacos

  • louie734 on March 27, 2015

    Yes, yes, yes. Made multiple times with all different beers and fish varieties. The coleslaw is simple but a perfect compliment, and the chipotle tartar sauce spins it into its own dimension. We halve the tartar sauce and use 12 oz of fish. This makes a feast for two with only some coleslaw leftover. No rice, beans, salsa, guac needed. The tartar sauce and coleslaw can be made some hours ahead, and the fish is so easy that there's no excuse not to make homemade tortillas. (When you're done, wipe out the cast iron and use it to fry the fish. Dinner's ready and you're a goddess.)

• Delfina's broccoli rabe pizza

  • louie734 on January 07, 2014

    Made this on our go-to Artisan-Bread-in-5 crust quite a few times. My husband hates it - he despises bitter greens - but there's leftovers just for me! The fresh mozz+cream+buttermilk combo is a nice white sauce. I scaled it down from the 3-pizza-yield to top just my pie (be generous with the liquid conversions for the sauce, and reserve a little to drizzle on top after the oven). The white sauce would be nice with other toppings like mushrooms, chicken, pine nuts. (found online at http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/delfinas-broccoli-rabe-pizza-10000001955932/)

  • britt on March 14, 2012

    I didn't make the crust - I used a Reinhart recipe instead, but otherwise followed the recipe. The result was delicious. A favorite use for broccoli raab.

• Biscuit-topped chicken potpies

  • rivergait on November 19, 2011

    Terrific...adds mushrooms for meatiness, and dices veggies quite small. I used puff pastry square lapping over sides for a crust. I stretched 1 cup leftover chicken into 3 very large potpies.

• Thousand-seed pilaf

  • Thredbende on May 25, 2013

    The flavors in this sophisticated pilaf keep dancing in your mouth. Serve it with something simple and enjoy the leftovers with gently fried eggs the next day. The first step requires toasting the spices in oil. Have the washed grains handy to dump in when the spices get fragrant; they pop like popcorn and the grains get added as soon as the spices start trying to exit.

• Lasagna with sausage ragù

  • JKDLady on December 15, 2015

    This took a very long time to make (3 hours, 2 of which was for the sauce), and it was just okay. The sauce was nice, but not great. I wouldn't make this again.

• Tilapia with tomatoes and garbanzos

  • JKDLady on July 24, 2015

    This dish is absolutely outstanding. I used lake trout and think it was better than tilapia would be. I think even salmon would do wonderfully with the full flavors. I have tagged this as a favorite recipe and know that I will make it again and again. I'm already planning it for my cooking group. I would not categorize this as North American, but Moroccan/Indian with the various spices.

• Best-ever Chinese chicken salad

  • Rinshin on March 01, 2022

    Recipe at https://www.sunset.com/recipe/best-ever-chinese-chicken-salad

• Grilled pastrami, Swiss, and sweet onion marmalade on rye

  • Rinshin on August 20, 2021

    Made wonderful tasting onion marmalade for pastrami sandwich.

• Smoky beef-and-bacon chili

  • Rinshin on February 16, 2014

    Like many of you, I've tried countless chili recipes including my own variations. This recipe is almost perfection. Tastes great the first day but continues to improve next day. My go to chili recipe now.

• Ginger-rosemary lemon-drop cocktails

  • peaceoutdesign on May 23, 2021

    I combined this with Craft of the Cocktail's Lemon drop. It. This is not a go-to cocktail but is a way to get rid of some citron vodka.

• Snow pea salad with sesame dressing

  • peaceoutdesign on May 08, 2021

    made as a sauce/dressing for warm snow peas.

• Chipotle tartar sauce

  • peaceoutdesign on March 03, 2022

    I doubled the chipotle and used the adobo sauce as well and still needs more of a kick.

• Supper enchiladas

  • peaceoutdesign on June 20, 2022

    Maybe ricotta instead of the cream cheese?

• Fennel and Comice pear soup

  • tarae1204 on October 24, 2021

    Delicious, healthy, quick and versatile soup. The recipe specifies comice pears and chicken stock but I’ve made it with different pears and even once with fish stock and it always turns out wonderful. Also it can be made in 30 min start to finish.

• Miso deviled eggs

  • lmhester on April 21, 2019

    I wanted to love this, but alas, I didn't. The sesame oil was just a bit too much -- and I like sesame oil. That's pretty much the only flavor that stood out in this recipe. I will continue to search for unique spins on deviled eggs, but this one does not compare well with the old standards.

• Chipotle coleslaw

  • lmhester on February 13, 2017

    I made this for dinner last night because I mostly had all the ingredients on hand -- just needed some fresh cilantro and the red cabbage. It's funny how small additions like the sour cream and the chipotle pepper and cilantro can really elevate a recipe. This was so much better than standard coleslaw and I will certainly make it again. I will definitely consider taking this to our next cookout!!

• Seared tuna with Japanese-style salsa

  • lmhester on December 24, 2017

    We purchased tuna steaks while on sale, and having never really cooked with them, I grabbed my Sunset cookbook for an idea. This recipe was FABULOUS!! I prepared it exactly according to the instructions (including the sake) and it was perfect! In fact, if you don't have the ingredients for the salsa, the tuna steaks prepared simply according the the Step 1 instructions taste delicious on their own!

• Slow-roasted pork shoulder

  • lmhester on February 13, 2017

    I bought a pork shoulder on sale and just picked up this cookbook to see how it recommended cooking it. This recipe stood out because I mostly had all the ingredients on hand. I confess to using cooking sherry instead of the cream sherry because it was all that I had. Whatever -- it still tasted delicious!! This recipe lost one star because it had my oven busy all day. I might try cooking it in the slow cooker (following the initial 45 minutes at high temperature in the oven) next time. The pork was tender and the taste was delicious! I would do this recipe again.

• Cod with red pepper-chorizo ragout

  • lmhester on October 20, 2019

    This was tasty and different -- and might have even been a four star dish if I'd had access to "quality chorizo", but I wound up using the type that the recipe said to avoid . . .whoops! Even with that, it was a good recipe and a different way to enjoy this mild fish.

• Pumpkin-ginger pancakes with ginger butter

  • Tweedles81 on September 29, 2019

    These were good. Light and fluffy. I used coconut sugar and went light on it. I did not make the candied ginger butter - could see how that would help because ginger flavor was a bit lacking. Might consider adding fresh ginger next time if on hand. Will definitely make again if I have half a can of pumpkin left over that I need to use (which was the case today).

• Cheese dill scones

  • Tweedles81 on June 07, 2020

    We were craving savory scones for breakfast, and these fit the bill! We didn’t have chives so subbed in green garlic + spring onions. We also used 2 tsp of Diamond Crystal kosher salt instead of 1 tsp of regular salt. These were absolutely delicious and very easy to make!

• Fennel-crusted trout with lemon-ginger vinaigrette

  • Tweedles81 on June 07, 2020

    We had all the ingredients on hand and made this for dinner. It was very easy to make. The trout was delicious, but the vinaigrette was the star! We had some left over and have been spooning it on salads, pastas, etc. Make it - you won’t regret it!

• Blueberry cornbread

  • English_Daisy on February 06, 2022

    P.533

• Coconut-lime chicken and rice soup

  • hbakke on April 07, 2021

    Page 96. Delicious and easy soup. I cooked the chicken thighs in the Bangkok Blend seasoning from Penzeys for some added flavor. This reminds me of a Thai-style soup without the fish sauce. I would make this again.

• Roasted curry cauliflower

  • hbakke on April 27, 2020

    Easy cauliflower recipe that's a bit different than the standard roast cauliflower. I would make this again. I think the thinner sliced florets help it cook more evenly than just roasting the florets whole.

• Toasty baked oatmeal

  • breakthroughc on September 17, 2022

    This is a standard entertaining recipe for me. I have made it dozens and dozens of times. Very flexible to use what nuts and fruit you have on hand. I often substitute a cup of blueberries for the pear.

• Chocolate peppermint ice cream bonbons

  • breakthroughc on November 27, 2022

    These are incredibly delicious and impressive. They are also quite the faff to make.There is a good reason the recipe makes only 8 bonbons as no matter what step you are on when you finish with the 8th you are dealing with ice cream melting. I managed to do 12, but I don’t think you could scale it further, I would also recommend you start with more than a half cup ice cream. You should theoretically get 8 one tablespoon scoops of ice cream out of a half cup, but it will never happen with the melting factor. I might be talked into making these again despite the fuss factor as everyone raved about them.