• Eat Your Books

  2005 James Beard Award Winner

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Black olive and dried fig spread

  • Roddyknit on May 22, 2011

    This unlikely combination is very popular with my family; great for picnics and gatherings.

• Winter salad: Belgian endive, yellow pepper, fennel and blue cheese

  • eve_kloepper on February 23, 2015

    Simple and delicious. The dressing of walnut oil and lemon juice is subperb.

• Cold Cavaillon melon soup with Beaumes-de-Venise and buttermilk sorbet

  • smccandless on August 13, 2016

    This simple dessert always gets rave reviews. Make with cantaloupe, green or especially orange honeydew at peak of season. Served with buttermilk sorbet but also lemon verbena or mint ice cream. Served in small glass cups for appetizer party with melon ball-sized scoop of ice cream, which stands up to room temp longer than sorbet.

• Maryse's apricot jam

  • twoyolks on July 23, 2013

    This is a very tart jam. Because of the small amount of sugar, I couldn't get the jam to 220 F but it did appear to jell.

• Summer herb bread

  • twoyolks on July 10, 2016

    The bread is very heavy on the mint flavor. Overall, the flavor and texture just didn't work that well.

• White wine daube

  • twoyolks on November 02, 2014

    This is a lighter version of a traditional beef braise. The orange and the white wine add acidity to the dish which helps lighten it. Be careful with which wine you choose, as a very acidic wine could make the beef too acidic. In the future, I'd add more carrots and mushrooms as they got a bit lost in the end. I'd also use much more pasta than called for as it goes very well with the sauce from the beef.

• Potatoes from the Mas Haut

  • sturlington on April 28, 2013

    Basic roasted potatoes. I'm finding that par-boiling potatoes before roasting or grilling almost always results in a better end product.

• Balsamic vinaigrette

  • sturlington on March 26, 2013

    I typically find balsamic vinaigrettes too strong-tasting, so I appreciated this recipe's use of sherry vinegar to balance out the balsamic. Good on roasted cherry tomatoes.

• Three-pear cake

  • hillsboroks on October 10, 2018

    I really want to like this cake and even made it twice but I don't think I will repeat this one. The first time I had multiple interruptions while measuring out my dry ingredients so I finally decided it was my fault the cake was so flat because I must have left out or not properly measured the baking powder. It also had very dark areas on top and looked a bit burned so it got dumped. I just tried it again and carefully measured everything. But after 35 minutes in the oven it again looked way too dark so I removed it, added the topping and put it back in for 8 minutes instead of the 10 called for. I thought maybe it was my oven but found other photos of this cake online that also weren't pretty with very dark patches. It tastes just OK but my husband says it has a slimy texture and won't eat any more of it. I think the texture is because of all the pears. I did double the salt to 1/4 teaspoon because the first cake was incredibly bland and I think that did help the flavor.

  • hillsboroks on October 12, 2018

    I have changed my opinion of this recipe after refrigerating the cake and trying it again the next day. It is so unlike a regular cake, almost more of a baked custard with lots of pear slices in it, that if you are expecting a cake you will be disappointed, especially if you eat it while still warm. Once it was chilled and the flavors melded it was quite lovely, especially served with a small glass of pear liqueur. It does brown and burn very quickly in the oven so next time I will watch it like a hawk and maybe I can end up with a prettier version.

• Fresh Provençal vegetable soup

  • stef on July 20, 2016

    Made this soup in instant pot. Beans were semi precooked in instant pot. Omitted pumpkin. 20 minutes in instant pot with quick release. Made the light basil pistou too. Great soup with a baquette

• The Maussane potter's spaghetti

  • stef on August 22, 2016

    This was a quick dish. Very garlicky if you like garlic, which we do. Different in that you blend 2 egg yolks with garlic and then blend in light basil sauce. It made a nice thick sauce for the spaghetti

• Jo's rigatoni with lamb sauce, tomatoes and fresh mint

  • anya_sf on August 31, 2019

    This was a nice weeknight meal. I reserved some of the pasta cooking water and added it to the pasta and sauce at the end before resting the dish for the final 1-2 minutes. The sauce benefited from a generous amount of salt and black pepper. Topping the pasta with the cherry tomato mixture and pecorino cheese really boosted the overall flavor of the dish.

• Eliane's chunky zucchini gratin

  • anya_sf on September 05, 2019

    Quick and easy to make. Mild flavor. The zucchini ended up quite soft, almost falling apart. The light cream mostly stayed in the pan, rather than clinging to the zucchini; use heavy cream if you want it to adhere to the zucchini more. I'd make the chunks larger next time (had cut ~1" cubes).

• Braised baby potatoes with garlic, shallots, and spring onions

  • anya_sf on April 26, 2024

    I made 1/2 recipe, but only had 2 shallots and 4 scallions. Probably the scallions are meant to be left whole, but I sliced mine, then cooked everything undisturbed for 45 minutes, only to find they had all burned. Fortunately, the potatoes, shallots, and garlic just got well browned in spots and tasted great. Next time I'll shake the pot periodically.

• The Pourcel brothers' grilled cherry tomato salad with balsamic vinaigrette

  • Ezair92 on August 10, 2021

    This was excellent. I will definitely make this a favorite. My guests loved it.