The best way to beat the bone chilling temps this February? Cooking, of course! These five locally written reads offer a whole host of reasons, recipes, and inspirations for you to turn on your oven and heat things up.
The Crown Maple Guide to Maple Syrup: How to Tap and Cook With Nature’s Original Sweetener
Robb Turner (with Jessica Carbone)
Dutchess County-based Crown Maple has become a leading producer of maple syrup on local and national levels. Now, owner Robb Turner offers a peek at the Valley’s sweetest business. The first half is informative; the second section offers a collection of sugary and savory recipes inspired by Turner’s wife Lydia’s creations in the kitchen. Whether you try your hand at Lydia’s Favorite Salmon or Robb’s Crown Maple Old Fashioned, you can delight knowing the sweet notes are local, natural, and organic. 224 pgs, ABRAMS, $29.95
Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs
Julia Turshen
In her first solo cookbook, Ulster County resident Julia Turshen shows readers how to ace the basics through a series of ingenious tips, recipes, and a celebration of the “small victories” involved in learning. The volume features more than 400 approachable recipes — each dish followed by ways to riff with its ingredients — and Turshen’s headnotes are rife with personal anecdotes to convey a sense that if she can do it, you can too. Perhaps most clever, it concludes with lists of seven things to do with common ingredients. Try making the Happy Wife, Happy Life Chocolate Cake or Julia’s Caesar dressing, and we can promise: you’ll be hooked. 304 pgs, Chronicle Books LLC, $35 (hrd)
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Martha Stewart’s Vegetables: Inspired Recipes and Tips for Choosing, Cooking, and Enjoying the Freshest Seasonal Flavors
The Editors of Martha Stewart Living
From one of the most-loved lifestyle experts, Bedford’s own Martha Stewart, comes this stunning syllabus that’s anything but garden variety. In classic Martha fashion, stark imagery and uncluttered insights guide the reader through selecting, treating, and cooking vegetables, while easy-to-follow recipes — each with six steps or less — prove mealtime prowess is achievable. Many (but not all) of the dishes are vegetarian, most are savory, all are delicious. 328 pgs, Clarkson Potter, $29.50 (hrd)
Back Pocket Pasta: Inspired Dinners to Cook on the Fly
Colu Henry
In her first ever cookbook, former Director of Special Projects at Bon Appetit, Colu Henry, proves that impeccable, weeknight pasta dishes are possible with the help of a well-stocked pantry and a little ingenuity. Have butter, black pepper, and Pecorino? Perfect — you’re halfway to Cacio e Pepe. Find a lemon in your crisper and capers in your cupboard? That’s the making of Linguine with Quick Chili Oil. Each recipe is straightforward and approachable, and Henry’s tone is ever encouraging — sure to have you conquering on-the-fly cooking in no time. A resident of Columbia County, Henry draws much of inspiration from the bounty of Valley farms and devotes an entire chapter to praising local ingredients and purveyors (shot outs to Bonfiglio & Bread in Hudson and Gaskins in Germantown, included). You’ll be able to find the book at finer shops starting February 28. 240 pgs, Clarkson Potter, $28 (hrd)
A New Way to Bake: Classic Recipes Updated With Better-for-You Ingredients From the Modern Pantry
The Editors of Martha Stewart Living
No surprise here: The team of makers behind Bedford resident, Martha Stewart’s, omnipresent influence have crafted yet another compendium of flawless baking recipes, this time, with the modern, “alternative” artisan in mind. Over 100 recipes deep, the book features a range of whole grain and gluten-free flours, natural sweeteners, and non-traditional ingredients, all set alongside exceptional (and sometimes step-by-step) imagery. The read hit shelves at the end of March, and we recommend picking it up immediately — It will forever change the way you think about baking. 320 pgs, Clarkson Potter, $26 (ppr)
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