Cook with Confidence: Over 100 Inspiring Recipes to Cook and Eat Together – A Cookbook to Help Take the Stress Out of Mealtime with Fun and Flavor-Packed Recipes

by Dennis Prescott

INSTANT GLOBE AND MAIL BESTSELLERFrom chef and social media star Dennis Prescott, over 100 bold and delicious recipes to ignite your cooking and make mealtimes fun and stress-free.For Dennis Prescott, cooking is all about connection—sharing great food with those you love. Cook with Confidence encourages you to do just that, loaded with recipes guaranteed to satisfy and accessible techniques to elevate your cooking. Packed with advice, Dennis guides you step-by-step through tackling any cooking quandary, from opening an oyster to making fresh pasta, choosing sustainable fish, or mastering the grill. Inside you’ll find recipes that are impressive as they are approachable, inspired by Dennis’s travels, his work in professional kitchens,  and his Maritime roots. There’s no shortage of scrumptious options, starting with snacks  and starters for every occasion like Carrot and Coriander Fritters with Turmeric Yogurt. Add a seasonal salad or succulent side by serving Roasted Squash and Heirloom Tomato Panzanella or Zucchini, Blue Cheese, and Leek Gratin. Enjoy plant-powered, mouth-watering mains like Falafel Mezze Bowls or Mushroom Ragù with Cheesy Grits. While showstopping fish and meat dishes include Grilled Halibut Tacos with Creamy Slaw and Avocado Crema, and Steak Frites with Creamy Whiskey Peppercorn Sauce. Dennis invites cooks of all levels to approach each recipe through his as your next  great adventure. Exploring dishes that hone important kitchen skills and impart crucial cooking wisdom, Cook with Confidence inspires readers to get excited about cooking—and  to create community and conversation over irresistible food.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food

280 pages, Hardcover

Published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those chef-y cookbooks that shows you how to make all elements of the meal but what makes this book stand out are the very well-written recipes and the stunning photographs of the finished dishes. The design team for this book also did a stellar job.

The author is a very personable musician-turned chef. His chatty writing style is quite engaging, you learn a lot about him except the name of his band (I will search web for it after I finish here). The dishes cover a wide spectrum but there is special emphasis on seafood given the author hails from the maritime region of N.B. Canada.

I have read countless recipes for Cacio y Pepe and anyone who has made this dish knows it can be tricky despite the simple ingredients. The recipe instructions included in this cookbook are one of the best I have come across to ensure success. Anyone who loves making restaurant quality food at home will likely appreciate this cookbook.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great food pics! Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to eat most of the meals.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

 This is a great cookbook for people of all levels! The recipes are easy to follow and the photos are fantastic! The recipes I'm most excited to try are Loaded Grilled Chicken Nachos,Sunday Lunch Lasagna,Fully Loaded Enchiladas and Change Your Life Good Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Dennis Prescott, Harper Celebrate and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Tiffiany Seidelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cook With Confidence is the perfect book for both experienced cooks and those just beginning their journey in the kitchen. I cannot rave about this book enough!

Prescott not only gives over 100 mouth-watering recipes in this book, but he shares gorgeous photos of the dishes. The best part of the book is the personal touches that he adds by including personal photos of himself gathered around a meal with loved ones.

While many cookbooks only contain recipes and photos, Cook With Confidence shares plenty of background about the writer, including how his hometown shaped his life, path, and helped him become the magnificent chef that he is today. Most of all, I enjoyed reading about his time as a musician in a band. These tidbits about Dennis Prescott render him highly relatable and lovable.

Don't skip this excellent, must-have cookbook. Home cooks of all experience levels with relish in these approachable, can-do recipes. I will definitely be purchasing a hard-copy of this one for my coveted collection.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Harper Celebrate for sharing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Cook with Confidence, Dennis Prescott has written a cookbook filled with over 100 recipes. He grew up in as a Canadian in New Brunswick. He is from a small town, called Riverview. They love their seafood there and had high tides. He at first had a dream of becoming a musician and he shared a little about how he made his first record and travelled around in a van. He realized that he was becoming out of shape and he decided to learn how to cook. This led him to having a passion to cook every day and try and fail at new recipes. He was able to work in a few restaurants, catering, run a coffee and doughnut shop, wrote a column for Food & Wine magazine, wrote a few cookbooks, and grew his social media accounts. He divided the book into a few different sections such as, kickstart my heart with snacks, seasonal salads, pasta, plant powered meals, under the sea, meaty mains, and much more.



Some of my favorite topics was how to open up an oyster, the importance of salt and favoring, and tips on grilling. Some of the recipes enclosed were, loaded grilled chicken nachos, creamed lobster dip, confit tomato, grilled peach, and burrata salad, grilled tequila-chili chicken fajitas with spiked sour cream, healthy fish and chips, and so much more.



I would recommend this awesome cookbook to anyone is seeking a new cookbook filled with mouthwatering recipes. I loved how colorful and beautiful the photographs were of the food and the personal photos of him enjoying meals with family and friends. There are excellent seafood ideas and you can tell he really enjoys serving and cooking with different meats and veggies. I can’t wait to try some of these. I really liked also how he included cooking tips on how to cook the challenging seafood items that people sometimes can struggle with. He did a great job in explaining it in easy terms. My favorite one I want to try is the fajitas cause his pictures makes it look so tasty.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dennis does the most beautiful cookbooks. His first is one of my favorites to cook from. I was so excited to receive an early review copy of this one. As usual, the photography and layout are stunning. The very first recipe in the whole book I was so excited about: Oysters on the half shell with Kimchi Cocktail sauce and Limoncello-Chili granita- ironic since I'm allergic to oysters, but goodness the kimchi cocktail sauce and limoncello-chilli granita I paired with sushi grade salmon and it was SO GOOD. The pineapple sauce from the Grilled Huli Huli wings was stunning. I had never made tartiflette before but it will be a part of our cold weather rotation for sure. My favorite section was the pasta section. I want to make all of those recipes. Thank you to the author and publisher for an early review copy.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cook with Confidence focuses on creating meals that are stress free and encourage new culinary techniques perfect for entertaining. The recipes are extravagant like different types of oysters.

The Sections are
Kickstart My Heart: Snacks and Starters for Every Delicious Occasion
Seasonal Salads and Succulent Sidekicks
There’s Always Room for a Little Pasta
Plant Powered: Vegetable-Forward Mains
Under the Sea
An Omnivore’s Delight: Meaty Mains for every Occassion

Each recipe has servings, a little blurb, ingredients, and directions. The directions are in paragraph form. The recipes all included beautiful pictures.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Andreea · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Celebrate for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Let's start with the good - the part about seafood was awesome and I wish this was the main focus of this cookbook. I also loved all the talks about sustainability, when it comes to seafood, but also when it comes to meat. It's important to talk about it and change where we source our ingredients from.

But on the not so bright side, the cookbook is a bit all over the place. A bit uneven. A bit messy. Full of a mix of recipes, from all over the world, but not unique, you know? And I am not sure where the confidence part was in all of this.

[Shira Howarth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. The recipes are great. The quality of the pictures is great, and the best part is that the recipes are so detailed that my 9 year old could understand and be able to cook pretty much any recipe in this book with my guidanceof course. I love that the pages are thicker and sturdy as well.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful cookbook with creative and diverse recipes. Interspersed with anecdotes, this tells a story of the inspiration for these varied recipes. It details these by creative categories and includes gorgeous photographs of the recipes.

[Danielle Mccoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this eBook from netGalley for a honest review.

What an interesting book. So many ideas for party and large gathering foods. The pictures are mouthwatering! I like that there's a meat free section too. I can't wait to try some recipes.

[Beth Eats And Reads Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying this cookbook! The photos are gorgeous & the recipes are detailed & accessible. I’m not a great cook, but so far I’ve made 4 of the recipes from this book & they have all turned out great.

[Jodi Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cookbook is filled with a good mix of recipes for both beginners and advanced cooks. I liked the stories and all the background as well. There are some great photos which always helps as well. Great recipes!

[Gina Zappa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a lot of delicious recipes and beautiful photos, however the best part is that it ends with a photo that includes a puppy. Just sayin', we need more books that end with a picture of a puppy.

[Norah Leighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

More seafood than I'd like but good recipes

[Becky of Becky's Bookshelves · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love this cookbook. I highly recommend the hamburger sauce. A keeper!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

You had me at Lobster Rolls!!!