Radically Simple: Brilliant Flavors with Breathtaking Ease: 325 Inspiring Recipes from Award-Winning Chef Rozanne Gold: A Cookbook

by Rozanne Gold

Throughout her culinary career, chef Rozanne Gold has given much thought to the notions of simplicity and sophistication in cooking. Now, after years of experimentation, she has come to this Simplicity is the art of combining a few essential ingredients with a minimum of effort in order to create food that neither looks or tastes like a shortcut; food that is authentic enough to serve with pride and savor with pleasure. In Radically Brilliant Flavors with Breathtaking Ease , Gold demonstrates this art to its fullest, manipulating the interplay of time, technique, and number of ingredients to create bold, sophisticated dishes bursting with global flavors. She offers an entire chapter of elegant 10-minute salads; delectable soups that take less than 5 minutes to prepare and others with such depth of flavor they taste like they've been simmering all day. Her opinionated take on roast chicken yields a peerlessly moist and tender bird without so much as a sprinkling of salt and pepper, while her recipe for pineapple flan transforms sugar, eggs, and bottled juice into a creamy and decadent taste of the tropics. From a 1-minute mustard sauce for her last-minute gravlax to a "Peking" pork shoulder that slow-roasts under a savory blanket of hoisin and scallions, these dishes are truly stunning in their ease of preparation, yet never sacrifice on flavor or presentation. Even Gold's procedures are All are conveyed in 140 words or less.
With hundreds of signature recipes that you will return to time and again, Radically Simple provides both the tools and the inspiration to make memorable meals on a nightly basis and rediscover the satisfaction that comes from time well spent in the kitchen.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Food and Drink, Foodie

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2010

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another review in an attempt to clear cookbooks from my to-read list. This one was recommended in a recent conversation about new but simple recipes to try, and I discovered one of my friends loved this book. I read a lot of cookbooks, and it is hard to find one that has anything new, but this one manages to! Interesting combinations of ingredients and techniques, without a lot of fuss or difficulty. Win/win!

Recipes I've marked to try:
-Smoked Salmon, Basil, & Lemon Quesadillas
-Palacsintas with Apricot Jam and Powdered Sugar (for my ongoing pancakes of the world project in my baking blog)
-Golden Raisin-Fennel Scones (this is an example of an "oh what would that taste like" reaction?!)
-Chickpea Flour Soup from Provence (intriguing)
-Caramelized Cabbage and Noodles (a homey Hungarian recipe, sounds like great comfort food)
-Rutabaga, Creme Fraiche & Havarti Torte (I have definitely never made a recipe featuring rutabagas)

My tiny wee complaint is that salt, pepper, and water are not included in ingredients list but are often called for in the recipes. I would have liked to have everything included, despite what might be expected. She also calls for extra-large eggs throughout the cookbook and this would require either recipe modification or buying two kinds of eggs, just a personal pain. Not enough to give the cookbook anything less than five stars.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My all-time favorite cookbook! Every single recipe I've made from it has been fantastic.

[Kyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely cook fish but every single fish recipe in this book had me wanting to run to the fishmonger. The recipes are simple but not basic and I would like a copy of this book, please and thank you.

[Juli Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too gimmicky for my taste and many of the recipes don't even sound appealing. I am always leery of cookbooks with this many recipes in them, and I was right in this case--the quality of the recipes seems to suffer by the sheer quantity. The book needed another wide stroke of the editor's knife. I also find it annoying when cookbooks carry the "theme" of their cookbook (often the title) through the recipe descriptions: it seemed like every recipe in this book was a "radically simple way to prepare" whatever ingredient it featured. That kind of copy is just condescending and corny. I saved a few recipes that seemed intriguing (including an onion soup recipe made from whole, roasted, buttered onions and a recipe for tomato frappe), but this was overall a dud.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best food is simply prepared food, but that doesn't have to mean it has to be unsophisticated or boring, and this book proves the point beautifully. I marked about 85 percent of the non-dessert recipes for the future.

The book has two problems: one is that you seem to need an entire at-home bar to make particularly the meat dishes (some spice blends are also more esoteric). The second is that substitutions are rarely suggested. To follow these recipes faithfully, you'd have to have gin, scotch, sake, chardonnay, Chartreuse, Madeira, dry vermouth, and a bevy of other liquors and liqueurs at your disposal (and surely some can be switched out for others once in awhile?). Not only are these expensive ingredients, they're impractical to buy for a recipe that calls for 1/4 cup of the stuff if you aren't particular to it. It seems like the diversity of this type of ingredient could have been pared down to make the recipes indeed radically simple.

[Dayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rozanne Gold's cooking style is much like I would like my own cooking style to be. And I would say that these recipes really are radically simple. I like that it's a hefty book, but not cumbersome. I like that all of these recipes seem "cookable." Surely everyone has read or flipped through those cookbooks in which the food looks and sounds amazing, but the idea of actually making any of it is just too daunting...this isn't that kind of cookbook. The food looks and sounds amazing, and I can make most of it without too much effort. These recipes are balanced, and that is Gold's philosophy. If the ingredients are many or hard to find, then the time and technique aren't too complicated. If there are just a few ingredients, then the time invested might be a bit more. And if the technique is a little more complicated, then the ingredients are pretty simple. And there are more than a few recipes in which the ingredients, time, and technique are all easy. There are several recipes that I want to try (okay, like a couple dozen strike my fancy right away!). I need to make a few of them before it's due back at the library...which, this is totally a cookbook worth buying! One complaint I have is that when going over her food philosophy in the beginning, she says that a dish should be visually pleasing and references a recipe that she considers especially stunning and gives the page number for it...I flipped to that page, and there is no picture of that particular recipe! Hmm. But the photos that are sprinkled throughout the book are stunning.....even the simple roasted radishes are stunning! Visual appeal and presentation do make a difference in how enjoyable a dish is. So, I like that she gives tips for garnishes and serving. Of course, as with many cookbooks, I might have to change my rating once I have actually tried a recipe or two...but just after reading them, I can tell these are going to be good ones!

[Heather Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My new favorite cookbook! We've been cooking with this book for weeks in my home, and we've been extremely pleased with the results. Nothing has taken a more than half an hour to cook from beginning to end, and nothing has been terribly expensive. Gold is excellent at dividing her recipes up so that you can pick with the needed step; for example, we love a pimento cheese that's made nearby, and although Gold's recipe for pimento macaroni and cheese includes making the pimento cheese at home, we've been able to add our local favorite in without confusion. The recipes turn out fresh, inexpensive, relatively healthy, and fast -- the whole package. My only complaint is the same complaint I have with every other cookbook: it has an insufficient index. Too few cookbooks list every single ingredient in the index so that I can look in my cupboard and look up a recipe based on something I find. Nevertheless, Rozanne Gold continues to be a master!

[Leyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful cookbook. I have cooked professionally, catered, and spent 50 years behind a stove. This book is special. Try the Asian Beef (I simply put a sirloin into a baggie, poured fish sauce over it, marinated it 1/2 hour and grilled----probably the best tasting steak I have ever had!) Last night I made the Za'atar Roast chicken---again, out of the ballpark in flavor with very little work. I am looking forward to plumbing the depths of the rest of the book. Highly recommended! I

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tried several recipes and they really are easy to make.
Recipes I tried and really liked:
Carrot Marmalade: I had it with the OO Biscuit. Delicious!
Olive Oil Biscuit: Left out the sprinkling of salt on top (there really is no need for more salt, I think)
Angel Hair with Ginger Butter & Chives: I replaced chives with green onions. I made it several times already. As the author states, it's really good with fish/seafood.
Capellini with Spicy Fish Sauce Marinara: Super easy.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cannot praise enough this wonderful book, I am so glad I got it! Every recipe in the book makes me want to stop reading and start cooking, which is the mark of a great cookbook. The author's writing style is fun, personable, and the recipes are simple to prepare, but always have some twist to make them special. I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Sarah]

I didn't give this a rating b/c I wasn't sure it was fair. They might be great recipes, but I did not attempt any. While these may seem like simple recipes to some, they were way beyond my skill set. It was too gourmet for this truly simple cook.

[Tamsyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best and most exciting cookbooks I have seen in a long time. I've already cooked a bunch, and plan on many more. They are all easy, appealing, made with readily available ingredients and are often simple preparations. Everything has been delicious so far.

[Dorian · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 3 star rating is based on reading through it. I haven't had a chance to cook from it so once I try some recipes I'll update my rating and comment. But I liked it enough that after reading the library copy I want to buy my own copy.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cook book is absolutely essential for the "chef" who wants something upscale without a thousand ingredients. The simple pairings Gold presents make you think "duh, why didn't I think to try this before?" This would make a fantastic gift for someone just learning to cook as well!

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this for dinners with friends. Easily accessible, fresh food. This was a library book that I might have to buy. The few recipes I tried were spot on, easy to mix up. It is not the easiest book to navigate, I thought the structure a little needlessly complicated.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I got a couple recipes out of it (from sides and dessert), the majority of the recipes are too chef-y for me

[Mama's High Strung™ · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://mamashighstrung.com/blog/2011/...

[Randine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A library book I plan on purchasing - great recipes

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite cookbook. She is simple, but very sophisticated. If you want to cook to impress, or treat yourself like a king/queen, choose any recipe in this book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely recipes.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic recipes, but ingredients sometimes are difficult to find.