cover image Bowls of Plenty: Recipes for Healthy and Delicious Whole Grain Meals

Bowls of Plenty: Recipes for Healthy and Delicious Whole Grain Meals

Carolynn Carreño. Grand Central Life & Style, $28 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4555-3658-0

Carreño (co-author of The Mozza Cookbook and Meat: Everything There Is to Know) has impeccable creds on the seemingly ubiquitous yet still growing phenomenon of one-bowl meals. Carreño is a California native with a self-described “health nut” mother, and her take on value-added whole grains is deeply authoritative and inspiringly delicious. A “Meet Your Grains” guide ranges alphabetically from amaranth to wild rice, encompassing Italian farro and Khorasan wheat—commonly sold as Kamut, a trademarked name—and including clear instructions that make it seem easy to cook even the most esoteric items. More familiar oats (as groats, steel-cut, or rolled) and brown rice (both long- and short-grain) get play as well. Carreño’s determinedly “flavor first” approach draws on influences modern eaters want, such as high-quality proteins and farmer’s market vegetables, which can be combined as Korean short ribs and kimchi rice, Thai-style satay of chicken or tofu with coconut rice and peanut sauce, or an “Ultimate Burrito Bowl.” Guides for building one’s own Asian, farmer’s market, Middle Eastern, and Mexican bowls make it simple to customize a meal with what’s on hand or what the reader craves. (Jan.)