cover image Easy Gourmet: Awesome Recipes Anyone Can Cook

Easy Gourmet: Awesome Recipes Anyone Can Cook

Stephanie Le. Page Street, $21.99 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-62414-062-4

Artfully presented and elegantly photographed, "i am a food blog" creator Stephanie Le's collection of dishes will resonate with foodies as well as those less familiar. Can't-miss comfort food like Pea & Bacon Risotto, Baked Mac and Cheese, pan-seared ribeye, and Curry Chicken Pot Pie will likely end up in regular rotation at the dinner table and live up to the titular promise of ease, but other dishes that seem simple on the surface (such as Lasagna, slow-roasted pork belly, or Beef Short Ribs & Mushrooms with Guinness) literally take hours to prepare. Other dishes are simple standards like Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary, Classic Carbonara, Roasted Vegetables, and Fish Tacos, but there's nothing particularly unique about them. Foodies will likely be drawn to look-at-me dishes like Crispy Duck with Maple Bourbon Sauce & Honey Sriracha Carrots, Bone Marrow Pasta, Pulled Pork Pancakes with Bourbon Syrup, and Soy Milk Donuts %E2%80%93 all of which, to Le's credit, are fairly simple assuming readers are diligent in their preparation. To be fair, she's got some great takes on classics %E2%80%93 French Onion Grilled Cheese and Lemon Meringue S'mores are ingenious and mouthwatering. Though the results are mixed, Le offers a thoughtful and often surprising collection of foods. (Sept.)