Rustic Joyful Food: Generations

Kartes follows up My Heart’s Table with nostalgic fare straight from her family recipe box. Representing dishes from three generations, these 125 easy-to-assemble dishes (organized by Supper, Soups and Stews, Vegetables and Sides, Snacks, Breakfast, Drinks, Sweets) call for everyday supermarket ingredients. Easy-to-tackle supper recipes feature such kid-friendly classics as stuffed shells, shepherd’s pie, and stovetop mac ’n’ cheese, while coconut milk–poached curried halibut, and wine-braised olive chicken are perfect for entertaining. In the chapter on soups and stews, Karte offers a wide variety including a hamburger soup of her childhood; a rich bouillabaisse fish stew; and Thai green curry soup. Vegetable sides are heavy on potatoes such as Mom’s Scalloped Potatoes, and also include Grandmother Thora’s Steakhouse Crispy Onions Rings. Breakfast lovers will enjoy ricotta or pumpkin pancakes as well as a dish of baked chiles rellenos. Impressive made-from-scratch sweet treats abound in 30 dessert recipes, such as old-fashioned rice pudding and a strawberry galette with crème fraïche. There are few surprises, but readers will delight in Kartes’s solid, home-cooked comfort food. (Feb.)