A new cookbook is a fresh wind in the sails of any eager home chef. These cookbooks by Hudson Valley authors, on specialties ranging from minimalist cooking to Indian gourmet, will give the chef in your life fresh ideas that are easy to execute with universal kitchen equipment and simple ingredients, many of them locally sourced. Whether you need a last-minute gift idea or inspiration for your own holiday showstopper dish to impress the whole family, these recipes map out cooking from scratch.
What Goes With What
Julia Turshen,
Flatiron Books, 2024, $34.99
Kingston resident Julia Turshen is a New York Times-bestselling author and the host of her IACP-nominated podcast, “Keep Calm and Cook On.” In her multiple cookbooks and classes, she combats diet culture and strives to make cooking accessible. Her fifth cookbook, What Goes With What, has 100 recipes for simple ingredient home-cooking. Exactly like the title suggests, Turshen teaches readers how to create something simple yet delicious just by throwing together a few common pantry items. It’s organized into six different sections, so whether readers want a fresh salad or a hearty pasta dish, Turshen has them covered.
Out There
Lee Kalpakis,
Weldon Owen, 2024, $19.70
In her new cookbook, Hudson Valley chef, recipe developer, and author Lee Kalpakis shares her minimalist approach to creating gourmet delights gleaned from two years of Catskills camper living. Kalpakis and her partner, Sean Cynamon, gave off-grid living a go in 2022 while building a house together on the outskirts of the Catskills. The book includes 75 recipes divided among eight categories: breakfast, on the grill, one-pot meals, backpack recipes, salads, sweets, open-fire projects, and canteen cocktails. It is completed with a section describing outfitting a tiny kitchen with the essential tools like a cast iron, and a blender.
The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z
Tamar Adler,
Scribner, 2023, $35
Hudson resident Tamar Adler’s new cookbook, a companion to her 2012 bestselling An Everlasting Meal, is as delightful to peruse as it is to find inspiration in its pages after peering into the depths of your fridge in search of lunch. Anyone who has ever been lured into the magic of making their own kombucha or sourdough bread will recognize the ingenious way she can transform any leftover into the “starter” for a scrumptious new meal. With more than 1,500 easy and creative ideas that utilize everything from cooked chicken to kimchi juice, Adler proves that a waste-not-want-not ethos has always been the mother of invention when it comes to the kitchen.
Vegan Soups and Stews For All Seasons
Nava Atlas,
Amberwood Press, 2024, $24.95
It is that time of the year…nothing warms the soul and the belly like a warm bowl of soup in these long (and sometimes sunless!) winter months. The fifth edition of this popular cookbook, first published in 1992 by Atlas, a noted vegetarian/vegan authority and New Paltz resident, is back with new recipes and large color photographs. Organized by seasons, there is something for everyone and every day; hearty stews for winter and light and herbal soups for summer. It’s not just limited to soups but what you dip in them, from scallion pancakes to sunflower cheese bread, these recipes are so delicious you might just forget they’re vegan.
Indian Flavor Everyday
Maya Kaimal,
Clarkson Potter, 2023, $28
“Indian food has a reputation for being intimidating,” writes Maya Kaimal in the introduction for her new cookbook, Indian Flavor Every Day. But as the award-winning author and founder of Rhinebeck-based Maya Kaimal Foods soon reveals, mastering just a few simple, time-tested techniques from the Indian culinary tradition will have you adding warming masalas and fragrant tarkas—whole spices bloomed in oil—to everything from salads to soups, roasted meats, and even sweets. Taken from Kaimal’s own Western mealtime routines, the 80 accessible recipes, alongside practical techniques and ingredient swaps, are equal parts fun and ambitious, celebrating Indian flavor in all its complexity and ease.
This article appears in December 2024.
