Delicious! by Ruth Reichl [book review]

In July each year our Kitchen Reader book club reads a food-related novel. This time it was Delicious! by Ruth Reichl. We have read two of Reichl's non-fiction books before: Tender at the Bone and Garlic and Sapphires (these links are to my reviews of them). They were both excellent so I felt that a novel by Reichl probably wouldn't disappoint us.

Billie is a young woman who is hired on as the assistant to the editor of a food magazine called Delicious!. The novel tells some hilarious stories about the people and food she encounters. As with Reichl's other books, the food descriptions are top notch and made me salivate quite regularly. In the novel, James Beard was a flashback character, and Billie discovers about his time at the magazine though a series of letters written to him by a young reader.

Salmon Burgers

When I saw this recipe in Weeknight Wonders by Ellie Krieger, I was quite excited. You see, my husband loves burgers and I love salmon. Ha! This would be the best of both--and it was.

I adapted Ellie's recipe a little, of course, to make it grain-free. In her version, she uses breadcrumbs and an egg white to help stick everything together. In my rendition, I use almond meal (also called almond flour) and a whole egg to provide binding. I served the burgers in lettuce cups with tahini-yogurt sauce, cucumber slices, basil leaves, and carrot curls. I think next time I would make them half the size for ease of eating in the lettuce cups. Salmon sliders!

Pad Thai Salad

I like Thai food because of its fresh flavours. I love the zesty lime, crisp carrots and bean sprouts, and the crunchy peanuts.

As I was making this pad Thai salad I realised that it's actually quite similar to the coleslaw with which I grew up in Canada - the base is just shredded vegetables. Then there's a sauce and some add-ins. (And almost all of my cooking has a formula not unlike this.)

As I was slicing the mint and basil for the pad Thai, my mind was constructing this table. Suddenly the superiority of pad Thai salad over coleslaw became obvious!

Cannellini, Green Bean, and Tomato Salad

At the local vegetable market, I buy these long beans. They are sold coiled up in a bunch and are usually about 40 cm long when laid out. Fortunately for me, they are easy to use: in all the same ways as Western green beans. So I usually cut them into bite-sized pieces and stir-fry them or blanch them for salad.