As you know, I have a love/hate relationship with GP and her lifestyle blog/newsletter, in which she recommends wearing a $455 Isabel Marant blazer to the beach. Such is advice from a woman who hasn't paid for clothing since 1996. But after reading this hilarious review, I had to try the cookbook out. Would I, like the reviewer, discover an affinity for raw honey and almonds soaked in water? Would I start speaking to Gwyneth in the kitchen as I cooked?
Kind of.
Below is Sunday's dinner: local cod cooked en papillote with "Lee's Hoisin Sauce," fava beans, and "Carrots with Black Sesame and Ginger," or rather "Regular Sesame" because who the F keeps black sesame seeds around -
This dinner was amazing. When he was done, Dan literally picked up his plate and started licking it. "This is so good!" he said. "This is as good as anything as you could get in a restaurant."
The next day, I had leftover sesame carrots with "Perfectly Cooked Quinoa" that was tasty and filling but not quite perfectly cooked, to be honest, and I forgot that quinoa sticks to your teeth like CRAZY. For dinner, I made a kale salad with "Creamy Parsley Dressing," described by Dan as "such a perfect summer flavor!" Then there was chicken marinated in more of "Lee's Hoisin Sauce" mixed with glop from a can of chipotles that made Dan started crying and and then write a letter to the editor to The Economist about getting our kitchen protected as a heritage landmark through his joyful tears.
So, as long as you remember that Gwyneth is not a nutritionist or doctor and can handle the fact that the book features a lot of striped bass "because it swims in the waters close to Gwyneth's summer home, where we do a lot of cooking," this book could be for you. The recipes are really good! They better be, coming from someone who once wrote that "as a home cook, one of the best things I’ve ever done was to build a wood-burning oven in the back yard."
