Title:

Crescent City Cooking
(Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4000-4389-7 1-4000-4389-1

Theme:

Create restaurant-quality New Orleans comfort food with Susan Spicer's recipes, which combine Southern U.S. and international flavors.

Sample Recipes:

Artichoke dolmades. Pork quesadillas with ancho mango sauce. Classic N'Awlins remoulade. Spicy Thai salad with shrimp, pork and crispy rice noodles. Mexican green gazpacho with shellfish. Crayfish croque monsieur. Grilled andouille Po'boy Creolaise. White bean hummus. Green olive tapenade. Pumpkin seed pesto. Garlic confit. Seared yellowfin tuna with walnut red pepper sauce. Seared duck breasts with pepper jelly glaze. Turkish stuffed eggplant with spicy lamb and rice. Fragrant basmati pilaf. Butternut squash spoon bread soufflé. Double ginger gingersnaps. Mint julep ice cream.

Notable Elements:

After her autobiography, Susan Spicer describes ingredients like Asian sauces and flavored oils. She includes useful tips like storing small quantities of nuts in a freezer to keep them fresh.

Recipes feature sidebars with instructions on how to clean mussels and portobello mushrooms, roast peppers and chiles, make gravlax and cold smoke fish and meat.

Tone / Style:

Each chapter of Crescent City Cooking begins with an index of recipes and an introduction by Susan Spicer, describing ingredients and cooking techniques.

The 405-page cookbook features 170 delicious New Orleans recipes, each with the number of servings, preparation time and simple directions. Susan Spicer introduces each recipe with suggestions on how to select and substitute ingredients, and how to serve the finished dish.

Visuals:

Eighty-six mouthwatering color images illustrate recipes, ingredients and cooking techniques.

Contents:

• Introduction: Crescent City Gal
• The Spicer Pantry
• Let's Get the Party Started: Appetizers
• Salads Every Day
• All That Simmers and Sandwiches with Soul
• Sensational Sauces and Creamy Bread Spreads
• From Brackish Waters to the Deep Blue Sea
• A Mess of Main Courses
• Show-stealing Sides
• Sweet Endings from Crescent City and Beyond
• Killer Cocktails from the Quarter
• Sources
• Index

Author:

Susan Spicer and Paula Disbrowe

Claim to fame:

Susan Spicer is chef and owner of Bayona and Herbsaint restaurants in the New Orleans French Quarter.

Paula Disbrowe is a food and travel writer and a former Cowgirl Chef at the Hart & Hind Fitness Ranch in Texas.

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