Title:

The Summertime Anytime Cookbook - Recipes from Shutters on the Beach
(Clarkson Potter, 2008) ISBN 978-0307381231 0-307381234

Theme:

Shutters on the Beach, a seaside resort in Santa Monica, California, provides favorite recipes most requested by guests for drinks, breakfasts, lunches, desserts and evening meals.

Sample Recipes:

Melon agua fresca. Pomegranate mojito. Dungeness crab cakes with avocado tartar sauce. Iced nougat with honey and figs. Toasted pearl pasta with rock shrimp, green beans and garlic. Roasted rack of lamb with sun-dried cherry sauce. Berries with chocolate coconut fondue. Ciabatta with fresh pesto and ricotta cheese. Yogurt mousse with honey poached apricots. Roasted pear salad with roquefort cheese, walnuts and ruby port vinaigrette. Classic chocolate pudding cakes with caramel sauce. Cranberry orange pistachio bread.

Notable Elements:

To create a beach theme, Dana Slatkin provides advice on Six Uses for a Bucket of Sand, which includes table decor, glass jars with beach souvenirs, how to make sand clay and colorful sand pictures.

Stocking Your Kitchen lists essential ingredients like oils, vinegars, dried mushrooms, herbs, spices, seasonings, unsalted butter and premium chocolate.

Dana Slatkin shares her secret on how to make oven-dried tomatoes. Served with small bocconcini (mozzarella) balls, they make delicious appetizers.

Sidebars throughout the cook book describe techniques like how to wash mushrooms, how to toast spices and nuts and how to make a perfect smoothie.

A source guide lists stores and websites where you can buy ingredients like quail eggs, pomegranate syrup and truffle oil, as well as tableware, cocktail skewers and picnic baskets.

Tone / Style:

The Summertime Anytime Cookbook contains 130 recipes on 256 pages. The tone is easy reading, easy going California style.

Chapter introductions match recipes to weather. They range from light and refreshing recipes for hot days to hearty and filling dishes for cool, rainy days.

Dana Slatkin introduces each recipe with a brief description of key ingredients and substitution tips. To assist cooks, the number of servings is specified beside the title and recipe ingredients are printed in bold. Shutters on the Beach entertainment and music suggestions help hosts with decor and ambiance. Beauty recipes use ingredients like sea salt, rose hip tea and lavender essential oil to make seaside spa inspired products for home treatment.

Visuals:

Color photos, many full-page, by photographer Amy Neunsinger, illustrate numerous irresistible recipes.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Sunny Days
• Cloudy Days
• Balmy Nights
• Stormy Nights
• Misty Mornings
• Beach Basics
• Source Guide
• Index

Author:

Dana Slatkin

Claim to fame:

Co-owner of the Shutters on the Beach resort, Dana Slatkin graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and has worked in kitchens in France and New York.

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