In Good Taste
Cookbook Confidential
New Northwest cookbooks from local publishers hit bookstore shelves this month with several recipes from Seattle Dames, details on organic farming and personal stories from local chefs


Lisa Dupar’s walnut-fennel tarts are often requested for cocktail parties.



Autumn is here, and we’re dishing on this season’s culinary harvest. Coming to your kitchen are two new cookbooks featuring recipes from some of the finest chefs in the Northwest. In these delicious reads, local ingredients and full, rich flavors play starring roles, while cooking tips from great Seattle culinary minds give every home chef the chance to turn foodie by the end of the month.

Note: Also new this month is Kerry Colburn’s Good Drinks for Bad Days (Sasquatch Books). Read about the book and try some sample recipes here.



Cooking with Les Dames d’Escoffier: At Home with the Women Who Shape the Way We Eat and Drink

Edited by Marcella Rosene with Pat Mozersky
(Sasquatch Books, $35)

If you have ever wanted to make a meal with the same care, skill and know-how as Julia Child, Cooking with Les Dames d’Escoffier: At Home with the Women Who Shape the Way We Eat and Drink is for you. Gathered in this cookbook are more than 125 recipes from members of Les Dames d’Escoffier, the premier association of female culinary professionals.

The group counts among its numbers women as renowned as organic-food pioneer Alice Waters, lauded pastry chef Gale Gand and the aforementioned Julia Child. Former Seattle Homes & Lifestyles Food Editor Braiden Rex-Johnson, one of 58 Seattle Dames, credits the organization with helping young women succeed in the hospitality, culinary and wine fields as well as recognizing those who have already reached a certain level of success. “It’s a group of like-minded women who have certain goals,” Rex-Johnson says. “The fact that we raise money for women who are younger and coming up in our field just means so much more because, in effect, we’re building the future of our industry.”

All of the recipes have been tested at least twice and are written in practical steps to ensure that they are do-at-home fare. Several dishes from Seattle Dames are included, such as Lisa Dupar’s walnut-fennel tart, Gina Batali’s stuffed artichokes and Rex-Johnson’s salmon fillets baked in grape-leaf wraps. Helpful sidebars offer tips for cooking quandaries such as pairing beverages (even coffee) with food and flipping a cake out of its pan. This book will have every home chef eager to cook for loved ones, which is exactly what the Dames want.

Chefs on the Farm: Recipes and Inspiration from the Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts

Written by Shannon Borg and Lora Lea Misterly, recipes by Kären Jurgensen (Skipstone, $24.95)

Aspiring chefs and curious foodies should pick up Chefs on the Farm: Recipes and Inspiration from the Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts. The 208-page book, written by Northwest food writer Shannon Borg and Quillisascut Farm owner Lora Lea Misterly, chronicles a year of organic farming in northeastern Washington. Readers are given a firsthand glimpse of small-farm life—cooking with locally grown ingredients, milking goats at dawn and making cheese by hand.

Witnessing food’s journey from farm to plate, Borg writes, is how people can connect to what they eat—and she hopes to share her appreciation of the life and energy of food with others. Seattle chef Kären Jurgensen offers more than 65 seasonally inspired recipes for tantalizing dishes, such as lavender-scented turnips, yin-yang melon soup and ricotta gnocchi with Sibley squash, pears and sage. Also featured are personal stories from local chefs who traveled to Quillisascut to learn more about sustainable farming, including Tom Douglas, Rover’s Thierry Rautureau, Flying Fish’s Christine Keff and SH&L contributor Becky Selengut.