Kristen Kish is one of my favorite celebrity chefs every since I saw her on Top Chef. I couldn’t be more excited when I heard that her first book Kristen Kish Cooking was coming out this fall. The book is broken into seven sections, techniques and term, snacks, beginnings, from the sea, pasta and grains, meat, and sweet. I love the short, helpful techniques section which introduces many basic concepts like blanching, braising, and brining and more advanced techniques like making confit, smoking, and sweating.
With regard to recipes, they are definitely are more complicated and not for the faint of heart. We made the braised baby potatoes with pancetta instead of the usual mashed potato as a side dish for Thanksgiving and it was a winner. Since it’s squash season, I tried the squash and coconut milk custard which is one of the best squash dishes I have ever tasted! It’s a roasted squash filled with coconut milk and after cooking tasted like a savory creme brulee! This recipe is a keeper! I also tried the fried chicken thigh which tasted amazing with the chile and labneh. I have never had chicken this way and the whole dish came together with so much flavor. For the dessert, the whipped mascarpone with fig, rose water, and pistachio was out of this world! The hazelnut cake is one of my favorite cakes to date with its light and moist texture. Overall, I stuck to the easy recipes and they all turned out delicious.
Other recipes that I would love to try are the chicken liver mousse, octopus with chorizo puree, Parisian gnocchi, seared foie gras, glazed veal sweetbreads, pink peppercorn ice cream, and jasmine tea ice cream. This book has so many inspiring recipes for both the home cook and professional chefs. Eighty percent of the recipes are more complex and require knowing techniques and sourcing special ingredients but totally worth if you are committed to making them. Kristen Kish cooking is definitely one of my favorite celebrity chef cookbooks and I highly recommend it.
*I received this book to review complementary of the publisher