Carole Clements

I bought this cookbook less than a week ago. We have tried three recipes, all of which were excellent, and have a dozen more on our list to make. "You already have a recipe for cream of mushroom soup that is quite similar," said my visiting daughter. Yes, but this one tastes better, requires much less prep (no white sauce/bechamel to make), fewer ingredients (mostly lots and lots of mushrooms! we used fresh homegrown shiitake but any mushrooms would be good) and fewer pans to wash, and uses much less milk (an issue with some slightly lactose intolerant family members). All the recipes we've looked at so far are simple to prepare and require only basic ingredients. Many of the recipes call for leeks and shallots, which delights us because those are simple vegetables to grow (deer and rabbit resistant) and we always have them on hand. Everything else is quite mainstream. And so fast to make yet using all fresh ingredients from scratch.

This is already becoming one of our go-to cookbooks. I can't think of another cookbook that made itself indispensable so quickly.… (meer)