Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Cooking with Love: Comfort Food That Hugs You by Carla Hall Cookbook Review


Chef Carla Hall was voted Fan Favorite of the 2011 Top Chef All-Stars season. Hall now co-hosts ABC’s daily lifestyle series The Chew. Hall believes that the only way you can make memorable and nourishing food is to cook it from the heart.

From country classics with a fresh spin like Country Greens and Chicken Pot Pie to simple, savory dishes like Rustic Mushroom Tart and Curried Beef Dumplings, to very special dessert offerings such as Butterscotch Mousse with Vanilla Salt served in Almond Tuiles. COOKING WITH LOVE has something for everyone with Hall’s beautiful, delicious, easy, and affordable recipes that revolutionize comfort food in healthful and surprising ways. And her enthusiasm for her work is evident from the first page and the fun “Catering Like Carla” tips that are peppered throughout. Comfort food has never tasted so good!

For my review I decided I'd make a dinner menu from her book. Chicken, potatoes and carrots a nice Sunday dinner. Everything was delicious and I'll be adding the potatoes to our meals more often.


Sunday Roast Chicken, page 100
This recipe had brine of brown sugar and water. Whole chicken, garlic, lemon zest, thyme, butter, lemon, white wine and pepper. I roasted it at my normal roast time (450' 40 mins, then 350' 40 mins), it was delicious.


brining in my crock dish



Smashed Herbed Potatoes, page 97
These were fantastic! I'll be making these again for sure. The whole new baby potatoes are cooked in the seasoned onion broth, lightly smashed (not whipped up, but smashed with the bottom of a cup just until they break open) then cooked again with some butter and more seasoning. YUM! 

smash with a small jar, just until they burst open


Roasted Carrots, page 101  
This recipe called for the baby carrots with the green tops and are like 5" long, but I just used regular cut up carrots. These were tossed in olive oil, kosher salt, garlic, thyme then roasted and drizzled with a cider vinegar and honey mixture.


ready to eat


*Disclosure* I wrote this review for "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" about Cooking with Love. The product(s) in this review were provided to me free of cost for the purpose of conducting my review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation. Product info & stock images provided by PR or Co.

Print
Pin It!