Make this tonight Recipes to get dinner on the table

In this eclectic "starter kit," the team at the lifestyle website Tastemade show home cooks how to enliven their nightly repertoire with simple recipes that are big on flavor. Combining the sensibility of the website's "Make This Tonight" videos with the brainpower of its broad pool of trained chefs and home cooks, the collection offers dishes inspired by cuisines from around the world. In a fragrant riff on shakshuka, turmeric and sweet potato enhance the classic Middle Eastern dish, and canned chickpeas save the night in a bubbling side dish (or entrée) made ultra-creamy thanks to three cheeses. A customizable sheet-pan gnocchi primavera lets cooks use their favorite farmers' market produce with "reckless abandon," while putting the leftover veggies to use alongside day-old challah in an innovative, dairy-free chicken "pot pie." Meanwhile, offbeat pairings--such as an avocado shake with ribbons of chocolate sauce, and cheesy grits topped with an Asian-inspired garlic-chile oil--come together quickly to add a touch of the unexpected on a weeknight. For those times when dinner is not an immediate concern, a fascinating chapter on fermented and pickled preparations offers ways to create (and use) a sourdough starter, red-cabbage sauerkraut, garlicky kimchi, and more. Savory shortcuts meet equally savory dishes in this excellent work. (June)

Tastemade is a buzzy streaming channel with home cooks around the world providing the content to many of the brand's web resources. This title has lovely pictures, a nice range of recipes, and a global approach to cooking. The introduction says these recipes are drawn from a range of providers, yet none are credited for their ideas. And those ideas range widely, including making homemade sauerkraut, cheesy chickpeas, and several options for sourdough. There is an entire chapter on chocolate, too, as well as one for other desserts. However, as with any practical how-to-book, the value is in how well the instructions perform; mileage varies in these recipes. VERDICT The book is attractive and will have a huge built-in fan base, but (even for libraries with unlimited cookbook budgets) it's safe to give this one a pass unless demand warrants.--Danise Hoover

Introduction Tastemade is a community of creative and passionate people. We are a global company with studios all over the world. We are storytellers, striving to capture moments of hope, adventure, and art. We work together to surface voices and creations that represent the rich tapestry of cultures. We know that "good taste" means nothing without respect--respect for quality ingredients, for cultures around the world, and for sound techniques performed by capable hands. We believe the world is delicious and sharing a meal with others is the best way to become a truly global citizen. At Tastemade, we believe there is more in this world that unites us than divides us, and that good food is one of those common threads. As part of that common thread, there's one question we all have to answer every single day: What's for dinner? Sometimes you're excited at the prospect of preparing a feast, perhaps inviting company over to share in the fun of cooking and certainly of eating. Other times you need a quick, easy solution because you're too busy or distracted to stop to think about it. Sometimes you want familiar flavors and the comforts of a dish you grew up with. Other times you want to try something new you've only ever heard about. However you feel, whatever you crave, however much time you have on any given day, and whatever other circumstances there are, you know it will end with dinner. Let's answer that question together, shall we? About This Book In your hands, you hold our very first cookbook. We gathered 100 recipes from our network of professional chefs and self-taught cooks. With lots of new and exciting any-day-of-the-week inspiration, we've ventured to help you answer the question of what to make. We appreciate the joy of a great plate of food, and we know a lot of paths to achieve that end result. We encourage you to explore the culinary offerings of our community and make them your own. Cooking is a lifelong journey, and this book is a tool for anyone curious and eager to get comfortable in the kitchen. We hope you'll enjoy learning from those who contributed recipes and shared their personal connections to many regions of the world as we traverse the globe through this compendium of good food, good stories, and good people. The recipes in Make This Tonight reflect a mix of family tradition, far-flung inspiration, appreciation of heritage, and most of all a healthy dose of fun and exploration. This book is a starter kit for new ways of enjoying food, meant to empower you to create explosively flavorful dishes that will enrich your kitchen and cultivate your culinary soul. It's a primer for learning to love to cook. We hope to convince you of our own philosophy: that life's true victories--both in and out of the kitchen--come when your sources are global, richly varied, and authentic, and that these victories are 100 percent achievable every day. Our goal is to show you that preparing delicious food and gathering at the table don't need to be difficult endeavors. With a bit of practice, they will become second nature to you, and you'll be able to feed yourself and your family and friends every night. We have organized this book into sections by main ingredient--vegetables, eggs, grains, meat, and more. Each chapter will not only provide new ways for you to enjoy ingredients that you might have grown up with but will also contain countless opportunities for culinary exploration. Some of the recipes will feature familiar flavors, while others will encourage you to expand your spice cabinet or travel to faraway lands via your taste buds. At Tastemade, we are driven by constant curiosity. With Make This Tonight , you'll learn some of the ways we feed that curiosity--stocking a new-to-us spice, letting something ferment in our cupboard. These recipes are compelling yet comforting, exciting yet approachable. They can make any night an adventure or cozy and familiar. Excerpted from Make This Tonight: Recipes to Get Dinner on the Table: a Cookbook by Tastemade All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.