Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition

It’s an all Italian book with everything from appetizers to desserts. There were a lot of ingredients that aren’t really my taste, style, or preference. I ended up only marking about five recipes. So I took pictures of the recipes I want to try and have saved them to Pinterest. Then I gave it to my boyfriend who also cooks and he was thrilled! I’m excited to exercise my Italian skills with the recipes I saved.

I got this book about a week and a half ago, and I like it so much that I've been lugging it around the house like a security blanket. I bought it in the first place because I ate at one of Lynch's restaurants. It seemed worthwhile to pay for the chance of recreating those gnocchi at home. Lynch is very generous with her most popular recipes - she gives up the secrets to a best-selling bolognese sauce, the gnocchi that every single reviewer of Sportello raves about, and the dish that pretty much made No. 9 Park famous. The recipes run the full cycle of seasonality, and many can be dressed up or down as you like. (Some are harder to dress down, but it seems that the key to dressing a lot of food up is serving it in small containers.) Some of these recipes are very simple. The gorgonzola fondue isn't a whole lot more than melted cheese. The marinara sauce can be thrown together out of kitchen staples in under half an hour. A number of the soups (particularly the white bean and hazelnut and the spicy tomato) look interesting and uncomplicated. Tomato jam and tomato confit are on my experiment list for tomato season. Some of these recipes, by contrast, look like they would take a few hours a day for most of a week for a home cook to construct. Lynch likes olives more than I do, but she's the kind of cook who makes me wonder if maybe I'm just wrong about olives. She uses a lot more fat than I do, but I can see ways to trim it. Best of all, Lynch has a charming willingness to draw back the curtain and expose the machinery of her work to the reader. Some of the recipes come neatly apart into building blocks for other recipes (the chicken soup could be a weekend lunch with whatever vegetables you have on hand thrown in), and she includes a few actual building block recipes (homemade pasta, chicken stock, tomato confit, cooked white beans, homemade ricotta). In many places, you have the option of using store-bought ingredients or making your own. The recipes are easy to follow: the results may look intimidating, but the instructions don't. I think it is unlikely that I will ever make prune-stuffed gnocchi with foie gras sauce, but the chances have increased by an order of magnitude since this time last week, so who knows what will happen.

Stir is an action word-a verb. So if your into actual cooking then this book is a road map to sucess. Lynch offers the action cook a way to excell-especially with Pasta and Fish and an easy way it is .I have prepared over nine of her receipes without one problem.If you like the American Test Kitchen way with receipes then your going to love this truly easy step-by-step way to Italin/French creativity. A cannot miss cookbook.

I am lucky enough to live two blocks from Barbara Lynch's B & G Oyster, Butcher Shop and her test/demonstration kitchen Stir. I often pop into the Butcher Shop for some of their amazing house made sausages or a pint of their fantastic bolognese sauce, so when I heard that Barbara was writing a cookbook I was excited. Honestly, I was excited but concerned that this might be another restaurant chef sharing overly complicated recipes that don't fit into my busy lifestyle. Opening this beautifully photographed cookbook, I was instantly pleased to see that this was a cookbook for all home cooks. Filled with mouthwatering recipes that are easy to follow, "Stir" turns intimidating foods, such as homemade gnocchi, into approachable, show stopping meals that can be made by just about anyone. One of the most fantastic aspects of this well written book, are the notes Chef Lynch shares regarding preparing the dishes ahead of time. Let's face it, when hosting a dinner party, there is nothing worse than having to slave in the kitchen while the guest are enjoying the cocktails and appetizers that have been prepared. Lynch offers tips on which recipes can be made ahead of time, and how to reheat the dishes so they may be perfectly served. With wit and a no-nonsense "Southie" undertone, this cook book is destined to be a classic for cooks at any level. The Italian, meets French meets Boston cuisine offers everything from comfort foods to Barbara Lynch's signature Prune Stuffed Gnocchi with foie gras (btw... don't knock it until you've tried it!) I'm thrilled to have added this cookbook to my collection and look forward to making even more recipes from it. Oh, and I might not need to stop by the Butcher Shop as often, since I now have the recipe for the Bolognese!

The Gorgonzola Fundue was the first thing I made out of the cookbook, though Barbara Lynch's legendary bolognese is coming up soon. The photography in the book is especially good and is what initially caught my eye in the bookstore. But the recipes are well setup for the home kitchen. So many great restaurant cooks and their cookbooks have a difficult transition to the smaller quantities, the lower heats, and the impracticality of whole day cooking in the home kitchen. Aside from the photos and the recipes, the story of cooking as an escape from the projects and poverty via self-taught cooking is an inspiration. Quite a book!

We live in Boston and frequent BL's restaurants- this brilliant cookbook includes some of her fabulous accessible recipes that she serves so we can try them at home i.e. bolognese sauce (to die for), poulet en pain, roasted winter squash with maple syrup and sage cream (perfect for Thanksgiving). Besides loving the layout and gorgeous photos, the tidbits and infectious tone from Barbara herself make this both gourmand and down-to-earth reading. I can't wait to curl up in front of a fire and peruse... the most difficult choice will be which recipe to try first!