The Beach House Cookbook

We bought a copy of this for our beach house hosts and liked it so much I had to get one for home, too. As another (more negative) reviewer noted, none of the recipes is earth-shatteringly new, but rather natural combinations of ingredients that you might not come up with on your own and want to try. In this way, the book reminds me of Cucina Fresca or Cucina Rustica, which are similar in sort of simply preparing good, fresh food. The author has a nice, casual writing style. Beautiful pictures, nicely laid out. I use this book a lot along with Italian Vegetarian (Jack Bishop) when I have some produce or a seasonal veg and am wondering how best to use it. Highly recommended.

There are numerous theme cookbooks on the market, so what makes Barbara Scott-Goodman's The Beach House Cookbook a winner? For one thing, it uses the theme of seaside freshness to create feasts based on seafood and fresh vegetables. So readers should have an affection for fresh seafood in order to appreciate The Beach House Cookbook. From an Oyster and Vegetable Bisque to Grilled Swordfish with Mango Salsa, emphasis is on recipes which are quickly and easily prepared, lending to beach picnics and vacation cooking.

The table of contents started me drooling (look in the See-Inside-the-Book above). The book makes good use of readily available seafood plus fresh fruits (for fruit cobbler or a sundae). Sure, the recipes may be found in a variety of cookbooks, but this pulls together the ones you want while at the ocean. A few recipes use ingredients that I wouldn't have on hand (capers, chickpea flour), but most are straight forward. The color photographs really whet your appetite. This was favorably reviewed by the Baltimore Sun saying it "captures the evocative moods of summer."

This is a great cookbook! Made the lobster and roasted veg salad last night and got raves. The best thing about it is just looking through the table of contents or leafing to a random page on your way out to shop - it sparks a better idea than you might have had for what to cook that night. Also, every recipe has a least one special "spark" idea or component that lifts the dish to a place that makes the meal special and memorable.

I love the Beach House Cookbook. It's filled with summer classics with a twist like the BLT salad with buttermilk blue cheese dressing which was a great hit. This is a real staple cookbook for me this summer. I've given it as a host gift a couple of times. My hosts loved the delicious photography and were inspired to cook from its easy recipes.