Tom Valenti's Soups, Stews, and One-Pot Meals: 125 Home Recipes from the Chef-Owner of New York City's Ouest and 'Cesca

I have had this cookbook for about a year now. We have made at least 10 recipes from it so far...without exaggerating, every single one has been a winner. The dishes are fun to make and the just tatse darn good! A couple "must-makes" are the Morroccan spiced lamb shanks and the Mushroom Braised Short Ribs. This is a winner! Thanks to the authors!

I'm not a great cook, but I like to cook. I'm busy and time is one of those things I don't have a lot of. The truth is, even if I did have the time, I wouldn't spend it cooking all day. Each of us divides time, our most precious commodity among all sorts of choices. No one cares how much time your cooking takes, because it's not the cooking it's the flavor and richness that I think most people want in their meals. That's why I'm taking the time to rate this book. This book is the BEST cooking book I've read in years. Tom Valenti IS A CHEF THAT UNDERSTANDS THE PERSON WHO WORKS ALL DAY AND WANTS BUT DOESN'T BELIEVE THEY HAVE THE TIME TO MAKE A REALLY GOOD MEAL. He proves you CAN make a great meal with little time. He is completely unpretentious and makes you WANT him at your side cooking. The recipes are winners and practicable. There are NO, where am I going to find THIS ingredient??! receipes. If you want a cookbook YOU WILL USE, believe me this is it.

If I only bought cookbooks to cook from, this would be my most desirable type of book. First, because one can go to this book when you know you want an easy one pot meal instead of wading through lots of restaurant chef and Italian cuisine and French cuisine books. Second, because the recipes in this book are good.There is little need to summarize the content of the book, as the title pretty much tells the story. You also should believe the statement on the cover that these are `home recipes' and not the kind of recipe Tom Valenti typically makes at his restaurants, or, at the very least, he does not make them in the same way at his restaurants.The cover says there are 125 recipes which, on the face of it is a tad thin for the $30 tariff. These are broken down by:Hearty soups and chowders: 18 including classics such as `pasta fazool', clam chowder, and lobster bisqueCasseroles, stews, and chilis: 28 including risottos, fish stews, sausage and cabbage stew, and venison chiliLarge Cuts and catches: 29 including leg of lamb, beef brisket, pork shank, and hunter style chickenAccompaniments and additions: 10 including pastas, rice, potatoes and polentaCondiments and Garnishes: 9 including pesto, aioli, roasted tomatoes, and croutonsOops, that is only 94. The remaining recipes are variations on main recipes plus recipes for chicken and beef stocks. Since almost recipe in the first three chapters has one or more variations, the effective total may be closer to 200. The bottom line is that these 94 basic recipes are worth the higher toll than you may find in some other books.One way I recognize a superior book is when they illuminate properties in ingredients (as in Paul Bertoli's Cooking by Hand book) or make fine distinctions in technique to achieve superior results. Valenti does a double service in this book by endorsing the use of supermarket stocks for most recipes and the use of an immersion blender for most recipes, yet he makes a point of indicating which recipes would come out a lot better by using homemade stocks or a bar blender or food processor. An additional feature of several recipes is where the authors present alternatives for dishing out the meal on the day after on `Tomorrow's Table'.It is important to not assume this is a book on quick cooking or that you will not have more than one pot to clean at the end of the day. As the authors freely admit, there is a lot of moving stuff back and forth from the central pot used in the preparation and there may be some supplementary heating up, but most of the action takes place in the center ring. The main thrust of this statement is that there are no auxillary preparations such as making a fish stock for bouillabaisse or making a lobster shell broth to make lobster bisque. The authors do not guarantee that the techniques in this book will produce results which rival the recipes with separate steps. What they do promise is that the results will be very good with somewhat less active time and one

Several cookbooks I own are great for use maybe 3 or 4 times a year--when I have the spare time and energy. This one I seem to be pulling off the top of my refrigerator about once a week, for dinner without the extensive forethought or special trips to the market. And so far (I've tried about 6 of the recipes now), it's batting a thousand.

I'm not an expert in the kitchen by any means, but I can follow a recipe like a pro. This book made cooking a pleasure - the recipes were simple and delicious and not too intimidating for a cooking neophyte. I look forward to cooking up these meals, from front to back. I highly recommend this book - perfect for the chilly fall nights to come!