Terrance Brennan began cooking in his parents’ restaurant at age 13. Today he is the Chef-Proprietor of the several prominent restaurants including Picholine, Artisanal Fromagerie, Bistro & Wine Bar and Bar Artisanal. He has written this one cookbook, Artisanal Cooking in 2005. The subtitle to this book reveals its value for you: “A Chef Shares His Passion for Handcrafting Great Meals at Home.”
Brennan is a chef of passion and his great meals reflect his superior skills in fashioning dishes of exceptional composition. This year, Suzi and I will be making several dishes from this book for our holiday meals. I’ll be sharing those recipes along the way. You’ll read here Saturday about our test drive for his Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Blue Cheese and Walnuts. It’s one of the best soups we’ve ever had and you’ll want to consider it for your Thanksgiving table.
The soup exemplifies the recipes you will find here. Each recipe is developed for deep and intense flavor. Many of the recipes, like this soup, combine multiple ingredients for layers of both flavor and texture. The creamy soup offers roasted squash flavor topped with the tang of blue cheese and crunch of toasted nuts. It’s nirvana.
You will find the usual suspects here for recipe chapters:
- Hors D’Oeuvres
- Salads and First Courses
- Soups
- Fish and Shellfish
- Poultry and Game Birds
- Meats and Game
- Side Dishes and Accompaniments
- Desserts
Those names may be common. The recipes are not. Here is sampling of the more complex ideas Terrance offers:
Butternut Squash and Prune Gratin
Cauliflower Soup with Cheddar Croutons
Chicken in Salt Crust with Diablo Sauce
Cold Caesar Salad Soup with Parmesan and Black Pepper Croutons
Duck Pastrami with Pomegranate Vinaigrette
Pumpkin Bisque with Cranberries and Wil Mushrooms
Shrimp and Avocado with Cocktail Sauce Granite and mustard Dressing
Wild Mushroom and Duck Risotto with Seasonal Variations
Sirloin Steaks with a Caraway Crust
Poached Filet of Beef with Horseradish Cream
Grilled Lamb Chops with Anchovy Butter
The last three recipes listed there, the meat dishes, are lovely but I personally think the genius of this book comes in the salads, soups and sides. There is, for example, a Comte-Scallion Polenta that becomes the elevating factor for a breast of chicken dish. The soups are complicated, often two pages long and always rich in their composition. Our Roasted Butternut Squash Soup was a side for our Saturday dinner but, served in larger portions with a side salad, it can be a noble main dish.
Using any of the recipes will add prestige and power to you dinner or brunch table. Whether you offer up one of the hors d’ouvres, serve a soup, or go full bore with meat or fish entrée, you will experience delightful satisfaction with these recipes.
Artisanal Cooking is ten years young and ready for your pleasure.