Saturday, June 30, 2012

Weekend Cooking Book Review: WEEKNIGHTS WITH GIADA

Confession: I didn’t have the best experience with my first Giada de Laurentis cookbook, Giada’s Family Dinners. The dishes I tried came out fine, but almost everything was in the “Weekend Cooking” category – the stuff you make rarely, because it takes lots of time and lots of ingredients. (The Everyday Family Entrees section included Rack of Lamb with Mint-Basil Pesto and Veal Scallopine with Saffron Cream Sauce. Delicious, yes, but not the stuff a working mom is likely to whip up after a day at the office.) Still, the flavors were good, so when I saw the Netgalley of her new cookbook, Weeknights with Giada, was available for review, I decided to put it to the test before I bought it.

With a beautiful steak in the freezer, we decided to try the Rib Eye Steaks with Smoky Arrabiata Sauce. The prep was simple: the arrabiata sauce consisted of canned, crushed tomatoes and veggies with a serrano pepper and smoked paprika for kick. No oil at all – just a few pulses in the food processor and heat for 25 minutes. And the steak was just coated with olive oil and salt. Definitely an “after work” kind of meal, but reviews were split. My husband loved it. My oldest pronounced it, “Meh.” But my youngest asked, “Why can’t we just have ketchup?” And I thought the addition of 2 tablespoons of sugar into the already sweet crushed tomatoes (I used San Marzano tomatoes) was just too much against a not very spicy arrabiata. But I liked the idea, and it was a good deal healthier than ketchup. Score one and a half a points for Giada.

To be fair, I wanted to try one more recipe. In reading the book, I noticed that a number of recipes called for canned salmon. That seemed weird to me – I grew up on Long Island, and while I can easily give up meat, I could never give up fish. But I am fussy about it. Could Giada convince me to like canned fish? I was dubious. Still, sustainably caught fresh salmon is very pricey, so sustainably caught canned salmon, at about half the price, would be a nice alternative. So last night we tackled Salmon Cakes with Lemon-Caper Yogurt Sauce.

Verdict: YUM! I really couldn’t believe it. The salmon cakes were a bit of a mess to put together, and next time I would definitely put them on parchment paper while they rest in the fridge. I was suspicious about making two recipes (the cakes and the sauce) on a weeknight, but in this case a number of ingredients could be prepped once and used in both recipes. My husband and I agreed it wasn’t any more hassle to put two together than one. And the taste was fantastic. Both of my girls went back for more, and my oldest said she loved the salmon with the corn. Four points for Giada that round.

Maybe it stands to reason that now that she’s a mom herself, De Laurentis has a better feel for the pressures of a working mom who still wants to put a healthy meal on the table. I found this a big improvement, time-wise, over her previous family-oriented book, and I’ll probably be buying this one, because there are a number of other meals I’d like to try, especially the pastas.

Salmon Cakes with Lemon-Caper Yogurt Sauce from Weeknights with Giada by Giada De Laurentis

Salmon Cakes

1 (14.75 oz) can boneless, skinless pink salmon, drained

1 large egg, beaten

1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

26 saltine crackers, crushed

½ cup frozen corn, thawed

¼ cup mayonnaise, plus more as needed

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained

1 tbsp grated lemon zest

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp unsalted butter

Using a fork, flake the salmon into ½-inch pieces into a medium bowl. Add the egg, chives, ½ cup of the crushed crackers, corn, mayonnaise, mustard, capers, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix gently until just combined. Form into 10 patties, each about ¾ inch thick (if the mixture is too dry to form into patties, add extra mayonnaise, 1 tbsp at a time). Carefully coat the patties in the remaining crushed crackers and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil and butter together over medium heat. Add the patties and cook 7 to 8 minutes on each side, until golden and crispy. Drain patties on paper towels.

Lemon-Caper Sauce

½ cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt

1 ½ tbsp capers, rinsed, drained and chopped

1 tbsp grated lemon zest

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, capers, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.


Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. Thanks to Beth Fish Reads for hosting!

25 comments:

  1. My mom used to make salmon patties (as they were called back then) all the time. I just love them. This with the caper sauce sounds yummy. I've not added to corn to mine, but why not?

    I agree that rack of lamb is hardly an everyday family recipe.

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    1. The sauce really was delicious. She calls for full fat yogurt, but we only had non-fat, beefed up with a bit of mayo, and it was great. (And yeah, the rack of lamb recipe cracked me up as an after work thing!)

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  2. This one by Giada sounds good. I liked her pasta book as well. But definitely if you call it a book for family meals I'd also think it shouldn't be extremely involved.

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    1. The first one was a gift, and I have used it for holiday recipes. This one has family life more at the forefront.

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  3. I must admit that the thing I've admired most about Giada is her cleavage, not her recipes, but this one sounds very good! I have such a recipe for salmon cakes from The Best of Weight Watchers (just because it's healthy, easy, yummy cooking) but this sounds like a good one to try as well.

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    1. Bellezza, you crack me up! (Although I'm not sure Ms. De Laurentis' assets don't play into my husband's appreciation of her cuisine!) I will probably make these again, or at least be open to other recipes made with canned salmon, so I consider this a win.

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  4. It sounds like that recipe is a definite keeper!!

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    1. Just the lemon-caper sauce would have a million uses, Kathy!

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  5. Oh, thanks for sharing! This recipe sounds very doable and I love salmon in any form. I like Giada and will have to check out this cookbook :).

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    1. It was doable. It was a bit of a sticky mess making the cakes, but they came together beautifully after they sat in the fridge.

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  6. I do not enjoy steak, Too much chewing and the flavour dissapears so quickly, but then I have never been served steak with a tasty sauce. What a great idea; The salmon cakes sound wonderful. Have now added this book to my shopping list. thanks.

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    1. I am not a big meat eater myself -- in fact, this one was in the freezer because I realized we didn't need all the steaks at our last barbecue! But I really enjoyed the salmon dish, and that's my favorite protein, so I'd say the book looks like a winner!

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  7. For the most part I really loved this cookbook. My experience with Giada's food though, like you, has been hit and miss in recent years. I used to make her food ALL the time back when she hosted Everyday Italian and it seemed to come out perfectly every time. I wish she'd go back to being strictly Italian but I'm sure she probably feels like she's exhausted that route.

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    1. I'd have to agree, Beth. I don't have her pasta book, but it gets great reviews, so maybe I need that one.

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  8. So glad you posted this recipe! I've been thinking about it since you mentioned it last night. Think I'll make and serve with white wine :)

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    1. I hope you enjoy them, Terri (both the cakes and the wine)!

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  9. Fish cakes, yum.
    Have a great week

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  10. Lemon Caper sauce sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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  11. Like you, I'm a bit nervous about tinned fish, but it is SO much cheaper than fresh - as you enjoyed this recipe so much, I might give it a go (without telling the family it's tinned!) and see how it goes. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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  12. I could live without meat, too, but not fish! Thanks so much for posting the recipe. I've never used canned salmon either, so this will be an interesting experiment. I'm certain my family will love it!

    "Why can't we just have ketchup?" - LOL!

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  13. I got Giada's book on NetGalley too, but I haven't tried this recipe yet. It sounds good, thanks for posting it.

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  14. Those sound yummy. I like canned salmon recipes.

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  15. I have always been dubious of her cookbooks because they felt so gradiose -- really enjoyed your review of this one because it sounds more my speed. Shamefully, I love tinned fish (I spent a good portion of my life in the Midwest) so the salmon cakes is totally my speed -- yum!!

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    1. I like tuna in olive oil, but I'm going to admit that I was really excited to like the canned salmon, because it opens up some recipe possibilities! So yeah canned fish!

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  16. That salmon cake recipe sounds good. I had forgotten that my mom use to make those when I was young.

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I absolutely love comments. Thanks for taking the time to share! Col