Chef On A Shoestring: More Than 120 Inexpensive Recipes for Great Meals from America's Best Known Chefs

By Andrew Friedman

Book Overview

You Don't Have to Break the Bank to Cook Restaurant-Quality Meals

Cooking great meals doesn't require spending a fortune on ingredients. Each week on the CBS Saturday Early Show, a prominent chef is given thirty dollars to create a three-course meal for four. Chef on a Shoestring collects some of the best of those culinary delights to benefit Share Our Strength, one of the nation's leading antihunger, antipoverty organizations. These recipes, created by some of the most celebrated chefs in the country, are produced on a budget but are rich in every other way.

The recipes are organized into convenient categories to allow you to mix and match various courses from different chefs. You can begin a meal with Sara Moulton's Miniature Pumpkin Soup, serve Bobby Flay's Saffron Risotto with Saut ed Shrimp as your main course, and finish with Don Pintabona's Polenta Lemon Cake with Fresh Berries. Or try the Asparagus and Bean Sprout Salad with Dill Pesto from Aquavit's Marcus Samuelsson, Crispy Fried Snapper with Chili Ponzu from Tom Douglas, and Coconut Rice Pudding with Fresh Mango from John Villa, chef of Dominic Restaurant & Social Club in New York City. These and other delectable recipes from Mario Batali, Terrance Brennan, and Waldy Malouf are sure to liven up your weekday or weekend dinners.

Filled with advice on stocking your pantry, buying in season, shopping on a budget, and avoiding the temptation to be too frugal, Chef on a Shoestring is a unique culinary adventure for taste- and budget-conscious home cooks.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 074321143X
• ISBN13: 9780743211437
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

First of all, it's $40.00 for a meal for 4.

I always watch the Saturday Morning show and look for the Chef on a Shoestring spot. 99% of the time I find at least one recipe that is innovative. This book gives some of the best that have been broadcast. I would recommend it to anyone that likes to try new tastes and experience some "New York" menu items. Personally if a recipe is a good one I don't care too much about what the cost is for the ingredients, my guests and I deserve the best.

For Those Who Have/HaveNot Watched the TV Series

Not being much of a TV watcher, never knew this was there. Now, I'll watch every now and then. The concept is terrific, shop with only $20 and then create some gorgeous food.To date have completed these dishes and found them to be innovative, complex, yet the price is just outstanding and time and techniques involved are achievable for wide grouping of cooks: loved this one: Peter Kelly's Roasted Onions with Bacon and Apple Stuffing; Walter Staib's Curried French Lentil Salad and Sausage; David Walrog's Asparagus and Cremini Mushroom Barley Risotto; and these are out of this world -- "Rick Moonen's Salmon Burgers with Green Tartar Sauce."Bonus is with this purchase that CBS donates the royalties to Share the Strength. As the cookbook in memory of Patrick Clark, cooks everywhere will want this for themselves as well as gift-giving not only for the excellent dishes but also for the cause of charity.

Actually worth reading- Certainly worth the price!

As a rule, I don't concern myself with compilation cook books. I simply don't like the "K-Tel" feel of the disjointed conglomerations of food from cooks that may or may not have even heard of one another. This book is surprizingly cohesive. The recipes are not really ones that I would have sought out individually, but of the ones my wife and I have tried, we've been pleased with the results.This is certainly not the end-all be-all of the cooking world in a book, but there are some surprizes for those willing to experiment. Not the least of which really is the fact that these recipes are inexpensive. I was kind of shocked. Okay, I was really shocked. The ingredients aren't that tough to find, either. I've actually bought books that I still have yet to find some of the ingredients listed, but they offer "substitute" ingredients. . . It really makes me wonder what the real ingredient would have done for the flavor.Why not 5 stars? Regardless of the recipes that I liked, it is still a compilation cookbook, and there are some pretty far to one side or the other recipes. I like knowing what I'm buying in advance.I still recommend this book to anyone willing to try something new!