This new edition is a small collection of Hamilton and Hirsheimer’s favorite Italian recipes, and is the introduction to a year of celebrating Italian food, “Casa Canale” style. Three more Italian-themed cookbooks will follow this year, the next coming out in November.

Si mangia bene! This is indeed the way to eat well Italian-style. The book’s table of contents alone makes me salivate. A whole section on Pizza, Riso & Pasta. Antipasti recipes (including an Italian version of grilled cheese – only made with mozzarella and bread, coated in panko and fried. Works for me.). Contorni (side dishes), Pesce (fish) and Carne (meat). And for a “Finale,” fig gelato, chilled strawberries and Moscato d’Asti, and Sweet Ricotta and Shaved Chocolate.

The slim volume is a tease, for sure. But at only 47 pages it beckons me to try every recipe. Each section has only 2 to 6 recipes, which is manageable!

You can order the book – just $10 – online at the Canal House website. Consider buying a subscription rather than buying the books individually. For $49.95 per year, you’ll receive all three books, which are usually priced at $19.95 each. Go for it. Mangia bene!

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Today’s cookbooks all seem to have a particular voice, heard through the text, the photography and even the organization of the book. Nigel Slater’s Tender, a recent gift from my sister in England, is a strong example of this. His love of the vegetable, the garden and the kitchen all meld together. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to find the recipe. It’s not that the older cookbooks didn’t have a voice, but it was much more subdued and behind-the-scenes.

So it’s no wonder that I enjoy the Canal House Cooking cookbook series, now in its second year of publication. In case you’ve missed these lovely, seasonal cookbooks, it’s time to get acquainted. They are written and photographed by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer. Melissa is a co-founder of Hamilton’s Grill Room in Lambertville and former food editor at Cooks Illustrated, Saveur and Martha Stewart Living. Christopher was food and design editor for Metropolitan Home, and one of the founders of Saveur. The cookbooks come out three times a year, in tune with the seasons, each full of timely recipes, anecdotes and luscious photography. The books emerge from their food studio in Lambertville.

The voice is soft, warm and welcoming – kind of “come into our kitchen, pull up a chair and let’s talk food.” They support and cherish the same local growers and producers that many of us have come to know and love. It’s fun to recognize the places as you read through the books. Here’s a few lines from the introduction of this summer’s book, Volume No. 4, Farm Markets and Gardens,

All summer long, little farmers’ markets pop up like wildflowers around our county – happily, they seem to be spreading. It might be Thursday afternoon in the high school parking lot or Sunday morning in a field next to an old barn. One of our favorites, the Ottsville Farmers’ Market goes from Friday afternoon until sunset. It’s on a beautiful old farm, Linden Hill Gardens, that has blossomed into a nursery for rare plants. A local band jams as the farmers set up in the gravel courtyard next to the old farmhouse and its potager.

Or from Volume No. 3, Winter and Spring, as they describe that end-of-winter-but-not-yet-spring frustration, as we long for fresh vegetables again,

The farmstand market on the edge of town has closed for the season, so there is no sliding in on the way home at the end of the day to grab something for dinner. We can’t rely on vegetables we don’t have this time of year! … Now we’re in tomato-wilderness time, so we pull out our summer stash from deep in the freezer. It’s the ant and the grasshopper fable, and preserving last summer’s bounty is paying off big time. We stir pesto into penne. Spread herb butters on fish or roasted chicken. And oven-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, and rich tomato paste find their way into everything.

Ah…I know of what they speak! (I dug my last bag of tomatoes out of the freezer in May.) In the same essay, they mention the Stockton Farmers’ Market, Bobolink Dairy & Bakeyard, Metropolitan Seafood, and Illg’s Meats in Chalfont. All places and people close to my heart and stomach.

Hamilton and Hirsheimer set out to create cookbooks that are “home cooking by home cooks for home cooks.” They strive to include ingredients that can be found in local supermarkets (well, maybe Wegmans), and they keep the recipes pretty simple technique-wise. Still, in this day and age of convenience cooking I’m not sure if that mission can be accomplished. I only say this because what seems easy to me, I have sometimes found intimidates home cooks. It’s always a hard call.

What I do like about the recipes is their simplicity – in use of ingredients and technique. There is a certain elegance in keeping it to a few key, flavorful ingredients, and one or two time-tested cooking techniques. In the summer edition, there are two pages full of simple ways to cook summer vegetables. It’s a great resource when you have run out of ideas for zucchini or eggplant or corn.

As an experienced cook, I have also found myself surprised at some of the recipes. I’ll be reading one and think, “Well, so what? I make that.” But then there’s a different ingredient – one that makes me go, “Oh, now that’s interesting…” For example, Grilled Eggplant with Mint. We make grilled eggplant with herbs all the time in the summer, but I’ve never tried mint, or adding lemon, garlic and other seasonings after the vegetable comes off the grill. You learn something new every day.

This recipe for tomato tart is a great example of simple and great, in fact, I thought it seemed too good to be true until I made it. Now it will become one of my staple appetizers or simple dinners. Worth keeping puff pastry in the freezer just in case.

Tomato Tart
Serves 4-6

“We usually make this simple tart with large ripe tomatoes in season, tucking some halved supersweet cherry tomatoes in between the slabs. But we’ve found that using even those hothouse varieties – a little more acidic and certainly less juicy – can be quite delicious, too. Eat this tart warm or at room temperature, but definitely the same day you make it as the crisp, delicate crust becomes limp if left to sit too long.”

INGREDIENTS

1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
(Note: I found using just one sheet too small, and ended up using both sheets in the package)
2-3 tomatoes, cored and sliced
2-3 branches fresh thyme
Really good extra-virgin olive oil
Pepper
Salt, preferably Maldon or other crunchy sea salt

HOW TO

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.
2. Lay the sheet(s) of puff pastry out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Using the tip of a paring knife, lightly score a border about ½ inch from the edge of the pastry. Prick the dough inside the border all over with the tines of a fork to prevent it from puffing up too much during baking.
3. Arrange the tomatoes on the pastry in a single layer (crowding or overlapping the tomatoes will make the puff pastry soggy).
4. Strip the branches of thyme, scattering the leaves over the tomatoes.
5. Drizzle the tart with some olive oil and season with pepper.
6. Bake the tart until the pastry is crisp and deeply browned on the bottom and around the edges, 30-40 minutes. Season with salt.

If you are interested in purchasing the books, you can buy them individually ($19.95 each) or by subscription (3 seasonal books per year for $49.95). Visit the Canal House Cooking website. Some area bookstores carry the cookbooks too (Farley’s in New Hope, Doylestown Book Store and at Hamilton’s Grill Room in Lambertville).

Related posts:

1. Canal House Cooking
2. Canal House Cooking for the winter
3. A feast for the eyes and the tummy

Everyone has their standard Thanksgiving dishes – some you like, some you don’t. I thought I’d share some recipes, in case you are looking for new ideas. I asked local chefs and food experts to donate recipes and I threw in a few of mine. Maybe you can find a new family favorite here. Most are using seasonal ingredients, with a couple of exceptions. Hope you’ll forgive me. The recipes are all listed below. Tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll post wine suggestions for Thanksgiving, along with local wine choices.

For hors d’œuvres, try the Roasted Beet Pesto with Parmesan. This gem came from Chef Karen McGinn. She serves it with a dab of goat cheese on top, which I got from Flint Hill Farm in Coopersburg.

For dinner, here’s a selection of side dishes that really takes advantage of seasonal produce.  The Squash, Corn and Coconut Soup has become an instant favorite among our family and friends. Betty Cichy, food writer for the Bucks County Courier Times and Intelligencer highly recommends the Brussels Sprouts Braised in Cream. Macque Choux was another recent find of mine, and is a spicy, welcome change to the Thanksgiving menu. Chef Linda Jacobs of Soup to Nut Caterers in Washington Crossing offers her Roasted Acorn Squash with Apples for a tasty side dish. For stuffing that is “not-your-mother’s-stuffing,” try this Apple Cranberry Sage Dressing from Chef David Zukerman of Earl’s Bucks County in Lahaska. And finally, the Cranberry Port Gelee from Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer’s second volume of Canal House Cooking will have everyone ooh-ing and ah-ing.

You’re on your own for the turkey recipes.

Roasted Beet Pesto with Parmesan
From Chef Karen McGinn, Heaven On A Plate

INGREDIENTS
2 medium beets, roasted
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted and cooled
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 Tbsp
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Goat cheese

HOW TO

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Scrub and wash beets. Place each on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in foil. Cook for 45 minutes or until easily pierced with a knife. Let beets cool.
2. Gently rub the skin from the beets and discard.
3. Put the beets in a food processor with the garlic and pine nuts. Puree the mixture until smooth. Add the parmesan and puree again. Slowly add the olive oil, still pureeing. Add additional salt if needed.
4. Serve with garlic crostini or toasted pita chips, with a dab of goat cheese on top. Can be prepared 3 days in advance.

Squash, Corn & Coconut Soup
Adapted from epicurious.com, via Chef Karen McGinn, Heaven On A Plate
Serves 8

INGREDIENTS
For soup:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 (2 1/2-pound) butternut squash
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/4 cups well-stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk (10 oz.)
2 cups corn kernels (16 oz.)
Sea salt
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of curry
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup heavy cream

For corn relish:
4 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice
Sea salt
Pinch of sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups corn kernels (16 oz.)
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp finely chopped shallot

HOW TO
Make soup:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the halved squash on a large rimmed baking sheet and 1/2 cup of water to the sheet. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until tender. Let cool. Remove seeds and pulp, and cut into 1 inch pieces. Set aside.
2. In a large 4- to 5-quart heavy pot, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Sauté the onion, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften and edges are browned, about 4 minutes. Add cilantro and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add squash pieces and cook, stirring frequently, 3 minutes. Stir in stock, coconut milk, corn, salt, nutmeg, curry and cayenne. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until squash is very tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Using a stick (immersion) blender, puree to your preferred consistency. Swirl in heavy cream and extra chopped cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
   NOTE: I skipped the corn relish below for our Thanksgiving meal, and just sprinkled some chopped cilantro over each bowl before serving.

Prepare corn relish while soup simmers:

1. Whisk together lime juice, salt, and sugar in a bowl, then slowly add oil and whisk until combined.
2. If using fresh corn, cook kernels in a saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain in a sieve, then rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Drain well, then transfer to dressing along with cilantro and shallot and toss well to coat.
3. If using canned corn, just add to dressing along with cilantro and shallot and toss well to coat.

Finish soup:
Divide soup among bowls and gently stir 1/4 cup corn relish into each.

Cooks’ notes:

• Soup (without corn relish) can be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Reheat before serving.
• Corn relish can be made 1 hour ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.

Brussels Sprouts Braised in Cream
From Betty Cichy, Bucks County Courier Times/Intelligencer
Originally from Cooks Illustrated, November 1995

From Betty: “I love Brussels sprouts, but I’d given up making them for the holidays because so many people won’t eat them. But last Thanksgiving I decided to try again. Even some guests who made funny looks when they saw me preparing the Brussels sprouts told me after dinner they loved them. The cream accentuates the sweetness of the sprouts and masks the cabbage flavor. If possible, use cream that hasn’t been ultra-pasteurized – Tanner Brothers Dairy in Richboro has it, and I’m sure some other local dairies do, too.”

INGREDIENTS
1 pound Brussels sprouts, small, firm, bright green
1 cup heavy cream
½ tsp table salt
Pinch fresh ground nutmeg
Ground black pepper
 
HOW TO

1. Rinse the Brussels sprouts, trim the stem end and remove any discolored leaves. If the sprouts are more than about 1½ inches in diameter, cut them in half through the stem end.
2. Bring sprouts, cream, and salt to boil in 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Lower heat, cover, and simmer (shaking pan once or twice to redistribute sprouts) until knife tip inserted into a Brussels sprout center meets no resistance, 10 to 12 minutes. Season with nutmeg and pepper and serve.

Macque Choux (pronounced Mach Shoo)
Adapted from RealCajunRecipes.com

I made this for the first time for a potluck in September and, wow, is it wonderful. The best I can describe it is a Cajun version of creamed corn – but that’s not really fair. It is so beyond creamed corn.

Makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 stick butter
4 cups fresh cut corn (32 oz.)
1 can Ro-tel brand tomatoes
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
1 – 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp Chipotle pepper
1 Tbsp sugar (less if the corn is sweet)
1 1/2 tsp salt (or less, to taste)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 scallions, chopped
Parsley, chopped, to taste
NOTE: You could substitute the Ro-tel tomatoes with whole or diced tomatoes but add additional pepper and Tabasco.

HOW TO

1. Melt butter in a heavy 4-quart sauce pan over medium heat. Add the corn and cook for 5 minutes.
   Slowly add the Ro-tel tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. Turn heat up a little more and stir well.
   Add the garlic, Tabasco, chipotle pepper, sugar and salt.
2. When corn seems to be cooked (approx. 25 minutes), add the heavy cream. Cook a little longer (10-15 minutes) then add the scallions and parsley. Let set a few minutes before serving.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Apples
From Chef Linda Jacobs, Soup to Nuts Caterers
 
INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 acorn squash (depending on size)
1 or 2 apples, sliced thin (coring and peeling is optional)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
4 Tbsp butter
 
HOW TO

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Cut squash in half and take out the seeds. Thin-slice apples. Toss cinnamon and brown sugar with apples. Place apple mixture in center hole of squash. Top with butter.
3. Place on sheet pan and bake in oven for 45 – 60 minutes or until the squash is soft to the prick of knife (like potatoes).

Suggestion: Save the seeds and cook them at about 275°F or 300°F until dry.  Eat as nutritious snack.

Apple Cranberry Sage Dressing  
From Chef David Zukerman, Earl’s Bucks County

INGREDIENTS
1 loaf French Bread, day-old, cubed
9 oz. Chicken stock
6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup whole milk
2 medium Spanish onions, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 oz. unsalted butter, cubed
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and medium diced
9 oz. dried cranberries, chopped
2 oz. fresh sage
Freshly ground salt
Freshly ground black pepper

HOW TO

1. Soak bread in the chicken stock, egg and milk until absorbed.
2. Sauté onions in the butter until translucent. Add the apples and celery and continue cooking until the apples begin to soften (7 to 8 minutes). Remove from the heat and cool.
3. Combine the onion, celery and apple mixture with the soaked bread. Fold in the herbs, dried cranberries and seasoning.
4. Place dressing in baking pan and bake for 40 minutes at 375°F. Check for doneness.

Cranberry Port Gelée
From Canal House Cooking: Volume 2 by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer

Makes about 2 cups

Use a good port or red wine or even a Madeira if that’s what you have on hand. Cranberries have so much natural pectin that this sauce will set up even if you don’t refrigerate it.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup port
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp juniper berries
10 black peppercorns
4 cups or 1 bag fresh cranberries
 
HOW TO

1. Put the port, sugar, juniper berries and peppercorns into a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the cranberries burst and are very soft, about 10 minutes more.
2. Strain the sauce into a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing the solids through the screen with a rubber spatula. Transfer to a pretty serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate.

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Just in time for the holidays, and with plenty of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s recipes, local cookbook authors Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer have produced the second volume in their series of homestyle gourmet cookbooks.

While Volume 1 in the Canal House Cooking series focused on the pair’s favorite summer recipes, Volume 2 is filled with drinks, dishes and anecdotes for fall and holiday meats, beverages, side dishes and desserts.

Hamilton shares her mother’s French cookie recipes, while Hirsheimer offers her mother’s recipe for lamb cooked in red wine. Some offerings are classic cuisine while others are as homespun as a reminder that the recipe on the Ocean Spray cranberry bag is a very flavorful option.

This book, like the first one, is very personal for the pair of former restaurant food editors, who, through their business Canal House in Lambertville, create cookbooks for other chefs.

Hamilton and Hirsheimer will sign their books from noon – 2 pm Sunday, November 22 at Hamilton’s Grill Room in Lambertville (it’s all in the family) and from 2-4 pm Sunday, December 13 at Farley’s Book Store in New Hope. The book also can be purchased at amazon.com and at the Canal House Web site.

Cranberry Port Gelée
Makes about 2 cups

Use a good port or red wine or even a Madeira if that’s what you have on hand. Cranberries have so much natural pectin that this sauce will set up even if you don’t refrigerate it.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup port
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon juniper berries
10 black peppercorns
4 cups or 1 bag fresh cranberries

HOW TO

1. Put the port, sugar, juniper berries and peppercorns into a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the cranberries burst and are very soft, about 10 minutes more.
2. Strain the sauce into a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing the solids through the screen with a rubber spatula. Transfer to a pretty serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate.

Related posts:

1. Canal House Cooking
2. Canal House Cooking: A local voice
3. A feast for the eyes and the tummy

As partners in a business that transforms chefs’ cookbook dreams into reality, it’s good to share a common vision. It’s also good to like the same kinds of food.

Shared tastes and a love of the culinary world prompted local food experts Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer to step beyond their role of crafting other people’s books and create one of their own.

Christopher Hirsheimer, left, and Melissa Hamilton in their Lambertville loft studio

Volume one of Canal House Cooking was published this month, the first in a series of softcover cookbooks that focus on seasonal cooking.  In the book the two moms, who live in Hunterdon and Bucks counties, share the summertime recipes they make at home.

The 80 recipes in the book focus on foods in season and feature summertime fare such as tomatoes, plums and zucchini. Every course is covered, from seasonally appropriate mixed drinks to dessert.

The two authors are former magazine food editors with credentials that include years spent at Saveur and Metropolitan Home. Christopher has collaborated on four other cookbooks, including three for Saveur.

Melissa is well known in local culinary circles for co-founding Hamilton’s Grill Room in Lambertville with her father, Jim Hamilton.

Canal House Cooking costs $19.95, or $49.95 for an annual subscription of three books and can be ordered through the website thecanalhouse.com.

Next will be a book on fall and holiday cooking, then a winter/spring edition. In addition to the website, books are available at amazon.com, Farley’s Bookstore in New Hope, Pa., and the Hamilton’s Grill Room. The books will also be sold at other private bookstores in the U.S. and through Anthropologie stores.

This recipe from the book is a great way to enjoy the fresh local tomatoes just coming into season:

Roasted Tomatoes Studded with Garlic

serves 4

INGREDIENTS

½ cup diced pancetta
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pasta
2 anchovy fillets
1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
4 tomatoes, tops sliced off, seeds scooped out
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
small handful fresh thyme, parsley, or basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper
½ pound spaghetti

HOW TO

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Fry the pancetta in a skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp around the edges. Use a slotted spatula to lift the pancetta out of the skillet to a plate. Leave the rendered fat in the skillet.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the anchovies to the same skillet. Use a wooden spoon to mash the anchovies until they dissolve. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring often, until they are golden.
4. Put the tomatoes, cut side up, in a baking dish and slip some garlic into each tomato. Mound some bread crumbs into each tomato and scatter pancetta and herbs on top. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil over all.
5. Roast the tomatoes in the oven until they have browned a bit and the interior is supple but the tomatoes haven’t collapsed, 1–1½ hours.
6. Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain.
7. Return the pasta to the pot and stir in some olive oil and some of the oily tomato juices from the bottom of the tomato roasting dish.
8. Serve the spaghetti with the roasted tomatoes and their juices spooned on top.

Related posts:

1. Canal House Cooking: A local voice
2. Canal House Cooking for the winter
3. A feast for the eyes and the tummy