My Pantry : Homemade Ingredients That Make Simple Meals Your Own: A Cookbook

**In this sweet, petite collection of essays and recipes, **Alice Waters** showcases the simple building-block ingredients she uses to create gratifying, impromptu meals all year long.** In her most intimate and compelling cookbook yet, Alice invites readers to step not into the kitchen at Chez Panisse, but into her own, sharing how she shops, stores, and prepares the pantry staples and preserves that form the core of her daily meals. Ranging from essentials like homemade chicken stock, red wine vinegar, and tomato sauce to the unique artisanal provisions that embody Alice’s unadorned yet delightful cooking style, she shows how she injects even simple meals with nuanced flavor and seasonal touches year-round. From fresh cheeses to quick pickles to sweets and spirits, these often-used ingredients are, as she explains, the key to kitchen spontaneity when combined with simple grains, vegetables, and other staple items. With charming pen-and-ink illustrations by her daughter, Fanny and Alice’s warm, inviting tone, the latest book from our most influential proponent of simple, organic cooking ensures a gracious, healthy meal is always within reach. Spice mixtures and condiments Za'atar Niloufer's masala Cumin salt Chile lime salt Nico's pork seasoning Espelette hot sauce Dijon mustard Red wine vinegar Apple peel cider vinegar Nuts and seeds Slow-roasted nuts with salt and herbs Noyau extract Almond paste Almond milk Chocolate nut bark Tahini Beans and other legumes Beans cooked over the fire Hummus with preserved lemon Lentil soup White bean crostini Savory preserves Roasted tomato sauce Tomato confit Roasted eggplant caponata All-purpose pickling brine Zucchini pickles Pickled sweet peppers Pickled young ginger Pickled wild mushrooms Quick garlicky dill pickles Nana's chile Salt-preserved kumquats Dried fig leaves Whole grains Corn tortillas Fanny's superfood granola Apple muesli The many uses of cooked brown rice Multigrain porridge Buckwheat buttermilk crêpes Oat pancake Whole-wheat flatbreads Pita bread Preserved fish and meat Marinated anchovies Sardines escabeche Salted fish Brandade Gravlax Tuna confit Rendering fat : lard, duck fat, and ghee Duck leg confit Duck ham Beef broth Chicken stock Cheese Making fresh cheese Farmer's cheese Ricotta Chèvre Yogurt Labneh Crème fraiche Sweet preserves Raspberry syrup Quince and apple paste Candied rose petals or mint leaves Candied citrus peel Panforte Crabapple jelly Preserved apricot in syrup Mary Jo's brandied cherries Mia's vin d'orange Vin de pêche (peach leaf apéritif) Vanilla extract Bergamot-scented honey Lovage syrup Freezing ripe fruit. In this sweet, petite collection of essays and recipes, Alice Waters showcases the simple building-block ingredients she uses to create gratifying, impromptu meals all year long. She invites readers to step into her kitchen, sharing how she shops, stores, and prepares the pantry staples and preserves that form the core of her daily meals. Ranging from essentials like homemade chicken stock, red wine vinegar, and tomato sauce to the unique artisanal provisions that embody Alice's unadorned yet delightful cooking style, she shows how she injects even simple meals with nuanced flavor and seasonal touches year-round. From fresh cheeses to quick pickles to sweets and spirits, these often-used ingredients are, as she explains, the key to kitchen spontaneity when combined with simple grains, vegetables, and other staple items. With charming pen-and-ink illustrations by her daughter, Fanny and Alice's warm, inviting tone, the latest book from our most influential proponent of simple, organic cooking ensures a gracious, healthy meal is always within reach. Alice Waters is the owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café in Berkeley, California. She is Vice President of Slow Food International, and is the author of twelve books, including The Art of Simple Food II, 40 Years of Chez Panisse, and In the Green Kitchen. She lives in Berkeley, California An accessible collection of essays and recipes introduces the James Beard Award-winning author's philosophies about making one's own provisions using seasonal, organic and healthy artisanal foods. --Publsiher's description.