Lisa Messinger's
Cookbook of the Week

The Big Book of Soups & Stews: 262 Recipes for Serious Comfort Food

by Maryana Vollstedt (Chronicle)

Too bad spring isn't 262 days away. That would give you the perfect amount of time to try every recipe in Maryana Vollstedt's rich new book. Chances are, though, once the chill leaves the air, you'll still want to take the time to indulge in specialties like her chicken and buttermilk-thyme dumplings. Oregon-based Vollstedt already proved her chops with such previous excellent comfort-food collections as The Big Book of Casseroles: 250 Recipes for Serious Comfort Food and What's for Dinner?: 200 Delicious Recipes that Work Every Time. She's like the hipster of hearty, offering up one ladleful after another of ingenious, rib-sticking fare like oven beef beer stew, Italian meatball and bean stew, pork-eggplant-ravioli stew, cheddar chicken corn chowder, halibut and red bell pepper soup and cream of mushroom soup with pecans. Her pen gets as much of a workout, though, as her ladle: The book begins with plenty of tips and techniques.

RECIPE: Cheddar Chicken Corn Chowder

Visit the Cookbook Corner table of contents