Good recipes, even better strategies.

Raspberries with Cocoa Whipped Cream, p.197, good, Cocoa Whipped Cream very good.
Pickled spring vegetables, p.157, my version aleppo pepper flakes, whole allspice, whole coriander and celery seeds; hatch chiles, red okra, snap beans and zucchini. Quite good and easy if too hot for others.
Black Forest cake, p.109, Good, easy, split the sugar between the separated eggs.
Shredded Cabbage Salad with Feta + Herbs, p.87, very good but "serves 8 to 10" means 16 to 20.
Scrambled Eggs with Cilantro + Coconut Chutney, p.10, very good, and interesting with the chutney. Leftover chutney did well with pan fried veal and with quinoa cereal. ( )

I love Julia Turshen, and I loved this cookbook! Full of lovely and simple recipes, menu plans, and make-ahead tips - and then creative ways to put the leftovers to use. Day-old radicchio and squash salad turns into a killer grilled cheese filling; today’s eggplant salad becomes tomorrow’s eggplant dip, etc. And her thoughtful, well-written recipe intros are second to none. ( )

I grew up (in the 50s and 60s) cooking out of old cook books with no pictures at all--or strange shots of entirely unappetizing dishes. I was surprised when one of my daughters listed photos as a necessary part of any book she would cook from.

Well, "Now & Again" is just up her galley. Heavily seeded with gorgeous photos, the book has the sturdy pages and heft the signal the recipes had better be good. It's from Chronicle Books, which is a good thing, as you can bet the recipes have been tested and retested. Indeed, all the ones I tried came out very well.

The book is both authoritative and easygoing, with plenty of suggestions about substitutions. It was originally conceived as a book about using leftovers. Recipes are arranged by menus, which are arranged by seasons. Many of the recipes sound familiar, but there are twists: two kinds of mustard in deviled eggs, or a Black Forest cake that skips the usual intense preparation with store-bought cherry preserves spiked with Kirsch and ladled onto a flourless chocolate cake.

Just when I think there's no room in my life for another cook book, along comes "Now & Again." I'm going to have to find room somewhere to keep this fine volume at hand. ( )

This beautifully produced book of about a hundred recipes is organized by season, each season with five themed menus that usually include a Jewish theme (e.g. Rosh Hashanah, "Not-kosher Jewish Christmas," Passover Seder); a holiday theme (Thanksgiving, 4th of July); and an ethnic/specialty theme (Mexican, Middle Eastern, vegetarian, comfort). My favorite is in Spring: “Grace’s Birthday Late Lunch,” with deviled eggs, pulled pork and slaw, sweet-potato fries and cake.

Each menu begins with a background essay (often including homages to Turshen's parents, wife, Jewish traditions and noble causes), and ends with an “It’s Me Again” page of suggestions/recipes for using up leftovers. Curiously, although the subtitle touts “endless ideas for reinventing leftovers,” there’s less about leftovers than I expected. BUT what there is, is often a true “reinvention,” where a leftover’s liability (usually its change in texture) is erased, for example when lettuces and mashed vegetables are incorporated into soups. And leftovers are reinvented again in Turshen’s “Seven Lists” at the end of the book, some of which suggest what to do with extra wine, cooked rice, takeout food, snacks and produce.

I’m not sure how many dishes I’ll cook from this, but it was entertaining and inspiring armchair cooking. ( )