texasmesquite

Book pairs best dishes with best tools for the job
By Kim Davaz
For The Register-Guard-Eugene, Ore
Published: May 14, 2008 12:00AM

Things Cooks Love
Sur La Table and Marie Simmons
(Andrews McMeel)
$35 hardcover

Sur La Table is well known in the world of cooking. This cookware shop predates almost every television chef except Julia Child. For years it was The Place for the serious home cook to find cookware that was professional grade or plain hard to find in the pre-Internet days.
Cookbook author and cooking teacher Marie Simmons joined with Sur La Table to write, “Things Cooks Love: Implements. Ingredients. Recipes.” Items from Sur La Table are showcased with recipes that use them to their best.
The book starts with a glossary of kitchen basics. The recipes begin with things cooked “On the Stove and In the Oven” (saute pan, steamer), then the book moves on to “Handheld Tools” (food mill and torch). The last part of the book has tools from specific parts of the world: Asia, Mexico, France, India, Italy, the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and Morocco. Each item has use and care tips plus alternate choices for that utensil.
At the beginning of each region is a glossary of foods particular to that region. The Mexican pantry explains achiote, cheeses and produce, including the herb epazote. The implements for this region include the molcajete (mortar with pestle) and tortilla press. The alternative for a tortilla press, Simmons says, is your palms. A rolling pin won’t work.
“Things Cooks Love” has lots of color photos of the implements at work. Quotes from cookbooks accompany the photos, which can send you off in search of other cookbooks, such as the encyclopedic “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” by Deborah Madison (the food mill in “Handheld Tools”) and “From Tapas to Mezes” by Joanne Weir (the cataplana from “The Iberian Kitchen).
At the end of the book is a list of places to buy foods and spices for the various recipes. Of course, Sur la Table is the place to go for utensils.
This cookbook would make a good gift, especially with an accompanying implement.
Bubbling Shrimp in Tomato Sauce with Feta Cheese, a classic Greek appetizer, is a skillet recipe from the “On the Stove and In the Oven” section. Needed implements are a 10-inch skillet, silicone spatula and a large spoon. If you haven’t gotten around to a silicone spatula, a large wooden spoon will work just fine.
In the directions, it says to cook the shrimp for about 5 minutes, until partially cooked. They should be just turning pink and starting to curl. This may take much less than 5 minutes, as might the broiling step, depending on the ferocity of your broiler.
Serve this with the best rustic bread you can find, for sopping up the juices.

Bubbling Shrimp With Tomato Sauce and Feta Cheese
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1 can (28 ounces) Italian plum tomatoes with juices
1 pound large uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces feta cheese, patted dry and crumbled (about 1½ cups)

Position a rack in the top third of the oven. Preheat the broiler.
Heat a 10-inch skillet with a heat-resistant handle over low heat until warm. Add the oil and heat over medium-low until hot enough to sizzle a pinch of chopped onion. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the garlic and red pepper and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute, or until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil.
Adjust the heat so the mixture boils gently and cook, breaking up the tomatoes with the side of a large spoon, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the sauce is very thick.
Add the shrimp, 1 tablespoon of the dill, the salt, the sugar and a grinding of pepper.
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until the shrimp are partially cooked. Remove from the heat.
Keep the mixture in the skillet, or spoon it into a large, shallow, broiler-proof baking dish or 4 shallow, broiler-proof individual baking dishes, such as small, white porcelain gratins. Sprinkle with feta evenly over the top.
Broil for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbly and the feta is browned.
Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of dill and serve. Serves 4.