A cookbook meant to bring into the grocery store

After working all day, do you find yourself wandering the aisles of Trader Joe’s, trying to figure out what products to put together to make dinner? Wander no longer. The authors of “Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s” feel your pain, and they are doing their part to ease your confusion.

“The Trader Joe’s Companion,” by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati, is just a bit bigger than a Zagat’s guide. And if that’s too big for pocket or purse, it can live in the reusable shopping bags that sit in your car. (Of course, you have to do the work of remembering to bring them into the store.)

And while the book is geared toward what’s sold in one particular grocery store chain, you could use it elsewhere, though in some cases you’d have to adjust the products a little.

The authors are not associated with the company; they call themselves “very devoted” fans with busy lives who use many of Trader Joe’s prepared sauces, precut vegetables and other products. For instance, their black bean soup uses canned beans, frozen crushed garlic, jarred salsa and bagged diced onions, among other ingredients.

The book also has a handy bunch of blank pages in the back for notes.

-- Mary MacVean

(Photo by Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Hot pot! Workshops on making Japanese nabe

Share a hot pot, share the love. The Japanese believe that sharing a meal from a single pot forms closer relationships. Well, here's your chance to get in on the umami.

Food journalist Harris Salat (who co-wrote the recently published "Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals") and Japanese cookbook author Sonoko Sakai are teaming up to offer workshops next weekend on nabe, the hot pot dishes that are the soul food of Japanese cuisine.

The hands-on workshops feature three classic nabe: 1) mushroom hot pot, kinoko nabe, with a mixture of Japanese mushrooms such as shimeji, maitake and shiitake that are available at farmers markets -- maybe some nice porcinis or  trumpets; 2) salmon hot pot, ishikari nabe, a hearty fishermen's nabe from Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost main island), featuring a miso-based broth, salmon, onions, potatoes and more; and 3) sumo wrestler hot pot, chanko nabe (which means "father and child," symbolizing sumo togetherness), with chicken dumplings, fresh pork belly, tofu and a variety of vegetables, accented by zesty chiles and tangy yuzu. You'll learn fundamental Japanese kitchen skills including knife techniques, dashi and flavoring. Bring a good kitchen knife and an appetite.

Two workshops are scheduled, one on Nov. 14, the other on Nov. 15. Click here to register (scroll down the page to the "Add to Cart" button). The cost is $65 per person and each workshop is limited to 15 people.

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: Hot pot from "Japanese Hot Pots" by Harris Salat and Tadashi Ono

Classes start at Mozza 2 Go's Scuola di Pizza

Mozza co-owner Nancy Silverton and executive chef Matt Molina will start teaching cooking classes this week at Mozza 2 Go's Scuola di Pizza. The inaugural cooking class, "Thanksgiving in Panicale," will be held Thursday, with another session scheduled for next Thursday. Classes are limited to 12 people.

Students will prepare an Umbrian-American Thanksgiving dinner: panzanella with dried cranberries and bitter greens; tacchino alla porchetta; Brussels sprouts with prosciutto breadcrumbs; cipolline with thyme and sherry vinegar; and pumpkin and date crostata. Classes are 7 to 10 p.m. and cost $150 per person. Call Mozza 2 Go at (323) 297-1130 to reserve your spot.

--Betty Hallock

 Photo: Nancy Silverton at Mozza 2 Go. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

VIDEO: Oatmeal crispies and a reader question for the test kitchen

 

A reader, Dot Goldish, wrote to the L.A. Times test kitchen about this recipe for Oatmeal crispies, which comes from the new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, by blogger Ree Drummond, and had the following question:

You say to remove the cookies from the baking sheet immediately. Does that really work?... In any event, they're wonderful cookies. I make them often and keep a bag of baked cookies in the freezer.

Dot, the cookies will be a bit fragile just out of the oven, but we do remove them immediately using a spatula, where they cool (and continue to crisp) on a rack. Hope this helps.

-- Noelle Carter

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Cookbook author Paula Wolfert conjures up magic in a clay pot

Food -- almost any food -- always tastes better when cooked in clay.

That's cookbook author Paula Wolfert, a self-confessed clay pot junkie with more than 100 clay pots to her name, including those on display, above, in her Sonoma kitchen. Read on to find out what she does with them -- recipes included.

-- Rene Lynch

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Photo: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times

Cookbook author Anna Thomas on the power of soup (plus a recipe for roasted kabocha soup)

"I've been really thinking about this a lot. Soup is the portal to home cooking," says Anna Thomas, author of the "Love Soup" cookbook. "You cannot make too terrible a mistake with soup. Don't we want to know how to take care of ourselves a little?"

Though she's hardly a familiar name today, Thomas is the one who in the early 1970s lured many a hungry idealist rebelling against a meat-and-potatoes childhood into the kitchen with "The Vegetarian Epicure," a seminal book that came out of nowhere to sell more than 1 million copies.

More than 30 years later, she has another new cookbook, "Love Soup," a collection of 100 soups and dishes to eat with them, that she hopes will lure a new generation into the kitchen in much the same way her first book did. Like so many cooks, she worries that people are losing touch with an essential skill and is determined to do her part to halt the decline. 

Click here to read more and to get the recipe for Thomas' roasted kabocha squash and celery root soup with maple syrup and brown butter. 

Photo credit: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times

Cooking classes at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market

Even if people know why they should eat fresh fruits and vegetables, they may not know how to buy and cook them, says dietitian Suzanne Bogert. So she is offering classes on Saturday mornings at the Santa Monica Farmers Market in Virginia Park.

The classes are focused on the low-income residents who live around the market, says Bogert, and they use in-season, low-cost ingredients.

"And at the end of our hard work, we eat," Bogert says.

The Network for a Healthy California, a federally funded program that encourages healthful eating and physical activity among low-income communities, is a sponsor of the classes, along with the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.

The class being held on Halloween morning is already full and no wonder. Josie Le Balch, chef owner of the restaurant Josie in Santa Monica, will be the guest chef. Le Balch was at the Wednesday Santa Monica market this week buying produce, and says she might cook short ribs for the class, using beef from a market vendor.

On Nov. 21, the class will be "Sunday Dinner Makeovers." And on Dec. 19, the theme is "Gifts From the Kitchen," including trail mix, breads and vinegars. Bogert says she hopes to start a new series in January.

The classes are free, but limited to 20 people and pre-registration is required. For information, call (310) 458-8712, Ext. 2.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Josie Le Balch in her restaurant.  Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
 

Vegan Month of Food recipe: Caramelized onions

Today's vegan recipe is for rich (but dairy-free), deep-golden caramelized onions. They're cooked slowly until they reach what Food section editor Russ Parsons calls "powerful, mouth-filling deliciousness." There are so many ways to use them. Parsons suggests spreading some on toast for a snack, using them to top pizza or as a flavoring base for a bowlful of grains such as buckwheat or farro along with some sauteed bitter greens. They're also great stirred into stews, pasta sauces and beans.

Click here for the recipe.

 Photo: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

An old favorite from 'The Vegetarian Epicure'

A reader who says "The Vegetarian Epicure" recipe for herb-onion bread remains a favorite asks if Anna Thomas plans any Bay Area signings for her new book, called "Love Soup."

She does. She'll be at Mrs. Dalloway's, 2904 College Ave., Berkeley, at 4 p.m. on Oct. 11.

And at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 13, she will be in San Francisco at Books Inc., 2251 Chestnut St.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Cookbook writer Anna Thomas (right) preparing hors d'oeuvres for dinner guests (left to right) Bruce and Marie Botnick before dinner at her home in Ojai. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Author Anna Thomas makes soup, signs books

 
Anna Thomas, whose book "The Vegetarian Epicure" introduced many cooks to interesting vegetarian dishes more than three decades ago, has a new book out focusing on soups. She'll be signing books and offering a tasting of food from "Love Soup" at a few spots in the area.

On Saturday at 2 p.m., she will appear at Treasure Beach and Cafe in Ojai, where she lives -- and where one of her sons is cooking. Treasure Beach is at 928 E. Ojai Ave.

On Sunday, readers can meet Thomas at 3 p.m. at Diesel Books in the Brentwood Country Mart on 26th Street in Santa Monica.
 
And on Tuesday at 7 p.m., she will be at Chaucer's Bookstore, 3321 State St. in Santa Barbara.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Anna Thomas cooks in her Ojai kitchen. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times