by Ken Concepcion of Now Serving
With everything going on in LA and the world right now, it’s been challenging to feel centered, let alone be at peace or find joy in the day to day at the shop and our lives at home. In all transparency, business has been brutally slow here, with the summer already being the “off season” in publishing, as a maddening deluge of countless new fall titles await to be released and consumed and gifted for the upcoming holiday season. And yet, despite what often feels like an existential crisis, the show must go on, and life continues. Maybe this is when joy, comfort and celebration feel truly special and memorable. Here are five new books due this fall that deliver on delight, discovery, and deliciousness.
There is so much to say about Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love, Samin Nosrat’s follow up to her iconic debut Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. To describe this cookbook as highly anticipated is beyond an understatement. Nearly nine years after her global bestseller and the beloved and inspired Netflix series, Nosrat returns to us just in the nick of time. As ever, her voice - effortlessly warm and lyrical in its pragmatism - permeates every headnote, each ingredient description, and even the table of contents. While this is essentially a collection of her everyday favorites, Nosrat provides much for us to obsess and pore over in these 125 recipes. From the finite beauty of bean cookery to why making cacio e pepe in a home kitchen is high stakes to the triumphant (and gleeful) geekery of four pages dedicated to cooking a pot of rice, this is a cookbook lover’s dream. The chicken chapter is full of certified bangers - this is the author who convinced everyone to spatchcock and buttermilk brine their birds, after all - and right now, Nosrat’s fiery rendition of Piri Piri Chicken makes us Angelenos feel lucky that we can grill all year long.
Acclaimed UK food and travel writer and human rights advocate Yasmin Khan returns with her fourth offering, Sabzi: Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes. Khan takes us down the rabbit hole and celebrates the food of her mixed heritage - Persian mother, Pakistani father. She also explores her lifelong adoration and reverence for Sabzi (vegetables, greens, and herbs) in general and how she is drawn to them in other countries and cultures she has lived and worked in around the world. Unlike most western kitchens, herbs are not merely a garnish but used as a key ingredient, a mechanism to bring brightness, texture, and flavor to every dish. Much of the recipes live in the framework of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, like the Freekeh Pilaf with Cauliflower, Almonds, and Cherries. Using the nutty freekeh (a whole-grain from Palestine) as the base, this satisfying dish is worthy to be center of the table, covering all the bases with the roasted earthy creaminess of the cauliflower, the cooling acidity of the yogurt sauce and the texture and sumac-dusted tang of the almonds and sour cherries. Everyone is encouraged to eat more vegetables these days and Khan’s latest is a perfect way to bring them home.
These late summer, early-fall days here in LA are when the temperatures truly rise - I’ve always believed that September is when the searing heat really roils the southland. And who wants to cook when the forecast is in the triple digits? Even in our air-conditioned home, turning on the oven during this time of year feels almost absurd, leaving me nearly apoplectic and profusely sweating over the cutting board. While Six Seasons Pasta: A New Way with Everyone’s Favorite Food from chef Joshua McFadden is designed to guide you through an entire year of pasta dishes, his superpower has always been with vegetables. In his recipe for Pasta Salad with Corn, Walnuts, Mozzarella and Jalapenos, McFadden eschews any actual cooking beyond boiling water for very al dente pasta (the entire book focuses on dried pasta dishes). He even implores you to use raw corn this time of year for its crunch and bright sweetness. The slight crunchy bitterness of the walnuts, the luxe creaminess of the cheese and the zip of the peppers really make this - pasta salad of all things! - sing a riot of textures and flavors. What a showstopper.
Since Now Serving opened — nearly eight years ago! — I've heard the call for more representation of Cambodian/Khmer cuisine. This fall, the first major publishing release in over a decade arrives: My Cambodia: A Khmer Cookbook by Bay Area chef Nite Yun. You may have seen Yun on last year’s Chef’s Table: Noodles series on Netflix, or perhaps you’ve dined at her now-shuttered Oakland restaurant, Nyum Bai, or at Lunette in San Francisco. Fleeing the Khmer Rouge, Yun and her mother made a new home in Stockton, California, within a vibrant community of refugees and immigrants, young and old. Through multiple trips to Cambodia, Yun has deepened her connection to her heritage and identity, which has informed her cooking. She’s perhaps best known for her Kuy Teav Phnom Penh — arguably Cambodia’s national dish — featuring rice noodles in a savory, comforting pork broth. Her eye for detail extends to desserts as well, with ingredients like sticky rice, coconut, and jackfruit. I can’t wait to make her Jeak Ktiss, a deceptively simple banana tapioca pudding often served at celebrations like Khmer New Year, along with many other Khmer dishes.
Dorie Greenspan, who has written books for culinary legends and cooked with icons, adamantly believes in the power of cake. Cake has been a constant throughout Dorie’s life and her storied career as an acclaimed cookbook author, baker, and recipe developer. With her latest release — and honestly, I’ve lost track of how many books are in the “Dorie” canon now — Dorie’s Anytime Cakes: Simple, Simpler, Simplest, the question is: Why can't we have a cake around the house every day? Something to snack on, to share, to give as a gift or, perhaps more effectively, as a peace offering. Simplicity continues to reign in cookbooks as we all navigate the challenges of social media, screen time, and the larger attention economy. But when Dorie says these cakes are simple to make anytime, it’s true. Take her recipe for Grammy’s Easy Cake — we whipped this up at home last week in less than 15 minutes using pantry staples and berries from the market that had spent a little too long in the fridge. And the best part? You don’t even need to stir. Making cake at home, especially something like Grammy’s buttery, fruit-laden wonder, feels like a bit of alchemy we all deserve and share with each other.