Summer Vegetable Tian—A Reader’s Feedback!

Editor’s note: Occasionally I receive the best feedback from my readers and testers about the new recipes that they’re trying out. This was a perfect example. I was so pleased to receive this note from a reader along with photos she took of the Tian of Summer Vegetables from the new Sunday Casseroles. Let me know in the comments how you’ve been doing with your own version of the tian or other recipes that you’ve been tackling! And, of course, I always love to see your photos, so send them to me and I’ll post them on my Facebook gallery!

Betty,

The other day I made the Tian of Tomatoes and Summer Squash with Basil and Mint, from Sunday Casseroles, and it was absolutely fantastic! The kitchen was alive with the smell of roasting vegetables, and chopped fresh herbs. As I layered everything for baking, my husband wandered in to ask when we were having dinner. Here are some pictures of my process.
-Julia

 

Sunday Casseroles Galleys Have Arrived!

Sunday Casseroles Galleys 3When you send a cookbook manuscript to your publisher, the work doesn’t stop there. Editors pore over the pages for several months, and return them marked with queries and changes. The author (moi!) then reviews these “first copy edits” in agonizingly minute detail. This summer I spent the better part of two weeks in Paris at my computer dealing with the edits for Sunday Casseroles. I was so relieved when they were finished that I rewarded myself with an afternoon of guiltless shopping in France’s capital!

Next, designers and photographers get involved and produce a rough layout of the book with photos and text. This version, known as the “galleys,” usually arrives in hard copy annotated with more queries. Last Friday Fed Ex delivered a huge package filled with 175 pages of Sunday Casseroles galleys. For the past week I have been reading the manuscript in sleuth-like fashion, searching line by line for typos, misspellings, and omissions. My eyes are red and my pencils worn to nubs, but the job is finally done! Now, I have to pack up those pages and send them to Amy, my talented editor at Chronicle Books.

Out of the Ordinary Rigatoni 1Since I thought readers might like a sneak peak of a favorite recipe from this collection, I’ve included the directions for Rigatoni with Spicy Tomato Sauce, Kalamatas and Two Cheeses. Some will recognize this special dish because it appeared in various versions in my syndicated column and on the cover of Bon Appetit in the 1990s. I hope you’ll enjoy it, and please do let me know if you discover any typos! Continue reading

A Casserole for Every Season

Baked Salmon and Spring Vegetables 1

It’s a big week for me. I am putting the finishing touches on my latest book, Sunday Casseroles! Over the past year, I have spent hours with a talented team of assistants poring over ideas for the recipes in this collection. I wanted to update many classic  casseroles (think mac and cheese with a hint of crème fraîche), and invent enticing new ones.

 Heavily salted canned soups called for in the casseroles of yesteryear were banished, and replaced with easily made sauces. Fresh vegetables appear in countless dishes, and instead of pouring bread crumbs from a box, I opted for quickly toasting homemade ones in a skillet. Continue reading