Oct. 27--Ree Drummond wants to help you cook dinner. No, she won't be over to your place tonight. Instead, the best-selling cookbook author, TV food star and food blogger, better know as the Pioneer Woman, is reaching out through her latest cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime."
It's a question asked nightly: "What should I eat for dinner?" I ask it myself. I want healthy paired with scrumptous, but I want to make it fast enough before my stomach leaps out of my throat and spends dinner at a neighbor's house nearby. Flipping through the pages of "Dinnertime," I can say there's something about Drummond's cookbook that is special. Her step-by-step photos next to nearly each direction make America's (almost) worst cook have hope that I can begin to expand my menu repertoire with better tasting dishes.
From a Mexican tortilla casserole filled with beans, corn, tomatoes and other wholesome ingredients to chicken cacciatore and even buttered parsley noodles -- almost all of her dishes look extremely appetizing (like, I-want-to-eat-the-page appetizing).
Certainly a person looking for quicker dinner recipes and wanting to expand his or her imagination should consider the book. Besides, why question what's for dinner when Drummond has already told you?
Drummond will be in the Chicago area Nov. 6 for a talk and book signing. Unfortunately, the event at North Central College in Naperville, hosted by Anderson's Bookshops, is sold out. So I caught up with Drummund via an email interview to talk about her new book.
Q. What makes this new book different from all the others, outside of fresh recipe ideas?
A. This book is 100 percent about dinnertime. I don't mess around with appetizers and drinks -- just things to make for dinner tonight! I wanted it to be very usable and be something that folks can turn to any time they're feeling stumped for dinner.
Q. Who came up with the concept of showcasing the recipe steps picture by picture?
A. When I started blogging in 2006, I wrote stories about my life in the country and used step-by-step photos to illustrate the stories -- pictures of my kids saddling horses, pictures of my husband working cattle, pictures of my dogs.
I started blogging about food several months later and decided to take that same approach of photographing every step of the process. It's how I like to learn things -- I don't just want to see the "after" I want to see the before, during and after.
Q. What was the inspiration behind this new book?
A. My last cookbook was all about holidays, and it was very specific to different celebratory occasions. For this cookbook, I wanted it to be helpful and relevant 365 days a year.
I think for any home cook (and I fit that description), the No. 1 question we're always asking ourselves is "What the heck am I going to make for dinner tonight?" That's the question I wanted to answer with this cookbook.
A. Of all the recipes, which is your favorite?
A. Impossible for me to choose, but here are a few favorites: chicken marsala, tomato tart, Buffalo chicken salad, chicken Milanese, and wild rice pancakes.
Q. Any words to share with Chicago fans?
A. I love you! Chicago is one of my favorite places on earth, and I always feel at home there. A Chicago accent makes me feel relaxed and happy.
Lindsey Compton is a freelance writer.
lcompton@tribpub.com
