A Cookbook a Week: The Breakaway Cook

OK, so I skipped over the Italian book that didn't have anything good in it. I've pushed back the napkin folding tome, and deferred the Indonesian cookbook until I'm ready to tackle it. In the meantime, I'm cooking from The French Laundry Cookbook and testing a few new things for a dinner party next month. The book I've been mining for new recipes? Eric Gower's The Breakaway Cook.

Gower's first book, The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen introduced his idea of updating traditional flavors with Western ingredients and vice versa. Lots of miso, yuzo, umeboshi, and shiso paired with western preparations like smoked salmon, cole slaw, and roasted root vegetables. (How about Beet Salad with Ginger, Smoked Trout and Walnuts? Or Smoked Salmon with Edamame, Cherry and Shiso? in this one along with his unique rice (made with carrot juice) and treats like Grilled Marmalade "Bacon" with Meyer Lemon and Ginger make this book a staple for me. (His dishes pair incredibly well with wines due to their strong savoury and citrus flavors.) The Breakaway Cook takes his ideas one step further teaching cooks how to focus on simple cooking with "blasts" of flavor like maccha salt, smoked paprika, your own pickled ginger, sake, and green tea. Today, I'm test driving two new-to-me recipes:

**Orange Fennel Risotto (Arborio rice with orange juice and zest along with fennel bulbs)

**Minty Meaty Wontons (wontons with ground lamb, ground pork, and mint, Greek yogurt, and pine nuts

Maybe I'll make some maccha salt while I'm at it. Or maybe the Galangal-Brown Sugar Ice Cream!