New England Summertime Cooking

Sherri Eldridge
Harvest Hill (2007)
ISBN 9781886862524
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (11/07) 

Imagine my delight when I opened the envelope the “New England Summertime Cooking” came in and encountered the wonderfully colorful front cover, depicting quite a few of my all-time favorites There were scallops and lobster and blueberries, as well as tomato with mozzarella and fresh basil, a slice of peach pie, blueberry muffins loaded with those wonderful fruity gems, a lemon cheesecake with blueberry topping, ears of fresh corn, lupins, a lighthouse and a loon. This visual delight would have been plenty enough to make me smile, and then I noticed the subtitle, stating “Following the guidelines of The American Heart Association.” Yummy and healthy – that is an unbeatable combo in my opinion.

Sherri Eldridge compiled an amazing cookbook celebrating the bounty of summer harvest, with a number of inventive recipes featuring the seasonal fruits, vegetables and seafood of New England. All of the recipes follow the guidelines for a heart-healthy diet, although I am pretty certain that after seeing the ‘yummy factor’ of the dishes you will have to agree it is not as much a diet as it is a treat.

The book is divided into twelve sections (Breakfast and Fruit; Baked Goods; Appetizers and Finger Food; Fresh Greens and Salads; Soups, Stews and Chowders; Main Meal Dishes; Pasta, Beans and Grains; Vegetables and Sauces; Desserts; Seasonal Preserves and Jams; Resources and References and Index). I would be very hard pressed to pick one as my favorite – absolutely every section has some unbelievably tempting offerings.
I also loved the layout of the recipes: a list of ingredients on one side, directions on the other, nutritional analyses underneath (serving size, calories, protein, fat calories, total fat, dietary fiber, saturated fat, carbs, sodium, fat component, cholesterol and calcium) and in most cases, a wonderful color photograph of the finished dish. The nutritional analyses were considerably more detailed than in most other cookbooks I’ve seen recently and they should be an excellent tool in deciding which dishes to serve at a meal to make it well-balanced.

In addition to the culinary delights, this wonderful book also showcased the flora and fauna as well as provided tantalizing tidbits of information that should make everybody want to visit New England as soon as possible. And if you’ve never eaten a lobster, fear not – there is a whole page dedicated to the art of eating lobster, accompanied with absolutely great photos to illustrate the oftentimes feared process. The author’s great sense of humor should be able to help everybody overcome any obstacles on the path to utter bliss of eating a freshly boiled whole lobster.

I found “New England Summertime Cooking” a delightful book, filled with delectable recipes and absolutely stunning photographs. I challenge even the biggest grouch to spend more than five minutes leafing through it before cracking a smile or even chuckling aloud. This is a book that will bring sunshine into your kitchen and into your soul, and as such it should find a permanent home on everybody’s bookshelf.

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