An indispensable new cookbook from James Beard Award-winning food writer Michael Ruhlman 

From Scratch looks at 10 favorite meals, including roast chicken, the perfect omelet, and paella—and then, through 175 recipes, explores myriad alternate pathways that the kitchen invites. A delicious lasagna can be ready in about an hour, or you could turn it into a project: try making and adding some homemade sausage. Explore the limits of from-scratch cooking: make your own pasta, grow your own tomatoes, and make your own homemade mozzarella and ricotta. Ruhlman tells you how.

There are easy and more complex versions for most dishes, vegetarian options, side dishes, sub-dishes, and strategies for leftovers. Ruhlman reflects on the ways that cooking from scratch brings people together, how it can calm the nerves and focus the mind, and how it nourishes us, body and soul.

My Thoughts

I love to cook and trying new dishes (as you know if you have followed me for any length of time!).  There are some things I have never done like roasted my own chicken in the oven.  I’ll admit it, it is easier to purchase a rotisserie chicken then figure out how to roast a chicken.  That was until I read this book and realized that it really isn’t that hard to do at all or at least not according to Michael Ruhlman’s directions.

Besides the chicken, I have discovered many new twists to some dishes I already make, like risotto.  I also learned a new way to make slow-roasted ribs.  I usually put them in my crockpot and they meat just falls off the bones, but I’m going to give his method in the oven a try next time.

I do wish that there were more photos but Michael Ruhlman does a great job of describing everything so you have a feel for what the dish should look and taste like when it is done.

This book covers so much that it would be a great starter cookbook for a new cook or one that has some basic skills and looking to perfect a few basic dishes.

Here is the recipe for what I made so go out and buy a whole chicken and try it out, you won’t be sorry!

Roast Chicken with Jalapenos, Lemon, and Garlic

1 3-4 lb whole chicken
Kosher salt to taste
2 jalapenos, cut into 1/4 rounds – seeds and all
1 lemon cut into 8 wedges (I actually used 2 lemons)
10-15 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole (you can never use too much garlic)

Preheat your oven to 450° degrees or 425° if you are concerned about smoke (I cooked it at 425°).

Salt the chicken aggressively and put it breast side up in an oven-safe skillet (I used a stoneware but will try our iron skillet next time).  Scatter the jalapenos, lemon wedges, and garlic around the chicken.

Roast for 1 hour, basting the chicken several times during the last 30 minutes of cooking.  **I have to note that I cooked my chicken for 1 1/2 hours.  I guess I read it wrong and thought it was cook for 1 hour and then baste over the next half hour.  My chicken still came out very moist so I’m not sure if it was the lower temperature or what!  Also, my bird didn’t put off a lot of juices so I added some chicken broth to the pan during the last half hour so the flavors could meld with the garlic, jalapenos, and lemon.**

Remove the bird from the pan and let it rest on a cutting board for 15 minutes before carving (I actually left it in the pan).  After carving, serve with the juices and pepper/garlic/lemon over the top.

So in the photo above, I asked my husband to baste the chicken with the juices and he decided to put EVERYTHING on top of the bird.  He is a bit nuts but hey it still tasted divine!  And we enjoyed the leftovers for several days.  So much that I have already bought another whole chicken and the other items needed to make this again.

I also made the Quick Sauteed Brussels Sprouts recipe but had to add garlic and red onion to spice it up.  Plus I cooked it in a garlic olive oil and to me, it was just perfect.

About the Author

Michael Ruhlman (born 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American writer. He is the author of 11 books and is best known for his work about and in collaboration with American chefs, as well as other works of non-fiction.

Ruhlman grew up in Cleveland and was educated at University School (a private boys’ day school in Cleveland) and at Duke University, graduating from the latter in 1985. He worked a series of odd jobs (including briefly at the New York Times) and traveled before returning to his hometown in 1991 to work for a local magazine.

While working at the magazine, Ruhlman wrote an article about his old high school and its new headmaster, which he expanded into his first book, Boys Themselves: A Return to Single-Sex Education (1996).

For his second book, The Making of a Chef (1997), Ruhlman enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America, completing the course, to produce a first-person account — of the techniques, personalities, and mindsets — of culinary education at the prestigious chef’s school. The success of this book produced two follow-ups, The Soul of a Chef (2000) and The Reach of a Chef (2006).

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