Smitten Kitchen

I first met Deb Perelman just after her first book Smitten Kitchen Cookbook came out. She had been blogging for a few years by then and had no idea when she started if anyone would be interested in the recipes she was creating or want to hear her opinions on food and cooking. Well she sure found out how interested they were on that first book tour! We had all been devouring her blog and loving her sense of humour and hearing all about her tiny apartment kitchen in New York City. And at every stop on the tour followers of Smitten Kitchen turned out in droves!

I can still remember her look of bewilderment when we taped that Cooking Club with her at Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks in Vancouver. People were jammed into the shop, people were lined up on the sidewalk, noses pressed to the window! I think she spent the whole book tour being surprised, moved and rather awed by the response to her work!

These days Deb Perelman, who is a self taught home cook, has more than a million followers on Instagram and has just published her third cookbook, a best seller like the previous two! It’s called Keepers and in my conversation with Deb Perelman on the podcast she explains where that title came from.

It was great to have the opportunity to talk to Deb Perelman again. Like many of you who turn to Smitten Kitchen for great recipes, when I use her books or her blog I feel like I am cooking with a friend. Her recipes are great and straightforward and I enjoy her sense of humour and her down to earth advice. And the results are consistently delicious!

Here is the recipe for those Thick Molasses Spice Cookies she was throwing off her balcony in the testing phase!!

And here is one we didn’t talk about in the podcast. But I have made the Charred Brussels Sprout Toast with Ricotta and it is delicious!

The conversation is in this week’s episode of my podcast! Warning: It will surely make you hungry!!

Listen with Sheryl MacKay is available on all the usual podcast apps, Apple, Spotify, Audible, iTunes and more.