Polite Paradise

What an interesting question! I actually have several that get used more than others. They are:

In Search of Caesar: The Ultimate Caesar Salad Cookbook. I am crazy about Caesar salads and while I think this might be self-published the many recipes are good and interesting. This is my favorite salad so this is one of my favorite books.

Great Grilled Cheese: 50 Innovative Recipes for Stovetop, Grill and Sandwich Maker. I have given up browsing this in bed at night because it makes me drool uncontrollably even if I am still full from dinner. If you like grilled cheese sandwiches you'll love this!

Hot and Spicy Sauces & Salsas. Another thing I love so this recipe-loaded book, with sauces and salsas ranging from extremely mild to WATCH OUT! is outstanding.

Flavors First: An Indian Chef's Culinary Journey is a beautiful and entirely delicious cookbook. I favor this for summer cooking but it's good all year round.

Turkish Cooking: Traditions, Ingredients, Tastes, Techniques, 75 Classic Recipes. I found my favorite egg recipe in here: Cilbir, poached (or in my case, mostly sauteed) eggs on a bed of garlic-flavored yogurt. Yum! But their caramelized mushrooms and pomegranate broth/soup are also favorites.

Red Hot: A Cook's Encyclopedia of Fire and Spice. Do you see a trend? A massive cookbook with recipes from "all the spiciest corners of the world." I have made cheese gifts for Christmas like Chili Yogurt Cheese in Olive Oil and Spiced Feta with Chili Seeds and Olives but my favorite recipes are some of the vegetable recipes for carrots, spring onions, and a jalapeno & onion quiche.

The Onion Cookbook: Cooking with Onions, Garlic, Leeks, Spring Onions, Shallots and Chives. Since I have always loved French Onion Soup, this was a natural and it is, like the others, stained, spattered and messy with my notes. What's not to love here? This is where I got my recipe for my Christmas dinner, which features another recipe gotten from elsewhere, Chicken Bastilla. This book gave me the accompanying salad: Moroccan Orange, Onion and Olive Salad. 

I am also in the process of creating my own cookbook featuring all the gazpacho recipes I can find. And there are lots! A couple of years ago I took a class on library research and while my own research skills are extensive and intense I learned more. We had to do a project of our choosing using the new applications so I chose gazpacho. Eighty google pages later I realized I had the makings for a book like this and my total happiness (because if I could live on gazpacho and Caesar salad for the rest of my life I would). I am putting into a Word document all the recipes I can find along with my own and will be self-publishing it for me when I am done. It will also have some history and well-researched articles on the history and culture of the soup.