Books – Georgeanne Brennan

A Pig in Provence

Harcourt
Paperback, 224 pages

Georgeanne Brennan moved to Provence in 1970, seeking a simpler life. She set off on her many adventures in Provençal cuisine by tracking down a herd of goats, a cool workshop, some rennet, and the lost art of making fresh goat cheese. From this first effort throughout her time in Provence, Brennan transformed from novice fromagère to renowned, James Beard Foundation Award–winning cookbook author and food writer.

A Pig in Provence is the story of how Georgeanne Brennan fell in love with Provence. But it’s also the story of making a life beyond the well-trodden path and the story of how food can unite a community. In loving detail, Brennan tells of the herders who maintain a centuries-old grazing route, of the community feast that brings a town to one table, and of the daily rhythms and joys of living by the cycles of food and nature.

Sprinkled with recipes that offer samples of Brennan’s Provençal cooking, A Pig in Provence is a

food memoir that urges you to savor every morsel.

Windows on Provence: Musings on the Food, Wine, and Culture of the South of France

Yellow Pear Press
Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0999160206
Buy @ Amazon.com

Georgeanne Brennan evocatively renders an insider’s knowledge of Provence’s villages and their ancient customs and traditions. Through rich essays, each examining a unique facet of Provençal culture, she shares her view of the southern region of the country. Brennan’s engaging text, together with alluring photographs, takes the reader on an unforgettable tour, from the sun-drenched Côte d’Azur to the craggy mountains of Haute Provence; to lavender, poppy and wheat fields; through markets full of richly-hued fabrics, antiques and seasonal specialties; to harbors filled with fishermen selling the morning’s catch; over hills covered in vines; and into centuries-old buildings and castle ruins, all brought to life through the author’s eyes.

La Vie Rustic: Cooking and Living in the French Style

Weldon Owen
Hardcover, 292 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1681881430
Buy @ Amazon.com

James Beard Award winning author Georgeanne Brennan translates the tenets of a certain way of living—an approach to daily cooking that’s rooted firmly in the French tradition—for American home cooks everywhere. Featuring recipes driven by the seasons and the outdoors, paired with lovely lifestyle photography, this inspiring cookbook weaves together her personal experience, stories, and tips about how to create a sustainable life—one that celebrates the relationship between the land and the table, and among food, family, and friends—no matter where you reside.

My Culinary Journey: Food and Fetes of Provence

Yellow Pear Press
Hardcover, 192 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0997066401
Buy @ Amazon.com

Provence—the place of Georgeanne Brennan’s early culinary inspiration—where she writes in lush detail about the food, people and French festivals she celebrated during her lifelong journeys through the region.

As a young woman, she and her husband, with their small children, bought a farmhouse with a little land and some goats, in hopes of realizing the dream of an idyllic existence in the French countryside. Now, these memoires, documented in A Pig in Provence, are accompanied by forty delicious recipes, gorgeous photographs (many are the author’s personal photos) and informative, lively text featuring information about seven of her favorite regional French festivals.

Salad of the Day (Revised): 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year

Weldon Owen
Hardcover, 304 pages
ISBN-13: 9781681880662
Buy @ Amazon.com

Chopped, tossed, shredded, composed: salads are versatile in both form and flavor. They’re an appealing and healthy way to showcase favorite seasonal produce. From light starters to protein-rich main course salads to palate – cleansing accompaniments, these much-loved adaptable dishes can play a delicious role in virtually every lunch or dinner, every day of the year. This is a revised and revamped edition of Williams-Sonoma Salad of the Day the bestselling 2012 title, including new images and over 90 new recipes.

Williams-Sonoma Essentials of French Cooking: Recipes and Techniques for Authentic Home-Cooked Meals

Oxmoor Houes
Hardcover, 288 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0-8487-3294-3
Buy @ Amazon.com

Williams-Sonoma’s Essentials of French Cooking takes you on a meandering food lover’s tour of France, from the windswept coastline of Brittany, where the lamb tastes of the salty fields on which it grazes, southward through Gascony, with its bracing Armagnac and rib-sticking cassoulet, to the delicious fish stews of Marseilles and the Mediterranean, and back up through Burgundy, where the wine flows from some of the world’s greatest vineyards and the local Dijon mustard makes a perfect sauce for the local rabbit. In these pages you’ll also explore the fascinating intersections of culture and gastronomy in Alsace, where potatoes, cabbage, and beer lend a Germanic heft to the traditional menu; sunny Provence, where dishes made with tomatoes, garlic, olives, and basil link its cooking to that of neighboring Italy; and the Basque country, where Spanish flavors and Moorish spices like saffron and cumin have seeped over the Pyrenees.

Salad of the Day (Williams-Sonoma): 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year

Weldon Owen
Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-1-61628-212-7
Buy @ Amazon.com

This enticing collection of 365 recipes offers a salad for each day of the year. From January to December, you’ll find daily inspiration and a seasonal salad to satisfy any craving or suit any occasion.

From light salads featuring spring vegetables and herbs to garden-fresh greens mixed with summer’s bounty, autumn roots tossed with hearty grains to aromatic winter noodle salads–plus protein-packed main-dish salads for any day of the year–a delicious option awaits, With this cookbook as your guide, discover a salad to match each season’s ingredients.

Williams-Sonoma Cheese: The Definitive Guide to Cooking with Cheese

Weldon Owen
Hardcover, 224 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1616280178
Buy @ Amazon.com

Attention cheese lovers! This comprehensive cookbook is filled with enticing, cheese-centric recipes. Organized by course, this is the ultimate resource for anyone looking for inspiring ways to showcase this favorite food, pair cheese with beverages, or create the perfect cheese plate.

Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook
By Georgeanne Brennan
Photographs by Frankie Frankeny
Random House
Hardback, 64 pages
ISBN: 978-0-679-88440-8
Buy @ Amazon.com

Filled with simple, scrumptious, wacky recipes for such foods as Cat in the Hat Pudding and Moose Juice and Schlopp, this unique cookbook will have the whole family hamming it up in the kitchen. Each recipe is accompanied by the original verse that inspired it, and the pages are laminated to protect against getting splatters of Sneetch Salad, Oobleck, and Solla Sollew Stew.

Olives, Anchovies, and Capers: The Secret Ingredients of Mediterranean Cooking
By Georgeanne Brennan
Photographs by Leigh Beisch
Chronicle Books
Hardcover, 132 pages; 32 color photos
ISBN 0-8118-2494-2
Buy @ Amazon.com

Olives, Anchovies, and Capers is a small, beguiling book full of information about these secret ingredients of Mediterranean cooking, and recipes for using them from appetizers to main dishes. Three brief essays describe the history and attributes of olives, anchovies, and capers, methods of cultivating and preserving them, and how to use them to best advantage in the kitchen.

The Food and Flavours of Haute Provence
By Georgeanne Brennan
Forward by Patricia Wells
Illustrations by Jeffery Fisher
Chronicle Books
Hardcover, 310 pages
ISBN 0-8118-1235-9
Buy @ Amazon.com

This cookbook/memoir about the food and the author’s life in Haute Provence is divided into chapters that reflect the region’s ingredients, such as Wild Mushrooms and Truffles, Fruit and Honey, The Potager, Game and Fish, etc. Each chapter begins with an essay and a few basic techniques, such as how to clean truffles, followed by a collection of recipes.

Aperitif: Recipes for Simple Pleasures in the French Style

By Georgeanne Brennan
Photographs by Kathryn Kleinman
Chronicle Books
Hardcover, 144 pages
ISBN 0-8118-3145-0
Buy @ Amazon.com

This book is a delightful exploration of the French custom of drinking an aperitif before a meal, and of the various beverages served. The book is divided into five chapters, beginning with the ritual itself, followed by Vins Maison, Classics, Fruit Drinks, and Food. The food chapter offers a collection of simple foods to accompany aperitifs and gives suggestions for food and drink pairings.

Potager: Fresh Garden Cooking in the French Style
By Georgeanne Brennan
Photographs by John Vaughan
Forward by Alice Waters
Chronicle Books
Paperback, 144 pages
ISBN 0-8118-3041-1
Buy @ Amazon.com

Potager is the name for French kitchen gardens, and this book takes its theme from those year-round gardens. The book is divided simply into four chapters, spring, summer, winter, and fall. Each season is introduced with a brief essay explaining what one finds in the market and typical ways the fresh fruits and vegetables are used, and a collection of seasonal recipes from soups to desserts follows. Luscious, on-location photography brings the food, gardens, and markets to life.

Savoring France: Recipes and Reflections on French Cooking (The Savoring Series)
By Georgeanne Brennan
General Series Editor Chuck Williams
Photographs by Noel Barnhurst and Steven Rothfeld
Time-Life Books
Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN 0-7370-2019-9
Buy @ Amazon.com

This is a gloriously photographed book full of traditional and contemporary home-cooking style recipes from France, illustrated with lavish scenic photography from all the regions of France. Throughout the book are boxed features that explore such topics as the importance of cheese, oyster lore, and gathering herbes de Provence.