The Homemade Kitchen: Recipes for Cooking with Pleasure by Alana Chernila

The Homemade Kitchen: Recipes for Cooking with Pleasure

by Alana Chernila 

This book is a map for how, day in and day out, food shapes my life for the better, in the kitchen and beyond it.
—from the Introduction


Start where you are. Feed yourself. Do your best, and then let go. Be helpful.  Slow down. Don’t be afraid of food.

   This book is like a warm, cinnamon-scented hug. The author's joy for living resonates through each chapter and recipe as the reader takes a journey through Alana's kitchen, house and homestead. The photographs, as always with cookbooks published by Potter publishing are beautiful and yet believable. The recipes contained within this book are tried-and-true classics which every home should present at least once in a while. Don't be surprised to find such recipes as roasted red pepper corn chowder, cinnamon swirl bread, summer trifle and more....this book is a delightful mixture of timeless staples as well as new inventions which showcase in season vegetables and fruits.  You will not be disappointed by this book. 

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for this review. 


Alana Chernila has the  phrases quoted above taped to her fridge, and they are guiding principles helping her to stay present in her kitchen. They also provide the framework for her second book. In The Homemade Kitchen she exalts the beautiful imperfections of food made at home and extends the lessons of cooking through both the quotidian and extraordinary moments of the day. Alana sees cooking as an opportunity to live consciously, not just as a means to an end. 

Written as much for the reader as the cook, The Homemade Kitchen covers a globe’s worth of flavors and includes new staples (what Alana is known for) such as chèvre, tofu, kefir, kimchi, preserved lemons, along with recipes and ideas for using them. Here, too, are dishes you’ll be inspired to try and that you will make again and again until they become your own family recipes, such as Broccoli Raab with Cheddar Polenta, a flavor-forward lunch for one; Roasted Red Pepper Corn Chowder, “late summer in a bowl”; Stuffed Winter Squash, rich with leeks, chorizo, apples, and grains; Braised Lamb Shanks that are tucked into the oven in the late afternoon and not touched again until dinner; Corn and Nectarine Salad showered with torn basil; perfect share-fare Sesame Noodles; Asparagus Carbonara, the easiest weeknight dinner ever; and sweet and savory treats such as Popovers, Cinnamon Swirl Bread, Summer Trifle made with homemade pound cake and whatever berries are ripest, and Rhubarb Snacking Cake.

In this follow-up to Alana’s wildly successful debut, The Homemade Pantry, she once again proves herself to be the truest and least judgmental friend a home cook could want.