Malibu Farm Cookbook

Malibu Farm Recipes from the California Coast

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As the mom to a young chef who aspires to have his own restaurant one day, I am constantly on the lookout for anything that will ‘feed’ his passion for cooking. Malibu Farm Cookbook: Recipes from the California Coast is just one of those such things, and his reaction when he first looked through it was priceless. Though not a kid’s cookbook in any way, for anyone who appreciates the culinary arts, Malibu Farm Cookbook is too enticing not to pick up.

This is a stunningly beautiful cookbook–large embossed hardback with cloth-covered spine, full-color/full-page photographs (on every other page), and a clean yet rustic design. When I started reading through it, I knew it was something special, and my son agreed, saying he LOVED it and “every single thing about it is MY kind of cookbook…I can’t wait to cook everything in it–it’s just our style of food.”

Author Helene Henderson, the chef-owner of Malibu Farm Pier Cafe and Restaurant shares a glimpse into her Malibu life through her narrative that continues throughout the book, introducing chapters and recipes with personal stories.

One of my favorite choices from Malibu Farm Cookbook is the Beach Picnic where the author gives suggestions for combining several recipes from the book to create a take out meal for the beach–or in our case, the park, featuring Vietnamese chicken salad, Kale Caesar, and sliced turkey with cranberry aioli (p. 196).

The casual style of Malibu eating is prevalent in Malibu Farm Cookbook. Nothing is fancy or pretentious. Instead, this cookbook features meals literally from the farm: from the coop, the dairy, the garden, the hen house. Each recipe is simple, with whole food ingredients like fresh vegetables, herbs, olive oil, and cheeses. This style of eating appeals to me, and obviously to my son as he stated with enthusiasm when he chose his first recipe to try: Raw Zucchini Salad. I can’t wait to see what he wants to try next!

 

The publisher provided a review copy of Malibu Farm Cookbook.