Product Description

TV's Chef Michael Smith shows how cooking without recipes makes for stress-free kitchen adventures.

Chef at Home Chef Michael Smith welcomes readers into his home kitchen where he encourages home chefs to cook with -- and without -- a recipe. Packed with simple and delicious meals, this cookbook offers kitchen insight and a culinary adventure on every page.

Chef Michael Smith has cooked professionally for more than 20 years. In Chef at Home, the companion cookbook to his hit Food Network series, Smith emphasizes simple, stress-free cooking. In his house, every meal is an opportunity to have fun and experiment with flavors.

Aspiring home cooks will learn from Smith's professional cooking secrets. Experienced home cooks will appreciate his open, creative approach. Everyone will love the book's simple, healthy flavors and the tips on personalizing each dish. Recipes include:

• Country Inn Pancakes
• Maritime Clam Chowder
• Rosemary Vanilla Chicken
• Mac and Cheese with Lobster.

This book is meant to be ripped, oil-stained, accidentally burnt, and deliberately written on. It works best in the kitchen -- not on the coffee table.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1653 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
The tips, chef's tricks and extra information beyond the recipe will have even the most timid cooking with ease. (Jennifer Mackenzie Peterborough Examiner )

About the Author

Chef Michael Smith is one of Canada's best-known chefs and the winner of the James Beard Award for Cooking Show Excellence. He is host of Chef at Home, Chef at Large, and The Inn Chef on Food Network Canada and in 26 other countries. Smith is an award-winning cookbook author, newspaper columnist, and roving Canadian cuisine ambassador.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Real Cooking 101
Family, Friends and Food

I love food. I love cooking it. I love eating it. For me it's always a celebration. In the kitchens of my life great ingredients, prepared simply and shared with family and friends, have always inspired me to be my best.

Since I can't come to your house to cook -- and even if I did I'd want to eat your food, not mine -- I share my passion through my cooking show "Chef at Home" and this book. They both reflect my journey from home cook to professional cook -- and back to home cook. It's been quite a ride!

My mom kick-started my cookie-baking career early by letting me help her instead of shooing me off like the three-year-old mess-maker I was. Since then I've learned a thing or two. I've discovered that nothing jazzes me up more than cooking for my partner, Rachel, and my son, Gabe. I've learned that my son's dinner is way more important than a hundred-dollar tasting menu. I've found that I love the quiet satisfaction of cooking tasty, healthy meals for my family. I don't miss the long hours of a restaurant kitchen but I sure do miss professional dishwashers!

I've been a professional chef for the past 20 years and I've seen a few things along the way. I've had the privilege of cooking on three continents, in the city and the country, on planes, trains and ships. I've had the honor of cooking for kings, queens and presidents. I even ran away with the circus once to cook for them. I've seen enough melted chocolate to fill a swimming pool, peeled a mountain of onions, and washed more dishes than an army cook. But it's all just been a warm-up for my favorite job: home cook.

As a father I really appreciate the tremendous challenges we all face taking care of our families. But I also know that most of what makes me a good home cook has nothing to do with being a pro.

I didn't know it at the time but the many cookie batters I ruined as a kid taught me my first important lesson -- have fun in the kitchen. It's a friendly place. No stress, no rules. Doesn't every kid want to play with food? Experiment? I was lucky. My mom encouraged it! That feeling is now hard-wired in my cooking style. It can be a part of your style too. I know cooking can seem a bit intimidating at times. What else do you do every day that's so full of puzzle pieces? Unpronounceable ingredients, scientific techniques, specific tools and a table full of critics can scare the apron off any cook. But you don't need vast resources at your disposal to be a good home cook.

You don't have to wear a chef's jacket to take care of your family! Quite the contrary. All you need is a table full of family and friends and a free kitchen spirit.

My kitchen is full of quiet confidence, healthy choices and raucous flavor. And yours can be too. It's simple. Let your instincts be your guide. Improvise your family's meals from what's already in your refrigerator and pantry. Be a chef at home -- you can do it!

Customer Reviews

Recipes are Easy and Outstanding
One of the things I have appreciated most about the approach that Smith takes in this book is the fact that he repeatedly invites and encourages would-be chefs to experiment and get creative in the kitchen, with both quantities and ingredients alike. As he states from the outset, the recipes included are merely guidelines. Nevertheless, if one follows the recipes as he has them so beautifully laid out, the reults are nothing less than scrump-diddily-icious! This book is highly recommended for those who don't have a lot of time to prepare meals, but still desire freshness, outstanding taste, health, and good dose of culinary joy. One warning however: I've only had my copy for about a month, and already the pages are starting to separate from the spine. But then, I've used it many times over the past 30 days too . . .

Simple and great tasting home cooking
I love how Michael Smith teaches and encourages young cooks to experiment with food and try new things. His enthusiasm for food is definitely contagious and creates an inviting atmosphere in which people can learn to have fun in the kitchen.

And last but not least, his recipe for chocolate chip cookies is the best one I've found! I've been on the hunt for chewy chocolate chip cookies for the longest time and I've finally found it.

I'm happy to have Michael Smith's Chef at Home cookbook as part of my cookbook collection.

Tasty and user friendly recipes
This cook book is very accessible to trained cooks and those people who have less experience in the kitchen but are looking for some inspired recipes. Lobster mac and cheese are among the many great recipes in here, plus his suggestions for using jars for salad dressing and sauces. All of his salads are very tasty and were greeted warmly when I put them out for dinner! Smith encourages his readers to think outside the box and get creative in the kitchen. I think readers will be happy with this purchase as will the loved ones they cook/bake for!