CookThatBook

By Shauna James Ahern & Daniel Ahern

Published by John Wiley & Sons

Cookbook review courtesy of contributing writer
Andrea Savard

Shauna and Daniel Ahern’s recently released cookbook entitled Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef (published by John Wiley & Sons $29.95), is chock full of user friendly recipes that range from lovely breakfast ideas to complex dinner recipes, beautiful warming pasta and comfort food dishes, along with some great recipes for baking.

Many of the recipes in the book are from Shauna’s blog, a website that continues to inspire me each time I need a little pick me up in the kitchen. The cookbook is as beautiful as her blog, and includes bright pictures of amazing food markets around the Pacific Northwest, her family and food. Reading through her book is like sharing with an old friend all the frustrations, joys, and small victories of learning to cook, bake and live happily gluten-free. Shauna has the good fortune of being married to a chef who patiently lends his knowledge on proper technique, as well as sourcing, tweaking, and blending ingredients. Although personally I feel that it is Shauna’s inventiveness, personal touch, and delightful descriptions that truly make this cookbook more than just a book full of recipes.

As much as I do love this book, there are a few recipes that I found to be overly time consuming for the everyday cook. Some of the recipes are not user friendly, like Braised Balsamic Rabbit, and Rabbit with Mustard that likely won’t be gracing my dinner table any time soon (I think that two rabbit recipes in one book is a bit of an overkill). The cover art is also a little perplexing and disappointing and I don’t think reflects the loveliness that lies within the book’s covers. That being said, overall I think this is a worthwhile cookbook to have in your gluten-free collection.

To read the results from Andrea’s recipe tests, please click HERE