FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK– Inspired by the local shops in her New York neighborhood, Tracey Ceurvels began cooking with exotic ingredients and writing about her experiments on her trendsetting blog, “The NYC Kitchen,” in 2010. Since then Tracey has tested hundreds of beautiful recipes, and shared the warmth of her friendly home kitchen with each reader. A food and travel journalist with pieces published in The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and Relish, and with copywriting experience at magazines such as Vogue and Condé Nast Traveler, Tracey’s well-earned writing chops pair perfectly with her easygoing personality and lush recipes to make a collection of recipes home cooks and adventurous chefs alike can enjoy.
Inside NYC neighborhood stores, stimulated by scent, color, and flavor, our imaginations flourish…
In The NYC Kitchen Cookbook, Tracey shares her tasty adventures with foodie fans nationwide and explains how to use the flavorful ingredients found in NYC to make simple yet sensational meals for any occasion. Families especially can enjoy Tracey’s dedication to cooking with her young daughter (featured prominently on her website and in photos in the cookbook too), and the warm bond they share over their culinary creations.
The NYC Kitchen Cookbook draws inspiration from food stores and markets that make NYC one of the most diverse and appetizing destinations of the world. Unique ingredients and the NYC shops they’re sourced from are the stars of Tracey’s recipes. But even if NYC shops are miles away, ingredients can also be found in markets nationwide and online, making The NYC Kitchen Cookbook a convenient and diverse recipe guide for every day of the week, and for home cooks nationwide.
NYC-inspired recipes shared in full color include:
• Sweet Potato and Carrot Dip with Nigella Seeds
• Grilled Halloumi with Peppadew Peppers, Olives and Pine Nuts
• Clam, Saffron and Chorizo Stew
• Tomato, Purslane, and Sumac Salad
• Agrodolce Chicken
• Hummus-Crusted Chicken
• Baked Cod with Olives and Lillet
• Arctic Char with Berbere
• Earl Grey Tea Panna Cotta
• Banana Bourbon Cardamom Bread
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tracey Ceurvels is a food and travel journalist and the creator of popular cooking and lifestyle blog The NYC Kitchen. She has been published in the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the New York Daily News, Relish, and Time Out, among other places. Tracey resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter, Sabrina. Visit her at http://newyorkcity.kitchen.
The NYC Kitchen Cookbook: 150 Recipes Inspired by the Specialty Food Shops, Spice Stores, and Markets of New York City
Tracey Ceurvels
August 15, 2017
ISBN 978-1-5107-2112-8
$24.99
Cookbook
Skyhorse Publishing
In an interview, Tracey Ceurvels can discuss:
“[Cooking at home] helps feed my love of adventure. Visiting different parts of the city and discovering the variety of food and ingredients satiates my sense of wanderlust. Secondly, I enjoy meeting people who love what they do, especially when it comes to food. I’ve met beer brewers, winemakers, chocolatiers, butchers, and cheese mongers. Their passion for what they do is contagious, and honestly, I’d rather buy an artisanal produce made with love and care than a mass-produced one at the supermarket—that’s my philosophy.” From the Introduction, The NYC Kitchen Cookbook
• Family cooking with her 9-year old daughter Sabrina
• Shopping—how to find the spices and other special ingredients home cooks need no matter where you live
• Interviews with NYC shop owners (Sahadi’s, Kalustyans, Titan Foods, et al)
• Tracey’s favorite NYC stores and what to buy in each
• Top 10 ingredients to keep on hand for quick global meals
• Easy weeknight dinners
• Homemade pizza/brunch at home/homemade snack food
An Interview with Tracey Ceurvels
How did you begin NYC Kitchen?
I started the NYC Kitchen for a few reasons. Before I had my daughter in 2008, I was a freelance writer, reviewing restaurants, going out a lot at night to events, and traveling around for stories I was writing. I’ve always had a sense of wanderlust and when she was born, that stopped for a while, yet my love of food didn’t. Instead, my adventures changed: to navigating being a mother. At times I felt stuck and confused, not knowing when I’d get to satiate my love of adventure again. And dinner? I was no longer dining out at all the hot spots, but ordering takeout or worse, eating bland food I’d put together without much thought because there was hardly time to think about what to make for dinner.
Soon I realized I could feed my adventurous spirit in a different way and that’s when I started my web site, around 2010. I used it as place to share my recipes and discoveries, and as a place to keep the articles I wrote in one place; it was part blog/part portfolio.
I started venturing around NYC to all the wonderful food shops, going to places like Chinatown, where I lived when Sabrina was a baby, for greens, noodles, ginger, and other items, to Di Palo’s for Italian food like buffalo mozzarella, Parmesan, and prosciutto, to Brighton Beach to check out the Russian markets, to Astoria to stock up on Greek goodies, and so on. My daughter and I would pick up vegetables at the farmer’s markets, spices at the Indian store, her favorite cheese at the cheese monger, fresh pasta at an Italian shop. Cooking for me became a fun adventure and it became fun to cook globally-inspired meals. Now that she’s 9, she’s become my dinner and travel companion. I get to satiate my sense of wanderlust—and because she’s always with me, inspire her to do the same. With The NYC Kitchen, I hope to inspire others to satiate their sense of adventure through food, too.
How has cooking daily with your daughter impacted family life?
There is no doubt that life is busy when you have a child. There are after school activities, homework, playdates, laundry, dishes, and more. When she’s at school, it’s the only time I have to write, pitch articles, and work on my web site, so during school hours you will always find me on the computer working. Weeknight dinners, even for someone like me who enjoys cooking, can seem like another chore to check off the list. But I’ve made it an enjoyable activity by creating easy meals that I can whip up in 30 minutes or less. Fortunately, Sabrina likes a lot of different foods: Thai, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, etc. She likes spices and dishes that are full of flavor, so if I have ingredients like noodles, eggs, garlic, onions, a few key spices, greens and some protein I can usually whip something up that we both like.
What is your favorite thing to cook and why?
Making quick dinners during the week is a necessity, but sometimes I love making meals that require more time and effort, dishes that need to simmer: dishes like bouillabaisse, beef stews, roasts, whole chickens, and tagines. These types of dishes are relegated to the weekends, which is why I named a chapter in my book, “Relax on the Weekend: Feasts.” Even though we live in a fast-paced world, I love the art of taking time out of a weekend day to make a meal. I put on some music, light candles, open up a bottle of wine, and enjoy the process of chopping vegetables, combining spices, and smelling the scents from whatever is simmering in the oven. Sometimes, while I’m cooking, I’ll glance over at my daughter who’s playing, painting or reading and it all feels very satisfying in a humble way. During the week dinnertime looks a lot different, but on the weekends it’s nice to turn to dishes that require more thought.
For at-home cooks who are just starting out, what is square 1?
My philosophy with food and cooking is all about satiating my sense wanderlust, so I believe that having an interest in trying new things is helpful—this is something that continually inspires me in the kitchen, and I hop eto inspire other home cooks to do the same. On my web site, I offer a PDF, “The Edible Adventure List—10 ingredients to keep stocked for easy global dinners.” This list, which includes some of my favorite ingredients, is a good start to feeling inspired in the kitchen. I believe that it starts with the ingredients—fresh herbs, spices, sauces, and more—and keeping a few key items stocked at all times.
Also, organization is important especially if you’re naturally a go-with-the-flow person like I am. On Sundays, I think of a few meals I’d like to make during the week and I write down what I need for each dish. Before doing this, I’d wander around a few stores, unsure what to make, then I’d come home having forgotten something and I’d feel frustrated. For this reason, I created a menu planner, which is actually something that goes against my nature, but has helped me immensely. As a mom, I’m always juggling a million to-do’s; being able to write down what you need to buy makes cooking dinner a lot less stressful. That being said, I often challenge myself to make a meal out of what I have stocked, and that kind of experimentation can be a lot of fun. But for new home cooks my main advice is to be organized and be willing to try new things. There will be times when something you made from adding a new ingredient into your repertoire will turn into a new favorite meal you’ll want to make again and again.
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