New Orleans chef John Besh's new cookbook, My Family Table, is less a collection of recipes than a system for feeding a large, busy family. Leftovers from Sunday roasts are repurposed for school night dinners; master recipes for Cream of Any Vegetable Soup or Curried Anything will take care of whatever you've got in the crisper that Must Be Used Tonight.
Throughout the book are photos of Besh's four boys, as if to say "If we can handle preparing meals for this rambunctious brood, sure as hell anyone else can." Of course, it helps that Besh is a chef and has probably organized his kitchen as such (and the fact that he's a former Marine probably doesn't hurt with the kid-wrangling, either), but he does share his pantry staples in order to streamline the process.
Also included: some ambitious holiday menus, including a 15-dish Jazz Brunch and a Christmas roast goose feast. My Family Table comes out November 1 from Andrews McMeel (pre-order on Amazon).
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