Fresh from the Market: Adventures in Creative Cooking

Greg Turko is a policy analyst at the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and
Universities.

Fresh from the Market will likely be, for most people, a
special-occasion cookbook: most people are generally not in the habit of
coming home from work and preparing a meal featuring Oysters with Café
de Paris or Classic Duck Stew.

Many, though not all, of these recipes are also very rich. The
previously mentioned Oysters with Café de Paris, for example, contain
four egg yolks and whipping cream. In an era when monitoring fat and
cholesterol appears to border on national obsession, such recipes are
not about to become daily staples.

The recipes in this collection are diverse, ranging from such classics
as Seafood Supreme (a sort of bouillabaisse) to the more unusual Stuffed
Green Peppers Roma Style (using Basmati rice—imaginative and
flavorful). The emphasis is on “enjoyment eating” rather than on
“moral eating.” The complexity of preparation and general
availability of ingredients varies, but most readers will probably have
no difficulty shopping for most recipes—except, perhaps, for the more
exotic seafoods in some areas. Each recipe also includes a list of
suggested wines to accompany the meal. There is no dessert section,
which is probably understandable and prudent given the richness of most
of the dishes.

The cookbook also contains a collection of cooking definitions,
shopping hints, and instructions on how to prepare a range of sauces and
stocks. The recipes may not be everyday fare, but for special occasions
this cookbook has a lot to offer.