Product Description

Who hasn't fantasized about leaving behind the chaos of everyday life and moving someplace where life is simpler? Well, that's just what chef and food writer Paula Disbrowe did when she left New York City and moved to Texas. She traded her subway MetroCard for a pickup truck and her stiletto heels for a pair of down-home cowboy boots.

In Cowgirl Cuisine, Paula tells her story through food. She weaves together romance, adventure, and more than a few laughs as she celebrates the beauty of flavorful food, fresh air, and her own wholesome recipes, all while taking home cooks on a journey well off the beaten path.

Like Texas itself, the recipes in Cowgirl Cuisine are big-hearted and bold—whole-grain muffins bursting with berries, salads loaded with leafy herbs and avocado, and fiery bowls of chili. Paula's food is healthful and full of nutrients, but this is not a diet cookbook—cowgirls don't have time to count calories (besides, they burn it all off hoisting newborn calves, hiking the hills, and galloping off on long trail rides). Instead, this is food that is satisfying and easy to prepare, which leaves plenty of time for living life to the fullest.

From hearty ranch breakfasts to fresh salads, spicy nibbles, seductive desserts, and killer watermelon margaritas, Paula's recipes are full of her signature zest, spunk, and spice. Start your day off right with Canyon Granola or Cowgirl Migas. For lunch, have a nourishing bowl of silky Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Red Chile Cream or Chicken and Citrus Slaw Tostadas. For dinner, try Gazpacho Risotto with Garlic Shrimp or Cowboy Pot Roast with Coffee and Whiskey. And be sure to save room for one of Paula's decadent desserts, such as Chocolate Pecan Squares or Dulce de Leche Flan with Pepita Brittle.

In addition to her recipes, Paula includes humorous and heartfelt vignettes about wild animals on the loose, scorpions in the sheets, and Casanova cowboys. And the pages are filled with lush photographs of food and life on the range. Cowgirl Cuisine isn't just spurs and salsa—it's about following your dream. So saddle up and follow yours.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #285146 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Disenchanted by her hectic New York City lifestyle, Disbrowe, a former travel writer, packed her bags and moved to Texas Hill Country to become the chef at Hart & Hind Ranch. The dishes she created there combine her love for Mediterranean food with fresh local ingredients and cooking traditions from south-central Texas, with recipes such as Texas Tofu Scramble, and Eggs over Polenta with Serrano-Spiked Tomato Sauce. Also included in the Ranch Breakfast section are more traditional recipes like Blackberry Blue Corn Muffins and Banana Bread. Other sections included are "Charming Sandwiches and a Belt-Busting Burger," which feature Smoked Turkey Wraps with Chipotle Cream, and a Venison Burger. In the chapter "Ring the Dinner Bell" are fun, and simple dishes like Halibut with Salsa Verde and Cowgirl Steaks with Pink Peppercorns and Red Onion Marmalade. Throughout, Disbrowe shares various tales from life on the ranch (from raising baby chicks to living with a pet goat). Disbrowe's goal, she explains in her intro, was to write a cookbook "about fresh, satisfying food that is easy enough to prepare while living life to the fullest." In this she has succeeded. (Mar.)
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Review
"Entertaining...an eclectic selection of mouth-watering recipes." (Library Journal )

"This is one-stop shopping." (Gabrielle Hamilton, Chef/Owner, PRUNE Restaurant )

"This book is like its author -- sexy, playful and fun." (Suzanne Goin, Chef/Owner, Lucques and AOC Restaurants )

About the Author

Paula Disbrowe was the cowgirl chef at Hart & Hind Fitness Ranch in Rio Frio, Texas, from January 2002 to December 2005. Prior to that she spent ten years in Manhattan working as a food and travel writer. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, T Living, Food & Wine, Spa, Health, Cooking Light, and Saveur, among others. She was the food editor of Restaurant Business magazine from 1997 through January of 2000. She lives with her husband and their menagerie of animals at Whistle Berry Ranch in the Nueces Canyon and in Austin, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Lovely and tasty treats await!
I picked this book up on a whim and read it cover to cover over the weekend. I think the author is pretty upfront that she's a city girl transplant to Texas finding her way into Western cuisine. I think her recipes offer a unique blend of traditional favorites made better with her big city touches.I followed several of her recipes and they all came out beautifully and were more than tasty.

This book makes a terrific gift for anyone who likes a wonderful narrative along with good food. It's lovely enough for coffee table/kitchen book but useful for making good fresh food.

Entertaining and SEXY...
I just love this cookbook! The recipes are simple and straight forward...any home cook can make them with little effort and the results are sure to get raves. I've already made the Canyon Granola and it's super. The fun stories personalize Paula's true love for the Texas Hill Country and the sexy photographs made even my husband page through the book with interest! Great job. I plan to give copies to all my Texas Hill Country friends.

Take it from me...
Disbrowe's new title is well laid-out, beautifully illustrated, a highly engaging read and, best of all, the recipes are as tasty as they are accessible to the casual adventurer in the kitchen. Take it from me. I lived outside the USA for over twenty years, and have eaten and cooked my way around the globe more times than I would want to recall. Who would have guessed that the best in food awaited all the while in the Texas Hill Country?