Cookbook Corner: Lick Your Plate by Julie Albert & Lisa Gnat

Lick Your Plate: A Lip Smackin’ Book For Every Home Cook by Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat includes 160 recipes (including vegetarian) that are fast, easy to make and sure to please the whole family. Julie and Lisa are two sisters who complement each other’s talents, and their witty anecdotes add a story to the recipes. Their humour is reminiscent of the times my sister and I spent in the kitchen, bursting out in laughter over some cooking disaster mishap.

The Lick Your Plate Chapters

The ten chapters (No Fork Required Appetizers; Steamed-Up Soups; Crunch Time Salads; Pick of the Crop Vegetables; Fueled-Up Pasta, Rice and Grains; Rule the Roost Chicken & Turkey; No Bones About It Fish; Grade-A Meat; Rise & Shine Brunch; and, Be-All & End-All Desserts) list 160 delicious, unique recipes that are easy to make for the whole family.

The Lick Your Plate Recipes

The recipes are well-formatted and straightforward, and include Prep and Cook times along with cooking symbols (described in the Introduction section of the cookbook). The humorous anecdotes by Julie and Lisa included in the recipe headers give the recipes a personal touch. The full-page colour photos are stunning and will entice you to get into the kitchen to start cooking.

Sample recipes include:

• Maple Sriracha Baked Wings (No Fork Required)
• Thai Coconut & Ginger Soup (Steamed Up)
• Falafel Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing (Crunch Time)
• Buttermilk Ranch Mashed Potatoes and Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower (Pick of the Crop)
• Angel Hair Pasta with Zucchini, Tomatoes & Homemade Ricotta (Fueled-Up)
• Lime Chicken Kebabs with Creamy Avocado Dip (Rule the Roost)
• Golden Pan-Seared Halibut with Eggplant Caponata and Crispy Baked Parmesan-Crusted Fish Sticks (No Bones About It)
• The Ultimate French Dip Sandwich and Slow Cook Beef Chili (Grade-A)
• Fluffy Apple Pie Pancakes and Luscious Lemon Sticky Buns (Rise & Shine)
• Toffee Crunch Caramel Cheesecake and Decadent Dulce de Leche Brownies (Be-All & End-All).

Tested Lick Your Plate Recipes

Lemon Ricotta Crepes with Fresh Berry Sauce (Page 226)

While I was making the crepes, my husband just wandered into the kitchen and my youngest daughter dropped by for a visit. Perfect timing! My husband thought the filling was a bit sweet. My daughter and I loved the taste of the combination of the crepes filled with lemon-scented creamy ricotta filling and fresh berry sauce. She asked for seconds.

Since I don't have a small skillet with sides or a small crepe pan as required for the recipe, I used my 10-inch crepe pan and increased the batter for the crepes to ½ cup from ¼ cup, reducing the servings from 12 to six. Also, I increased the amount of filling for each crepe to two tablespoons from one tablespoon.

Chunky Potato, Tuna & Bean Salad (Page 78)

Potato and tuna salad is part of my menu repertoire, but adding the kidney beans and tossing it with a Dijon vinaigrette brings it up to another level. And, it only takes 25 minutes to prep and cook.

The Dijon vinaigrette seems to enhance the flavour of the ingredients. I served it for lunch with crusty bread to sop up the juices. This recipe has replaced my potato and tuna salad.

Golden Zucchini Ricotta Fritters (Page 98)

The only thing I can say about these fritters is that we were eating them as I was making them. Creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and a squeeze of lemon made them so good that we couldn't resist the temptation. Prep and cook time was only 20 minutes. The serving suggestion was a side dish, but there were none left to serve.

I ended up making eight fritters instead of 10 and added an extra teaspoon of olive oil to the pan at the end to finish cooking them.

Bookshelf Worthy?

The recipes that I tested were easy to make and delicious. When pressed for time, the Prep and Cook times were a factor in choosing which recipe to make. As a home cook, I recommend that you add the ‘Lick Your Plate’ cookbook to your bookshelf. When my family asks for seconds, it’s a keeper for me!

4.3 from 10 reviews

Golden Zucchini Fritters

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

We know that your time is precious, so we aren’t going to encourage you to fritter it away. Or are we? These fantastic fritters are a mere 20-minute investment and the results are worth every second. Cooked until golden-crusted yet soft and creamy inside, these crispy cakes are the combination of grated sweet zucchini mixed with fresh creamy ricotta and flavorful Parmesan cheese. A delicious, fast and easy side dish, these crowd-pleasing Zucchini Ricotta Fritters will definitely free up some time for you to dilly-dally.

Author: Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat

Recipe type: Side Dish, Appetizer

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 2 medium zucchinis
• ¾ cup ricotta cheese
• ¾ cup breadcrumbs
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Lemon wedges, to squeeze over cooked zucchini fritters

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Instructions

1. GRATE ZUCCHINIS and remove excess liquid by squeezing the zucchini in small sections with your hands. Place grated zucchini on paper towels to remove remaining liquid. Place in a large bowl and combine with ricotta cheese, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic, whisked egg, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly until well combined.
2. USING A ¼-CUP SCOOP, form zucchini mixture into 10 round, flat patties. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add zucchini patties and cook until golden, 2–3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and serve with squeezed lemon juice.

Notes

Choose small to medium-sized, darker-skinned zucchinis, as they have more flavor and nutrients than large ones.

3.2.2925

A Lick Your Plate Giveaway

Thanks to our friends at Appetite by Random House, we're giving away three copies of Lick Your Plate to three lucky winners.  To enter, you must comment below telling us your favourite 30 minute meal to make in the kitchen.  You can earn other entries through rafflecopter as well.

The contest runs until end of day July 17th, 2016 and is open only to residents of Canada (yes, Quebec residents can enter to win!).  If you win, you must correctly answer a skill testing question to claim your prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Acknowledgement

Excerpt from Lick Your Plate Copyright © 2016 Pinky Swear Press. Reprinted by permission of Appetite by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Photography credit: Ryan Szulc.

The Lick Your Plate cookbook review was written by Liliana Tommasini, author of the aptly named blog My Cookbook Addiction. Her passion for baking and cooking began at an early age. She also has a passion for collecting cookbooks and improving her photography skills. Liliana grew up in an Italian household where each meal was made from scratch with fresh ingredients and Sunday family lunches were always a celebration. Now, Sunday lunches are celebrated in her family. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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