The FBC Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers review!
Best of Bridge, one of Canada’s most iconic brands, has published Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers: All-New Recipes for Family and Friends, written by the author team of Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, Sue Duncan and Julie Van Rosendaal. It lists a variety of recipes, both simple and extravagant, to make Sunday suppers a celebration of the food on the table and the people around it, whether it be grilling outdoors in the summer or slow cooking inside when the weather starts to chill.
Contents
The Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers cookbook contains recipes for:
- Salads
- Soups
- Big Roasts
- Small Meats
- Stews & Braises
- Casseroles & Savory Pies
- Pizza & Pastas
- Sides
- Home Breads
- Sauces & Condiments
- Desserts
Layout and Recipes
The cookbook is a hardcover ring binder which makes it easy to turn the pages. All the recipes include a head note followed by the list of ingredients. The cooking instructions aren’t reader friendly as they’re not listed but written in paragraphs. Amusing quotes are included at the end of some of the recipes throughout the cookbook. One quote I can relate to is: “The dinner I was cooking for my family was going to be a surprise, but the fire truck ruined it.”
Photos do not accompany each recipe. Instead, there are inserts of colour photos with the recipe name and page number.
Sample Recipes from Each Chapter
- Kale Caesar Salad, Couscous Salad, Bacon and Avocado Salad with Roasted Tomatoes
- French Onion Soup for a Crowd, Split Pea Soup with Ham, Hot-and-Sour Chicken Soup
- Roast Chicken with Lime and Cilantro, Pork Carnitas, Rack of Lamb
- Baked Whole Salmon, Giant Cheese-Stuffed Meatballs, Pork Tenderloin with a Honey Mustard Glaze
- Vegetables Packets, Trout on the Grill, Soy Ginger Flank Steak
- Beef ‘N’ Beer Stew, Braised Lamb Shanks, Peanut Butter Curry Chicken
- Dinner Frittata, British Fish Pie, Easy Tourtière, Taco Pie
- Roasted Vegetable Pizza, Roasted Squash and Ricotta Ravioli, Cheesy Seafood Lasagna
- Spiced Roasted Cauliflower, Glazed Maple Green Beans, Beet and Beet Greens Risotto
- No-Knead Bread, Finnish Pulla, Foolproof Yorkshire Pudding, Naan
- Lemony Hollandaise, Pico de Gallo, Salsa Verde, Chimichurri
- Classic Pumpkin Pie, Caramelized Apple Pies, Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread
Recipes I Made for Our Sunday Supper
For our latest Sunday supper, I introduced my family to flavours not typical of our traditional Sunday supper menu by making the Roasted Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup with Apple and Sage, Sheet Pan Chicken with Pistachios and Honey and Brown Sugar Panna Cotta.
Roasted Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup with Apple and Sage (Page 40)
The roasted vegetables deepen the flavour of this soup and the tart apple offsets the sweetness. Since sage is a spice my family isn't accustomed to tasting in their food, they requested I leave it out next time I make this soup. I’ve made this soup several times since then. When I’m in a hurry, I just sauté the vegetables before adding the stock. I’ve even make it in my Instant Pot with great results. The recipe states that this soup freezes well, but I can’t attest to that as every time I’ve made it there’s not a drop left.
Sheet Pan Chicken with Pistachios and Honey (Page 90)
This recipe was inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi, a renowned Israeli-British chef. The chicken pieces are marinated in ginger, cinnamon and saffron spices, then roasted and brushed with a honey-vanilla paste and topped with chopped pistachios. The aroma and flavours of this dish reminded me of a Middle-Eastern dish I had years ago. I loved the taste. Not everyone in my family felt the same though. One daughter didn’t like the taste of cinnamon with chicken; the other didn’t like the pistachios. The remaining three of us thought it was delicious and polished off the rest of the chicken.
- 1 onion, chopped 1
- 1 tsp ground ginger 5 mL
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon 5 mL
- Pinch saffron Pinch
- 1⁄4 cup olive oil 60 mL
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 lbs assorted bone-in skin-on chicken pieces 1 kg
- 3 tbsp liquid honey 45 mL
- 1⁄2 tsp vanilla 2 mL
- 1 tbsp warm water (approx.) 15 mL
- 3⁄4 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped 175 mL
- In a small bowl, combine onion, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Place chicken in a shallow dish (or sealable plastic bag) and cover with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Remove chicken from marinade and arrange on a rimmed baking sheet, then pour marinade over top. Roast for 35 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in another small bowl, combine honey and vanilla. Stir in warm water to form a paste (start with a little water and add more until you get a workable consistency). Stir in pistachios. Remove chicken from oven and spread paste evenly on top of chicken. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until juices run clear when chicken is pierced.
Brown Sugar Panna Cotta (Page 313)
Panna Cotta is one of my family’s favourite desserts. You have to plan ahead to make it though, in order to set properly. We all loved this version made with brown sugar and 10 percent cream. Topped with berries and a dribble of maple syrup, it was a great dessert to end the meal.
Bookshelf Worthy?
The collection of recipes in this cookbook will inspire you to celebrate Sunday with your family and friends by sharing a meal, whether it’s a fancy rib dinner or a comforting soup or pasta dish. Sunday suppers are a tradition that’s been respected in my family for generations and hopefully for generations to come. That's why the Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers cookbook will stay on my bookshelf until I pass it down to my daughters.
Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers: All-New Recipes for Family and Friends
Authors: Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, Sue Duncan and Julie Van Rosendaal
Hardcover: 324 pages
Publisher: Robert Rose Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-7788-0575-5
Acknowledgement
Courtesy of Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers by Best of Bridge © 2017 www.robertrose.ca. Available where books are sold. Image credit: Matt Johannsson, Reflector Inc.
A review copy of Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers was provided by Robert Rose Inc.
The Best of Bridge Sunday Suppers: All-New Recipes for Family and Friends 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. Liliana grew up in an Italian household where each meal was made from scratch with fresh ingredients and Sunday family suppers were always a celebration. She has a passion for collecting cookbooks and believes that every recipe tells a story that must be shared to nourish your soul and feed your belly. You connect with Liliana on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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