Bowls of Plenty

Starred review from November 7, 2016
Carreño (co-author of The Mozza Cookbook and Meat: Everything There Is to Know) has impeccable creds on the seemingly ubiquitous yet still growing phenomenon of one-bowl meals. Carreño is a California native with a self-described “health nut” mother, and her take on value-added whole grains is deeply authoritative and inspiringly delicious. A “Meet Your Grains” guide ranges alphabetically from amaranth to wild rice, encompassing Italian farro and Khorasan wheat—commonly sold as Kamut, a trademarked name—and including clear instructions that make it seem easy to cook even the most esoteric items. More familiar oats (as groats, steel-cut, or rolled) and brown rice (both long- and short-grain) get play as well. Carreño’s determinedly “flavor first” approach draws on influences modern eaters want, such as high-quality proteins and farmer’s market vegetables, which can be combined as Korean short ribs and kimchi rice, Thai-style satay of chicken or tofu with coconut rice and peanut sauce, or an “Ultimate Burrito Bowl.” Guides for building one’s own Asian, farmer’s market, Middle Eastern, and Mexican bowls make it simple to customize a meal with what’s on hand or what the reader craves.

December 1, 2016

Professional home cook Carreno, the award-winning coauthor of Nancy Silverton's Mozza at Home and Sara Foster's Fresh Every Day, steps into the limelight with a new collection of one-bowl meals. In 100-plus healthy recipes such as slow-cooked brown rice and quinoa porridge, Umbrian farro and mozzarella salad with celery leaf pesto, and goat's milk rice pudding with raisins, Carreno coaxes flavor from a wide range of popular and lesser-known whole grains, pairing them with appealing, flavorful toppings. Throughout, she peppers the book with stories of California and New York food culture and her work with notable chefs. VERDICT Grain bowl obsessives and health-conscious omnivores will love this, as well as Allison Day's Whole Bowls and Sara Forte's The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl and Spoon.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2016
Is professional home chef an oxymoron? Not when Carolynn Carreno is involved, contributing great food knowledge and an easy, breezy (and personal) narrative. Formerly a coauthor with famed chefs (e.g., Nancy Silverton, Mozza at Home: More Than 150 Crowd-Pleasing Recipes for Relaxed, Family-Style Entertaining, 2016), Carreno now reveals her own experiences, idiosyncrasies, and 100-plus recipes. Her tale of how she invented food bowls comes from a place any foodie can empathize withfood hangovers, bloated stomachs, and general mind fogginess. Though she doesn't claim any restorative powers of bowls, her combinations, for the most part, smack of healthy eating. Try butternut-squash risotto with slow-cooked kale and a Vietnamese bowl with sweet and tangy vinaigrette, or mixed blueberry crisp and the ultimate burrito bowl. Her honesty also gains points: she admits to sweet cravings (witness some of her great concoctions) and advises readers not to purchase equipment like knife blocks and nonstick baking sheets, among other gadgets. These fresh, convenient, and wholesome recipes will have broad appeal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)