BooksGuest Posting

Book Review: The Golden Girls Cookbook

Val

“The Golden Girls Cookbook:   More Than 90 Delectable Recipes From Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia”  by Christopher Styler

The Golden Girls Cookbook: More Than 90 Delectable Recipes From Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and SophiaAnyone who enjoys watching The Golden Girls, will be a fan of this cookbook!  It includes recipes by the show’s characters Blanche, Dorthy, Rose and Sophia, with a chapter of each of their favorite recipes.

In the beginning of the book is this quote by the character Sophia and it puts the whole cookbook in perspective!

“Picture it:  Miami, Nineteen eighty-five….. Four women, friends. They laugh, they cry, they EAT.   They love, they hate, they EAT.  Every time you turn around, they Eat!”

Dorthy’s recipes, like her, are no-nonsense, time saving, prep ahead and on the healthy side.  They include lots of salads and healthy vegetable sides.  My favorites are her famous Caesar Salad A LA Zbornak and Chicken Piccata.

Rose’s recipes are based on her Scandinavian heritage and are hearty and a little off beat.  They include recipes like Le Trout, Scandinavian Open-Face Sandwiches with herring, roast beef and smoked salmon, split pea soup, and my favorite is her Swedish Meatballs.

Blanche’s recipes are all Southern like her, and look amazing!  They include Cheesy Grits Casserole, her famous fried chicken and yummy sounding Southern vegetable dishes like Honey Bourbon Glazed Carrots and Corny Corn Bread.  It was very hard to pick a favorite, since I love all Southern recipes!

Sophia’s recipes are all from her Italian Sicilian heritage and this was my favorite chapter in the book.  The Antipasto Salad, Lasagna Al Forno, Spaghetti Carbonara and her Sunday Gravy with Meatballs and Fennel Sausages, were standouts!

Each of the ladies included their favorite dessert recipes like pecan pie, citrus almond biscotti and of course cheesecake (which is one of all their favorite foods!)  The Double Fudge Chocolate Cheesecake looks like it will be my new best friend!

The index breaks down the recipes by:

  • Breakfast & Brunch
  • Soups & Salads
  • Veggie Side
  • Pastas
  • Mains
  • Desserts
  • Party Foods & Drinks
  • Cheesecake!

This is an adult cookbook and the recipes are easy to follow and well photographed. Each recipe lists how many servings it makes, prep time and cook time.  There are some easy recipes with a few ingredients, and some that are more involved with many different ingredients.

I really enjoyed the still photographs of the television series that are throughout the book.  The whimsical tropical green leaf and cheesecake page borders are very eye catching and keep you turning the pages. This is a cookbook that is delightful to browse through while invoking the simpler times that The Golden Girls Show provided us all!

So far I have tried two of the recipes – Dorthy’s Caesar Salad A La ZBornak and Sophia’s Sunday Gravy with Meatballs and Sausage.

Caesar salad is something that I love and usually make it at least once a week.  Dorthy’s recipe was very good and I like how she used mayonnaise instead of the traditional raw egg yolks.  I really liked the taste with the mayonnaise!   Her recipe called for 15 cherry tomatoes, which I did not add when I made it, my take is that those belong in a traditional tossed salad, not a Caesar salad.  Do not shy away from adding the anchovies!   I buy a tube of anchovy paste instead of the cans of whole anchovy fillets and have found that this is easier to keep on hand in my refrigerator and stays fresh a long time.   The strong salty taste makes the Caesar salad complete, and it does not have a fishy taste at all.
Sophia’s Sunday Gravy with meatballs recipe is almost identical to our family’s Italian tomato sauce and meatball recipes.   Her sauce calls for  3/4 cup of red wine, which I do not add when I make it, but it added a nice rich taste to this recipe.  Her meatball recipe only called for one clove of minced garlic, but I love garlic and added four cloves.   A lot of cooks are intimidated by making homemade sauce, but it is an easy recipe to make and is so convenient to double the recipe and freeze half to always have on hand for a quick, easy homemade meal.

*This post contains affiliate links, as an Amazon Associate the site earns from qualifying purchases.