If you’ve ever eaten Michael Schwartz’s food, you know calling it “genuine” is no idle boast. You could also call it creative, soulful, fresh-tasting, satisfying and always, always delicious.
And now you can cook up some of those creative, soulful, fresh-tasting, satisfying and delicious dishes in your own kitchen, as the chef-owner of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Miami and the Cayman Islands has come out with his first cookbook, titled, appropriately enough, Michael’s Genuine Food: Down to Earth Cooking for People Who Love to Eat.
The recipes read like a list of everybody’s favorite MGF&D dishes: crispy polenta fries with spicy catsup; sweet -n- spicy pork belly with kimchi and peanuts; whole roasted chicken with raisins, pine nuts and arugula; slow-roasted short ribs with romesco, plus pizzas, sides and snacks, desserts, drinks and miscellaneous goodies like homemade kimchi and ricotta and tomato harissa.
Just to check it out I made his shrimp, chorizo, escarole and manchego cheese pizza (and gave it an extra flavor boost by drizzling a little of his romesco on top). Like all the recipes, it was easy to follow, minimally time consuming and required neither a pantry full of exotic ingredients (chorizo, escarole and manchego are all available at Publix) nor a culinary school degree to execute.
Plus, it tasted really delicious.
If you like cooking (and eating) restaurant-style food but don’t have a professional kitchen, degree from the CIA, and unlimited time and money, this is the one chef’s cookbook you really ought to buy. Just this week it went on sale at Amazon for around $20, which is cheap considering all the genuine pleasure it will provide.
