Carla’s Comfort Foods by Carla Hall

The angle: Comfort food is comfort food, no matter how you spice it….so why not spice it?

Recipes for right now: Buttered Tarragon Peas, Crab and Coconut Spinach Stew, Salmon Teriyaki, Merguez Lamb Burgers with Feta, Curried Potatoes Samosas, Chocolate Chai Sandwich Cookies

Who would enjoy this book? Cooks bored of the usual and ready to try something new.

• Who wrote it: Carla Hall

• Who published it: Atria Books

• Other highlights: Carla Hall takes familiar ingredients — potatoes, salmon, spinach — one at a time in this book. First, she gives us something we’ll recognize, like creamed spinach, and then nudges us to apply that in new directions, like in an Indian palak paneer or a Caribbean crab and coconut spinach stew. This approach feels very natural and organic to me; it’s a good way to both start learning new things to do with our same-old ingredients and also to push reluctant eaters to try new things.

Carla’s enthusiasm for cooking is just as infectious on paper as it is on TV (or, I hear, in person!). There are lots of nuggets of information and inspiration to take away from each recipe, though the recipes themselves feel very approachable and doable. The recipe steps are clearly marked; the ingredients are familiar and readily available at any well-stocked grocery store.

Find the book at your local library, independent bookstore, or Amazon: Carla’s Comfort Foods by Carla Hall

• Visit the author’s website: Carla Hall

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.