NJ SPICE

The Pollan Family Table will be discussed in at least one of my In The Kitchen columns in the new year, but I wanted to draw your attention to it now, as I think it’s a great holiday gift item. It’s one of those “well-rounded” cookbooks, full of delicious food to feed your family throughout the year. Or a gift recipient’s family, maybe that new couple just starting out.

This is the kind of book you can really cook from, and it’s brought to you by the apparently very talented women of the Pollan Family. They are food writer and activist Michael Pollan’s mother, Corky, and his sisters Lori, Dana, and Tracy. Actress Tracy is, as it turns out, married to another actor, Michael J. Fox, a connection that was news to me. (Yes, I know, living under a rock!)

This is a family that places a lot of importance in sitting down together and sharing a common meal. The elder Pollans did it when the kids were young, and now those grown-up kids are doing it for their own families. The food here is rich in fresh vegetables and other nutritious whole foods (now we know where Michael got his food philosophy), but it’s really what I call “stealthy healthy,” in its approach. Good for you food never tasted so, well, good.

A great feature of the book is that each recipe has two lists on a side bar, From the Market and From the Pantry, so you can be sure to have all the ingredients you need to prepare that dish. Take a look at some of the sample recipes on the publisher’s website here – don’t miss the Citrus-Roasted Chicken with Grand Marnier! – and you’ll see how handy those lists can be, a quick scan and you’ll be good to go.