Cooking With My Armenian Family (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781461169673)

As a little girl growing up in Armenia, our dinner was always a big deal, and it was always with family. My grandmother didn't have too many pots and pans. I remember her having a big pot that she cooked in that would feed ten to twenty people and a big cast iron pan, which she used for pan-roasted potatoes or deep fried summer veggies. Her kitchen was not color-coded and pots and pans were not fancy. Food was always simple and never too complicated and, most of all, it was delicious. My grandmother's pantry was very simple: salt, pepper, cumin, all spice, some kind of red pepper. The base of all of her cooking was clarified butter, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, or paste. The vegetables that we used back in Armenia were seasonal. Winter times, there were lots of marinated, dried, and preserved foods that were used to make the meals. Throughout the summer, my mom, aunts, and grandmother made tomato sauce, different types of jams, preserves, pickled vegetables, and dried vegetables, such as okra, squash, and eggplant. My grandmother's cooking style was very simple and always right for the season. The idea of my book is to introduce little part of Armenia and my Armenian family, who brought their culture to the United States. There are many cookbooks and recipes out there that are Armenian, but this is about my Armenian family and their recipes.