Marcus Off Duty: The Recipes I Cook at Home

This book is all about the home cooking of multiple James Beard-award-winning Chef Samuelsson. Recipes are straightforward, simple, and made with accessible ingredients, but with influences from the author's remarkable culinary journey: from his native Sweden to his world travels including Asian cuisine; and from his love of Southern soul food to the cuisine of Ethiopia, the land of his birth.The author's definition of “off duty” is improvising, free from the consistency that his restaurant dishes command: these recipes are what he cooks at home, and he encourages us to improvise. Every dish has a delightful, informative headnote telling us about the dish: what role it played in his life in Sweden, as a chef aboard ship, as well as how it plays in his life today, plus perhaps a few tips about ingredients and technique.The ingredients are accessible and affordable for anyone with a good supermarket, fishmonger, butcher, and Farmers' Market. Chef frequently suggests substitutions or notes on where to find for ingredients that may be a little harder to find. Most of the fresh seafood, including calamari, clams, and salmon, are accessible for most home cooks. I live in the inland far north U.S., with a grocery store that is smaller than most gas stations; however, literally only a handful of ingredients are not accessible to me either locally or via amazon: fresh sardines (sigh), whole trout (I lack the required fishing skills and patience), non-frozen whole duck, and catfish; however, most readers will find these ingredients available. If I ate meat, I'm pretty sure that I could find a farmer here in the middle of nowhere who would sell me a suckling pig; however, for those without such resources or a world-class butcher, that may be a challenge.The author does occasionally suggests store-bought ingredients such as frozen puff pastry, chili sauce, frozen peas, canned creamed corn, (presumably) bottled clam juice ("Corn and Clam Chowder"), and canned tomatoes.The recipes, with their focus on cooking for friends and family, beckon me right into the kitchen. The "Special Days" chapter is a tour de force: Chinese New Year, Easter, Passover, Thanksgiving, Kwanza, and many more holidays are celebrated here. There are inviting chapters on grilling, "Street Food," and "Cooking With Kids." There are sides, spreads, and, of course, pickles. Some of his desserts seem more like hearty meals, and Chef Samuelsson would probably agree: clearly, the author loves his desserts. Has anyone else ever made a chocolate fondue to serve with oatmeal cookies? From the thrift that was a hallmark of his Swedish upbringing, we see creative use of leftovers in several dishes, as well as in notes and suggestions. Although some of the recipes have many ingredients, most of them are simply spices or condiments: very few involve time-consuming prep of multiple ingredients. And, although some recipes occupy more than one page, preparation for the vast majority of recipes--even the celebration dishes--is quite simple and straightforward. There are just a few delightful exceptions such as "Swedish Princess Cake" (however, we're told that, if we're not up to making marzipan, "just top the cake with fresh [berries]."The Kindle formatting is outstanding: everything is clickable: TOC, embedded recipes, Index, and Notes on ingredients and techniques. Many, but not all, recipes, have color photos. There are many photos of ingredients, markets, and more throughout the book. Charming, often whimsical, watercolor illustrations abound throughout the book.

This is a very cool book. It’s a collection of the food Marcus makes at home, and is all very do-able for the home cook. There are plenty of super easy dishes, and some more special ones for when you feel like going that extra mile. The recipes are from all over the world, and there’s some magical fusion.The chapters are: Introduction, Comforts of Home, Friends & Family, Special Days, Street Food, Playing with Fire, Cooking with Kids, Soups, Sides & Condiments, and Something Sweet.My pics and thoughts on the dishes we tried:1) Helga’s Meatballs & Gravy with Carrot-Apple Mashed Potatoes – p 228. Delicious! I love that there’s extra color, flavor, and vitamins in those potatoes. We loved the little bit of sweetness and the horseradish in the background. Best Swedish meatballs ever.2-3) Couscous Paella with Shrimp, Chicken, and Chorizo – p 76. He uses couscous and harissa in it in some fun Spanish/Moroccan fusion. We went to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco on our honeymoon, so the dish was a nice romantic one for us. It’s a very short boat ride across the Strait of Gibraltar, so the combination makes great sense. We all loved it. I’d add peas next time.4) Back-Pocket Salmon Grilled on a Plank – p 192. Geez, I think this is my favorite salmon recipe. Great soy sauce, mustard and herb marinade. Minutes to pull together. Definitely get the grill going first.5) End of Summer Succotash – p 278. Yummy, easy bowl of produce goodness. His has much more vibrant color than mine does. Maybe because it’s only the beginning of summer. ;DI’ll update this as I play in the book more.Some others I have flagged to try: Bourbon Shrimp with Baby Spinach – p 36 * Chicken Fried Steak on a Salad – p 40 * Orange Curry Beef Stir Fry with Broccolini – p 42 * Crab Fried Rice – p 44 * Coconut Lime Curried Chicken – p 48 * Seared Scallops with Bacon and Egg – p 52 * Spiced Nuts – p 64 * Mac & Cheese & Greens – p 66 (Different than the one in the Red Rooster Harlem book) * Twice Fried Chicken Breasts with Rainbow Slaw – p 69 * Sweet Potato Gnocchi – p 74 * Maya’s Lamb Lasagna – p 88 * Red Shrimp and Spicy Grits – p 99 * Shrimp and Pork Dumplings – p 116 * Andouille Sausage & Oysters – p 119 * Yogurt-Marinated Leg of Lamb – p 121 * Isn’t She Lovely Crepes with Rhubarb-Strawberry Compote – p 126 * Roast Beef Tenderloin with a Coffee-Chocolate Crust – p 128 * Spicy Shrimp Falafel – p 150 * Potato and Spinach Samosas with Spicy Buttermilk Dip – p 172 * Roof Garden Fish Tacos – p 184 * Pizza on the Grill with Caesar Salad – p 202 * Peaches Kissed by Fire – p 205 * Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Ketchup – p 206 * Blueberry Crunch Granola – p 214 * Peanut Noodles with Slaw – p 218 * Salmon in a Sea of Coconut – p 256 * Hot Brussels Sprouts Slaw – p 280 * Shiro (Ethiopian Chickpea Spread) – p 284* Market-Fresh Corn Bread – p 285 (Different than the one in the Red Rooster Harlem book) * Hot Waffles with Blueberry Whipped Cream – p 308 * Black Bottom Peanut Pie – p 313 * Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies – p 326

Liked that Marcus gave homage to both his mothers in his Ethiopian and Swedish recipes. Can’t wait to cook many!

This is such an inspiring cookbook. I have enjoyed reading the recipes and the experiences that led to their creation. I particularly enjoyed the author's take on southern classic recipes, putting a delicious new spin on them.

A very enjoyable read.. Some of these recipes are a little out if my comfort zone but I see parts of them I'd like to try - new ways of preparing sauces, for example.. I do want to add that the indexed recipes In the Kindle version ARE linked to the recipes, not as reported in the one star review that said they weren't.

Fusion of American, Swedish, African, and other influences. Recipes such as Harissa Crusted Turkey with turkey stuffed with sweet potatoes and red onion and coated with Harissa are worth trying. I have not yet tried but indeed too is a Garam Marasa-Pumkin tart. This book is probably not for those who do not want to try different combinations of food. For those who do this is great

This is the kind of cookbook that is BOTH wonderful to cook out of AND just fun to read. It has stories, playlists recommendations and great recipes.There are little twists on classics, and the chef does a great job of explaining WHY he made certain substitutions and WHAT it does for the dish. All without talking down to the reader. It's a great cookbook for any reason you might want to pick one up.

A lot of good recipes to try that don't look too hard.

Don't know what it is about this book that just doesn't "do it" for me. There is good information, some interesting stories about Marcus's life and travels, the recipes are fairly simple, but it is just not a book that I would recommend. I think we all have cookbooks on our shelves that are food splattered and dog eared that we go to over and over - this is not one of them. The recipes are not so exotic that ingredients are hard to find, most of the recipes are simple enough to do.....just not a memorable book.

All of recipes are filled with imagination and I cannot wait to try them.

I'm still working my way through this book. I find it more interesting to read the stories around being a chef than making the recipes -I have only made one recipe so far but I'll see what happens in the future.

There is a detailed index at the end of this book (the Kindle version) but there are no links attached. So I can't just click on the title of the recipe to have it take me directly to the recipe. Without that I will have to scroll through the entire book until I find the recipe I want.

Beste Anwicklung !!Und ein wunderschönes Kochbuch mit tollen Rezepten, aber auch einfach nur zum Anschauen eine Genuss! Sehr zu empfehlen!