I’ve been following Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo for a very long time now, well before she and her husband published their first cookbook, and now they’ve published their third. Amusingly, I can only remember making two of her recipes in the past, both of which she didn’t develop: her sister’s Phenomenal Grilled Green Chicken, and Leon’s Caper and Anchovy Miracle Sauce. Both are delicious, and I’m not sure why I haven’t re-made them. (Probably because there’s 1,000+ recipes I want to make.)
I’ve eyed her Instant Pot recipes for a long time, but I didn’t have an electric pressure cooker. Recently, a friend gave me her old but very unused Breville Fast Slow Cooker, so I’m determined to experiment more with pressure cooking. I’ve always meant to cook more of Tam’s recipes since they are all gluten-free. If you’ve read my reviews for “Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple,” or for “Baked To Perfection,” you already know that there are several GF people in my life. The easiest way to cook GF is simply to use a GF recipe.
Luckily for me, a review copy of the third book, “Nom Nom Paleo Let’s Go: Simple Feasts and Healthy Eats,” made its way to me. I took this opportunity to get off my duff and just do the thing.
The book is divided into the following chapters:
- Building blocks,
- Plants and eggs,
- “Rice and Noodles”,
- Seafood,
- Poultry,
- Meats,
- Treats
Some recipes that I aim to make:
- Umami stir-fry powder,
- Instant pot green soup with tangy cashew cream,
- Garlic mushroom noodles,
- Chicken velvet and spinach soup,
- Greek chicken and potatoes,
- Sheet pan “peanut” sauce chicken and broccolini,
- Cheesy chicken and kale casserole,
- Instant pot balsamic beef stew,
- Pot stickers,
- Fruit galette,
- Pistachio cardamom cookies,
- Dan tat (Hong Kong egg tarts)
Some of the recipes are only in the book, some are in both the book and on the website. I ended up making four recipes total, two of which are in the book only.
I started with the stir-fry sauce and the tsukune (Japanese chicken meatballs). You need the stir-fry sauce for the meatballs and, thankfully, it’s easy. I used some canned pineapple juice from Trader Joe’s for this endeavor. I could have juiced my own oranges instead, but I thought the more subtle flavor of the pineapple juice would appeal to me more. It’s a great all-purpose Chinese-inspired sauce. Besides the meatballs, I found myself using it to season some quick vegetable soups.
The tsukune was good too. Her cooking times were spot on, and my end result looked a lot like the photo. (Although, no one will know it. I forgot to take a photo of it before all the meatballs were gone.) My only criticism, and it’s more personal taste, is that it was a little too salty for me. That’s an easy fix. I’ll use less next time. It such an easy recipe that I can’t imagine *not* making them again.
The next recipe I made was inspired my defrosting my freezer. I had some old cashew nuts stored there, and I wanted the container gone. So, I got to making cashew cheese sauce. I’ve made cashew cheese sauce before, but the NNP version was a bit different. After soaking the nuts, you cook some onions, add garlic, tomato paste, and turmeric. I don’t think I’ve done that with previous cheese replacements. Then, you blend everything with nutritional yeast, hot water, oil, and a bit of lemon juice. I was a little skeptical of the turmeric. Even though it was a small amount, I didn’t think I was going to like it in this recipe. (I think turmeric is overused in many modern recipes.) But it was nicely balanced by the other ingredients, and I wasn’t put off by it in the final results. My sauce didn’t look as nice as the photo but that’s my fault. I forgot about the oil when I originally tried to blend it, and it was desperately needed. I did my best to dump it back into my blender and smooth it out. Mine also looks a bit browner because I was short on cashews and added skin-on almonds to help make up for it.
Is it cheesy? Well… no. But it hits the spot. And, it is definitely good eats. I found myself trying to slather it on food every chance I got.
The last recipe I made (at least for now) was the old-school tacos. It’s pretty straight-forward. Cook some diced onion, add ground meat (I used ground turkey), add garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, and salt. Then add some tomato salsa and finish cooking. It’s nothing glamorous but it’s a good staple recipe. I might try to alter the spices a little next time for personal preference. I also ate this with the cashew cheese, which is a recommended optional topping.
With a score of 4 out of 4, I recommend this book. Seriously though, I didn’t have any doubts. There are few food blogs that still seem to strive for quality and consistency. (So many blogs out there feel like they’re cannibalizing each other, or suffocating themselves with ads to make money.) And the book is just fun with lots of photos done in a comic book layout to match the comic book versions of the Tam-Fong family. In terms of content and ease of use, I think this book appeals to a wide variety of home cooks. The book is out now, and I hope you pick up a copy. Cheers!
Disclaimer – I kindly received a copy of this book from Andrews McMeel Publishing for this review. I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.
Reference Links:
https://nomnompaleo.com/purpose-stir-fry-sauce
Awesomesauce Eats 