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One Dish – Four Seasons: Food, Wine, and Sound – All Year Round by Jordan Zucker

Jordan Zucker’s debut cookbook, One Dish – Four Seasons: Food, Wine, and Sound – All Year Round (Home Sauce Publications, October 1, 2019), is a thoughtfully laid out family collaboration and sophisticated labor of love. Zucker (who hosts Girls Guide to Sports, appeared on Food Network’s Grill It! with Bobby Flay, and was a recurring character on the popular TV series Scrubs) takes a base recipe, and by varying seasonally available ingredients, creatively builds 4 versions of each dish: a winter, spring, summer and fall. 20 dishes x 4 seasons = 80 mouthwatering recipes plus a round of cocktails, of course! Each dish is then paired with a wine and a music album, further exploring the seasonality of the three elements of entertaining.

For example: the seasonal variations of one dish in the appetizer chapter, the Dutch Baby, include: Mushroom & Brie (fall), Caramelized Onion & Blue Cheese (winter), Spinach, Leek & Gruyere (spring) and Roasted Tomato, Tarragon & Goat Cheese (summer). Jordan is joined by her expert cook mom, Betti, and ex-sommelier dad, Jim, in leading readers on a culinary tour through each of the four seasons. Enjoyable as much on a coffee table as in the kitchen, One Dish -Four Seasons features gorgeous full-color photos, correlating illustrations, easy-to-follow and humorously guided recipes, impeccable wine pairings, as well as integrative music soundtracks (with clever layers to the matches), and witty family anecdotes. This one-of-a-kind collaboration will bring families and friends together in the kitchen and inspire a creative approach using the base recipes as open canvases.

Jordan’s whimsical personality and quick-wit shine through each page of this extraordinary cookbook as she personally shares the experience of creating each dish with the laughter and passion of a true artist. The reader will be encouraged to eat local, and also enjoy regional wine maps, visual aids via color coded wines and seasons, and many more opportunities to benefit from Zucker’s myriad of tips and details.

Goodreads

About the Author

Jordan Zucker is an accomplished writer, actor, host, cook, and entertainer. She loves to creatively incorporate meals into every type of celebration (and who can’t find at least one reason to celebrate a day…). She has shared her expertise as a guest star on Food Network’s Grill It! with Bobby Flay, and has entertained audiences as “Lisa the intern” on NBC’s Scrubs. She continues to educate, engage, empower, and entertain through her own comedic sports series, Girls Guide to Sports, which she writes, hosts, and produces. She combined her love of football and food in her “Monday Night Matchup Menus” series, creating meals each week based on the teams playing in Monday Night Football. She has expanded into cooking for other sports on the Girls Guide website. Jordan attends live music concerts religiously and keeps abreast of current gems and classic legends in the music world. Here, she combines three of her biggest passions, food, wine, and music, to bring you her first book.

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Author Q&A

1. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was little I remember we talked about being a vet because I loved animals and was an equestrian. But as I grew older I gravitated more towards being an entertainer.

2. Do you have kids and/or pets?

Hula is my French bulldog and appears in my book!

3. Where/When do you best like to write?

I’m not a morning person. My brain and personality don’t kick in until midday. I usually write at my desk in my office but can usually get into a zone anywhere if I push myself.

4. Do you have any interesting writing habits or superstitions?

An old family drinking superstition was that the last drop of the wine bottle couldn’t go to a woman or she’d be an old maid (likely rooted from the old maid card game and also likely created by a man). This has grown tiresome with multiple bartenders around the world and also my bare left ring finger so I’ve been known to abandon its absurdity in recent days.

5. What inspired your book?

I subscribed to the old adage of “write what you know.”

6. How does a new idea come to you?

Often in my sleep and then I have to remember it when I wake up which probably happens 2% of the time.

7. What was your greatest challenge in writing this book?

Building the team, finding vetted resources.

8. Do you have a bucket list? What are some of the things on it?

World ski tour (still need Alps and Andes). World Chef’s Table tour (we travel to one new restaurant for my birthday every year). Monkey tour of the world (Silverback gorillas, chimps, mandrills, orangutans). Raise a family. Sing the national anthem at a sporting event. Watch a game with Obama. Go skydiving. Learn French. Host a cooking show. Etc.

9. What’s the best writing advice you have ever received?

You will never think it’s finished.

I would like to thank PR by the Book for the opportunity to share this book.