COOK THIS: Now & Again by Julia Turshen

As we head into the holiday season, Julia Turshen’s new book, Now & Again (Chronicle Books; $35) is ready to rescue you from the questions “What do I make?” and just as importantly, “What do I do with the leftovers?” Twenty seasonal, multi-course menus will cover you from a casual lunch with friends through to Thanksgiving dinner itself. At the end of each menu you’ll find “It’s Me Again” – a round-up of ideas for using up the extra bits and bobs that end up in Tupperware at the bottom of your fridge. Each menu sports a handy timeline for preparing elements ahead of time, and trickier recipes come complete with instructional photos. The book ends off with very useful lists including “Seven Things to Do with Not-So-New Produce,” as well as less useful ones like “Seven Things to Do with Leftover Wine” which we have never heard of in our house.

I made the Sheet Pan Bread Stuffing with Sausage + Spinach for Canadian Thanksgiving last month (recipe below). Crumbled chunks of Italian sausage are cooked until crisp, with celery, onion and garlic then cooked in the rendered fat before adding stock and sage. Spinach, parsley and rustic chunks of bread are stirred through along with a few eggs. The whole lot is baked on a sheet pan after being dotted with butter. I wish I could tell you that we used Turshen’s suggestion for transforming the leftovers (crisp them up, top with an egg and serve for breakfast), but that would be a lie because we demolished every crumb of it.

Turshen’s head-cheerleader levels of encouragement make this a great book for those panic-stricken by the idea of having people over for dinner, never mind cooking the Christmas turkey. But her well-balanced, thoughtful recipes mean that even a well-seasoned cook will get plenty from Now & Again.

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