Cook the Book: 'The Food52 Cookbook'

Those spiral-bound community sourced cookbooks have a wonderfully homespun feel. Assembled by church groups and school moms, these tend to stand the test of time, mostly due to the fact that the selected recipes were contributed by home cooks who weren't all that comfortable in the kitchen, and these were their personal best.

In assembling The Food52 Cookbook, Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs employed a similar strategy, asking members of their community, Food52, to share their best recipe each week for a year.

Of course, determining a winner was far from an arbitrary process. Each of the top contenders were tested out and ballots were cast to see which garnered a spot in cookbook.

By asking readers for everything from their best couscous and polenta recipe to best holiday cookies and cold summer soup, Hesser and Stubbs have curated a selection that's not only diverse and exciting but also elegant while wholly accessible for home cooks. And honestly, it might just be the most useful addition to our cookbook library of 2011.

We asked Amanda Hesser to share some of her favorites from The Food52 Cookbook for this week's Cook the Book and she's provided us with quite a menu. We'll be starting off with Smoky Fried Chickpeas and moving on to Barbacoa Beef Cheek Tacos, Pink Greens, and a Spanish Roasted Potato Salad.

Win 'The Food52 Cookbook'

Thanks to the generous folks over at William Morrow, we are giving away five (5) copies of The Food52 Cookbook this week.

All you have to do is your winningest recipe in the comments section below.

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