A cookbook collector who owns several hundred of them, Drew Barrymore wanted her debut cookbook to be "very personal and eclectic and messy and real." Rebel Homemaker is all of those things, but it's also beautifully designed (filled with personal photographs) and enriched with charming, heartfelt and funny personal essays sprinkled between the recipes.
The book's recipes and essays are arranged by meal, beginning with breakfast and ending with dinner, sides and salads. Most recipes include instructions for preparing food in advance (including poached eggs!) with advice on how to preserve them and reheat them properly. Vegetarian, soup and fish dishes are prominent, with standouts including blackened tuna in lettuce cups; Coconut Fish Kilawin (using snapper or blackfish); Stovetop Scampi; squash gratin with cashew cream; and the sweet and salty Korean stir-fried noodle dish Japchae. But meat-lovers will enjoy her Vietnamese lemongrass beef skewers, pepper steak and shredded beef--"It's better the next day," she promises. Some of her simplest recipes look the most delicious--including a brie and apple grilled cheese sandwich and a watermelon with pistachio dukkah dish.
Barrymore's lyrical and relaxed essays range from the joys and struggles of cooking for and with her two daughters during the pandemic shutdown, advice on table seating ("Don't space people out too much, because you immediately lose more people to talk to"), and creating her line of Beautiful cookware, which replaces knobs and dials with touchscreens. Rebel Homemaker is as charming as its author. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant