Brian Voll's Menu series is a collection of small books (5" x 7", 36 pages), that offer a charming combination of practicality, hospitality, and style, all in the form of, yes, a menu for dinner, with recipes, a shopping list, and a few thoughts on not being wasteful with ingredients while still offering your guests something out-of-the-ordinary. The core ingredients for Menu No 5 are beef, mustard, fresh chilies, dried chilies, and butter. With some supplemental ingredients, time, and culinary effort, they become: Agave cocktail Tomato and crab soup with sweet potato and chiles Cornmeal molasses rolls Bloody beef with arugula, mint, and mustard Carrot mash with brown butter and spices Paste di Meliga (cornmeal sandwich cookies with Italian meringue buttercream) The food isn't revolutionary; it's not meant to be. But it's smart and thoughtful and it might just get you out of a rut.
