Bonnie Stern’s new cookbook is a testament to her lifelong motto
Bonnie Stern’s new cookbook, penned alongside her daughter, stays true to her lifelong motto and the title is a testament to it – “Don’t Worry, Just Cook.”
“My mum’s message through her entire career has always been helping people to cook at home,” Stern’s daughter and co-author, Anna Rupert, told CTV News Toronto.
“When the pandemic hit and through that year of us writing it, it was the same message but on steroids.”
“Don’t Worry, Just Cook,” released last month, is Stern’s thirteenth cookbook and the first she’s written since closing her cooking school near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, which was open for 37-years, from 1973 to 2011.
“I didn’t know if I had the confidence to write another cookbook until my daughter, Anna, offered to work on it with me,” Stern writes in the book’s introduction.
“On my mom’s end, I suspect that this book may have started as a ploy to spend more time with me,” Rupert replies on the following page.
Stern’s steadfast approach to cooking, which hones in on positive reinforcement and deflects the importance of making a perfect dish, is how Rupert said she learned to cook.
Bonnie Stern and Anna Rupert’s new cookbook “Don’t Worry, Just Cook” (Tyler Anderson). A photo in their cookbook captures one of these moments, back when Anna was a kid. In it, Stern holds up a rustic fruit tart with pastry dough folded around plums cut into crescents next to Anna who holds a shriveled piece of pastry with an entire, uncut plum sitting on top.
“It’s not a tart in any shape or form,” Rupert said.
“Sure it’s a tart!” Stern jumped in. “Right, she was always really proud of us,” Rupert added.
Stern and Rupert wrote their cookbook at a time when only five people were allowed indoors, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Bonnie Stern and Anna Rupert’s new cookbook “Don’t Worry, Just Cook” (Tyler Anderson). Instead of booking a kitchen studio with culinary props traditionally used for cookbook photoshoots, their images were taken in Stern’s kitchen at home with her own pots, plates and pans placed on her counters.
On Stern’s cooling racks and baking sheets, photographs picture ricotta slices drizzled with basil pesto, jeweled salmon sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and pistachios, and crispy potato latkes.
“It was bare bones,” Stern said.
“I like this the most because to me, it’s real.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Air quality advisories issued in 5 provinces, 1 territory
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
'Oh my God, you're my brother': Man in his 70s discovers 6 unknown siblings
After receiving a DNA kit one Christmas from his son-in-law, Hugh McCormick soon discovered that he had six unknown siblings, with whom he shared the same birth parents.
No refund for travellers who cancelled flight already scrapped by airline: regulator
Four years on, the controversy over whether airlines owed refunds to passengers after cancelling hundreds of thousands of flights during the pandemic continues to simmer, aggravated by a sluggish, opaque complaints process.
Just how bad are ultraprocessed foods? Here are 5 things to know
Many foods fall under the category of ultraprocessed foods, depending on their exact ingredients. This type of food has been studied a lot lately, and the results aren’t great.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Rates of cancer declining in Canada, but more work needed to save lives: projections
A new study projecting declining rates of cancer cases and deaths in Canada demonstrates the success of prevention and early detection programs, but also highlights areas where more work is needed to save and prolong lives, researchers say.
DEVELOPING Trump trial arrives at a pivotal moment: Star witness Michael Cohen is poised to take the stand
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial is set to take the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
India's mammoth election is more than halfway done as millions begin voting in fourth round
Millions of Indians across 96 constituencies began casting their ballots on Monday as the country's gigantic, six-week-long election edges past its halfway mark. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third straight term with an eye on winning a supermajority in Parliament.
Ottawa pizzeria places among top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world at international competition
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.