By: centraljersey.com
At first glance, "Shefzilla: Conquering Haute Cuisine at Home" would seem to be the antithesis of what is currently in cookbook fashion. The recipes are admittedly "cheffy," based on those developed and served in chef and author Stewart Woodman’s Minneapolis restaurant, Heidi’s. But what made me take a closer look was this line from the publisher’s press release: "On a brisk February morning [in 2010], Stewart Woodman learned he’d been named a finalist for Best Chef: Midwest by the prestigious James Beard Foundation. That afternoon, a fire gutted his restaurant … "
After that, Mr. Woodman, along with his pastry chef wife, Heidi, for whom the restaurant was named, spent the next three months at home, testing recipes in their home kitchen and writing this book, for which Mr. Woodman already had a contract. The work was therapeutic – the new Heidi’s is set to open any day now – and the process meant that the book’s 100-plus recipes were tested under real-life conditions. The promised results would be restaurant-caliber dishes such as roast onion risotto, marinated and steamed tilapia with rosemary pilaf, Buffalo shrimp skewers, tofu with fermented black bean sauce, lettuce soup, and almond and mascarpone Bundt cake.
In my own kitchen, trying to follow instructions for the recipes I chose proved challenging. Not one worked exactly as promised, yet I got good, interesting results each time. I’m not sure this is a book for novice or insecure home cooks, although confident, flexible cooks who enjoy serving restaurant quality fare may want to check it out.

