eggplant parmesan recipe

Vegan Eggplant Parmesan with Zucchini and Cashew Béchamel
Zucchini-Eggplant "Parm" with pomodoro sauce, cashew béchamel, basil oil, and garlic breadcrumbs

Zucchini-Eggplant “Parm” with pomodoro sauce, cashew béchamel, basil oil, and garlic breadcrumbs excerpted from La Copine: New California Cooking from an Oasis in the Desert by Claire Wadsworth, Nikki Hill, and Ben Mims. Photography by Gentl & Hyers.

La Copine: New California Cooking from an Oasis in the Desert by Claire Wadsworth, Nikki Hill, and Ben Mims

Bon Appétit, Best New Cookbooks of Spring 2026

From La Copine, a destination restaurant near Joshua Tree, comes a beautiful debut cookbook with stories of life in the desert and recipes that capture a unique approach to California cooking.

Out in the California desert near Joshua Tree, La Copine spins its own kind of magic, powered by business and life partners Claire Wadsworth and Nikki Hill, the drama of the landscape, the eclectic local population, and of course, the irresistible food.

With celebrity clientele and glowing reviews in the New York Times, Eater, Vogue, and others, this restaurant is beloved by California visitors and locals alike. In their debut cookbook, La Copine, Wadsworth and Hill share stories of their love, life, community, and the spirit of La Copine, one delicious recipe at a time.

Dubbed the West Coast’s answer to Via Carota’s Rita and Jody, Wadsworth and Hill are passionate, community driven, California cooks with a deep love for each other and the people around them. They welcome their guests to La Copine (which means “girlfriend” in French) with open arms, create a safe haven for the queer community outside of Los Angeles, and have a deep sense of care and pride for everything they put on the plate.

Home cooks will want to adopt the restaurant’s “California soul” style: veggie forward, innovative yet comforting, light enough for lunch, yet substantial enough to gather around and linger over. From “hunky” salads, as described by the New York Times, to special occasion sandwiches, summery, boldly flavoured grilled meats and vegetables, and simple no bake desserts, La Copine’s food roams far and wide but always imparts a sense of home. (more…)

Cast-Iron Baked Eggplant Parmesan
Cast-Iron Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Cast-Iron Baked Eggplant Parmesan excerpted from Dad in the Kitchen: Over 100 Delicious Family Recipes You’ll Love to Make and They’ll Love to Eat by Cory Vitiello and Chris Johns. Copyright © 2023 Cory Vitiello and Chris Johns. Photographs by Paula Wilson.

Dad in the Kitchen: Over 100 Delicious Family Recipes You’ll Love to Make and They’ll Love to Eat by Cory Vitiello and Chris Johns. Copyright © 2023 Cory Vitiello and Chris Johns. Photographs by Paula Wilson.Ready for the tips and tricks that will turn the dad in your life into a hero in the kitchen?

Highly-acclaimed chef and restaurateur Cory Vitiello can cook in a professional kitchen with his eyes closed (please don’t try this yourself), but when he became a dad, he quickly had to adjust his culinary repertoire to cater to a much more demanding clientele: his young family.

In his first book, Cory has teamed up with fellow dad and celebrated food writer Chris Johns on a crowd-pleasing collection of recipes that will instill confidence in all home cooks and develop the next generation of adventurous eaters in your family. With Cory and Chris as your guides, you’ll find ideas for any time of day, and any day of the week, such as: (more…)

Sheet Pan Eggplant Parmesan
Sheet Pan Eggplant Parmesan

Sheet Pan Eggplant Parmesan, DInner Uncomplicated by Claire Tansey. Photography by Suech and Beck.

Dinner Uncomplicated

It’s 2 p.m. – do you know what you’re making for dinner? That’s the struggle most of us face every day, and the more complicated life gets, the more stressful the simple act of deciding what to feed your family can feel. But if you love food and eating well, you’re more than up for the challenge! And Claire Tansey’s latest book is here to make it easy, fast, delicious and fun.

Dinner, Uncomplicated frees you from the pressure of the evening meal with simple and satisfying recipes for every night of the week: the ones with the luxury of 45 minutes and the ones when the whole family needs to eat right now. These 90 inspired and easy-to-follow recipes are simple to shop for, efficient to prep and quick to clean up, and the dinners they make are flavourful, nourishing and always crowd-pleasing. What’s more, the recipes and techniques in this invaluable book are designed to suit every type of meal planner, whether you like to schedule your week, batch and freeze, fly by the seat of your pants or discover some perfect place of your own in between.

(more…)