The Hidden Table by Shannon Smith

This is another local girl made good.

About the book:

Taken from Smith’s website:

Embark on a culinary adventure as I share stories and recipes from my many travels around the globe based around different locales and their people, food, and history. I’ve always thought of the dining table as a powerful communal space that provides a shared experience for the diverse threads of culture to interweave. This cookbook is a collection of my experiences around some of the most obscure yet memorable tables I’ve discovered during my travels and the unique people that made them so special.

The Hidden Table Cookbook is a story and recipe book with 12 chapters, each representing a different place in the world where I have traveled and cooked. I tell stories of the “hidden tables” around which I have learned, cooked, eaten, and made long lasting friends. These have been dining room tables, picnic tables, campfires, fishing boats, hay bales, and even palace kitchens. I’ve made wonderful friendships with people who have shared their stories and recipes with me, and I am now thrilled to be able to share them with you in this book. In addition, The Hidden Table features extraordinary and beautiful photography, by my friend and photographer, Valerie Wei-Haas. It is my hope that when you read the stories and see the photos, you’ll feel like you are in those places with me.

A portion of proceeds from sales will be donated to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. Learn more about their mission here.

About the author:

(Also taken from Smith’s website)

Shannon is an earnest traveler with the heart of a chef, exploring the world for flavors and stories she can bring home to share with others. A native of Oklahoma, she has traveled to over 50 countries where she often cooks in the kitchens of local chefs and home cooks, learning about the ingredients, recipes, and stories that shape their lives. For over 20 years, Shannon has taught cooking classes and hosted dinner events in her Tulsa home with themed menus based on different locales from her travels.

Shannon is also passionate about doing good and uses her travels to teach impoverished women to cook while helping to finance their businesses using micro-loan programs. Her charity work has taken her to the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Rwanda where she helped locals striving to improve their businesses and provide for their families.

Her first cookbook, The Hidden Table, was released May of 2024, which is a collection of stories and recipes from her adventures around the world. 

What I thought….

I always like to see a Tulsan doing good but I have to say, again, that I live in a bubble and I really had not heard a lot about Smith. I did hear buzz about this cookbook though. It’s just taken me a while to get my hands on it.

It’s a beautiful book full of photos of the locales that inspired her beside gorgeous pictures of her recipes. She even includes candid shots from early travels during her college days in the 80s. I thought most of the recipes were achievable. I was glad to see that she acknowledge that not everyone has a tandoori oven so she includes alternative ways to cook naan.

India is the first country she highlights. Mustard oil is a must for Smith’s Indian recipes. Other than that ingredient, most of the other items for her Indian cuisine are quite doable with perhaps the exception of Smoked Dal (14). While the recipes aren’t extensive or elaborate, she does include recipes for mains, sides (like lemon rice) and dessert, Pistachio and Saffron Kulfi (30).

The next stop is Morocco. She includes salads (amazing), a perfect brunch dish with Berber Scrambled Eggs (46), one-pot tagine meals, and two desserts—Orange and Cardamom Ice Cream (58) and Ghriba, almond cookies(60). Again, I didn’t think anything was not doable (with some tagines).

The Andes of South America section was more elevated than I expected (read cheffy). It was again a great mix of recipes from appetizers (two different ceviches), a quinoa salad, soup and stews, a veggie side, and entrees. (No dessert in this section.) One ceviche recipe includes a great dressing of Coconut Tigers Milk, the charred veggies are drizzled with a browned butter vinaigrette, short ribs are braised in Malbec.

I feel like Smith is a master of taking traditional recipes and making them attainable for a home cook in Oklahoma (or anywhere). The Indonesian recipes are proof of that. I noticed that she also starts pairing recipes: Corn and Long Bean Salad (100) is perfect to serve with Steamed Fish in Banana Leaves (110) or her Chicken Satay recipe (104). Some recipes here have a few more steps, especially the Spicy Javanese Beef Rendang with Sambal and Garlic Bean Sprouts (116-117).

In Italy, she shares recipes for “typical” Italian fare like Arancini (130), Focaccia (134), pastas, pizza, and Semifreddo (152). Recipes that seemed to draw me in were the Yeast Fritters (pettole) (132) and the Chocolate Tart with Nut Crust (150).

Tomato Fritters (served with Tzatziki Sauce) is the first recipe in the Greece section (164). I will be saving this one for fresh tomatoes this summer. Her take on Pasticcio is a beautiful layered affair baked in puff pastry (172).

Mexico was the first country Smith revisits after the pandemic.

This time, I wanted to experience it alongside the people who live beyond the bubble of tourists’ salt-rimmed glasses. I wanted to explore unfamiliar places and make new friends who could teach me the secrets to Mexican cuisine…. (183)

The first recipe is one of the few beverages in the book: Jalapeno Mezcalita (192), a smokier and spicier margarita. There are also lots of sauces and condiments in the Mexico section—salsas and moles. These are to compliment the tamales, chilaquiles, enchilada, chicken and steak dishes. Mango pie (210) rounds out the section. 

I love that she included a New Mexico section. (She shares that her grandparents lived in New Mexico and she visited often growing up.) She shares her technique for roasting green chiles (220) which comes in handy with most of the recipes in this section. I am totally rolling out the Green Chile Egg and Cheese Casserole (222) at our next holiday brunch. Green Chile Scalloped Potatoes (228) and Kiwi and Green Chile Gazpacho (230) are two more good uses for those roasted peppers. Her Red Chile Caesar Dressing (226) sounds totally amazing. 

From NM, we head to the Caribbean and start off with a Watermelon Mojito (250). There’s a lot of great flavor here and a bit of creativity with her Curried Butternut Squash Soup (252), Jerk Chicken Pasta (254), Cocoa- and Coffee-Crusted Salmon w/Mango Salsa (256), and Cuban Bread Pudding (266). 

Of course, in Spain there is a giant paella (276), gazpacho (286), a Spanish tortilla (292) and lots of tapas recipes that sound delicious: Ham & Chicken Croquettes (282), Fierce Potatoes with Aioli (284), Fried Anchovies (288), Wicked Spanish Eggs (290). 

The France section also contains staples like Croque Monsieur (308), Ratatouille (316) and Beef Bourguignon (320), but Smith adds a Leek and Camembert Tart (312) and a decadent Crème Brûlée with Chocolate Ganache (322).  (I love that she serves the Bourguignon over mashed potatoes; I’ve only ever served it on toasted garlic bread). 

The final section, Israel, is perhaps the most fresh with lots of salads. Her Blueberry and Cabbage Salad (334) includes both fresh and dried berries. I have always wanted to try my hand at making falafel and I will use her recipe (338). The Green Shakshuka (342) is full of Swiss chard, celery, with added jalapeno for spice. She also includes recipes for Jerusalem Bagels (350) and Pita (352).

Final thoughts:

• I appreciated that some of her recipes used premade items like puff pastry for her samosas (12) and jarred red peppers for Roasted Pepper and Mango Salad (42).
• Recipes were mostly attainable.
• Some of her travels seemed more immersive than others. For instance in South American and Italy, she wanted to to be embraced by the recipes and therefore the families that cooked them. In other travels, like in India, she seemed to be staying at very high end hotels and hanging out in their kitchens.
• This is another self-published cookbook but I was more impressed with this one than the last one I reviewed.
• I did appreciated her thoughts on each country’s cuisine and her travel experiences (although I will admit I am jealous).
• Her website is full of recipes, some included in this cookbook. You can also keep up with her travels.

She continues to cater and hold private dinners (most sell out quickly) in the Tulsa area. You can catch many of her recipes and buy this book at her website: https://chefshannon.com/recipes

I am going to bookmark this site.

I’m linking up with April’s Foodies Read.