OTC teacher publishes 10th recipe book

J.E. Cornwell has taken his talents in both cooking and publishing to offer readers an inside look into the secrets behind some of the popular dishes offered in the Ozarks.

Cornwell, who teaches classes at the Ozarks Technical Community College Community Enrichment Center, released "What's Cookin' Local," a compilation of more than 130 recipes, including more than 70 videos, from restaurants including Hemingway's and Gem of India to the Tower Club and Caspers.

Cornwell, who has run a restaurant in the Kansas City area, has been publishing recipe books featuring restaurant recipes for 12 years.

"I did a Kansas City restaurants book in 2004," he said. "I did the first 'Taste of Springfield' book in 2008 with about 40 or 50 local spots in it. This one is my 10th recipe book."

One of those books was a national project call "A Taste of Main Street America," which featured recipes from restaurants located on cities' Main Streets.

"It was quite an undertaking. It really burned me out and I hadn't done anything since until this book," he said.

The book comes in a number of formats. It's available on Cornwell's Web site at recipepubs.com, on a CD and on a flash drive. The book includes recipes and a large number of video instructions.

The book is broken into sections by recipe type, including appetizers, beverages, soups, salads and sandwiches, entrees, miscellaneous and desserts.

The recipes include Dublin's Pass Reuben Egg Rolls, Galloway Station's Patty Melt, Gilardi's Chicken Piccata and Nonna's Italian Café's Eggplant Milano.

Cornwell said there were some restaurants that didn't want to disclose certain recipes.

"The ingredients were secret or they were actually copying a recipe from another restaurant," he said.

A book signing party, featuring some of the chefs who participated in the project, will be held at 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at Saviello's Sweet and Savory Catering, 1701 S. Fort, located in the Mansion at Elfindale.

Cornwell said if you can't make the signing but have tried the recipe, it's good to pass that on to the restaurants.

"Tell a chef or any owner if you tried a recipe from the book," he said. "They will love to hear it."

Story by Steve Koehler, OTC's coordinator of media relations