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Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes: A Cookbook Hardcover – October 24, 2017
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“This is not a cookbook. It’s a treasure map.”—Samin Nosrat, author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco Chronicle • NPR • Epicurious • Newsday • KCRW’s Good Food • The Fader • American Express Essentials
Alison Roman’s Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread made her Instagram-famous. But all of the recipes in Dining In have one thing in common: they make even the most oven-phobic or restaurant-crazed person want to stay home and cook. They prove that casual doesn’t have to mean boring, simple doesn’t have to be uninspired, and that more steps or ingredients don’t always translate to a better plate of food.
Vegetable-forward but with an affinity for a mean steak and a deep regard for fresh fish, Dining In is all about building flavor and saving time. Alison’s ingenuity seduces seasoned cooks, while her warm, edgy writing makes these recipes practical and approachable enough for the novice. With 125 recipes for effortlessly chic dishes that are full of quick-trick techniques (think slathering roast chicken in anchovy butter, roasting citrus to ramp up the flavor, and keeping boiled potatoes in the fridge for instant crispy smashed potatoes), she proves that dining in brings you just as much joy as eating out.
Praise for Dining In
“Sorry, restaurants. Superstar Alison Roman has given us recipes so delicious, so meltdown-proof—and so fun to read—we’re going to be cooking at home for a while. Quite possibly forever.”—Christine Muhlke, editor at large, Bon Appétit
“Anyone who wants the aesthetic, quality, and creativity of a Brooklyn restaurant without having to go to a Brooklyn restaurant will love Alison Roman’s cookbook. It’s filled with recipes that are both unique and approachable. Reading it, you’ll find yourself thinking ‘I would have never thought of making this but I want to make it right now.’”—BuzzFeed
“Dining In is exactly how I want to cook: with bright, fresh flavors, minimal technique, and no pretense. This isn’t just a bunch of great recipes, but a manifesto on how one original, opinionated home cook sees the world.”—Amanda Hesser, co-founder, Food52
- Print length303 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherClarkson Potter
- Publication dateOctober 24, 2017
- Dimensions8.36 x 1.02 x 10.27 inches
- ISBN-10045149699X
- ISBN-13978-0451496997
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From the Publisher
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Rhubarb-Almond Galette
Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes by Alison Roman
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Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies |
Four-Bean Salad with Green Romesco |
Roasted Tomato and Anchovy Bucatini |
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Skillet Chicken with Crushed Olives and Sumac
Serves 4
This is a pretty hot take, but I think bone-in, skin-on chicken might be the most delicious type of meat you can eat. The skin gets crispier than any bacon you could fry, and the fat left rendered in the skillet is worth the price of admission alone (once you have those briny olives coated in the stuff, you’ll see why).
This recipe can be infinitely adapted. Once you sear the thighs, feel free to add thinly sliced vegetables (such as fennel, turnips, or carrots), torn dark leafy greens, a rinsed and drained can of beans, or precooked grains into the skillet, coating them in that liquid gold and serving them alongside your new favorite way to eat chicken.
Recipe
1. Toss the onion with the lemon juice & season with salt & pepper; set aside. 2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, & cook until the skin is golden brown & crispy, 8 to 10 minutes.
Flip the chicken & continue to cook it until the bottom is golden brown & the chicken is cooked through, 5 to 8 minutes more.
3. Transfer the chicken to a large plate or cutting board. Add the olives, sumac, and ½ cup water to the skillet, stirring to scrape up those browned bits on the bottom.
4. Return the chicken to the skillet, skin-side up so it stays crispy, and cook over medium heat until the liquid has almost totally evaporated, about 4 minutes; remove from the heat. Add the red onion (plus any liquid) and toss to coat with the olives and the other bits. Transfer the chicken and olives to a large serving platter; scatter the herbs over the top before serving.
Ingredients
- ½ small red onion, thinly sliced 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1½ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (4 to 6, depending on size)
- or bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (2 or 3, depending on size)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup pitted Castelvetrano olives, crushed
- 1½ teaspoons ground sumac
- 1 cup fresh herbs, such as parsley, mint, or dill
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Alison Roman combines expertise with ease. Dining In should make Brooklynesque restaurants around the country nervous. Why would you dine out when you can roast chicken in anchovy butter and toast up croutons in the schmaltzy, umami-tastic butter, or make crispy chickpeas and lamb with greens and garlicky yogurt?”—Bon Appétit
“Never too fancy, Alison solves the greatest mystery every home cook faces—how to transform thoughtful food into a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts one-pan-wonder or next-level crowd-pleasing masterpiece.”—Christina Tosi, author of Momofuku Milk Bar
“Roman's voice is funny and energetic and such a change of pace from the usual short-and-robotic recipe format.”—Bon Appétit online
“Not your grandmother’s all-purpose cookbook.”—Food52
“A classic waiting to happen.”—Epicurious
“Former pastry chef and food editor Alison Roman’s first book is a collection of recipes that speak to this moment in modern dining: One-pot dinners, sharable plates, casual desserts. Roman makes clever use of pantry staples and condiments to season and draw flavor out of winter vegetables and slowly simmered stews.”—Eater
“[Roman's] recipes feature plenty of ‘it’ ingredients, like kimchi, pistachios,and za’atar, but they all make delicious, craveworthy sense. Flipping through Dining In, I wanted to read every word and make every dish; there’s not too many cookbooks I can say that about.”—Fine Cooking
“Designed to make your weeknight dinner more delicious and less fussy.”—The Kitchn
“You might walk right past this cookbook, with its modest title and quiet design, but take my advice and stop for a closer look. . . . Nearly every recipe I tried was a desert-island dish: blistered green beans with creamy tahini, cumin lamb chops with charred scallions and peanuts, salted butter and chocolate chunk shortbread. Definitely for dining in, as the title suggests, since you'll want your privacy as you're licking every last crumb off your plate.”—T. Susan Chang, NPR
“Alison Roman, who has cooked in restaurants and editorial kitchens, reads a little like a contemporary Colwin–in that her voice dances with energy and wit and self-awareness and intelligence. She seems to have little interest in precious cooking, fancy kitchen gadgets or anything that distracts from honest ingredients and foolproof techniques. To read Alison Roman is to feel a kind of instantaneous kinship.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Like your best friend who’s a great cook, [Alison Roman] spends a lot of ink up front persuading you that, yes, you can do this, you can cook. And as your best friend, she speaks to you in a conspiratorial tone and keeps things easy. Her recipes rely less on tricky technique than on clever flavor and textural combinations. Everything seems thrown together in a breezy manner, but the genius is evident. . . . Every recipe seems ‘highly cookable,’ her catchphrase, and craveable. And any chef who admits she likes black olives from a can ‘that you can wear on your fingers’ is someone we’ll follow into that kitchen.”—Chicago Tribune
“Roman’s book is filled with plenty [of] inventive ideas that would work just as well for a weeknight meal as for a high-stakes dinner party.”—Vogue
“This isn’t one of those pretty cookbooks that sits on a shelf. It’s a pretty cookbook filled with winning recipes begging to be made.”—The Boston Globe
“Fun and approachable, and most likely better than most dishes you’d order eating out.”—The San Francisco Chronicle
“Some of Roman’s greatest hits.”—The Cut
“One of the year’s best cookbooks.”—Joanna Goddard, A Cup of Jo
“Very much a reflection of how we eat now.”—Mind Body Green
“I am always wondering what Alison Roman is cooking because, without fail, it's just what I want to make (Sour Cream Flatbread! Vinegar-Braised Chicken!). From her relaxed approach to her inventive combinations, Alison’s indispensable recipes are easy to prepare and fun to eat and make home the best place to dine.”—Julia Turshen, author of Small Victories
“Unpretentious, inspired, invigorating, Alison Roman’s voice is exactly what I’ve been waiting for in cookbooks. Within hours of opening Dining In, the irresistible Anchovy-Butter Chicken was in the oven. Dining In is destined to be a beloved, food-stained, dog-eared Bible for a new generation of cooks.”—Stephanie Danler, bestselling author of Sweetbitter
“Dining In is more than just a long list of super interesting recipes — it's a book that will probably fundamentally change the way I cook. Recipes with unfussy new techniques like her Anchovy-Butter Chicken with Chicken Fat Croutons (with some radishes on the side!) produce ridiculously pleasing results that have inspired me to always take that extra little step. The book is filled with sneaky gems meant to steal the show at dinner parties. Make her Salted Butter & Chocolate Chunk Shortbread for dessert and you'll never be mad again.”—Myles Tanzer, The Fader
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Serves Four
I ate a lot of squash with brown sugar and butter while growing up. This recipe is my more practical “I can’t have ice cream for every meal” compromise, using honey instead of brown sugar and coconut oil instead of butter. I would probably eat this as dinner on its own, but I happen to know it’s also great as a side with things like roasted chicken or pork chops.
While tender, caramelized, salty-sweet squash is magnificent all on its own, it should be mentioned that the real reason for making this dish is for the toasted coconut gremolata: chips of nutty, unsweetened coconut tossed with herbs, lots of lemon zest, and a bit of Aleppo pepper. It’s wildly addictive, and there is no reason it couldn’t appear over roasted carrots, sprinkled onto a curry or stew, or even over salads as a stand-in for croutons.
DO AHEAD: Everything but the coconut can be made 1 day ahead; when ready to serve, toast the coconut and add it to the chive mixture (toasted coconut will start to soften once mixed with the herbs and refrigerated).
SQUASH
2 medium winter squash, such as delicata or acorn (1½ to 2 pounds)
3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted, or olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
TOASTED COCONUT GREMOLATA
¾ cup unsweetened coconut chips
¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives
½ cup fresh cilantro, tender leaves and stems, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper or 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
ROAST THE SQUASH:
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Leaving the skin on, slice the squash into ½-inch-thick rings. (I roast my squash with the seeds still inside, because they get all crispy and I love the texture they bring to the table, but you can remove them if you like. Best way to do that is cut the squash in half crosswise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon, then slice into rings.)
Toss the squash with the coconut oil and honey on a rimmed baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Roast, flipping the squash once, until it is completely tender, browned, and caramelized, 25 to 30 minutes.
MAKE THE GREMOLATA:
While the squash is roasting, heat a small skillet over medium heat and add the coconut. Shake the skillet occasionally until the coconut is starting to brown at the edges and smells all toasty and amazing, 3 to 4 minutes.
Place it in a medium bowl to cool completely.
Once the coconut has cooled, add the chives, cilantro, lemon zest, and Aleppo pepper, and season with salt. Using your fingers, mix this together until the oils in the lemon zest have released and everything is evenly distributed (especially the lemon zest, which can stubbornly clump up).
Sprinkle the coconut gremolata over the roasted squash and serve.
Product details
- Publisher : Clarkson Potter (October 24, 2017)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 303 pages
- ISBN-10 : 045149699X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0451496997
- Item Weight : 2.75 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.36 x 1.02 x 10.27 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #7,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #17 in Seasonal Cooking (Books)
- #23 in Cooking for One or Two
- #74 in Quick & Easy Cooking (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the authors
Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott are photographers who work as a creative team under the name, Graydon Herriott. Together, we shoot varied subjects; still life, travel, food, interiors, and lifestyle for both commercial and editorial clients. You can find more on graydonherriott.com and instgram.com/graydonherriott
Nikole Herriott is one half of the creative team, Graydon Herriott alongside Michael Graydon.
Michael was first introduced to photography when as a kid his family spent countless hours in the flickering light of vacation slideshows in the basement. The gift of his fathers’s old Pentax Spotmatic when he was twelve further fanned the spark of Michael’s passion for photography.
He also really, really, loves cats.
Nikole came to photography after a career as a pastry chef and a poli sci degree. She mistakenly thought being a career diplomat meant slow moving fans, wide linen pants and glorious hotel lobbies with potted palms. Turns out, that’s not at all it. ;) She loves grocery stores, citrus trees and swimming in the ocean. Her favourite food is dessert.
The two met when Michael was on assignment to photograph Nikole and her online shop, Herriott Grace. After dating for about a year, they found their chemistry extended to a creative partnership as well.
They feel lucky to travel and take pictures together and call it a job. Though most times, it doesn't feel much like work at all.
ALISON ROMAN is the author of The New York Times bestselling cookbooks Nothing Fancy and Dining In. She is a former bi-weekly columnist for the Cooking section of The New York Times and senior food editor at Bon Appétit Magazine. Creator of house favorites such as Shallot Pasta and #thecookies, her highly cookable recipes frequently achieve massive popularity in both home kitchens and on the internet. You can find her and her recipes every other week on her YouTube series, Home Movies, as well as her successful newsletter, titled simply, A Newsletter. Sign up for both over on alisoneroman.com and instagram.com/alisoneroman.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book design beautiful and great for anyone. They also appreciate the writing style as well-written, inventive, and approachable. Readers mention the recipes are pretty simple and don't require a ton of prep. They describe the content as engaging, healthy, and fresh. They appreciate the humor as relatable and genuinely funny. Opinions are mixed on originality, with some finding it unique and delicious, while others say it's uninspired. Reader opinions are mixed also on the photos, with others finding them great and others bland.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book design beautiful, cool, and genius. They also appreciate the fresh, fun, and colorful design. Readers describe the book as one of the best cookbooks they have discovered in a long time, and say the recipes work every time.
"...the practical and logical, the science and intuition of it: It's a beautiful, easy, exciting cooking style that Alison Roman has developed, and she..." Read more
"...The book itself is beautiful, which makes me feel slightly guilty about the kitchen splatters that are appearing all over the pages as most night..." Read more
"This has been my go-to during quarantine. The book is beautiful, well-written, and has modern, beautifully shot (and plentiful!) photos...." Read more
"...But this book...this gorgeous, glorious, joyful chance at preparing dinner as a family sweetly commands me to tell everyone I can that this is FUN..." Read more
Customers find the writing style tasty, confident, and well-written. They also appreciate the explicit instructions and modern, beautifully shot photos.
"...With her excellent communicative writing, she has graciously offered us the insight into how her cooking style develops: Dish by dish, dish after..." Read more
"...Every recipe I have made is not only delicious and crowd pleasing, but the recipes are incredibly easy to navigate...." Read more
"...They love it (as did I). Tasty dishes, unfussy presentation, easy to work from — as the title says, "highly cookable."..." Read more
"This has been my go-to during quarantine. The book is beautiful, well-written, and has modern, beautifully shot (and plentiful!) photos...." Read more
Customers find the recipes inventive, approachable, and joyful. They also appreciate the suggestions for combinations and riffs, which means they get more than the 125 recipes in the book.
"...the science and intuition of it: It's a beautiful, easy, exciting cooking style that Alison Roman has developed, and she walks us through that..." Read more
"...unfussy presentation, easy to work from — as the title says, "highly cookable." But with flavors that rival restaurants. Impressive." Read more
"...But this book...this gorgeous, glorious, joyful chance at preparing dinner as a family sweetly commands me to tell everyone I can that this is FUN..." Read more
"...So many basic recipes for fridge staples like pickling and “mayo for people who hate mayo” aka aoli =) and other awesome staple sauces...." Read more
Customers find the recipes in the book pretty simple and don't require a ton of prep. They also say the ingredients are simple enough to find and the book is relatable.
"...There is a unique and very pot-luck-able Four Bean Salad with a green romesco sauce, a split pea salad with both fresh and dried peas, "Kinda-..." Read more
"...Alison's step-by-step instructions (that include the exact anecdote that you need right when you start to question something) give you the..." Read more
"...They love it (as did I). Tasty dishes, unfussy presentation, easy to work from — as the title says, "highly cookable."..." Read more
"...home, I also like that most of the recipes I’ve tried so far are pretty simple and don’t require a ton of prep or time...." Read more
Customers find the book engaging, with amazing flavors and textures. They also say it's a fantastic cookbook full of truth and good humor. Readers appreciate the healthy, fresh recipes for cooks of all levels. They mention the author uses a lot of vegetables, but does not shun meats, chicken, and seafood.
"...She uses a lot of vegetables, but does not shun meats, chicken and seafood. She uses a lot of greens, lemon and lime, nuts and seeds...." Read more
"...Her fresh breadcrumb recipes are great! She has tons of vegetarians recipes, a good sized grain section, plenty of fish and all kinds of meat option...." Read more
"...It’s genius and very rewarding.All done w only a handful of ingredients that are all easily accessible...." Read more
"...actually makes me want to cook because the ingredients are all fresh, healthy, easy to find, and not too complicated to make...." Read more
Customers find the humor in the book genuinely funny, witty, and enjoyable to read. They also appreciate the author's authentic voice and creative approach.
"...personable: Her logical, quirky, laid-back attitudes are touched with a sense of humor, and I sometimes found myself chuckling while I read...." Read more
"...She is hilarious and relatable...." Read more
"...I love her style, her wit, and her down-to-earth approach to cooking...." Read more
"...fascinating woman who's about my age but is super grounded, sensual, funny, who's seen the good & bad in life and knows how to create a feast in..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the originality of the book. Some find it unique, fresh, and quirky. They also say the recipes are exciting and different, playing up more heat than sweet. However, others say it's uninspired, pretentious, and too hipster for them.
"...There is a unique and very pot-luck-able Four Bean Salad with a green romesco sauce, a split pea salad with both fresh and dried peas, "Kinda-..." Read more
"...But this cookbook is nothing that I would ever use. Page after page, I don't know that I found even one or two things that I would ever make...." Read more
"...Her recipes are not complicated, but they are creative and different (in a good way)...." Read more
"...I found the recipes on the whole uninspiring, derivative and bland...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the photos in the cookbook. Some find them great, while others find them bland.
"...that the recipes are also clear, concise, and the photos are accurate representations of the dishes.I made the cocoa banana bread...." Read more
"...The instructions are not clear. Some recipes don’t have pictures and others that do have pictures, aren’t pictures of the finished product...." Read more
"...The photography is beautiful and the book is really well written...." Read more
"...the food and recipes are funky, the editing poor, and the pictures so so...." Read more
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Most importantly—Alison Roman shows us how easy this all can come together. Shows us how all this can be accomplished with a minimum of effort and short ingredient lists. It seems to be her nature to do things in an easy way. And isn’t it grand that she is willing to show us her way? She says her kitchen is unorganized, but it is obvious to see that her thoughts and ability to plan are anything but. Her intuition and thoughtful planning combines to give us perfect, easy-going, stress-free recipes.
Her writing is so personable: Her logical, quirky, laid-back attitudes are touched with a sense of humor, and I sometimes found myself chuckling while I read. Not only are the recipes accessible and very do-able, straightforward and easy to understand, the book is very pleasing to read, too.
She uses a lot of vegetables, but does not shun meats, chicken and seafood. She uses a lot of greens, lemon and lime, nuts and seeds. She does not hold back the salt or the butter. It’s up to you to cut back, if necessary. Don't let me scare you off, talking about butter. I think she is likes to act the playful temptress. She is set on eating healthy, it's obvious in her food choices. And for those few butter-heavy dishes, well, there is plenty of kale, too!
Her vegetable dishes shine brightly and I love them best (because there can only be one “best”.) But all the chapters shine, and I’ve marked so many to try that I may as well have not marked any! Her salads are fun and full of themselves, not dainty and perfectly composed. She loves veggies and has incorporated them effortlessly into many, if not most of the dishes. (This is NOT a vegetarian cookbook, but vegetables are very prevalent.) Her fruit salads are really exciting and different, playing up more heat than sweet.
I was very pleased to see the large chapter "Grains and Things" and besides grains, includes fresh and dried beans, and a few pasta dishes. There is a unique and very pot-luck-able Four Bean Salad with a green romesco sauce, a split pea salad with both fresh and dried peas, "Kinda-Sweet" and "Not -Sweet granolas, There is an amazing baked bean recipe without ketchup, without BBQ sauce, and NOT sweet.
My husband, the biscuit and scone maker in the family, picked up the book and went directly to the back of it, where he got excited about her biscuits—both the recipe and her two-page essay on biscuit making. (There are many essays in this book—all of them fun to read, and you will come away with valuable and interesting information.) Then he got excited about the refrigerator chocolate chunk shortbread slice cookies. Then I had to see what he was so happy about, butted in, (sorry dear), turned a page, and got excited about the banana bread. All gems, all keepers. Many of her baking recipes are everyone's old time favorites, but her take on them will have us rethinking, tweaking, or even replacing those old recipe cards.
By the way, the biscuit recipe alone is worth the price of this book.
She also loves pickles, and adds them to many dishes for crunch, tang, variety and visual appeal. She offers a brine and ideas for simple refrigerator quick pickles.
And she loves boiled small potatoes and stores a bowl of them in the frig. Since the cooking chore is completed in one big batch of potatoes at a time, taking them out of the frig and creating something with them, (a page full of ideas, essay form), is easy-peasy. (We love boiled potatoes, too… and I usually cook a big batch, skin on with a belly band peeled off, in a bath of heavy salt and Zatarans’s shrimp boil)
Her ideas are the kind that make you think, “Hey, why didn’t I think of that?!” For instance, I have already made the move to roasting my winter squash whole, then removing the seeds, and if necessary, the skin. Then I read this idea: Slice raw acorn and delicate squash—and leave the seeds attached to the slices. THEN roast the slices with their seeds. Tried her technique yesterday, about two hours after reading the tip. Gives an extra textural and visual feature to the dish, without any extra effort—actually it’s all less of an effort. Don’t want the seeds inside the slice on the plate? Fine, leave them in the pan and pick out just a few of the choice crunchy seeds and crispy-wispy threads to top each slice.
As a further interpretation/description of this book: I think “Dining In” is nestled in comfortably somewhere right between one of those approachable, well-thought-out-but-uninspiring “5-ingredient” cookbooks and those inspiring, but somewhat unapproachable, restaurant-chef exhibits of self-love. This book works exceeding well to get the creative juices flowing. You will want to set the book aside and head to the kitchen. Yet, as you are walking to the kitchen, you realize the book is still held tightly in hand.... You'll find you just don't want to let it go.
Here are some examples of how easy her style of cooking can be:
--A spicy hot honey browned butter recipe for drizzling over roasted sweet potatoes or winter squash. It can be made days ahead. It’s a recipe that can be doubled or tripled. It can be stored and reheated. It takes five minutes to make.
--Roasted Broccolini (or broccoli) with Lemon: Sound too easy? Or like something you’ve made before? Maybe. But there are a few other simple ingredients, and a roasting temperature and time that make it special. And easy.
--A toasted coconut gremolata for winter squash or sweet potatoes. I think it might work for other winter veggies, too. Like a mélange that includes parsnips and carrots and rutabaga and turnip and beets.
--Her favorite dish in this book is similar to one of my favorite vegetable braises: Radishes in butter. Except she does a quick cook of her radishes with tops on, and she adds fresh Za’atar.
And there's so much more to get excited about in this book. I love it. Do you remember Rozanne Gold's cookbook "Radically Simple"? Back in 2010? I can't really pin down exactly why, but this book somehow reminds me of that one--maybe the excitement that rumbles through it like an undercurrent?. I still use that book by Gold, and I still wax poetic about it and urge people to buy it--even at almost 8 years old. If you liked Gold's book, I'm pretty sure you will like this one.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2020
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