I Dream of Dinner (So You Don’t Have To)

by Ali Slagle

I have a few tests for cookbooks I want to try.

First, I borrow them digitally and read through, bookmarking recipes I might want to try.

Once I reach four or five bookmarks, I put the book on hold at the library so I can borrow and use post-it notes on a physical copy.

This book passed both of those tests in record time. In fact, I started reading it digitally while on vacation, and had put the hard copy on hold while I was still away, hoping it would be ready by the time I returned home. It was, and so far, this book is delicious.

First, I want to warn y’all about the main flaws, which are in the style and organization of the recipes.

• I dislike that the ingredients list does not have amounts indicated alongside the ingredient list.

The amounts needed are in the text of the recipe – I do like that part very much! Listing the amounts in the text is great: it saves me from having to constantly cross-reference the instructions with the ingredients list while I’m cooking. Numbers do not stay in my brain.

But for me, ideally, the amounts would be listed with the ingredients AND in the instructions. That way I know at a glance if I have the amount needed, I know how much to put on a shopping list if I don’t have enough, and I don’t have to flip back and forth between instructions and amounts while I’m cooking to confirm I have the right amount.

• The total time required is not listed, either.

I have to add up the times in the instructions to figure out when to start cooking something, and again, Me + Numbers = Not Great. The cookbook advertises itself in the cover copy as needing less than 8 ingredients and fewer than 45 minutes, but some have taken me longer.

While for many published recipes the time listed is completely absurd (for example, no one ever seems to write out how long it actually takes to caramelize onions, I suspect because no one would ever do so because it takes FOR. EV. ER.) I do like knowing a ballpark estimate of how much time I’m investing in a specific recipe. Is this a 15 minute, easy, wonderful lunch, like the tomatoes and beans? Or is this more like the 45 minutes for French onion white beans?

Most of these recipes are meant to be easy for weeknights, but again, any and all estimates of processes like caramelizing onions are dispatches from culinary fantasyland. So there I am, mentally (and poorly) adding up the minutes listed so I can figure out when to start cooking.

Those two items aside, there are SO MANY recipes I want to try, and so many I have tried and freaking loved. The cookbook is organized into sections by food, like Eggs, Noodles, Beans, Chicken – and lots of variations within those headings. For example, in Beans, there’s a few pages of information about how to alter or riff on the recipes printed, like adding crunch to the dish.

So far, we’ve loved the French onion white beans (yes, despite having to caramelize onions, heh heh) and the mushroom forager’s pasta. I also made the pan con tomate with white beans for lunch and that was freaking delicious, too. There’s also an index in the back, “Recipes by craving, mood, and realities” which is a terrific organizational tool and guide to the entire book – which is pretty hefty. In terms of flavors, the simplicity of the ingredients and preparation does not mean boring food. The dishes we’ve tried have been very good.

I have a few more recipes I want to try,  and I’ve renewed my copy from the library already, but this cookbook may pass the final hurdle, which is when I buy my own copy to mark the crap out of it (by listing amounts next to the ingredients list first and foremost) and flag the Must Repeat recipes with bookmarks.

This cookbook is perfect for folks who cook a lot and would like new, easy, and very tasty recipes in their repertoire, and for those who want to cook more but might be intimidated by the complexity of recipes they encounter elsewhere. It’s friendly, flexible, and everything we’ve tried so far has been a great success.

 

– SB Sarah

150 essential recipes for dinner on the fly, from New York Times contributor Ali Slagle

With minimal ingredients and maximum joy in mind, Ali Slagle’s no-nonsense, completely delicious recipes are ideal for dinner tonight–and every single night. Like she does with her instantly beloved recipes in the New York Times, Ali combines readily available, inexpensive ingredients in clever, uncomplicated ways for meals that spark everyday magic. Maybe it’s Fish & Chips Tacos tonight, a bowl of Olive Oil-Braised Chickpeas tomorrow, and Farro Carbonara forever and ever. All come together with fewer than eight ingredients and forty-five minutes, using one or two pots and pans. Half the recipes are plant-based, too.

Organized by main ingredients like eggs, noodles, beans, and chicken, chapters include quick tricks for riffable cooking methods and flavor combinations so that dinner bends to your life, not the other way around (no meal-planning required!). Whether in need of comfort and calm, fire and fun–directions to cling to, or the inspiration to wing it–Dinnertime is the only phone-a-friend you need. That’s because Ali, a home cook turned recipe developer, guides with a reassuring calm, puckish curiosity, and desire for everyone, everywhere, to make great food–and fast. (Phew!)

Cookbook