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This two-hander titled screenplay would have slipped right by without a gentle reminder of its greatness from my friends at Eat your books*. It is written by experienced recipe authors Olga Masson and Sanaë Lemoine, who take turns with each dish and occasionally collaborate.
No one needs another book full of average pan meals, but this one stands out with what they call “elevated but accessible recipes.”
I tried the “fried” rice in foil, which is more of a clever technique to help get a lot of crispy rice and get rid of leftover vegetables from the fridge and freezer. It ends with a flourish where you make a divot in the center of all the food, pour in three beaten eggs, and cool in the oven, where it cooks in minutes. A fish taco recipe allows you to grill the spiced filets while making use of the pan’s time in the oven by preparing guacamole and a cumin-lime crema to go on top.
Things move pleasantly quickly with her chicken recipe with clementines, dates and capers, a riff on a beautiful number from Team Ottolenghi. Jerusalem cook book. This version uses potent ingredients like date molasses, clementines, fennel, dates, and capers scattered across the pan—and, soon, your plate—to keep you engaged from start to finish.
My current favorite recipe puts a bed of Greek yogurt on a serving plate, then tops it with roasted sweet potatoes and red onion wedges, sprinkled with toasted pistachios, date pieces, za’atar and salt flakes. It’s a low-effort, high-reward meal that’s quickly earned a place in my regular dinner rotation. People like me sometimes overcomplicate their meals, and genre-buster books like this are good reminders that we can have sophisticated flavors and be a little more hands-on.
* An Eat Your Books subscription makes a great gift (or gift to yourself) for cookbook lovers. Create a search index of your cookbooks, so if you’re looking for a bolognese recipe, it tells you which of your cookbooks has one and on which page it is, and it can do the same for the ingredients you want to cook. I use it almost every day.
