This boldly named two-hander would have passed by without a gentle reminder of its greatness from my friends at Eat your books*. It is written by experienced recipe writers Olga Masson and Sanaë Lemoine, who take turns and occasionally collaborate on each dish.
No one needs another book filled with bite-sized sheet pan meals, but this one stands out with what they call “advanced yet accessible recipes.”
I tried using “fried” rice in a pan, which is a smarter technique for getting lots of crispy rice and keeping excess vegetables out of the fridge and freezer. It ends with a bang when you create a divider in the middle of all the dishes, pour in three beaten eggs and pop them back into the oven, where they’ll cook in a few minutes. The fish taco recipe calls for you to grill the spice-covered fillets while taking advantage of the time in the pan in the oven by prepping the guacamole and dill-lime ice cream on top.
Things move quickly and delightfully with their recipe for chicken with tangerines, dates and capers, an excerpt of a lovely number from Team Ottolenghi Jerusalem cookbook. This version uses powerful ingredients like date nectar, mandarin, fennel, dates, and capers spread across the pan—and soon your plate—to keep you engaged from start to finish.
My current favorite recipe has you layer Greek yogurt on a serving plate, then top with roasted sweet potato and red onion wedges, sprinkle with toasted pistachios, a few dates, za’atar and crushed salt. It’s a low-effort, high-reward meal that has quickly earned a spot in my regular dinner rotation. People like me sometimes overcomplicate their meals, and books across genres like these are helpful reminders that we can get away with more complex and comforting flavors. a little bit about it.
*A subscription to Eat Your Books would make a great gift (or gift to yourself) for cookbook lovers. It creates a searchable index of your cookbooks, so if you’re looking for a bolognese recipe, it’ll tell you which of your cookbooks has a recipe and which page it is on, and the same can be done for the ingredients you want to cook. I use it almost every day.
