Notes about Recipes in this book

• Avgolemono

  • PennyG on December 29, 2019

    Oh ... this was extremely delicious! I added cooked chicken and it was a perfect meal with a kale salad. This is definitely going into our rotation.

  • PennyG on February 15, 2020

    Whenever I try a new recipe, I do a test freeze with a portion so I can see if it would be a potential to freeze and thaw for a future meal. This passed the test with flying colors! Thawed beautifully.

• Fastest French bread

  • Cati on March 08, 2012

    Quick and easy. Good result.

• Roast new potatoes with rosemary

  • AgusiaH on July 15, 2013

    Fast and easy to make. Baking time ~45 min.

• Marjoram "pesto"

  • AgusiaH on June 22, 2012

    Very aromatic and nice bright green colour.

• Bangers and mash, Italian style

  • adrienneyoung on September 29, 2011

    this was a failure. Overly salty, and not terribly interesting. Needs a lot more vegetables in it to be a really interesting dish, I think.

• Roast duck in one hour

  • bernalgirl on September 01, 2020

    So easy and delicious

• Chicken with coconut and lime

  • mharriman on December 02, 2019

    This dish has potential but broiling didn’t work for me. At 6 minutes, my breasts were raw on the inside. I broiled them for four more minutes which was too long. They were a little juicy in the center but dry at the ends. The lime juice, zest, and coconut sauce is wonderful. I really liked being able to make my own coconut milk- never realized that was possible- and was glad I had unsweetened coconut flakes in my pantry. The scallion and Asian fish sauce as a garnish is a nice touch. Next time I’ll bake the chicken breasts instead of broiling.

• Cumin-rubbed lamb chops with cucumber salad

  • mharriman on April 29, 2018

    “Extraordinarily Excellent” That was my husband’s response to this recipe. I broiled the chops for 5 minutes on one side and three on the other ( Bittman recommends 3 on each side for rare). I don’t like rare meat. This is an easy, wonderful recipe that I will definitely serve again. Bittman wants the cook to use cumin that isn’t already ground up. I have no idea where one gets cumin before it’s ground up. I just used ground cumin, and it was a great rub. The cucumber with mint salad truly enhances this dish to a gourmet level. As a side note, our Scottish Terrier puppy liked the bites we put in his bowl so much that he jumped on our DR chairs for the first time ever looking for more (we didn’t know he liked lamb more than beef, salmon, and chicken until tonight!).

• Pad Thai

  • mharriman on March 12, 2018

    I’ve made this twice and my husband and I loved it both times. It’s better with fish sauce than hoisin, though. The second time I was out of fish sauce so substituted hoisin with a bit less awesome restaurant similarity in flavor. As Bittman says, many ingredients to prep. Prepping in advance, I realized, is very important since it’s a stir fry where you quickly add the ingredients one after another. The fresh basil on top at end adds to the flavor. With prepping, including flash thawing shrimp, it takes longer than 30 minutes (as stated), but not more than 40-45.

• Simplest steamed fish

  • mharriman on March 12, 2018

    I enjoyed this plain fish dish but my husband thought it was kind of bland. I was looking for a lower calorie meal after eating rich food on vacation, and this worked well to be delicately flavorful and filling. I opted to drizzle peanut oil and reduced sodium soy sauce on top of the cod fillets as well as add chopped scallions and shredded ginger. Served with white rice mixed with blanched petite peas. Indeed easy and quick.

• Cod with chickpeas and sherry

  • mharriman on August 30, 2018

    Interesting! My Husband and I liked this take on cod. The cod is served on top of chickpeas. The chickpeas with sautéed garlic in sherry wine reduction kicked up the flavor. Pretty fast and easy as promised.

• Spanish-style shrimp

  • mharriman on March 31, 2019

    Very, very good. My husband and I really liked this dish. I used the same amount of spices (ground cumin and ground paprika) for four servings but halved everything else (garlic, shrimp, parsley, oil). I served this over Spanish rice with steamed peas, and it was delicious. Fast, easy, and flavorful. I’ll definitely make this again.

• Shrimp cooked in lime juice

  • mharriman on June 03, 2022

    Very fast and easy to prepare and cook. I found the outcome a bit too sweet for my taste but my husband raved about it and said he wants to have it again. It helped to serve steamed bok choy on the side. The Bok Choy acted as a foil to the lime/sugar/fish sauce syrup. Jasmine rice served underneath also helped offset the sweetness.

• Sautéed scallops with herb paste

  • mharriman on March 20, 2022

    I halved all of the ingredients for two of us. This quick dish was fabulous! The pesto paste adds just enough pesto flavor to enhance but not overpower the scallops. One quibble: Mark Bittman’s basil quantity uses “large leaves” instead of an ounce or cup measurement. Apparently, mine weren’t very big because my paste was more of a liquid until I added many more basil leaves. Served over wheat linguine with a light tomato/basil pesto. Good dish to repeat when I’m feeling generous with the grocery budget (sea scallops were $32.99 a pound at Wegmans fresh seafood counter today).

• Miso-broiled scallops

  • mharriman on August 28, 2018

    Fast. Nice but a bit too sweet for my taste. Husband loved it. Marinated for about an hour. Instead of broiling, I pan grilled them in my Le Crueset skinny grill pan with just a tad of the marinade still sticking to the scallops. Served with white rice and petite peas and a spinach, sliced almonds, and strawberry salad.

• Sea scallops with nuts

  • mharriman on August 19, 2018

    Restaurant quality delicious! Quick and easy. Made with walnuts. Served on top of cauliflower mash (I cheated with package of microwave Birdseye Original recipe) and homemade spinach, slivered almond, and strawberry salad with Grapeseed oil/ poppyseed dressing. Highly recommended. Would make an easy, wonderful meal for company.

• Spice-rubbed salmon

  • PaulaV on March 12, 2021

    Orange zest is also an important ingredient.

• Pork chops with miso-red wine sauce

  • KatieK1 on May 19, 2024

    This is delicious but takes a lot more time to cook in order to get to a safe internal temperature. A good meat thermometer is essential.