Notes about Recipes in this book

• Baked chicken, fennel, and tomatoes

  • jenburkholder on June 12, 2025

    This was good! Nothing earth-shattering or unique, just a nice, basic braise with a good combo of flavors. I saw no point in draining the canned tomatoes so reduced the chicken broth by a cup and dumped in the whole can of tomatoes, with juice.

• Cornmeal-coated chicken with ancho chiles, beans, and corn

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    Really delicious. Can be made ahead. I made homemade black beans rather than using canned and used Mexican oregano as opposed to Greek. Other than that, followed the recipe.

• Provençal daube de boeuf with olives, tomatoes, and orange

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    Fantastic! Takes some time but well worth it. Made exactly as written. Leftovers, if there are any, are even better. It calls for polenta for serving, but we served over mashed potatoes. Definitely will make again!

• Cold nights sausage and potato gratin

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    Yummy comfort food. Like an amped up German potato salad. This works with just about any smokey meaty sausage, not only kielbasa.

  • averythingcooks on November 01, 2025

    Oh yes...this is good with a pretty big hit of mustard. I used a fresh herb blend from the freezer (parsley, chives & dill) but got distracted, forgetting to mix it into the meat & potatoes etc, so I stirred into the sour cream before it was layered on and that worked great. I added finely diced gruyere to the crumb topping which was a good idea and this was a great fall dinner.

• Cassoulet rapide

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    This is indeed a "rapid" cassoulet, taking about 2 hours total. And, as I'm finding with so many of the recipes in this wonderful cookbook, the recipe needs zero tweaking. It's perfect as is.

  • rebecca_a40bi0 on April 05, 2026

    Excellent! Best thing I’ve made in a long time!

• Cider-baked pork, red cabbage, and apples

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    This was OK. We liked it well enough, but probably won't repeat.

• New Orleans shrimp and andouille jambalaya

  • katiesue28 on May 19, 2020

    Delicious. I used 4 chopped vine-ripened tomatoes in places of the cans. The cook shrimp quicker than the recipe says, so keep an eye on them. Serve with some hot sauce on the side!

  • Kitiara121 on December 15, 2022

    The directions tell you to put the rice into a baking pan and pour the liquid over the top and then bake. I made this as a one-pot Dutch oven dinner by just adding the rice and then popping it into the oven to finish cooking. This was super easy to make and tasted great.

  • katiesue28 on March 03, 2025

    After making this a second time, I would recommend cutting back on the rice by maybe 1/2 a cup or adding more sausage/shrimp. There's a little too much rice for the smaller amount of toppings.

• New England lobster and corn casserole

  • kbrooks on February 05, 2025

    This was a major disappointment and surprising as the other recipes I have made in this book have been great. The method of adding the lobster chunks halfway through did result in perfect, not dried out, lobster. However the casserole itself was watery and insipid.

• Baked fish on a bed of spinach, chickpeas, and tomatoes

  • rebecca_a40bi0 on April 05, 2026

    Fantastic!

  • rebecca_a40bi0 on April 05, 2026

    Didn’t have chickpeas on hand so subbed cannellini beans. Really good!

• Individual broccoli and cauliflower cheddar gratins

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    Oh yes, this is good! I made with all broccoli because that's what we had but will definitely make with broccoli and cauliflower next time. The cheese sauce is wonderful! One caveat: I followed the recipe and boiled a batch of broccoli 5 minutes as directed. It literally disintegrated and had to be tossed out. I then steamed a second bunch for 2 minutes and it was perfect. I would recommend steaming the 2 veggies separately and then combining for the casserole.

  • averythingcooks on April 12, 2025

    I cut this in 1/2 (baking it in 1 small pan) & that was lots for the 2 of us. As much as we really enjoyed it, we thought the sauce could have been cheesier (which I should have fixed before pouring it over the veg...my bad). I used a very good aged white cheddar but I think the problem was (at least for us) that the ratio of milk to cheese is off....ie far more cheese should go in. Regardless, we certainly enjoyed it beside some crispy pork chops & this idea is worth repeating.

• Corn, leek, and chorizo pudding

  • kbrooks on May 22, 2024

    This is absolutely comfort food! Made it exactly as written. There are just two of us, but the leftovers warmed up nicely and we ate every last bit.

• Baked "risotto" with butternut squash, sage, and Parmigiano

  • kbrooks on May 09, 2026

    Lovely squash risotto. Made exactly as written.

• Classic mac and cheese

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    Can't go wrong with this recipe. Interesting variations included. Have done this, the classic, and the pea and pancetta variation. May try the smoked sausage and mustard variation next.

• Mac with peas and pancetta

  • kbrooks on February 02, 2025

    My husband loves this version of Mac and cheese. I added some sliced green onions.

• Mac with smoked sausage and country mustard

  • kbrooks on December 15, 2025

    Wonderful variation on the already outstanding mac'n''cheese recipe in this book! Quick and easy. The only thing I would change is I think it needs more of the mustard than called for, as you really couldn't taste the mustard very much. Next time I will double the amount.

• Pasta spirals with ricotta and prosciutto

  • averythingcooks on November 02, 2025

    A very nice pan of pasta easily scaled to 1/2 for the 2 of us. The ricotta filling has lots of flavour with the generous amounts of parmigiano + torn prosciutto & fresh basil in place of parsley. I questioned about adding the broth to the sauce so started with way less & then spent a long time reducing/thickening it. As always, a parm rind + some pesto went into the simmer and I was ultimately very happy with the results. I am now planning on making more rolls today to stash away in the freezer unsauced.

• Caraway noodle casserole with Black Forest ham, carrots, and peas

  • kbrooks on December 28, 2025

    This is really delicious! Flexible as it can be assembled ahead of time and baked when you want. I didn't have any rye bread for the toasted crumb topping, so toasted some homemade sourdough bread crumbs and added some crushed toasted caraway seeds for the topping.

• Emily's souffléed eggs with cheddar and green chiles

  • kbrooks on November 02, 2024

    Easy to prepare, this is light as air and wonderfully cheesy. I doubled the amount of diced green chilies for a better balance of chilies to the egg mixture. I had leftover tomatillo salsa from a previous meal so we used that and it worked great. Next time will make the tomato avocado salsa that's in the recipe.

• Frittata with caramelized onions, tomatoes, and fresh herbs

  • kbrooks on February 04, 2025

    Quick and easy breakfast or light supper. I didn't have any fresh goat cheese, so just topped with additional parmesan-reggiano. Used torn fresh baby spinach in place of the arugula, but will try with arugula next time.

• Gratin of eggs, Italian sausage, and sun-dried tomatoes

  • averythingcooks on November 04, 2025

    This was a nice "eggs for dinner" dish. To bulk it up a bit, I also added cubed boiled potatoes and added 1 extra egg to account for them. We really enjoyed this with a spoonful of home canned chili sauce beside a green salad.