Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cast iron pan pizza

  • Kinhawaii on January 11, 2020

    We enjoyed this - crust was easy to make, cheese formed a nice crunchy edge. We did only have diced tomatoes but since they go into the processor, they were fine. Also only have a 10 inch pan so it was more like bread with cheese but obviously that was due to the pan size, but if that’s what you like - cook time was the same. Our thick crust was still light & chewy. Also couldn’t find just Monterey jack in the market & only found it mixed with cheddar - but we still liked the taste with the mozzarella.

  • anya_sf on February 03, 2020

    Adding pepperoni on top boosted the flavor. Otherwise it was more like pizza bread, even when made in a 12" skillet. My family enjoyed it (it's pizza after all), but didn't love it as much as some other pizzas. It was easy to make.

• Maple syrup cake (Pouding chômeur)

  • anya_sf on May 03, 2020

    My cake took 40 minutes to bake, but otherwise the recipe turned out perfectly. Since the maple sauce was quite sweet, we topped the cake with unsweetened whipped cream with a bit of sour cream mixed it. My maple syrup-loving family inhaled this dessert.

• Pan-seared strip steaks

  • ashallen on May 27, 2022

    This recipes uses a simple, intuitive approach that does indeed keep the spatter and mess of pan searing a steak to a minimum. Steak came out great - good browning but very evenly cooked. Approach worked fine with my well-seasoned 12-inch cast iron skillet instead of the non-stick/carbon steel skillet specified in the recipe.

• Crumpets

  • anya_sf on March 25, 2020

    I tested this recipe for CI before it was published. I thought the step to scrape off the excess batter was futzy, and would have preferred individual small crumpets vs the larger one cut into quarters (not sure why I'm hung up on the shape, but I am). I also had trouble dividing the batter evenly. Otherwise the crumpets were good, but not my favorite recipe.

• Almond-browned butter cakes (Financiers)

  • anya_sf on March 24, 2020

    Quick and easy to make. I made 1/2 recipe, adding orange zest to all, a dark chocolate chip on 6 of them, and a couple of pieces of strawberry on the other 6. Interestingly the strawberry-topped financiers rose more than the chocolate-topped ones. I baked them 14 minutes, but they could have used another minute or so, as the bottoms were paler than the tops. Both chocolate-orange and strawberry-orange versions were very tasty.

• Skillet-roasted broccoli

  • Rinshin on May 10, 2020

    Loved this technique. Great tasting results. Much, much better than oven roasted style which I do not like. I used the lemon zest, black pepper, and parmesan cheese topping option which I do not see here.

  • Rinshin on June 06, 2020

    I have made this several times with the parmesan cheese topping which we really like (don’t see it here). Tried this orange zest and sesame seed topping this time. Still great technique but this topping was much more muted and we prefer the parmesan cheese version.

  • anya_sf on October 07, 2020

    Like Rinshin, I used the parmesan-black pepper topping (recipe available online, not in magazine), which was delicious. 2 Tbsp oil was enough to coat the skillet. Unfortunately, my carbon steel skillet wasn't big enough, so I had to use non-stick, which I don't think was ideal over high heat. The skillet overheated and the broccoli charred a bit too much. Still, it was tasty and a good method if you don't want to turn your oven on.

• Masala chai concentrate

  • SenseiHeidi on April 22, 2020

    Good flavor. Mellowed out in a good way the second day.

  • kayanelson on August 18, 2020

    Not sure about this. I had to add more sugar. It tasted a little bitter but then it grew on me.

• Smashed burgers

  • nadiam1000 on August 09, 2020

    Interesting twist on a burger - I felt they were a bit overdone because the patties are so thin. Next time I will flip a bit sooner. Making 2 at a time worked out great for my son and I. Used Boar's Head American Cheese slices - not a huge fan of American Cheese but this brand is good and goes well on burgers. The sauce is a nice accompaniment - I made extra so we can have another round of burgers. Served on potato buns.

• Spicy tomato jam

  • Cameronfalls on July 16, 2020

    Made this July 16/20 Easy to make, but kind of eh, okay. It's like a slightly spicy but too sweet ketchup. We'll see if letting it sit in the fridge for a while sparks up the flavour.

• Chana masala

  • Nealm on August 28, 2020

    chana masala is (chick peas in tomato ginger sauce)

• Hearty Greek salad (Horiatiki salata)

  • anya_sf on September 24, 2020

    I substituted oil-cured black olives for Kalamatas and used maybe 3 oz feta (we had it as a side dish), but otherwise followed the recipe. I was pleasantly surprised that the ice water did remove the bite from the red onion. My family really enjoyed this salad.

• Yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting

  • mamacrumbcake on October 14, 2020

    This cake was just ok. It was done in the minimum time and had a strange shape, one side having risen twice as much as the other side. Also, there was a valley around the perimeter of the pan. The texture was ok despite the strange way it baked up, however, there were quite a few tunnels in the cake. I was concerned because the batter was runny—almost like pancake batter. The batter was also filled with tiny air bubble, something I’ve never seen in cake batter before. The flavor was kind of bland. I think one reason is that instead of a cup of butter, it was half butter and half oil. The frosting was good but not as good as the Foolproof chocolate frosting, also from ATK, which is the gold standard.