Notes about Recipes in this book

• Chicken pot pie with spring vegetables

  • Misa925 on June 27, 2025

    Store was out of asparagus so I added 8 oz mushrooms, which Husband loved so will do that again (cook in 1 Tbsp of the butter, set aside, cook leeks/carrots, then put shrooms back in, proceed). Subbed 2 tsp dried tarragon, & even though I forgot to add the lemon zest/juice it was very tasty. Added a splash of lemon juice to leftovers made it even tastier, so hope I remember it next time. It says 6 servings but we often eat large meals so I figured 4 servings... turned out to be 4 nice & generous servings, didn't need to serve it with salad or anything else. The lattice puff pastry made for a very nice-looking presentation... because my Dutch oven's lid is domed, I cooked that on a baking sheet, & instead of cutting ten 1.5" strips I cut twelve 1.25" strips so I could easily cut that into 4 squares for serving. But as nice as it looked, I prefer eating pot pies with pie crust on the top and/or bottom of the filling. But will probably make the filling again, yummy recipe!

• Steak tips and horseradish potato salad

  • DaleCooks on December 04, 2020

    Excellent Very quick to prepare

• Beef enchilada casserole

  • AngelNewsi on September 19, 2019

    Made 9/18/19: It's delicious and a big hit with my husband. HOWEVER, I think I used every bowl in my house and it's a ton of prep work. For me, it's definitely not something I can make during the week without help from someone other than my 3 year old.

  • skrochbillings on March 20, 2023

    Flavor was good, but didn’t love how soggy the tortillas got in the casserole.

• Latin American pork and rice

  • w_1j6tpr on May 14, 2026

    This is my 2nd time making this and it’s very good. But both times I thought it is missing something and I think maybe some diced tomatoes at the end would be good. This time I swapped out the olives for capers because I’m not a fan of olives. I would do that again. Overall a solid recipe and I can’t wait to make it again.

• Green shakshuka

  • whitewoods on July 24, 2019

    Yummy. This was the very first dish that I cooked in my new 5 qt. Le Creuset #29 oval Dutch oven. I wanted a Dutch oven for a very long time and finally found a beautiful used one on eBay. Wasn't sure if all of the ingredients would fit, but they did perfectly. And I'm someone who doesn't like an overstuffed pan or pot at all. I'm always reaching for a bigger pot and will sometimes even switch to one mid-stream if the one I'm already using seems too small. Lovely vegetarian dish with a very strong vegetable flavor, probably due to the Swiss chard stems. I had to use an Aleppo pepper substitute. The book actually recommends one, but they say to include finely chopped red pepper flakes. What? I wasn't about to attempt chopping red pepper flakes. So I created mine using 4 parts of paprika to one part cayenne pepper with a pinch of salt.

• Rigatoni with tomatoes, bacon, and fennel

  • Shewi128 on June 19, 2023

    This was a solid one-pot dish. It wasn't super memorable, but we did enjoy it enough. The fennel wasn't as strong as I thought it would be. Don't skimp on the cheese. Edited to add: as leftovers, it was not good. Just not good at all. Since I rely on leftovers during the week, I don't think I'll make it again.

• Classic chicken noodle soup

  • whitewoods on October 13, 2019

    Mom is sick with a cold--so I decided to make this. It was pretty good. I didn't see that one onion is for the broth and another is for the soup, and I only had one. So I had to throw the onions from the broth back in the soup. I know that's not how you're supposed to do it, but it still tasted good all the same. However, you really need a big Dutch oven for this one. Mine is only a 5 quart, which is the size recommended in the introduction of this book, but it was filled to the rim during the broth making. I really prefer making soups in a stock pot.

• Easy black bean soup

  • hannah_jz2sx5 on January 15, 2026

    Bangin. My chorizo completely broke apart instead of staying as half moons, so it turned out more like a chili than a soup, but I love chili. Made in my 4qt Dutch oven, plenty of room. Might double it next time and make in my 7qt.

  • hannah_jz2sx5 on February 06, 2026

    Excellent soup. I had three bell peppers getting wrinkly, so I used them all. I also still can't find anything but ground chorizo, so it's more like chili than it's supposed to be, but it's so good that I just don't care. I added the sour cream and cilantro this time too, definitely recommend that.

• Best chicken stew

  • Shewi128 on July 11, 2023

    If you want a hearty beef stew, but made with chicken, this is the recipe for you. It's hearty, thick, and meaty. The one annoying thing is that they tell you to throw away the chicken wings. When they cooled down, I took off the meat from the bone. This is delicious comfort food.

• Chicken and sausage gumbo

  • Shewi128 on October 30, 2023

    This was my first homemade gumbo, so I have nothing to compare it to. It was fairly straight-forward to follow. The only problem I had was browning the flour in the oven. When I stirred it, it spilled on the bottom of the oven. It definitely made the roux and gumbo very brown. With hot sauce, it was a great warming dish!

• Classic beef stew

  • Liz_Young on December 21, 2022

    I used 1# stew meat, and halved all the other ingredients. This was fantastic - maybe the best beef stew I've ever had!

• New Mexican pork stew

  • vegabond2016 on February 08, 2025

    Loved! My new favorite recipe. Not a recipe for weeknights though...took me about 3 hours to make. The radishes and lime garnishes make this dish shine.

• Caribbean-style Swiss chard and butternut squash stew

  • cynthia_lx08f9 on February 17, 2026

    Absolutely delicious. I’ll make again for sure. Served it with a scoop of rice. Added a couple teaspoons of curry powder to give it more flavor.

• Roasted poblano and white bean chili

  • Kiyah on March 07, 2022

    I made this true to the recipe except that I used frozen corn because corn on the cob is out of season. For all the extra fiddling of roasting peppers and corn, and using the food processor, it was not any better than my standard chili recipe that takes 20 minutes to put together. While still tasty, it wasn't worth the extra time and effort.

• Braised chicken with mushrooms and tomatoes

  • lauren424 on April 27, 2022

    This was just okay. It lacked in flavor. I served with rice since I didn't have polenta or egg noodles.

• Sichuan braised chicken leg quarters with shiitake mushrooms

  • hannah_jz2sx5 on January 19, 2026

    Not bad, but I'll make some adjustments if I make it again. For one, I won't use quarters. I'll just get bone-in skin-on thighs and that'll be plenty of meat for me. I also added a little too much water and my sauce came out thin, but that was on me. The actual flavor of the sauce was really good though.

• Roast chicken with cranberry-walnut stuffing

  • kelly_20ug8f on February 12, 2026

    Love this recipe. Did not add cranberries, still delicious

• Whole pot-roasted cauliflower with tomatoes and olives

  • Cookbooksgalore on May 14, 2023

    Must be great to have a test kitchen with industrial grade equipment. But if you pulse 2 x 28oz cans of whole tomatoes in a regular food processor, you will spend ten minutes cursing and cleaning the counter as the juices run down the stem of the blade and spill everywhere. Use a Vitamix if you have it or put the tomatoes in a bowl and use an immersion blender.

• Eggplant with garlic and basil sauce

  • cynthia_lx08f9 on February 07, 2026

    Amazing flavor. Kind of a sweet and sour eggplant.

• Walk-away ratatouille

  • Cgaskins on July 21, 2025

    Served over pasta instead of with bread, but this would be lovely served alongside garlic bread.