Molly Gilbert

For me, a cookbook is a hit when it makes me hungry—when it makes me read the recipes and text, view the food photos, and say “I want that right now”. On that basis, “One Pan & Done: Hassle-Free Meals from the Oven to Your Table” is an unqualified success. Written in a warm, personable style by Chef Molly Gilbert, this is a book to go to time and time again for food that is “about comfort, nourishment, family, and community”. Molly had me from “Bacon Biscuit Bread”, and things just got better and better from there. The format of this book is very user-friendly. The size is easy-to-hold, and the layout is clean, uncluttered, and easy-to-read. Since this is a book about one-pan meals, various types of pots and pans are given their due, and the recipes are each marked with a symbol for the pot or pan called for to make the dish. Pantry staples are also covered, with the author explaining why each item is always to be found in her well-stocked kitchen. The recipe sections include: “Breakfast and Brunch”; “Starters, Snacks & Sides’; “Veggie Mains”; “Poultry”; “Fish”; “Meat”; and “Sweets”. Here is a sampler of the recipes which have me ready to “get out in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans”: “Herby Egg & Blue Cheese Soufflés (made in muffin tins, these can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and reheated in the microwave—perfect “on-the-go” breakfast bites); “Warm Buttermilk Doughnut Muffins”; “Linguine Primavera”; “Thai Turkey with Carrot Noodles”; “Quick Chicken Pot Pie”; “French Chicken Stew”; “Roasted Shrimp & Chickpea Salad”; “Garlic-Broiled Scallops with Cherry Tomatoes & Pancetta”; “Sweet & Salty Pork Chops with Snow Peas”; “Maple-Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Fries”; “Shepherd’s Pot Pie”; “Gramma’s Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting”, and “Chocolate Molten Caramel Mini Cakes”. Hungry yet?

Book Copy Gratis Clarkson Potter Publishers via Blogging for Books… (plus d'informations)

Sheet Pan Suppers is a beautiful book to behold: all glossy photos and heavyweight papers, although I do wish it would lay flat so that I could more easily stay on the recipe. But, of course, the true test of any cookbook is the recipes. And the recipes look wonderful!

The first recipe I tried was Lemon & Herb Sole on Crispy Potato Rafts. Gilbert notes that haddock, halibut and cod are also good choices for this dish so I used the wonderful frozen cod I get from the “fish guys” who come to my door in their truck once a month. I substituted dried thyme for the fresh and I skipped the capers because I didn’t have any on hand. I’m sure that made some difference in the finished product but the recipe still came out a keeper.

My seven-year-old grandson whose usual comment on my cooking for the past year-and-a-half has been consistently only “good”, pronounced these potatoes as “GREAT”. I’d have to agree. As Gilbert says: “They’re hot and crisp and supremely garlickly, a noble base for the delicately light, flaky, herb-, lemon-, and butter-flavored fish fillets.”… (plus d'informations)