"RecipeTin Eats Dinner," by Nagi Maehashi, 2023, Countryman Press, division of W.W. Norton & Co.
My friend Bernadette from New Classic Recipe (https://newclassicrecipe.com) came up with the wonderful idea to have an on-line cookbook club with some of her blog buddies. What a fun, and great way to choose a recipe or two from the books, cook them, and review them. Then, you decide if the book is worth your shelf space! Please go to her site for other reviews of this book! ~ Dorothy Grover-Read, The New Vintage Kitchen https://vintagekitchen.org
The cook book is all about dinner, 150 recipes for fast everyday meals, and the recipes are wide ranging from Asian to Mexican or French to lots of things in between. You could go to Morocco one night, Vietnam the next, and end up in the American south at the end of the week.
From corporate world to kitchen
Maehash started out in the corporate world, but realized her dream and passion was to have a food website. She launched the website, RecipeTin Eats, in 2014, and now has millions of followers who daily sample what is in her "recipe tin." Additionally, she has a philanthropic organization, RecipeTin Meals, which distributes homemade meals to the vulnerable in Sydney, Australia, her home.
The organization
This is her first cookbook, but I suspect it won't be her last. The book is organized a little differently than most, its chapters: Everyday Food, Effortless, Stir-fries and Noodles, What do I do with a piece of (mostly a meat or fish), Pasta and Cozy Food, Meal-Worthy Salads; Mexican Food; Asian Bites and Soups; Bigger Things; Sweet Endings; and, Everything Else you Need which includes sauces, dressing, rice dishes and other starches, broths, and breads.
Easy to follow
The recipes are easy to follow with suggestions for alternative ingredients, lots of notes and most have a lovely photograph, which I always appreciate. The ingredients are easy to source, and everything is made from scratch. She offers prep and cook times for each recipe, a note on how many it serves, and leftover suggestions. There's also a handy collection of charts in the back of the book with measuring equivalents and internal cooking temperatures, and a handy glossary of ingredients and terms. Each recipe begins with a little explanation or story, something that is often lacking in cookbooks.
Quick weeknight recipes
True to its word, there are a lot of simple basic recipes that a novice cook could execute easily on a weeknight, as well as special occasion dishes such as Beef Wellington. Although there is a scattering of vegetarian dishes, most center on a cut of meat or some fish or seafood. There is also liberal use of cream and butter.
A shrimp dish
The recipe I chose to make was Restaurant Worthy Easy Shrimp Linguine from the Pasta and Cozy Food chapter. What I liked about this recipe is that the sauce is made using the shrimp shells, something I routinely do in my own kitchen. I'm all for saving this kind of scrap flavor. When making the broth, I used veggie stock rather than chicken because I had it in my refrigerator, and I also tossed in the onion and garlic skins, because that is what I usually do.
Full of flavor
The recipe was quite simple, cooked up quickly, and was really tasty. I increased the recipe by half since it served just two and we were three for dinner. I think that wasn't really necessary since we had leftovers.
Good tricks
All thumbs up at the table, and I would make this again. What I loved was her tip of using anchovies in the broth made from the shrimp shells to enhance the flavor. Especially after reducing, it really did the trick; it made a big difference in the finished sauce.
Target audience
Although this lovely book certainly has a lot going for it, it might not be for everyone since so many of the dishes are meat-centered and a lot of folks are cutting back on these, including my family, so the library inter-loan is enough for me. Also, many of the recipes are pretty basic and not unique. But for those just starting out or new to cooking, those basic recipes can be handy to have in one book, whether one of the numerous sauces, dishes like tacos and guacamole, stir-fries and ramen, chicken wings or fricassee, or a really scrumptious looking chocolate cake or lemon cheesecake. And, of course, really lovely pasta dishes.
Restaurant Worthy Easy Shrimp Linguine
• 12 oz. whole shrimp or prawns, peeled and deveined, shells and heads reserved
• 6 oz. linguine, or other long pasta (I used whole wheat spaghetti)
• 1/8 tsp. kosher salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• ¼ tsp. dried red pepper flakes
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tbsp. rough chopped parsley
For the broth:
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 1 shallot or ½ onion
• 2 anchovies
• 1 bay leaf
• Reserved shrimp heads and shells
• ½ cup chardonnay (I used pinot grigio)
• 1 ½ cup chicken broth (I used veggie broth)
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• Onion and garlic skins (my addition)
Make the broth: Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the garlic, shallot, anchovies, and bay for three minutes, mashing up the anchovies. Add the shrimp heads and shells (I didn't have heads), and cook another four minutes.
Add the wine, turn the heat up to high, then simmer for two minutes until mostly evaporated. Add the broth and salt, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, crushing the heads and shells a couple of times with a masher. Strain through a mesh strainer and discard solids. You should have about 1 ¼ cup liquid, but the exact amount won't matter at the end.
Shrimp shells, onion and garlic skins, garlic, shallot, and anchovies make a flavorful broth.
Finished broth, ready to create sauce.
Bring 10 cups of water to a boil and cook the pasta to one minute shy of recommendation. Start cooking the shrimp once you drop the pasta. Just before draining, scoop out a cup of the pasta cooking liquid.
To cook the shrimp and finish the sauce, season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet and cook the shrimp about 1 ½ minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate.
The make the sauce, heat the last tablespoon of olive oil in the same pan and cook the garlic and pepper flakes for 15 seconds, until the garlic is golden. Add the shrimp broth, then turn thew heat to high and simmer rapidly, scraping the glaze from the pan, until the liquid reduces to about a half cup. You can stop here if the past is not ready yet.
Once the pasta is cooked, add 1/3 cup of pasta cooking water to the skillet along with the pasta and cherry tomatoes. Toss with two wooden spoons until the sauce thickens and oats the pasta rather than pooling at the bottom of the pan.
Toss in the shrimp and pasta and mix well, then plate immediately.
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