I’m devastated to report that we’ve now had our first “It was fine, it fed us” dish out of “Easy Wins.”
Listen, I love Anna Jones. I love vegetarian food. But I understand that this love comes with some costs, mainly that most of her vegetarian dishes take a fair amount of time to prepare. I know this going in.
But. But. But. If it’s going to take me a good amount of time to peel and slice 600 grams (or two bags) of banana shallots, the resulting dish better be worth it.
Alas, this time it was not.
Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t awful. Like I said, “It was fine. It fed us.” But in the end, I thought the effort I put into the dish wasn’t reflected in the result, which was disappointing.
That’s okay, though, I still like this cookbook. It’s a rare and beautiful thing when all the recipes we try in a cookbook are hits.
Kirstin: I am ALL about the traybake at the moment. Earlier this month I ordered some fancy pants trays and since then I’ve been seeking out those recipes in all my cookbooks. And with Spring ACTUALLY in progress at the moment in London Town, I swapped out some of the vegetables Anna suggested for some in season asparagus and baked it with the lemon slices to give a real zest to the whole dish. But what brought this dish to a different level was the green olive dressing which combined with the Greek yoghurt base, worked a treat. Easy, delicious win.
One of the perks about being Nearly Empty Nesters (one moved out, one in final term of university) is that we can put dishes into our regular rotation of meals, knowing that no one will be complaining about it. Enter the wedge salad. Or frankly, any salad for dinner. When the kids were home, this would not have been welcomed with happiness and joy– in fact, it would be quite the opposite.
But since it’s only the two of us, and we’re the only ones we have to keep happy, we’ve found ourselves having wedge salads regularly. No one complains. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to give it a try.
The results, I’m afraid to say, were mixed. I loved it. Tim on the other hand, hankered for some other protein (read: chicken or even bacon) to enhance this dish. I thought it was light, zesty and fun. I understand what Tim is saying– you really can’t beat a blue cheese wedge with some bacon scattered across the top– but I thought this was a good alternative.
It’s safe to say that wedge salads will continue to appear in the regular rotation, but this version, alas, will not. Unless I’m cooking for one.
I should have known better. I should have known better, and yet I didn’t. I should have known to read through the entire recipe and figure out how long it was going to take to make it. But I didn’t, and we ended up eating dinner hours later than we wanted to.
This is not Anna’s fault. It’s mine.
Like I said, I should have read through the recipe. Had I done that fairly elementary step, I would have know that while this is a fairly straightforward thing to prepare, it still needed more than 90 minutes in the oven.
It was good, but I think our feelings toward this dish were unfairly influenced by the amount of time we were waiting around to eat dinner. As far as paneer goes, I’m always game. I would make this again, but next time I would start hours earlier.
This recipe might best embody the philosophy of “Easy Wins” because it is– to borrow from the blurb on the back– a super-simple recipe that is bursting with flavour and kind to the planet. And also, I might add, contains ingredients that would either be found in your cupboard or would be easy to obtain.
We’ve had a lot of rainy days in Britain this spring, and this dish provided the perfect antidote to the constant drizzle and the grey skies that go along with it. The bright greens of the vegetables along with the golden yolks of the soft boiled eggs made it feel as though I had placed a bowl of sunshine down on the table.
Best of all, the tahini-based broth reminded us of one of our favourite ramens in London, Bone Daddies Tantanmen 2. Talk about a bowl full of goodness.
Once again, Anna delivered an Easy Win and we loved it.
Kirstin: This was another one of those recipes that I bookmarked for our lunch. Because dal for lunch is always a winner. Jones has several recipes for dal in this book; I chose to try this one first because she says that it’s inspired by a recipe from Rambutan, one of our favourite restaurants. I especially enjoyed making the temper in this recipe (complete with red onion, black mustard seeds and FRESH curry leaves) and served it all with fresh naan. As a bonus, I made enough for leftovers, which I shall take with me to work, as a midday mood booster. Easy Win for me!
“Easy Wins” is starting off with strong with these cookies, which I’ve renamed The Best Of Cookies.
The reason for the rename is that the current name– Peanut butter chocolate-chip cookies– ignores the contribution of the humble oatmeal and also calling it a Best Of cookie is a better description. It truly is the Best Of American Cookies, as it’s a combination of chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal cookies, truly the Holy Trinity of the American cookie experience.
Anna advises you to free the batter and bake what you need, to save the rest for another day. I employed exactly this strategy, making half of the batch when our first child was home visiting (business meeting in London) and the second half when the second child was back (home from university for Easter break). It meant that both children were able to delight in the delicious cookies, and neither felt slighted because each got a warm batch when they were home.
Highly recommended. Like a said, it’s a very strong start for Easy Wins.
Kirstin: When I first looked through this book I was aware that for our family at least, the recipes it contained could be divided into two kinds. Those that ALL of us could eat as a family for dinner and those rather more adventurous ones that could be eaten by just two of us at lunch. This recipe fitted into the second of those two categories.
It’s a great recipe, a fabulous way to start the month; spiced baked aubergines paired with Greek yoghurt, a cucumber and mint salsa and a dash of pomegranate molasses. Just perfect for lunch. As I collected all the necessary ingredients, I thought I would listen to the podcast that Jones recommended in this week’s email (if you haven’t already done so, you can sign up for them here). The podcast is an episode of “Modern Love” from the people at the New York Times and is called “You May Want to Marry My Husband“. Originally broadcast in 2017, it’s an updated episode of the podcast with Samin Nosrat (she of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat fame) narrating, while also discussing why she is now fully YOLO.
If you haven’t already listened to it, then let me warn you, without giving too much away, that there’s a good chance it’s going to make you cry. There’s a line near the beginning in the original, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal: “On the subject of food — man, can he cook. After a long day, there is no sweeter joy than seeing him walk in the door, plop a grocery bag down on the counter, and woo me with olives and some yummy cheese he has procured before he gets to work on the evening’s meal.”
I may have dissolved at that point, although if I’m honest, in our case, I’m often the one who comes in with the food to woo. Tom and I have just returned from a week in Paris where I did just this, in fact. Every day, while Tom worked in the apartment, I ambled around the streets (the French verb is se balader), visiting museums and galleries, and foraging for cheese and wine on my way back for a shared lunch. One of the many things we have in common is curiosity for new things, and food in particular. So I could really relate to that line in the podcast.
In fact, our culinary curiosity meant we simply HAD to make a trip across town one day to taste the legendary Crookie, which is (of course) a cross between a cookie and croissant. Because as Nosrat says — and I would add too, after my amazing week of savouring all the food and time with Tom — I am now fully YOLO. Maybe I’ll even have a go at making the some of the lovely baked things in this book, having been inspired by the crookie. Who knows? You only live once.;
Kirstin: We are huge HUGE Anna Jones fans. HUGE. When it comes to vegetarian cooking Jones is the person I turn to first, especially as we try to eat less meat these days. We’ve enjoyed cooking from her books many times over the years, the last book (One: Pot, Pan, Planet) being a particular highlight during the pandemic (Tom still talks about the sticky cauliflower recipe with great fondness and I often make the saag aloo shepherd’s pie). I follow her website religiously, being a mega fan of her weekly emails, complete with “Things to Click On” section. When this latest book arrived on my kindle I must have spent at least an hour reading through the recipes, appreciating her thoughtfulness in categorisation, the helpful hints and the beautiful photography. All of it. And that’s before I’ve even cooked anything from it. Honestly, it’s such a gorgeous book I may even succumb and buy it in paper form too so I can drool all over its pages. I am so looking forward to this month, I cannot even tell you.
Maureen: It’s true. We are huge fans of Anna Jones. It was a no-brainer for me to pre-order the special first edition from Waterstones, which not only was signed by Anna herself, but also had Waterstones-exclusive content. We can depend on her to deliver interesting and delicious vegetarian food. I still make her vegetarian chilli regularly and if I’m at a loss for something to make on Meat Free Monday (which honestly has evolved to include several more days of the week), I’ll turn to one of Anna’s cookbooks first. I’m very much looking forward to a month of Anna Jones food.
Kirstin: This is a great book. The lovely people at Mob have collected a wide range of recipes, all featuring just 6 ingredients. This is no mean feat, so hats off to them that they’re mostly easy to make recipes and full of flavour. Honestly, not naming any names here, but some well known chefs who have written books in a similar vein, could definitely take a few hints from these guys. That all said, I have to admit that I enjoyed the previous book we reviewed of theirs more (Mob Fresh). In this previous book, we especially enjoyed all the accompanying salads and simplicity of recipes but (full disclosure) they included more than 6 ingredients. So if you’re looking to constrain yourself to cooking with just 6 ingredients for whatever reason, then I would heartily recommend this book. However, if you’re not, but want that exciting vibe, then I would definitely recommend trying another Mob cookbook, or their wonderful website.
Maureen: Kirstin and I have agreed to disagree this month. I wouldn’t call this cookbook great. I wouldn’t even call it good. If I were to choose just one word to summarise this book, it would be, “Meh.” Hardly a ringing endorsement. If I were to use a phrase, it would be, “It was fine. It fed us.” It wasn’t an unmitigated disaster. There wasn’t one inedible recipe. But the problem, as I outlined in a few reviews, was that it was simply okay. I’m a fan of Mob– I loved “Fresh”– and their website is also excellent. I’m sorry to say this fell short. As I worried at the outset, I think being constrained to only six ingredients might make it easier to pitch a book, but I think the gimmick gets old pretty fast. As Kirstin says above, there are a few very well known chefs who could learn a thing or two from Mob. But I still wouldn’t recommend this book. At a time when loads of cookbooks are competing for out attention and our plates, this one wouldn’t make the cut.
A cookbook a month 