As I stated earlier, even though I do a lot of the cooking for our family dinner, when it comes to searching for new things to try my wife Bethany is the queen. One of her favorite sources is a cookbook called Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach. While it is full of wonderful family-friendly recipes and ideas, it is also a wonderful read. That’s right, read. It is not only a cookbook but a memoir as well. One in which the food is a central theme that the narrative is woven through.
It has saved our mealtime conundrums many times. Most of the recipes are simple, quick, and largely designed for a busy family like the author’s. For instance, we recently had a whole meals worth of spaghetti noodles left over (because I can never figure out how to make “just enough”) just sitting in the fridge a few days old. There was also some flat leaf parsley in the crisper waiting for use. Bethany remembered that the book had just the perfect use for these — a Spaghetti Omelet. I had some doubts after having tried another similar idea in the past but I was game to give it another go. Sure enough, it turned out perfectly. So delish!
Another one from the book that we keep coming back to in ious forms is the Chicken Milanese. It is not only perfectly great following the recipe but also highly adaptable to improvisation. With a few slight changes or additions this can easily become Chicken Parmesan or even some healthy and flavorful Chicken Fingers for the kids.
And, as one would imagine from such a source, the Dinner: A Love Story blog is an equally entertaining mix of the same cookbook/memoir mashup that makes the book so great.
All of this to say that Dinner: A Love Story is another great book for the busy cook. The biggest dilemma you may face is wether it belongs on your nightstand or in the kitchen. I recommend following Bethany’s path — first the nightstand, then the kitchen.