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 ..read more

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 t ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

“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 strate ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ki ..read more

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 (f ..read more

In theory, this should have been a winner. Gnocchi? Love it. Butter? Our love is pure and true. Crispy Chilli Oil? Yes, please. But somehow, it didn’t work. In fairness, Tim liked it more than I did, but I just didn’t enjoy it. It’s a funny thing– like a good on paper boyfriend, it should have worked out, but it didn’t. Alas, it was yet another “It was fine, it fed us,” dish from this cookbook. I’m beginning to suspect that being hamstrung by six ingredients might not work for the fine people at MOB. Up until this cookbook, I really liked all of their recipes. But having a few duds in a row i ..read more