Ali Slagle - I Dream of Dinner (so You Dont Have To) : Low-Effort, High-Reward Recipes: A Cookbook

Copyright 2022 by Alexandra Slagle

Photographs copyright 2022 by Mark Weinberg

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN9780593232514

Ebook ISBN9780593232521

Photographer: Mark Weinberg

Food stylists: Sam Seneviratne & Eliza Winograd

Prop stylist: Ali Slagle

Recipe tester: Laura Arnold

Fact checker: CB Owens

Editor: Jennifer Sit

Editorial assistant: Bianca Cruz

Print designer: Marysarah Quinn

Production editor: Abby Oladipo

Print production manager: Heather Williamson

Copy editor: Janet McDonald

Print compositor: Merri Ann Morrell

Indexer: Elizabeth Parson

Marketer: Stephanie Davis

Publicist: Jana Branson

Ebook production manager: Mari Sheedy

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Contents

Recipes

Introduction

Some count sheepI dream up dinner.

My favorite cooks are people who make food. Their skills and taste buds are honed by real life, by making do with what they have, and by sticking their fingers into lots of hot pots. They cook quickly but thoughtfully, feed extremely hungry people night after nightand then do the dishes whether they want to or not.

That includes my mom and nonna, and not just because I love them so much. Their cooking is soulful, scrappy, confident, and completely delicious. They make dinner with ten ingredients and in 45 minutes, probably, but whos counting? They dont have patience for time-sucks and finicky recipes, but they also wont sacrifice an ounce of joy or flavor along the way.

Take my moms chili, which is made from cans, jars, and ketchup. Its not real-deal chili but its so good, people joke itll be celebrated on her gravestone (its the Shortcut Chicken Chili on good luck! She cooks outside the lines, clearly.

I thankfully inherited their resourcefulness and love for cooking. When I go on walks or zone out on the train, Im playing Dinner Tetris in my head. Im imagining the moves Ill make to efficiently, enjoyably use the ingredients I have to make what I want. The results of these daydreams (and actual dreams) become meals for me and recipes for youI dream of dinner so you dont have to! The 150 recipes in this book meet you wherever you are: hungry, hurried, happy. In need of calm and comfort or fire and fun. On yet another Wednesday. At 6 p.m., realizing oh right, dinner.

My promise is that the effort-to-reward ratio is engineered in your favor. The recipes wont use more than 45 minutes, ten ingredients (though usually just five to eight), and your indispensables (meet them on ). They approach pantry lurkers and produce on its last leg as enthusiastically as farmers market celebrities, and are flexible enough to modify wildly. No need to go to the store for one ingredient unless you also need ice cream.

Instead of hiding work in an ingredient listdid you know cup toasted, chopped, skin-off hazelnuts takes half an hour?theres a grocery list to scan. When youre ready to cook, bring the ingredients to the counter and follow along: All the prep happens in the recipe itself. You can cling to the recipes for dear life or you may never follow any preciselycooking is a wild thing that really cant (and shouldnt) be contained within precise steps and amounts.

This book provides just enough structure to get you to excellent meals, in your kitchen, your way. The recipes are organized by the basic processes that turn their main ingredient into dinner. Seeing recipes as templates creates routine, which is practical but rarely boring because it provides avenues for improvisation (a fact of life). Each section starts with quick tricks for each process so that you can off-road and recover if theres a screw-up (another fact of life).

This fast and loose way of cooking will make the mediocre days better and the good days great. It will maximize your time, minimize your waste, spark inspiration, and nourish with food that feels good to make and eat. Just remember: Do more with less. Dont overthink it. And also: Its only dinner.

My nonnas biscotti recipe, a reminder to cook outside the lines.

Before We Cook

Indispensables

Keep olive oil, neutral oil, butter, sugar, red pepper flakes, water, and S&P (salt and pepper) closeyoull be using them often. These ingredients wont be listed in the shopping lists because my hope is youll always have them (if a recipe calls for more than 4 tablespoons of butter, though, that is called out). Unless otherwise specified, olive oil is extra-virgin, neutral oil is canola or grapeseed, butter is unsalted, sugar is granulated, water is whatever you drink, salt is kosher, and pepper is freshly ground black peppercorns.

Salt

These recipes were developed with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the most forgiving of the salts. Its light crystals dissolve quickly, so you can taste the saltiness of your food almost immediately and avoid surprise oversalting. If you use any other kind of salt, use less than is listed and adjust as you go (season to taste is not a step to skip). If you switch over to Diamond Crystal, it will take some adjustingyoull think youre using so much saltbut give it time. Transfer some salt into a vessel that easily fits your whole hand. Then, salt food by grabbing the salt with your fingers instead of a spoon so you develop a feel for the right amount of salt for your taste buds.

Serving sizes

How hungry are you? Are you feeding kids stomachs or bigger stomachs? I have no idea! Serving sizes are the biggest gamble in recipe writing. While most recipes in the book serve four according to my best judgment, listen to your gut more than the yield. The recipes can be halved easily, but instead consider making the full batch and look forward to leftovers. Some of the recipes are lighter, in which case you may also want a salad, green veg, bread, or rice.