A good recipe, according to Emily Weinstein, is a “map to deliciousness: follow it, step-by-step, and you’ll arrive at your destination.”
But as anyone who’s ever cracked a cookbook knows, that route can be fraught with unforeseen roadblocks that rely on a certain level of kitchen know-how to navigate. Having never gone to culinary school or cooked at home as a kid, Weinstein learned through trial and error, sometimes keeping dinner guests waiting hours to be served. Her hard-earned skills yielded an appreciation for well-written recipes, as well as the editor-in-chief position for New York Times Cooking and Food.
Now married with two young children, she remains passionate about trying new recipes that are fast and simple enough to fit into her harried schedule. She began writing Five Weeknight Dishes, a New York Times newsletter of genuinely quick yet inspired recipes from staff writers and contributors that appears weekly in millions of inboxes. “Easy Weeknight Dinners: 100 Fast, Flavor-Packed Meals for Busy People Who Still Want Something Good to Eat” (Ten Speed Press, $35) contains the cream of that fertile crop, curated by Weinstein in one easy-to-flip-through volume.
Chapters are organized around the meal’s main ingredient such as beef and pork, rice and other grains, and eggs and cheese. The two I’ve made delivered big on both ease and taste: Pork Chops with Jammy-Mustard Glaze (three ingredients not counting salt and pepper and oil for pan-greasing) and Quick Jambalaya (leftover rice, a few staples, plus pork or vegan sausage).
To simplify the dinner decision-making process, Weinstein offers a recipe list with headings such as Truly Fifteen-Minute Recipes (We Promise), Picky Kids Might Actually Like This, and Easy to Adapt for One Person. I’m anxious to cook through the Five-Star Recipes with 5,000+ Comments list, such as Sheet-Pan Gochujang Chicken and Roasted Vegetables and Crispy Gnocchi with Burst Tomatoes and Mozzarella. With that many endorsements, surely those shortcuts will get me where I want to go in record time.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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