Cookbook Club is a regular meet up with some lovely ladies I’ve met through Instagram where we all bring a different dish from one cookbook or cookery writer and spend the evening eating and talking about delicious food. Our cookbook of choice for this month’s Cookbook Club is ‘Simple‘ by food writer Dianna Henry. It’s a book that my friends at cookbook club have been raving about for months but until recently I hadn’t delved into. To get properly aquatinted with a new cookbook I love to immerse myself in it by trying out lots of the recipes that catch my eye in quick succession. Planning week’s worth of evening meals from the one book is a great way to do this.
Both my husband Will and I love to cook and the recipes in ‘Simple’ are just up our street; simple, rustic dishes that are big on flavour but have smallish ingredients lists. Here’s what we cooked from the book to get stuck in…
Meal Plan
Monday: Linguine All’amalfitana // page 106
I’m actually not a huge pasta fan so when I say that I could happily eat this walnut and anchovy linguine dish over and over again know that it’s high praise indeed! This recipe uses the pasta water to create a lovely glossy sauce, which reminds me of my favourite Anna Jones pasta dish.
Tuesday: Breton tuna & white bean gratin // page 78
This is the only recipe that we weren’t so sure on. Not sure if I took a misstep when executing but I found that blending the beans meant we had a rather sloppy unappetising end product. I do however love that it’s made up of store cupboard ingredients but if I attempt it again I think I’ll leave some of the white beans whole for more texture in the gratin.
Wednesday: New York takeout noodles // page 97
We’ve already cooked these noodles three times in as many weeks, so it’s safe to say this recipe is an early favourite! The sauce for the noodles combines so many of my favourite things – garlic, chilli, peanuts, sesame and soy.
Thursday: Baked merguez with beans eggs & feta // page 81
This dish featuring merguez sausages, beans and feta sprinkled on top was a great upgrade on our usual baked eggs which are already a huge favourite our ours.
Friday: Parmesan roast chicken with cauliflower & thyme
In the book, Dianna Henry says this dish was created out of a craving for roast chicken and cauliflower cheese, without a creamy sauce it didn’t quite hit that spot for me but it was delicious none the less and certainly perfect comfort food. The more traybake recipes up my sleeve the better I say!
Aside from one, these are all recipes I’ll be sure to make again and some I can see making frequent appearances on our dining table. There are so many more dishes in the book that I can’t wait to try so I think another week of cooking from Simple might be in order!
