By Marisa Marsey
Emily Weinstein makes no bones about not being a professionally-trained chef. It’s why the editor in chief of Cooking and Food at The New York Times is so good at her job.
Most home cooks aren’t culinary school grads either.
Skill levels vary wildly and she acknowledges that “even if you like to cook, at the end of a long day, cooking can be a chore.” So she diligently grills her diverse team of recipe developers (“Is that ingredient absolutely necessary?”) while balancing a mix of cuisines, tastes and voices to publish a thousand delicious – doable – recipes a year.
As she described cherry-picking 100 of them for the new cookbook “Easy Weeknight Dinners” (Ten Speed Press /256 pp./ $35) at a recent book signing hosted by Fountain Bookstore at Sam Miller’s in Richmond, I imagined this empathetic woman in her sleek black outfit and flowing black hair as a joyful Valkyrie at the Vulcan, brandishing a sharp knife and huge cutting board. “You need a big cutting board, not a million tiny ones,” is her principal kitchen tip besides using this book (wink, wink): “Because prepping to cook is most of the battle.”
She slays the chore. And the bore.
For along with minimum fuss, her goal is maximum flavor, and her stringent criteria for “Easy” recipes boil down to fast, using as few ingredients as possible and requiring no more than two pots/pans and no fancy equipment beyond a blender.
“Have we done you a favor giving you 30 minutes to make a recipe that takes 45 minutes to clean up,” she asked pointedly.
The event’s attendees, sampling dishes from the cookbook including Black Pepper Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry and Baked Risotto with Greens and Peas, gushed with enthusiasm. “I think I’ll be doing every salmon recipe in this book,” said one. “My roommate is a pescatarian.”
She subscribes to NYT Cooking like most everyone present. So, if they have these formulas in their digital recipe boxes, why buy the book?
Because a pared number of well-curated options is easier to digest than 24,000. “And there’s that sense of specialness to a book,” explained Weinstein. “I still want cookbooks in my life.”
When she joined the Times nearly two decades ago, she hounded colleagues for recommendations and started acquiring Molly Stevens’ scientific “All About Braising,” Dorie Greenspan’s timeless “Baking” and everything by Mark Bittman.
My tablemates nodded knowingly. Some even use cookbooks for parlor games. “We ask everyone if they’re salt, fat, acid or heat,” said a software engineer who is also chief cook for three housemates, paraphrasing the title of Samin Nosrat’s bestseller.
“If that had been around when I started, it would have been among those suggested books,” Weinstein agreed.
Eileen Mellon, Richmond Magazine food editor, who entertainingly led the Q&A (short list her for Oscar host!), bravoed the book’s “Need Help Deciding?” guide with headings of the “Tastes Like Pizza” and “I Only Cook on a Sheet Pan” variety.
“It’s like a Myers-Briggs test,” Mellon quipped.
Weinstein said that she wanted the book’s tone to feel like a friend is by your side cracking jokes. “Even if they’re not that funny,” she admitted.
But they are. I chuckled aloud reading the intro to the Beef and Pork chapter how the bright green sauce in the recipe for Grilled Steak with Sauce Rof would make even an oven mitt taste good.
Other chapters sort themselves into Chicken; Pasta and Noodles; Rice and Other Grains; Fish and Shrimp; Vegetables, Beans and Tofu; and Eggs and Cheese. Each is packed with recipes in order of shortest cook time to longest by culinary all-stars like Melissa Clark, Eric Kim, Yewande Komolafe and Ali Slagle.
I fell hard for “Easy” because it acquainted me with new ingredients (looking at you chile crisp and Tajín). Their inclusion might sound like this book goes against its grain by asking for “exotica,” but these components efficiently punch above their weight in flavor and are available in local supermarkets.
I also dig how “Easy” neatly bridges the digital and print worlds by highlighting handy advice shared by subscribers. “Our commenting community knows what they’re talking about,” said Weinstein. “It made sense to bring them into the book.”
As one named Emmy noted about Sheet-Pan Bibimbap, “I usually double the vegetables and do this on two sheets, great leftovers!”
Best of all, its recipes are supple and forgiving. “I subbed prosciutto in the Skillet Chicken instead of pancetta,” said another table-mate, a VCU professor. “It isn’t like baking.”
Which may have led another guest, clutching her cookbook to her chest, to ask why it contained no desserts. (She was reading my mind as I polished off a Green Chile Chicken Taco then craned my neck towards the buffet, hoping for a chocolate truffle or sliver of cake to chase it.)
Weinstein mused: “Maybe that will be a future book.” But now she had to return to New York. And make dinner for her kids.
SIDE DISH
If your love-hate relationship with cooking skews to the latter, order dishes reminiscent of “Easy Weeknight Dinners” at these area restaurants
Easy Kung Pao Chicken (p. 29): Wang Jiang Lou, Va. Beach
Chicken Katsu (p. 38): Chick N Roll, Chesapeake-Hampton-Portsmouth
Lemony White Bean Soup with Turkey and Greens (p. 50): The Stockpot, Chesapeake-Norfolk-Va. Beach
One-Pot Pasta with Ricotta and Lemon (p. 64): Blanca, Norfolk
Easy Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (p. 80): Basilico, Va. Beach
Quick Jambalaya (p. 112): Syd’s FishPig Cafe, Norfolk
Tuna Crunch Sandwiches (p. 124): Leaping Lizard Café, Va. Beach
Blackened Fish with Quick Grits (p. 138): 1608 Crafthouse, Va. Beach
Hot Dogs with Pico de Gallo (p.174): Pittie Dog Grill, Norfolk
Easy Burritos (p. 185): Luna Maya, Norfolk
