All About Dinner: Simple Meals, Expert Advice

by Molly Stevens

Like most of us, Molly Stevens has no team of prep cooks, no vast pantry, and no one paid to clean up her home kitchen. What she does have are delicious, time- tested recipes made from easy-to-find ingredients, collected for the first time in All About Dinner. These are the dishes that Stevens loves most, the ones her students clamor for: an Arugula Salad with Peaches, Basil Vinaigrette and Sunflower Seeds; an elegant Creamy Parsnip- Leek Soup; a Butter-Poached Shrimp with Fresh Tomatoes and Garlic; and an Apple and Triple-Ginger Crisp. Building on the foolproof clarity of her previous cookbooks, each recipe is designed to impart solid kitchen skills while encouraging home cooks to expand their personal repertoires by mastering everyday favorites like simple pasta, hearty stew, and tempting savory and sweet snacks.


A gorgeous collection of balanced meals, packed with flavor, All About Dinner will entice busy cooks back into their kitchens.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Foodie

400 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2019

About the author

Molly Stevens is the author of All About Roasting and All About Braising, both of which won both the James Beard and the IACP cookbook awards. A contributing editor at Fine Cooking magazine, she lives near Burlington, Vermont. She travels and teaches cooking classes around the country.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All About Dinner by Molly Stevens is a 2019 W.W. Norton Company publication.

Who hasn’t, at some point, become frustrated when it comes to deciding what to cook for dinner? We want something fresh, original, healthy, easy, and delicious- but that is often easier said than done. We may want to try something new but may feel intimidated by the prospect. Dinner shouldn’t be so stressful!




Molly Stevens not only provides numerous menu choices, using everyday ingredients, but also gives the book an upbeat presentation, adding many priceless cooking tips along the way. So, relax! Put dinner into perspective with this beautiful and immeasurably helpful guide to healthy, delicious meals!

This book is very easy to follow, with colorful photos, organized into the usual categories.


Scrumptious!

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m trying to explore cooking vegetables this year (yes, I’m vegging out on my new year resolutions) & saw great reviews for this book. I absolutely love it, not just for the veggies, but for lots of tasty, simple, meals. She’s a great teacher of techniques & tips - like cooking ahead, storage, how to select best meat/produce, variations, & leftovers.

[Lu]

15 habits she suggests to become a more effective cook:

1. Cook what you love to eat! Really commit to learning how to make two or three of your favorite dishes.
2. Read the recipe all the way through, twice.
3. Manage your time
4. Shop smart & be curious. Good cooking begins at the market. Interact with the farmers when you possibly can!
5. Taste and keep tasting. The more you taste, the more you learn, and the more equipped you become to steer a dish toward the result you’re after.
6. Be present !!!!!! Take a breath and focus on the task at hand whenever possible.
7. Salt early and salt often
8. Fat carries flavor
9. Don’t overlook acid (i.e. lemon juice & vinegar)
10. Make sure spices are fresh
11. Get to know your stovetop and oven
12. Use an instant-read thermometer
13. Don’t rush hot food to the table
14. Cook for fun
15. REEEELAX

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

These recipes work. Also, the sidebars and notes (generally on light green pages) absolutely make the book. She is generous with her techniques and methodology, and there is about a year's worth of dinners in here. She also offers prep ahead tips where applicable.

My main quibble with this book is that I really need to get dinner on the table in a half hour or less during the week and most of these recipes don't make that cut. This is more like a weekend dinner cookbook for me.

There are incredible photos for each recipe. Definitely worth checking out if you have to get dinner on the table most nights of the week.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every book by Molly Stevens is a damn gift. This, her newest, is no exception.

Her recipes always work. She is a cooking guide like few others. She sees—and answers—the questions and potential troubles a cook might encounter before they even occur.

It’s a good year when a Molly Stevens cookbook enters the world.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molly Stevens is a cooking instructor, but she is often asked about what she personally cooks at home. This cookbook is the response to those questions. Stevens gives a really thorough introduction with "15 Habits of Highly Effective Cooks" that includes everything from the seemingly obvious (cook what you love to eat, and read the recipe all the way through - twice) to maybe less obvious (don't rush hot food to the table and cook for fun). The recipes are divided into your typical cookbook categories - salads, soups & stews, poultry & meat, vegetables, etc. Throughout each section of recipes there are green pages with tips, tricks, and other helpful information like peeling peaches, risotto basics, and how to butterfly chicken and other birds. There were several recipes I'd like to try and this is a great cookbook for a slightly more advanced home cook or someone wanting to expand their everyday dinner menu at home. Overall, I really liked it and it had a lot of helpful information beyond the recipes.

[Jennifer K · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best cookbook intro and advice I’ve read. I like how the cookbook has made it easy to follow along whether you’re a novice and need detailed, step-by-step instructions (including using all your senses like smell, taste, and what it should look like), or a seasoned chef who needs to know the basic step. She also includes substitutions and variations of the recipes, which is nice.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I began this book as a library loan and about 1/3 through decided I needed to own it. This is the best type of cookbook, in my opinion; it contains great recipes but more importantly gives the reader building blocks they can apply more widely to their kitchen practices. As a new homesteader, I can't wait to begin growing my own vegetables to make these recipes even more wholesome!

[Katja · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids got this for me for Christmas and I've only made a few recipes so far but love the quick pickled vegetables! The text accompanying the recipes is nice and so far all recipes have turned out well.

[Mark Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recipes work.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've tried five recipes from this book, and not a dud yet. Every one one of them has been phenomenally good.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I challenged ourselves 3 years ago to cook through an entire recipe book. This was the book we settled on after perusing several in a Barnes and Noble. And we did in fact cook all 99 recipes! Some many times.

This project has dramatically improved our cooking and we have no one to thank more than Molly. She is a chef, yes, but an excellent teacher. What were previously obscure (to us) ingredients (leeks, rhubarb, garam masala, butternut squash, radishes, etc., etc.) are now staples in our kitchen.
Were there a small handful of recipes that just weren't for us? Of course. (We are not deviled egg people!) That being said, even the recipes we won't be revisiting were still successful because of Molly's teaching.

We'll continue to splatter and spill on the pages of this book for years to come as we keep cooking these classics time and again. But for now - on to our next cook through project! I would encourage anyone else to do the same.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever opened a fully stocked pantry and fridge, only to have no idea what to make for dinner? I can relate to that feeling.

All About Dinner is a cookbook by Molly Stevens. It includes recipes for cooking several meals and how to prepare each ingredient ahead of time. The pictures are luscious and colorful. They do well with the presentation of the foods in question. The book claims to contain simple recipes, and I would agree. Nothing about the preparation screams Michelin-starred chef.

The problem with reviewing a cookbook is that you lack things to say. It's a book with recipes and a little blurb about why the author included it.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Katy]

April cookbook club: definitely need to spend more time with this one. I glanced through pretty quickly but made a delicious chickpea and tofu dish. A lot that I want to try, especially the rice pilaf, lots of people really liked it!

[Colette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be great for someone learning cooking techniques. There were quite a few recipes I’d like to try.

[Daniel]

Haven't cooked from this yet but damn am I excited to.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, but nothing stood out.