One Pot Feeds All: 100 new recipes from roasting tin dinners to one-pan desserts

by Darina Allen

100 deliciously simple one-dish recipes
Cooking using just a single pot is liberating, satisfyingly efficient and relatively inexpensive. There's less juggling of different elements, no complicated techniques, little space required and less washing up to do. What's not to like? You can cook in one pot for one person or one hundred - all you have to do is scale up or down ingredients - perfect for solo cooks, families and anyone wanting to rustle up a feast for friends.
Including 100 dishes to be cooked in a pot, tray or pan comprising lighter meals, such as soups, baked eggs and frittatas ro hearty dishes like stews, tagines and curries, plus about 10 desserts. Chapters are divided into Eggs, Poultry, Meat, Fish, Vegetables, Rice, Grains & Pasta and Sweet Things with an international mix of dishes, including Mexican Fried Eggs, Kung Pao Chicken, Italian Beef Stew, Moroccan Lamb Tagine, Spanakopita, Chettinad Tomato Rice and Coffee Crema Catalana.
So let 'gourmet grande dame' (Nigel Slater) Darina Allen show you how to make her tasty, tried and trusted recipes - in just one pot.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food

208 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2020

About the author

Darina Allen established Ballymaloe Cookery School in 1983 with her brother Rory O'Connell. Author of over 10 books and presenter on 6 Television series, her main passion and her daily task is to impart her knowledge to the students at the Ballymaloe Cookery School.

Darina Allen is Ireland’s best known cook and a best-selling author who presented nine series of her cookery programme, *Simply Delicious*, on television in Ireland. She is a passionate and committed teacher, and her awards have included:

Good Food Ireland’s Cookery School of the Year 2012/2013
José Navarro Foundation Award at the Green Awards 2011
IACP Cooking Teacher of theYear 2005.
A tireless ambassador for Irish food both at home and abroad, Darina has been instrumental in setting up the Farmers’ Market Movement in Ireland. Slow Food is a passion for her, and she is the councillor for Ireland in the Slow Food Movement and President of East Cork Convivium of Slow Food. Through the East Cork Educational Fund, she runs a programme for local primary schools to help local children learn about food from garden to plate.

In 2013 she helped launch the Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine which plays host to a stellar line up of chefs and writers and has very quickly become an unmissable event on the international culinary calendar.

Dubbed "The Julia Child of Ireland" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Darina has written a number of best-selling, award-winning books including: 30 Years at Ballymaloe (Winner Cookbook of the year for the Irish Book Awards 2013) | Forgotten Skills, winner of the André Simon Food Book of the Year and Listowel Food Fair Book of the Year Award in 2010 | Easy Entertaining, winner of the 2006 Chefs and Restaurants Award from the IACP | Irish Traditional Cooking | Ballymaloe Cookery Course | A Year at Ballymaloe | Healthy Gluten-freeEating* (with Rosemary Kearney) | the Simply Delicious series of books to accompany her TV series of the same name.

She holds many positions in leading food organisations including:
Member of Taste Council of Irish Food Board
Chair of Artisan Food Forum of FoodSafety Authority of Ireland
Trustee of Irish Organic Centre
Patron ofIrish Seedsavers
Member of Eurotoques (European Association of Chefs
Guild of Foodwriters in UK and Ireland
IACP (International Association ofCulinary Professionals).

Reviews

[Sharon Mensing · Rating 5 out of 5]

After an informative discussion of the best pots, pans, and sheets to use for one-pot meals, Allen jumps right into her take on a variety of delicious dishes. Don’t let her billing as the Julia Child of Ireland fool you; the recipes are international in flavor. She opens with her rendition of the popular shakshuka with a Middle Eastern flair, and then works her way from breakfast to dinner and dessert, with offerings that range from the traditional to the exotic. She includes meals which don’t surprise in their one-pot preparation, such as Thai chicken & noodle coconut broth, and those that in other books might include many pots (fillet of pork with mushroom, rosemary & ginger with orzo). In her introduction to each recipe, she discusses options for personalization. The ingredients lists often contain words such as “organic,” “free-range,” and “homemade” while remaining approachable with just a standard grocery store nearby. Recipes are well laid out and the photos inspirational. This book is about the food; the recipes take front and center stage with only a short introduction and a comprehensive index framing them.

I've made four recipes from this so far, and all have been outstanding. This is a cookbook to cook through!

This review first appeared in Library Journal.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This beautiful book has too many exotic and hard-to-find ingredients to be practical for me, particularly at this time in my life -- while I'm working more than full time and raising children. And, to be honest, I don't want to cook a lot with lamb or edible flours or clams -- my provincialism talking. The Mexican and southeast Asian recipes included in this book already have a place in my repertoire, though they appear to be decent versions of carnitas and curries.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I didn't care for the formatting. Not enough pictures either - almost none. And there were in general a lot of flavor combinations I don't/won't use.


But I genuinely like the concept and here are a few keepers:

Kung Pao Chicken p. 56
Super Easy Chicken Casserole with Herb Crust
Chile Con Carne p. 65
One-Pot Pasta with tomato and chorizo p. 168
Spaghetti Bolognese-ish p. 171
Sue's Coffee & Walnut Cake
Sticky Orange Swirls p. 190

[Em Ironstone · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want some pretty fancy meals with a decent amount of prep work and not-that-cheap ingredients (pheasant, really??), this is for you. If you’re like me, though, and are looking for actually quick, cheaper one-pot meals that a normal working 20-something can make: find a different cookbook.

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darina Allen’s One Pot Feeds All offers a charming and elevated take on traditional one-pot cooking. While not every recipe includes a photo, the layout is clean, inviting, and easy to follow — and many of the dishes feel a step above everyday fare.

I only found a handful of recipes that truly caught my eye — but they were standouts. The masala lamb shanks are rich and aromatic, the pearl couscous with pomegranate, herbs, cranberries & cashew nuts is beautifully vibrant, and a risotto for all seasons provides a versatile template that adapts well to what's in season or in the fridge. For dessert, the poached pears with basil syrup is a surprisingly fresh twist, and the coffee crème brûlée was a real highlight. We tried it last week, and it was absolutely delicious. My husband even adapted the recipe for me — using mashed banana instead of sugar — and it still tasted wonderfully indulgent.

Not every recipe is earth-shatteringly original, but Allen’s thoughtful updates bring a bit of class and playfulness to the classics. It's a book that blends practicality with a touch of elegance — ideal for those who love home-cooked food but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen (or cleaning up).

A solid choice if you’re looking for warm, generous meals with personality — and especially if you enjoy adding your own twist.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this book does have some fancy-schmancy recipes and ingredients in here, but not overwhelmingly so. I liked the pictures, just wish there were more, but there's still more than other books. I like the format. I like the creativity of some of the recipes. Here's a few that really struck me as do-able and perhaps enjoyable: Spring Chicken in a Pot; Chicken Poached in Milk; Roman Chicken & Fries with Rosemary & Thyme; Sausage, Haricot or Flageolet (I'll use Cannellini) Beans with Tomato & Rosemary; Toad in the Hole with Lots of Fresh Herbs; Black-eyed Pea, Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew, and Pearl Barley Pilaf with Greens & Walnuts.

[Anna Catherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never quite wanted to hurl this book across the room, which is about all I can say good about it. Most of the recipes found therein were surprisingly complicated recipes with expensive ingredients requiring significant prep work and, often, numerous bowls; not what I anticipated from a one-pot cookbook.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

For me, there were really only two kinds of recipes in this book. First, there were recipes that I already have, the tried and true that make weekly appearances in the kitchen. Second, fancy recipes that involve things that simply don't interest me, like edible flowers and very hard to find ingredients that would come to me with very poor quality because they would have to be shipped so far. This book is just not conducive to my lifestyle, which makes me sad because I adore a good one pot/pan meal.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a recipe book, rather than what I call a 'cooking book'. As such, it provides little in the way of inspiration but it does have some nice recipes in it.

[Aasinathena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not happy about this ! The recipes are mostly international cuisine and I thought this was a take on Irish one pot cooking.