Weekend Cooking: Eat What You Want by Gaby Dalkin

You might remember way back in 2018 how much I raved about Gaby Dalkin's What's Gaby Cooking cookbook from Abrams. I loved (and still) love that cookbook.

When Abrams sent the Abrams Dinner Party participants a copy of Gaby's newest book, Eat What You Want, I thought, How could this one top the first? Well, I don't know how, but I do know that Gaby hit it out of the park once again. I have been cooking out of this book almost exclusively for two weeks. There hasn't been a fail yet.

I love Gaby's philosophy (maybe because it follows my own!) of eating what you want and like, but just being sensible. As she says, "I'm not eating the ENTIRE cheese board myself," but she is eating a satisfying amount of everything that's on that board. Just keep in mind the concept of moderation.

Eat What You Want includes a variety of recipes, from vegan to meaty, but as a whole, the cookbook doesn't exclude anything. You'll find chocolate, carbs, cheese, vegetables, meat, and grains. Gaby's cookbook follows her own style: balance. Some nights its all about the Cauliflower Shawarma or a Kale and Leek Crostata, but on other nights Beef Picadillo or Chicken Posole is just what you're craving.

The BFR household is omnivore, and we've eaten the full gamut of recipes Gaby offers. Here are some examples:

• The LA Chop: a salad with salami, chickpeas, provolone, mozzarella, pepperoncini, herbs, lettuces, and a tahini dressing. We loved this for dinner and then again for lunch. Even with tomatoes and dressing, the salad held up for leftover eating.
• Lentil Salad: with baby kale, goat cheese, walnuts, arugula, sweet potato, and herbs. This was our Memorial Day weekend salad, which we ate with dinner and for lunch.
• White Wine Chili Flake Pasta: this too was delicious. A simple cherry tomato and wine sauce served over pasta with toasted garlic breadcrumbs on top. Hard not to eat it all in one go.
• California Shawarma Bowl: with spiced cauliflower served over hummus, lettuce, cucumber, and tomato. If you leave out the feta, this would be a delicious vegan entree.
• Dal Veggie Bowls: red lentils, quinoa, tomatoes, cilantro, and ginger in a coconut milk-curry sauce; I added roasted potatoes and broccoli (per Gaby's suggestion).
• Broccoli Beef: simple marinated flank steak stir-fried with broccoli in a soy-sesame sauce served over rice. The flavors were so well balanced.
• Greek Chicken Trough: pan sauteed chicken served in platter with arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and feta. Another total winner.

Here are a few of the recipes I have marked to make in the coming weeks:

• Spicy garlic potatoes
• Asian cucumber salad
• Chicken taco salad
• Garlic kale pizza
• Salmon and smashed avocado burger
• Ground pork red curry bowl
• Super burrito (with flank steak)
• Texas sheet cake (can't resist trying every recipe out there)
• Strawberry crispy cobbler
• Raspberry frangipane galette (other Abrams Dinner Party members have raved about this)

Sooooo, have I convinced you that you must have a copy of Gaby Dalkin's Eat What You Want? Maybe it's my mood; maybe it's the fact that the ingredients are all easy to find. Or more likely it's because this cookbook is just that good.

Note: the photographs are my own, but the scanned pages that follow are used here in the context of a review. All rights remain with the original copyright holder. Thanks again to Abrams and the Abrams Dinner Party for the review copy.

I decided to share the recipe for the spicy garlic potatoes I plan to make next week. I choose this because it's vegan and gluten free, which means everyone should be able to make it. Gaby warns that this dish is very garlicky -- perhaps a good choice for social distancing. Ha!

Click the images to enlarge so you can read the recipe and see the photo. Note that any fuzziness is the result of my scanner, not the quality of the cookbook.

Shared with Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker)