What’s Gaby Cooking – by Gaby Dalkin
Everyday California Food
Happy New Year! The end of the year always brings a lot of cooking, eating, and family time. As a new year begins, I really feel like I have been far too tempted by the sins of the holiday season and need a reset.
So this, my friends, is where Gaby Dalkin comes into the picture.
Gaby’s website tells her story of being an incredibly picky eater growing up. She confesses that she survived on grilled cheese and pasta until age 17. I can tell you that after her culinary school achievements, she has come full circle because her website and cookbook are filled with fresh ingredients, great flavors, lots of avocados, and, YES, cheese and pasta are still important to her.
I found “What’s Gaby Cooking” when it was featured in an article highlighting 2018 new book releases. Although I was unsure about the title, the beautiful cover, and tagline Everyday California Food, grabbed me immediately.
Being the library lover that I am, I checked this book out — I mean literally and figuratively. Night after night I found myself looking at these beautiful pictures (one for every recipe – love that), contemplating where to begin my culinary journey with Gaby.
Her book has so many great recipes for families that need to pull off a quick meal on a work night or feed a family in shifts, if need be (I am there on a regular basis!!!).
The Taco Skillet Bake is basically everything you need for a taco in a cast iron skillet. And who doesn’t like the combination of ground turkey or chicken, black beans, and diced tomatoes topped with avocado? It’s
Another quick but tasty weeknight option is the Chicken Parmesan Pappardelle which I whipped up in less than 40 minutes on a school night after a dive meet. I am sharing this one
Let’s talk about the enchiladas because I have made at least ten versions in the past and had nicely settled into one from The Pioneer Woman’s cookbook as my go-to. Gaby’s recipe is titled Lazy Girl Enchiladas – the recipe looked like it would come together quickly so I gave it a go on a weeknight and thank God I did. These were the MOST FLAVORFUL, the QUICKEST and almost the HEALTHIEST that I have EVER made and I can hardly believe that I made these bad boys in about 40 minutes. So guess what?! I am sharing this one too!!
Gaby had me at the picture of the Fall Cobb Salad. To make it another easy weeknight option, I roasted the sweet potatoes and beets on Sunday and served it with a flank steak during the week. It was HEALTHY and IMPRESSIVE.
The Southwestern Sweet Potato with Quinoa Chili is delicious and super healthy. It has either ground turkey or chicken and is loaded with veggies, chipotle chilies, and quinoa. I made it on Sunday for weekday lunches and the flavor got better as the week went on. As in true Gaby-style, she suggests serving it with
The Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares were so good. They are crisp outside and soft in the middle which gives you the all-in-one cookie and cookie dough experience. Her magic is cooking these bars for only 30 minutes and
At the end of the day, I MADE 12 RECIPES out of this book which is a new record for me. I just couldn’t stop myself! There are
My MUST-MAKE list:
- Chicken Parmesan Pappardelle
- Taco Skillet Bake
- Chipotle Ketchup for your Gabby-Style Burger
- Lazy Girl Chicken Enchiladas
- Roasted Potatoes
- Fall Cobb Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Beets
