Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean by Christopher Kimball

Sometimes you look at a book’s cover, and say to yourself – I think I need that book. Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean by Christopher Kimball was that for me.

First of all, I’ll be upfront and say that I love Christopher Kimball and have followed him from Cook’s Illustrated to Milk Street. His take on cooking as well as his editorials are what made me a subscriber to the old magazine for a number of years. For example, this is taken from a random editorial from my saved copies, from the November/December 1997 issue of Cook’s Illustrated:

As the moon rises over the sharp peak behind us, the crisp night air rolls down into the small hollow. The vast stretch of stars and sky explodes upward from the tennis court, and I walk away from the dancing, up into the pasture. The mountains thrust upwards, dwarfing the bonfire, and the fiddle playing, and our small house set amidst the orchard and the overgrown briars. It is not now or a hundred years ago or anytime or place. We are all floating in time, moorings cut, over the valley with its cornfields and rivers, free from everything that is heavy and limiting. The country has moments like this, when I am torn from my earthly tether, lifted up and away from all that I know is possible.

I love cooking, and I love to read. And to me, that’s good writing, and I’m the type of girl who actually reads editorials in cooking magazines. And I have found the recipes from Milk Street books to be fun delicious (I currently have two).

Tuesday Nights Mediterranean isn’t organized like a typical cookbook, you know – strictly by food categories or plate partition. It is set up to make your cooking nights easier when you want to cook Mediterranean foods at home. Chapters are: Fast; Faster; Fastest; Salad Suppers; Hearty Vegetarian; Supper Soups; and Flat and Folded. For someone who works and loves to cook AND wants to eat a little more healthy (I’m the ‘someone’ in this instance), this is perfect.

The cookbook is all about flavor. And simplicity. And hidden in each recipe, Kimball imparts his cooking knowledge to help you in the process. Each recipe begins with a description and ends with the procedure – but in the middle of it all are his tips, and each begin with the word “don’t”. As in, don’t do what you’ve probably been doing before because I’m here to guide you to a better result, or, here’s my suggestion for a great dish. This is the adapted version for Umbrian-Style Chicken alla Cacciatora recipe cooking tip: don’t place your beautifully browned chicken thighs skin-side down on the plate after browning because it’ll get all soggy, and make sure you return them to the pan skin-side up because it will look better on the plate. Good tip.

The recipes in Fast can be made – beginning to table – in 45 minutes or less, in Faster can be made in 30 to 35 minutes, and in Fastest can be made in 30 minutes or less. In each of these chapters, you’ll find pastas, chicken and seafood, and vegetarian dishes. Salad Suppers are superb for times like now (heat of late summer) where only a good salad will do, and Supper Soups for perfect for a hearty meal on chilly evenings.

I think my favorite section is the Flat and Folded chapter. The recipes here can all be made for lunch, dinner, snacks, or appetizers – most of which you can eat with your hands. Sold. Tuesday Nights Mediterranean is a great cookbook for not just the Mediterranean section of your cookbook library – but for the “delicious dinner on a busy night” section, too.

Book Info

• Amazon link: Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean by Christopher Kimball.
• The Book Depository Link: Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean by Christopher Kimball.
• Voracious; 2021.
• ISBN13: 978-0316705998.
• Hardcover, 304 pages.

Disclosure: This book was purchased by me and any opinions are my own. Any affiliate links help support this site. 🙂