Milk Street: Tuesday Nights: More than 200 Simple Weeknight Suppers that Deliver Bold Flavor, Fast

I've been following Chris Kimball ever since I started watching ATK and Cook's Country back in 2004. I always trusted his judgement when it came to recipes that were delicious and foolproof. When he went on his own separate path to form the Milk Street brand, I admit I was skeptical. Was the formula for trusted, tried & true recipes that he helped to develop going to change? I was worried they would. From the beginning, I struggled with understanding what the mission of Milk Street was about. It seemed like CK did a fair amount of traveling to bring back recipes from exotic locations so that the western-influenced home cook could make them in their own kitchens. I read many of the recipes and was "on the fence" about what I was seeing: the recipes didn't appeal to me as much because it seemed as though ingredients that he was blending together were not ones that I "thought" would taste good together (like oranges and sumac, for example). But I continued to believe that CK wouldn't lead us dedicated home cooks astray. I started to watch his cooking show on tv, and finally....I understood. When it came to the ingredients, I needed to look beyond them individually and instead focus on "the sum of the parts." And one day I sprinkled some za'atar eggs and pearl couscous and what do you know...a simple masterpiece was created. I finally understood! Milk Street's "Tuesday Nights" is the cookbook that made me realize what I had been missing. CK was bringing a wealth of new recipes to my repertoire, using some old, common ingredients and introducing me to some I've never used in this combination before. And even better, Tuesday Nights instructs me on how to make these dishes on a weeknight in a jiffy; no 24hr marinade or 12-hr braise necessary. I feel like my eyes and taste buds have awoken. Technically, the book is also beautiful. A picture for every recipe and the steps are neatly and concisely laid out on one page (most of the time). Yet CK still includes an intro to each recipe that provides a bit of context and/or story behind what you are about to make. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE NOTES (as well as the comments written under some of the pictures.) They are valuable guidance and establish expectations for the dish. I read every single one and I'm so glad I did. After doing so, my mouth is watering even more and I can honestly say I want to make almost every recipe in this book (which is way over 350). I also love that the book lies flat; the pages are very high quality and the photography is beautiful. None of that grainy nostalgic style that some chefs thinks is catchy. I think it's a turn-off, actually. I appreciate how the chapters are arranged. There's even a chapter dedicated to Pizza Night. Very convenient for me and my family! CK uses many common spices throughout the book, so if you need to buy a jar of za'atar, sumac, turmeric, or a block of tamarind for the first time, don't worry: You will be able to use these and other new ingredients over and over throughout several recipes in the book. Lastly, Tuesday Nights has a large number of Mediterranean-influenced dishes, but there are also Asian and Latin flavors as well. I love all of these cuisines so this is not a setback for me. My recommendation is that if you're unfamiliar with cooking from these regions, please keep an open mind and embrace the adventure. With Tuesday Nights, you will get dinner on the table in no time and your taste buds will thank you for trying something deliciously new.

I came late to this Tuesday night party, but I’m glad I did. Firstly, I cook a lot. I live to cook. I am a recipe tester who also has to put dinner on the table every night. Sometimes the books I test for do not produce dinners (the latest is a book of coffee recipes) and often after working all day in the kitchen, I just want something flavor packed and quick and healthy without having to think too much about it. I was looking for a diverse range of recipes to play with, that would satisfy our adventurous palates and not create a massive amount of washing up. Kimballs Tuesday Nights was on sale, so I grabbed it out of curiosity… Firstly, every recipe is a full page. Every recipe also comes with a full page color photograph. There are over 200 recipes in the book. I have attached some shots of the following recipes – Persian Barley Vegetable Soup, Parmesan and Turkey Herb Burgers, Stir Fried Chicken with Snap Peas and Basil. The chapter headings are as follows: Fast – On the Table in Under 45 Minutes Faster – Ready in 30 to 35 Minutes Fastest – Done in Under 30 Minutes Easy Additions – Quick Sides to Round Out a Meal Supper Salads – Supper Salads Pizza Night – For Nights When Only Pizza and Burgers and Tacos will suffice One Pot – One-Stop Pot Quick-Step Clean Roast and Simmer – Recipes That Let You Walk Away from the Cooking Sweets- A Little Something Sweet Chapter 1 – Fast Firstly, I would like to go against some of the other reviewers here and say that the recipe timing is generous. Even though my day job is cooking, it is also my job as a recipe tester to ensure that cooking and prep times are appropriate. Take for example the first recipe in the Fast: Under 45 min chapter, Beef Suya (Spiced Peanut rub on Flat Iron Steak cooked on skewers under a broiler) Here are the steps broken down: Spice Rub - Process the first 9 ingredients in a food processor until finely ground. Slice the beef and combine in a bowl with most of the spice rub and thread onto skewers and place on a baking sheet. Broil for 2-3 mins each side. Brush with lime juice and sprinkle with remaining spice mix and serve. I don’t understand why they put this in the “under 45 minutes” chapter and not in one of the faster chapters. It is a super quick meal. From the same chapter: Chicken Curry with Coconut and Tomatoes: Add the spices to a skillet and toast. Set aside, and add the oil to the pan, cook the chicken 3 mins, meanwhile chop onion and chiles, and grate some ginger (or use that jarred ginger – that stuff is excellent to have on hand) add onion for another 5 mins stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped chiles, ginger, spice mixture, tomatoes and water, Simmer for 15 mins stirring occasionally. There are some recipes in the 45 min or less chapter that would take longer than these, but only a handful of them out of 41 recipes, less than ten are more time consuming than those two I have outlined. Lets move onto the next chapter Chapter 2- Faster: Ready in 30-35 Minutes In my opinion, many of these recipes would take the same amount of time as those in the first Fast chapter. Seeing as many of the ones in the Fast 45 min chapter would only take 30-35 mins I find the division of some of these recipes rather arbitrary. That said, some of the recipes in this chapter are super-fast. Let’s look at a couple of those: Chicken Teriyaki Donburi: Whisk together sake and cornstarch toss with chicken. Add to a hot skillet fry until golden. Set chicken aside. Simmer the rest of the ingredients in the skillet for 5 mins until thickened. Add chicken and cook 4 mins. Serve. Paprika Rubbed Pork Tenderloin: Mix spices together and rub over tenderloin. Sear until browned all sides. Transfer to oven and cook 9-12 mins. Remove pork and tent. Add liquid ingredients to the skillet and simmer on stove for 2 mins. Pour over. Ok, so how much faster can dinner get? Chapter 3 - Fastest: Done in Under 30 mins. Ok so some of the recipes in this very short chapter I have issues with (with regards to sacrificing flavor and a balanced meal for speed) but we will discuss that later. First let’s look at a couple of delicious sounding quick meals. Salmon Chraimeh: Season the fillets. Cook garlic, scallions and jalapeno in a skillet for 2 mins. Add dry spices. Stir in tomatoes, add salmon, cover and simmer for 6-8 mins. Remove salmon peel off skin. Simmer sauce to reduce a little if needed. Add herbs and spoon over salmon. Lemongrass Coconut Tofu: Toss tofu with spices. Add next 6 ingredients to blender to make the paste. Fry tofu 10-12 mins and remove. Add paste and liquid ingredients and simmer 5 mins. Add tofu back in and simmer 10 mins. (Cooking time alone is 25-27 mins so I think this recipe was badly placed in the under 30 mins chapter. So, some of the recipes are divided up rather arbitrarily, but there are some super quick weeknight meals here.So far I have tried 11 recipes across a few chapters, and have been pleased with all of them. You are going to want sides for many of these dishes, and the sides chapter does have some recipes that pair well. Although making a side is going to add time, but many sides in this book are super quick. -I paired the Pork Chops in Chipotle Sauce with the Cilantro rice (I reduced the oil from 2tb to 1tsp so the rice wasn’t gluey) -I paired the Poached Cod in Tomato Garlic Broth with the Shaved Zucchini Salad (I also added blanched green beans to this to add more texture) I also basted bread with some garlic and olive oil and broiled it which was terrific with the tomato garlic broth. -The Glazed Salmon with Chili-Basil Sauce was bomb! The sauce recipe is a keeper for sure and would also be great on chicken. I paired it with Thai Stir-Fried Spinach (I added baby bok choy to this) and some plain rice. -I paired the Moroccan Chicken Skewers with the Tomato Herb Salad with Sumac and an Ottolenghi rice pilaf. -I made the Chili-Rubbed Pork with Cucumber-Melon salad and this was the only one I didn’t really enjoy. To me, the salad was far too sweet (even though I omitted the 3tb agave and substituted 2 tsp honey instead) and far too much like eating a dessert fruit salad with pork. The pork was nice but I would recommend boosting the cucumber, and reducing the fruit significantly, and maybe dropping the sweetener even further. All of the meals were fast, healthy, and very good. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel the need to depart from the recipe as written (which is unusual for me) for the majority of recipes. The recipes are very diverse, and many do require less common pantry items. This may be a deal breaker for you. No substitutes are given for these ingredients (with the exception of the chili-bean sauce) I have gone through the entire book, and the following ingredients are ones that you may not have on hand. The good news is that some of these ingredients are used in multiple recipes. In particular, lemongrass (cut stalks freeze well and are easy to chop when frozen) Thai chili-garlic sauce, pepperdews fish sauce etc. However, many of these ingredients are used for one recipe only. Most are shelf or refrigerator stable for long periods and I am also a fan of freezing ingredients, but you may need to search out other uses for many of these recipes, unless you want to make the same dish multiple times (and many of the recipes that I have tried are worth repeating) It is worth mentioning that the index helpfully lists many of these ingredients separately so if you want to use up that chili-garlic sauce, or fish sauce etc, they have their own recipe listing which is very helpful. Ok, ready? Let's take a look at the ingredients: Thai chili-garlic sauce, fish sauce, lemongrass, kimchi, sesame oil, Sichuan peppercorns, pomegranate molasses, curry powder, cardamom, garam masala, guajillo chilies, arbol chili, agave, rice vinegar, Sichuan chili oil, fennel seed, poppy seed, mirin, rice vinegar, sherry vinegar, Spanish chorizo, dry sherry, five spice powder, white balsamic, ricotta salata cheese, sumac, Manchego cheese, chili-bean sauce also known as Toban Djan (miso and chili garlic sauce is given as a substitute for this), peppadew peppers, tamarind paste, Asian wheat noodles, udon noodles, dried shitake, pickled ginger, andouille sausage, black bean garlic sauce, smoked almonds, allspice, oyster sauce, dry vermouth, red miso, sake, bulgar wheat, cotija cheese, pecorino romano, arborio rice, mustard seeds, pearl couscous, tahini, chipotle chili powder, Worcestershire, aji Amarillo paste, gruyere cheese, white miso, soba noodles, gochujang, prepared horseradish, tamarind chutney, hoisin sauce, ancho chili powder, thai chilies, semolina flour, piquillo peppers, linquica or Spanish chorizo, caraway seeds, harissa, new Mexico chili powder, buckwheat flour, turbinado sugar. I personally find these ingredients and recipes all the more enticing for the varied ingredients. Keep in mind that the recipe list above is for the entire book of more than 200 recipes and many recipes just use common pantry/grocery store ingredients. Some will require a grocery trip or an Amazon order, but to those who are feeling a bit bored with their current recipe line-up, these recipes sure will stoke your palate! The only chapter I find dreadfully disappointing is the extremely scant offerings in the Fastest chapter – Done in Under 30 minutes. Only 19 recipes are in this chapter and out of that, no less than five recipes are omelets or frittata or scrambled eggs. Two are soups, and eight are pasta/noodle dishes. Two are salmon, one is shrimp. One is tofu. Considering that the majority of people are buying this book for quick healthy meals on a weeknight, and considering the 45 min and 30 min chapters have over 40 recipes each, I do think that the Fastest chapter needed a lot more work! Admittedly four of the salad recipes in the Supper Salad chapter are ready in under 30, but I do have a huge gripe over the paucity of recipes in this Fastest chapter. However, it should be said that in the 30-35 min chapter there are many recipes that are said to take exactly 30 mins and many recipes in the fastest chapter that are said to take 25 and the actual time the recipe takes is up to the individual cook and kitchen too, so the times can only really be a rough estimate. Still, I do think I could easily come up with more than 19 recipes for 15-25 min meals. Perhaps I should put my money where my mouth is and test this out. Anyhow, that one gripe aside, I have enjoyed cooking from this book over the past couple of weeks, and we have enjoyed every recipe, and I love how varied and interesting many of these recipes are. If you have a jaded palate and want some interesting recipes that won’t take all day, then I do recommend this book. I own over 1000 cookbooks and I am still pleased that I purchased this one and I have many other recipes bookmarked to try. If this review has been helpful to you would you please click the helpful button. It makes my day to see that my review has helped a like-minded shopper :) You might also be interested in my other reviews. I compare and review a lot of ingredients and kitchen products and occasionally post very lengthy cookbook reviews. You can also check out my lists for grouped together items I have reviewed. I am a recipe tester and developer and spend my life playing in the kitchen. For me it's fun to geek out on lemon zesters for example, buying 8 at one time to find the best because I have a tiny kitchen and am in it all day and don't have the room or the patience for substandard items in my kitchen. I am happy to share my findings on Amazon so you don't waste your hard earned cash on substandard products either! Happy cooking and eating because Food is Glorious!

Christopher Kimball, the founder of America's Test Kitchen, wasted no time after unceremoniously leaving that empire to launch his new endeavor, Milk Street Kitchen. The resulting cookbook, Milk Street Tuesday Night, is a sledgehammer of a response - and a seriously good collection of simple, tasty recipes. With a focus on easy, healthy, delicious dishes (yet, making use of thoughtful flavors) this book is a welcome addition to any collection - from beginner to professional. Here are the dishes we chose: • Benne Seed cookies - We think sesame seeds should be used in baking more often. These quickly became favorites among our neighbors (who benefit greatly from our baking adventures). They will likely make a return appearance for our annual holiday cookie gift baskets. • Kimchi and Bacon Fried Rice - That is pretty much a perfect sentence, am I right? The technique of cooking the rice, undisturbed, in the pan allows a pleasant "crust" to form. The kimchi provides just the right amount of "funk" to the party. And, of course, everything is better with bacon. The fried egg, when cut, provides a nice hit of "sauce" to the rice. A real stand-out dish! • Pork and Chorizo with Piquillo Peppers - We honestly had no idea that there’s more than one kind of chorizo. This recipe uses a Spanish chorizo witch has the consistency of salami, rather than the soft Mexican one. A perfect weeknight one pot meal! • Mushroom and Sausage Ragu with Pappardelle - We are talking some serious comfort food right here! Cinnamon makes a surprise (yet welcome) guest appearance in this dish. • Three Cup Chicken - This was super easy, photographed quickly, and really satisfying! Be sure to use the recommended boneless, skinless thighs instead of a breast to ensure better flavor. • Sumac-Spiced Chicken - This is the first dish we’ve cooked that used sumac as the main flavor component. It was pleasingly tangy! For the flatbread, we found this fantastic Afghanistan "naan" from our local market. • Roasted Fennel with Rosemary - Something magical happens to fennel when you roast it. The characteristic flavor (in raw form) transforms into this sweet explosion of taste. Serve with your protein of choice (steaks, poultry, pork chops, fish, etc.) • Paprika-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin - We loved the simplicity of this beautiful dish. Mixing both sweet and smoked paprika added a depth of flavor to the dish. This is a perfect companion to the aforementioned Roasted Fennel with Rosemary dish.

This is a wonderful cookbook. Five stars for the recipes. I have recently purchased this book but have already made at least six of the recipes to great praise from my family. My husband is still raving about the Pork Chops with Peanut-Guajillo Sauce. He says it's the best tasting pork chop he's ever had. There are a good many more recipes that we are anxious to try. However, I have given the book only 4 stars overall because this book is supposed to offer recipes that are quick and easy enough for busy weeknight dinners -- and, in my opinion, most are not that quick to whip up. Further, a number of the dishes will also need sides to round them out. The ones I have tried require a fair amount of prep work and a number of ingredients that aren't standard items for a good many of us. It's not that the ingredients are difficult to obtain; most large grocery stores will stock them, but chances are you won't have Japanese eggplants sitting in your vegetable bin or a whole array of dried chilis that need to be toasted and steeped before using. Plan ahead to be sure you have the ingredients on hand and plan to spend more time than the recipe estimates. Also, expect to be using more bowls and pans than you might want. If you can spend the time, the meals are inspired, delicious, and refreshingly different -- but you may want to save some of them for the weekend.

I bought this cookbook for my husband for Christmas. We watch Milk Street on PBS and have made many of the recipes from their website after drooling through episodes. This book will save me from trying to print out and save every recipe we've loved. We cook 90% of our meals from scratch and live in suburban Chicago, so we have access to well-stocked grocery stores. I haven't found any of the ingredients to be things I couldn't get in store or on Amazon. (Our local grocery did stop selling the harissa we liked, but Amazon carries it, so we're saved!) Last week, I decided to cook four recipes from this book. I made the carbonara, the Vietnamese meatball lettuce wraps, the fish tacos, and the white balsamic chicken. They were all delicious, although I will say I thought the carbonara recipe was overly complicated compared to how I've made it in the past. The latter three will become regulars in our dinner rotation. My 9 and 11 year olds gobbled everything up, and the 9 year old fancies herself a picky eater. (She's not from what I've seen of other people's kids but whatever.) We've also made the pork schnitzel and the Cuban burgers. Both of which were also good, but the sauces were insane. They recommend making the schnitzel into sandwiches with a mayo with lemon and garlic, and we've made the mayo three times since for various things. We added some pickles for tartar sauce, and I honestly don't think I'll ever go back. So good. The sauce for the cuban burgers made a lot, so the leftovers ended up on grilled cheeses and eggs. Seriously, it ended up on whatever my husband and son could think to put it on. My favorite was the sauce for the fish tacos, but none of that was leftover. (I'm writing this on January 8th, and my husband got it for Christmas, so can you tell we're excited about this book?) As someone who does cook almost every day, I am so tired of most things. Even taco Tuesday has been a drag lately. This cookbook has me eager to try new things. I don't think anything is too complicated for a weeknight, and if it is, I'll save it for a weekend. I don't think this book is for beginners, but it has gotten me excited to make dinner again. What I especially love is that no recipe is longer than one page. Open anywhere in the book and you see a full color picture on one side and the recipe on the other. I hate having to flip back and forth in other books to see how many tablespoons were in the ingredient list. The layout is outstanding. Thank you Milk Street for giving this old, tired mama some new recipes to look forward to making.

- recipes are very concise and easy to follow - method is clear and laid out in a few steps and are all simple. at the top they provide context for the recipe and give advice. - vast majority of recipes require only 10-11 ingredients which includes all seasonings and are not complicated. - everything I have made from this cookbook so far is delicious, simple, and accurate on the timings. I’ve skipped some ingredients that I didn’t have or subbed It out for something else. If you don’t know what an ingredient is or what to sub it with just google it! - I disagree with other reviews which stated ingredients in here are uncommon or hard to find. I’ve been able to locate everything except for a couple chili peppers in different recipes at my local Safeway. I subbed jalapeño and recipes still came out great. Love love love this cookbook! I meal prep 2 or 3 on the weekend and pack for work lunches. I also like to have the ones you top with a easy egg prepped as leftovers so I can pop the base on the stove or the microwave to reheat, fry an egg for a few minutes, and have dinner made in 5 minutes total (or however long it takes you to fry an egg)! That’s been a real game changer when I come home hungry after work.

Beautiful photos of dishes and fairly easy recipes but some ingredients are not usually found in my pantry. But the results are yummy so far!

I've only tried a handful of recipes so far, but have found 3 that I have made more than once. As a busy parent, that means the recipes need to have a limited list of easy to find ingredients, quick prep, and easy clean up. The Beef Suya, Moroccan Chicken Skewers, and Turkish Red Lentil soup have all been good enough - and easy enough - to make again . I don't understand the review that claims ingredients are hard to find and that the recipes are too complicated. I live in a small city and shop at an average grocery store and can find everything I need, so unless you live somewhere that the grocery options are more limited I don't think that you'll need special trips to multiple stores. As for the complexity of the recipes, I think that the instructions could be formatted a little differently to increase the ease of preparation - for instance, you may find 3-4 steps in 1 paragraph vs. listed separately, but the steps themselves are not difficult or complex. Just read the recipe once or twice before starting and it's no big deal. I have not encountered anything that requires tools beyond basic pots and pans and a food processor. As with almost every cookbook, the prep time does seem to take a little longer than the estimate in the book, but I think the "fast, faster, fastest" categories are a good gauge for how involved each one is. All in all, this is a nice book and for me, gaining even 3 recipes that are practical and delicious enough to add into the weeknight rotation makes it well worth the purchase price.

I saw a couple of recipes on PBS and decided to try this. They are usually nice and with the COVID emergency, we have lots of time to cook. Mind you, these recipes are featured as taking less time. They are easy and there is a wide variety of types and ingredients. Because they are featured as easy or quick to prepare after you return home from work, they use a lot of canned ingredients - especially bean. I would prefer they also add how to pre-soak and prepare from dried beans. Also a lot of ingredients - spices usually - are somewhat esoteric - easy to find with the Boston market a couple of blocks from Milk Street. However almost all are easy to substitute (google). I have sent this to my cooking friends and daughters. I recommend it. I'm gradually working my way through it!

Really quick and flavourful recipes

this book is a good addition, quality pictures, lots of options to cook.

Every recipe has a picture. There are a variety of dishes, all simple for the home cook. No esoteric ingredients, no technical methods. Just easy to cook, family pleasing meals.

Muy buenos libros del autor. Excelente impresión y fotos.