It’s Not Complicated: Simple Recipes for Every Day, Reviewed

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After years of throwing lavish, carefully planned dinner parties, hosting numerous food shows, and jet-setting across the globe, Katie Lee Biegel, co-host of Food Network’s The Kitchen, and author of Katie Lee’s Easy-Breezy Eats: The Endless Summer Cookbook, has settled down. She now prefers quiet dinners with her family to multi-day cooking affairs for dozens of guests. Smart girl. It took me decades to figure this out for myself. I now prefer small, quiet, simple dinners, with just a few people to the big parties that I used to host. Good food, and being able to relax while I eat it, is so much more important than acting as a high-end server to a house full of family and friends. That’s why I love her latest book, It’s Not Complicated: Simple Recipes for Every Day.

There are four things I look for in a good cookbook. First of all, I want a lot of good, easy to prepare recipes. Second, I want beautiful photographs of nearly all of the dishes in the cookbook to use as both guide and inspiration. Third, I want a wide variety of recipes to suit a multitude of tastes. Lastly, I want recipes written in a clear and concise fashion using ingredients that I’m not going to have to run out and buy in some obscure specialty shop. This book fits these criteria. It is, in a word, wonderful. It is loaded with delicious, but simple dishes that will be sure to please every member of your family. In addition to being family friendly, a good many of them are company worthy as well, and who doesn’t love that?

The photos are mouthwatering, and there is a wonderful variety of recipes to suit all tastes and preferences. To my way of thinking, it is worth owning for the vegetable recipes alone. Think Crunchy Ranch Corn on the Cob, Soy and Lemon Roasted Broccoli, Fondant Potatoes, and more. Not a vegetable person? OK. How about the mouthwatering Animal-Style Burgers, Barbecue Potato Chip-Crusted Salmon, or Prime Rib with Beef Gravy, the latter far easier than you might think.

This is not to say that Biegel skimps on desserts; quite the contrary. Here you will find all forms of sweet deliciousness including Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cannoli Trifle, and Mocha Swirl Ice Cream.

It’s Not Complicated: Simple Recipes for Every Day is a book designed for a variety of skill levels, a plethora of tastes, and makes the perfect hostess, Mother’s Day, or wedding shower gift. You can buy a copy here; you might want to pick up one for yourself as well. In fact, I insist upon it.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Abrams as a part of their Abrams Dinner Party Program in exchange for an honest review.

 

Animal-Style Burgers

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Despite all of the unique and complex things that I have prepared over my decades and decades (groan) of cooking, my favorite food continues to be the cheeseburger. I tend to not make them at home, however, because I never seem to be able to replicate the taste of a restaurant cheeseburger...until now. This recipe for Animal-Style Burgers from Katie Lee Biegel’s latest book, It’s Not Complicated (review coming Sunday), is one of the best burgers I have ever eaten, much less made at home. Topping the burger patty with yellow mustard before it is grilled is genius; it adds juiciness and flavor. Making two very thin patties instead of just one thicker patty, topping each with a slice of cheese, takes this burger over the top. For me, her recipe is burger perfection.

Animal-Style Burgers

From It’s Not Complicated

1 onion, ½ grated, ½ thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, grated
1 large egg
1 t. kosher salt
¼ t. freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. ground beef
1 T. unsalted butter
3 T. yellow mustard
8 slices American cheese
Special Sauce (recipe follows)
4 potato buns, buttered and lightly toasted
Iceberg lettuce
Sliced tomato*
Pickles

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grated onion, garlic, egg, salt, and pepper. Add the ground beef and use your hands to gently mix until combined. Divide the mixture evenly into four portions, then divide each into two, to give you eight total. Form each into a thin patty and place on the prepared baking sheet. The mixture will be wet and a bit sticky. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Heat a griddle or large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and sliced onion and cook, stirring every so often, until the onion slices have a nice cedar to them, 45 minutes. Set aside.

Wipe the griddle clean and return to medium-high heat. Put the patties on the grill, working in batches if necessary. Spoon 1 teaspoon mustard (or squeeze directly from the bottle) onto the top raw side of each patty. Cook for about three minutes, then flip and cook for an additional three minutes. Top each with a slice of American cheese.

Spread some special sauce on each bottom bun, then add lettuce, one patty, some onions, a second patty, tomatoes, pickles, more sauce, and a top bun. Serve.

Special Sauce
Yield: About 1 cup

½ c. mayonnaise
3 T. yellow mustard
2 T. sweet relish
1 T. ketchup
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. paprika

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until well blended.

 *I used a Melissa’s organic heirloom tomato. A burger like this deserves to be topped with only the best!