Bites

Reinventing Favorites

Easy, everyday ideas for the ingredients you know and love

Chef Jamie Oliver has our number. After his popular “5 Ingredients: Quick & Easy Food” cookbook came out a few years ago, fans asked him to write another book focused on five-ingredient recipes. He has taken the number theme a step further with his new cookbook, “7 Ways,” which centers around ingredients he found we’re putting in our shopping carts week in and week out. Built around these 18 “hero” ingredients— including chicken, steak, salmon, broccoli, eggs and cauliflower—the book offers seven new ways to reinvent each with more than 120 recipes. Who couldn’t use more ideas for these favorites? As Oliver writes in the introduction, “Once again we’re keeping things simple, we’re pushing maximum flavor with minimum effort, we want fun, and we want solid, super-tasty recipes that consistently deliver.” Everyone tends to cook the same small repertoire of recipes, so he wants to help you expand on that and arm you with some new favorites. Check out the recipes here using chicken and salmon “heroes,” which just might become your new go-to dishes. The book includes the kind of food he enjoys at home with his family and hopes you will too. —Mary Subialka

Easy Salmon En Croute MAKES 2 SERVINGS | 55 MINUTES

Tasty spinach, baked red pesto sauce and lemon

1 onion 1 tablespoon olive oil 4 cloves garlic 1 pound frozen spinach 1 (about 11 ounce) sheet all-butter puff pastry (cold) 4 (4½-ounce) salmon fillets, skin off, pin-boned 2 large eggs 1 heaping tablespoon red pesto 1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Peel and chop the onion and place in a large non-stick pan on medium heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. 2. Peel, finely slice and add the garlic, then cook for 10 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly. Stir in the spinach, cover and cook for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes, or until all the liquid has cooked away. Season to perfection. 3. Unroll the pastry and place it, still on its paper, in a baking pan. Spread over the spinach, leaving a 2-inch border all the way around. Sit the salmon fillets on top, 1/2 inch apart, then use the paper to help you fold in the pastry edges to snugly encase the salmon, leaving it exposed on the top. Beat the eggs and use some to brush the exposed pastry, then bake at the bottom of the oven for 15 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, beat the pesto into the remaining egg. When the time’s up, pull out the pan and pour the egg mixture over the salmon and into the gaps. Return to the bottom of the oven for a final 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the egg is just cooked through. Serve with lemon wedges, for squeezing over.

RECIPES AND PHOTOS FROM “7 WAYS” BY JAMIE OLIVER ©2020 REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF FLATIRON BOOKS. PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEVON BISS. My Kinda Butter Chicken MAKES 2 SERVINGS | 40 MINUTES

Fragrant spices, tomatoes, cashew butter and yogurt

2 to 3 fresh mixed-color chilies 12 ounces ripe mixed-color cherry tomatoes 4 cloves garlic 1 (2½-inch) piece fresh ginger 1 tablespoon garam masala pinch sea salt black pepper, to taste 4 heaping tablespoons plain yogurt, divided 2 (5¼-ounce) boneless skinless chicken breasts ½ tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons smooth cashew butter

1. Halve and seed the chilies. Place in a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat with the tomatoes and blacken all over, turning occasionally. 2. Meanwhile, peel the garlic and ginger, and finely grate into a large bowl. Add most of the garam masala, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and 1 tablespoon of yogurt. Deeply score the chicken breasts at 1/2-inch intervals, then massage with the marinade. 3. Once charred, remove the tomatoes and chilies to a board, returning the pan to a medium heat with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and the chicken. Cook and char for 10 minutes, turning halfway, while you pinch off and discard the tomato skins and roughly chop 1 to 2 of the chilies, to taste. 4. Remove the gnarly chicken from the pan and go in with the tomatoes, chopped chilies and cashew butter. Pour in 1 cup boiling kettle water and stir to pick up the sticky bits. Let it bubble vigorously for 2 minutes and once it starts to thicken, return the chicken to the pan, turning in the sauce for a final 2 minutes, or until cooked through, then remove to a board. 5. Off the heat, season the sauce to perfection, then ripple through the remaining yogurt. Slice the chicken and serve with the remaining chili and garam masala. 