Book Review: Done in One (Best of Bridge)

Generations of home cooks have come to trust Best of Bridge for their family-friendly, easy-to-prepare meals This all-new collection includes 105 recipes perfected for preparing in one pot, pan, sheet pan, skillet or bowl After almost 50 years and 4 million books, who better than Best of Bridge to create the ultimate book of one pot recipes? Best of Bridge recipes are always budget conscious and include ingredients you can find at any grocery store, so you don’t have to break the bank to eat the good food you and your family deserve

We listened to Best of Bridge fans, and now we’ve got more salads and dressings than ever and tons of tips for recipe flavor variations, ingredient substitutions, make ahead planning, freezer-friendly options and easier clean-up Super-fast and filling after-work dinners like Skillet Gnocchi and Shrimp and cheer-worthy crowd pleasers like Sheet-Pan Beef and Mushroom Fajitas are guaranteed hits We’ve updated some classic Bridge favorites, too, including the Instant Pot Best of Bridge Hamburger Soup and a delectable No-Bake Biscoff Ice Box Cake Best of Bridge Done in One will have you sharing memories and living large all without creating a chaotic mess of a kitchen

As someone who took a long time to get back to the kitchen post-brain surgery (for those of you catching up, here’s the full story), when I started to cook again, I looked for easy recipes. One pan, few ingredients, no hard-to-find ingredients. Getting back in the kitchen felt like a warm hug to my soul but I definitely needed to take it slowly, so the huge variety of “one pan” recipes available has been a godsend to me these past few months. This book came a little later in my recovery when I was capable of more but I’m still looking for easy and easy-cleanup recipes now as I re-enter the real world. What used to be easy (getting dinner on the table a few times a week) now requires extra planning and a bit extra energy but I’m committed to making things work. Which is why I was so excited to receive a review copy of Done in One. Knowing that such recipes come from the trusted names of Best of Bridge and Emily Richards and Sylvia Kong takes the guesswork out of meal planning – with those names behind the recipes, you just know they will work!

And hey, you don’t need to have come through a traumatic surgery to appreciate these recipes – I think it’s the way forward for me,and I know so many people who love recipes that use minimal equipment when they are meal planning for their weeks. For many, knowing that a recipe won’t take long or dirty many dishes is the difference between cooking and ordering takeout/ fast food (which is okay once in a while but too often adds up and may not always be the healthiest choice).

In Done in One, Emily and Sylvia share recipes for every meal of the day. Recipes are divided into Breakfast and Brunch, Appetizers, Salads, Soups and Sandwiches, Beef and Veal, Chicken and Turkey, Pork and Lamb, Fish and Seafood, Vegetarian, Sides and Sweets chapters. There are handy icons accompanying the recipes letting you know;

1. You can Make Ahead
2. The recipe includes 5 Ingredients or Fewer
3. The recipe takes 30 Minutes or Less
4. The recipe uses a Sheet Pan
5. The recipe is a One Skillet/ Pot Meal
6. The recipe is Vegetarian
7. The recipe is Gluten-Free

In typical Best of Bridge style, the book includes loads of tips, ingredient substitutions, how-tos, and ideas for riffing on the recipes. You’ll notice the ingredients use easy-to-find products and some grocery store “cheats” (frozen puff pastry, canned beans and fish, frozen vegetables etc…) which can speed things up and make a home-cooked meal “doable” on a weeknight. There are recipes for Instant Pot users, too! It really has something for everyone’s tastebuds and every level of cook.

I’ve tested a few recipes from here, including the Skillet Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie which we served at Thanksgiving with scoops of ice cream. It was amazing! Though the recipe calls for everything to be mixed in the skillet itself, mine was too shallow for mixing and blending so I did dirty one extra bowl (but I used a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients* so the cleanup really was minimal). Because what’s better than a chocolate chip cookie? A GIANT chocolate chip cookie to share! The publishers have kindly allowed me to share the recipe today!

Yield: serves 8

Skillet Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

Print

What's better than a cookie? A giant cookie to share! Browning the butter helps create an extra decadent richness in this warm cooking. Get the ice cream ready and dig in!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups (225g) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (100g) quick oats
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
• 1 cup (7 oz/200 g) 70% dark chocolate chunks or dark chocolate chips
• Flaky sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F (180˚C).
2. Place butter into 10-inch (25 cm) cast-iron skillet. Place over medium heat and melt butter, stirring occasionally. Once butter is melted, cook the butter, stirring milk solids off bottom and sides of the skillet constantly for 3 to 4 minutes until milk solids become golden and have a toasty aroma. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Whisk in brown and granulated sugars until combined. Whisk in eggs, one a time, and then whisk in vanilla until mixture looks creamy.
3. In a bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Using a wooden spoon, stir flour mixture into skillet until most of the flour is absorbed. Stir chocolate until evenly distributed and no flour remains. (Chocolate will melt slightly.)
5. Bake for about 25 minutes or until light golden around edge and top is just set but still soft. Remove from oven and sprinkle with flaky salt. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

Excerpted from Best of Bridge Done in One. Courtesy of Robert Rose Inc., by Emily Richards & Sylvia Kong © 2023 Photography by Jonathan Bielaski © 2023 Reprinted with permission. Available where books are sold.

*The ingredients in the original recipe are listed "Canadian-style" meaning 1 1/2 cups of flour is listed as 625mL. I listed the weights of the butter, sugar, and flour for international readers.

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