This Is What We're Having: Good Food for Real Life

Each year, by her conservative estimate, Jessica Battilana cooks about 500 meals. Cooking in her Maine kitchen and mostly for her family, she makes the same dishes she made the year before, and the year before that. There is a rhythm to the way she cooks, and the 85 recipes in this cookbook capture her in the act.

In This Is What We’re Having, she guides readers through the seasons, answering the question of what to eat with recipes that include abundant salads for summer evenings and robustly flavored curries and braises for the coldest nights. You will find a sheet pan salmon recipe elevated by an herby yogurt sauce; ways of using up summer corn that include an ode to Indian poriyal, and a perfect corn soup (with or without bacon); and simple weeknight suppers, like chicken meatballs with three-ingredient magic sauce, that prove delicious need not be difficult. Like any good cook who follows their cravings, alongside dinner inspirations are desserts that range from the simplest apple cake to more elegant coconut crème caramel.

Bright photographs and candid reflections offer readers more than a collection of recipes; with Jessica as kitchen companion, you’ll gain the confidence to welcome family and friends to the table and say, “This is what we’re having.” Whether you’re a parent cooking for six or simply someone who enjoys eating well, this cookbook will help you find your way in the kitchen.