Last year, I wrote about Jamie Oliver’s delightful cookbook, One: Simple One Pan Wonders. As a singleton, I appreciated this book for its easy little-fuss, little-mess recipes and ease of use.

I receive many cookbooks in the mail (and purchase many more), and, while they’re pretty to look at let’s face it: The closest I’ve gotten to throwing a dinner party in five years is making a pot of chicken soup for me and my neighbor to share when we both had COVID a few weeks ago.

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While I cook nearly every day, it’s usually a dish for one made in a pan. Oliver’s previous cookbook was a Godsend to people like me who enjoy flavor but simply do not have the time to prepare a meal for hours.

Well, Oliver’s done it again with his Five Ingredients: Mediterranean Simple Incredible Foods ($35).

This sunny, orange tome offers 125 different ingredients — each using only five ingredients. And those ingredients are not rare finds like Mermaid tears and white truffles — they’re items that you either have in your kitchen right now or that you can easily get at your local grocer!

Don’t think, however, that those five ingredients will lack flavor or depth. I don’t know how he does it, but Oliver manages to write recipes that omit the headaches while retaining the flavor.

Oliver shares his secret to Mediterranean cuisine early in the book by revealing the five ingredients that are a must for every Mediterranean pantry: Olive oil for cooking, extra virgin olive oil for dressing and finishing, red wine vinegar, sea salt, and black pepper.

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And here’s the rub — the other recipes all use five ingredients in addition to those five pantry staples. So, they use up to ten ingredients — but who’s counting? In addition, each recipe is designed to take 30 minutes or less to prepare — a dream come true for us “real” people who don’t have three hours of prep time on a random Tuesday evening.

For instance, the “Really French Salad” calls for fine green beans, Dijon mustard, a wheel of goat cheese, walnut halves, and lamb’s lettuce — along with red wine vinegar, olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. The result is a delicious meal that requires only one pan to cook the beans, toast the walnuts, and melt the cheese — yet it was as flavorful as any Parisian bistro’s offering.

Other recipes do the same for pasta, stuffed squash, fish, and meat dishes. But the best part of this book is the simple desserts: easy-to-make panna cotta, tarts, and sherbert are the stuff of dreams for someone too lazy to bake the tube of raw cookie dough.

Once again, Jamie Oliver has produced a book meant for real people who work and have families and obligations — yet still want to make a delicious meal. A recommended read, indeed.

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Isaac Toups is a proud Cajun.

The chef’s family first settled in Louisiana over 300 years ago, meaning that Cajun cooking is literally steeped into the chef’s DNA.

Catch Toups at his New Orleans restaurant, Toups Meatery, and he’ll regale you with tales of both of his grandmothers cooking for the family. Those women influence his cooking today, as evidenced by his menu that combines traditional Cajun flavors with modern techniques. Dishes like BBQ Mississippi rabbit, crispy turkey necks, and Gulf shrimp have earned Toups several James Beard nominee and semi-finalist nods — including this year, where Toups is a nominee in the Best Chef: South category.

Though Toups Meatery is where the chef hones his skills, his first love is outdoor cooking. With warm weather upon us, Broken Palate asked the chef how we can all put a little Cajun flair into our barbecue parties this summer.

Start With a Quality Fire

For Toups, a good fire is most important. He eschews bagged charcoal from the store, opting for quality material for a quality flame. “I use really good hardwood charcoal or hardwood, itself. That’s what makes your grilling so much better,” he says.

Choose The Right Meat for Grilling

Leave the thick, expensive cuts for indoors, says the chef. “I stick with thin steaks or thin pieces of meat. I like skirt steaks, flatiron, and flank. Those are the offcuts of beef,” says Toups. If you do have a big cut, like a ribeye, Toups suggests marking your ribeye on the grill and finishing it in the oven to preserve the fat.

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Vegetables on the Grill

For the chef, nothing beats asparagus on the grill. “Even my kids will eat it,” he adds.

Toups also likes to stuff poblano peppers with cheese. “Poblanos are super friendly. They’re not jalapeno hot,” he says. Toups stuffs his peppers with mozzarella or halloumi.

For vegetables, Toups uses high heat oils like refined avocado or grapeseed oils. “lower temperature oils will go acrid on you,” he says.

Toups also says to invest in a grilling basket for vegetables, shrimp, and anything else small. “It beats trying to turn 50 shrimp with your tongs,” he adds.

Season Everything Well

For Toups, good spices and marinades mean everything. “A good bottle of soy sauce will go a long way,” he says.

The chef also insists on fresh spices - especially pepper. “Stick with all the peppers: black pepper, white pepper, Syrian pepper, chili flakes…peppers, peppers, peppers,” he says, adding, “get a pepper grinder and grind your pepper fresh. Freshly ground pepper is one of the big secrets.”

Toups' go-to spice is Korean chili flakes. “It has a bit of sweetness and smokiness. I use it on almost anything and it can stand up to extremely high temperatures,” he says.

The chef recommends shopping online for spices (Spiceology has a good selection) if your local store doesn’t stock a good supply.

Take Care of Your Grill

Toups is a believer in making sure your grill is in tip-top shape. “Make sure to keep your grill clean and it will take care of you.”