Let Alice Zaslavsky, international bestselling author of the James Beard Book Awards nominee, In Praise of Veg, lead you on a journey to confident, intuitive cooking — because if you already enjoy the eating part, you have everything it takes to get better at the cooking part too. This vibrant kitchen manual contains stacks of vegetable-forward recipes that you’ll want to cook on a weekly basis and handy kitchen skills and thrills, to help build the foundations for a lifetime of better cooking. With Better Cooking there’s no pressure to be a perfect cook, but everyone can aspire to be a better cook, and therein lies the fun.

To help all cooks — from beginner to experienced — become better cooks, every recipe, tip and trick acts as another stepping stone to finding joy and confidence in the kitchen. Inside, you’ll find chapters including:

• Slapdash: really outstanding stuff simply thrown together

• On Autopilot: your new go-tos for quick and easy weeknight meals

• Making the Most of It: what to do with all those leftovers

• Loosen Your Shoulders: weekend projects and entertaining

• Seriously Good Sweeties: like, seriously good

Whether you’re already a dab hand, you’re a reluctant home cook who finds cooking a bit meh, or you’re starting from ‘which way do I hold a knife?’, Better Cooking has all the inspiration, hand-holding and cheerleading you need to relax into the rhythm and truly enjoy your time in the kitchen.

Better Cooking: Life-Changing Skills & Recipes to Tempt & Teach by Alice Zaslavsky is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Indigo.ca.   

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Fennel & Citrus Salad with Smoky Green Onion Dressing

Whether you braise fennel with orange or preserved lemon in the colder months, or finely shave it and team it with the zip of fresh citrus juice and zest as we do here, fennel and citrus is one combo you should have on high rotation throughout the year. Conveniently, citrus is what helps fennel keep its snow-white sheen, so remember to squeeze some lemon into the cold water the fennel’s bobbing around in, too. I must credit the supremely talented Australian chef Jo Barrett with lending me her green onion oil recipe — it takes this dish to the next level, and will make you feel way cheffy, too.

juice of ½ lemon

2 fennel bulbs, fronds picked (see Subs, page 40)

½ bunch of dill fronds (keep the stems to use below)

1 chioggia beet (optional)

6 radishes (optional)

2 oranges

1 grapefruit or blood orange

Smoky green onion oil

½ bunch of green onions

½ bunch of dill, stems and fronds separated

½ bunch of chives

scant ½ cup (100 ml) grapeseed oil

¼ teaspoon sea salt flakes

1/8 teaspoon superfine sugar (optional)

Chive vinaigrette

½ bunch of chives, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, bruised

¼ cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon mustard (see Subs, page 40)

¼ teaspoon salt flakes

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pour some cold water into a bowl or salad spinner and add the lemon juice, ready for the fennel.

Trim the very bottom off each fennel bulb, and leave on enough of the top green stalks to use as handles. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, shave the fennel very thinly, in the same direction as the ribs run. Pop the fennel shavings into the bowl or salad spinner, along with the fennel and dill fronds. If using the beet and/or radish, shave these thinly and add to the bowl or spinner, too. Leave in the fridge to get super crunchy, crisp and cold while you get on with the rest of the salad.

To make the smoky green onion oil, cut the green tops off the green onions and reserve. Slice the green onion whites into thin ribbons, about 1¼ inches (3 cm) long, then pop in the bowl in the fridge with the fennel to curl up. Toss the green onion tops in a heavy-based pan and heat over high heat for 3–4 minutes until they turn a brighter green, with flecks of gold and black. While still hot, use tongs to add them to a small blender with the dill stems, chives, grapeseed oil, salt and sugar, if using. Blitz for 2–3 minutes to a bright green mush; the heat generated by the blender blades will help to extract the green color and the flavor of the herbs.

Drape a piece of cheesecloth over a strainer and place over a bowl. Pour the green onion mixture into the strainer. Leave the oil to drip through on its own, which should take about 20 minutes. Pour the strained oil into a squeeze bottle or small pouring jug and set aside for serving.

Meanwhile, zest the oranges and grapefruit, reserving the zest, then segment the fruit (see Skills spotlight, page 41). Squeeze the left-over citrus peels and membranes into a small jar to extract any remaining juice. Add all the chive vinaigrette ingredients and the reserved zest, seal the jar and shake vigorously to help them get friendly, to the point of emulsification.

Drain the chilled shaved fennel mixture and green onion curls and spin until fully dry.

Toss the fennel mixture in the vinaigrette and place in a serving bowl. Garnish with the citrus segments and green onion curls. Serve drizzled with the smoky green onion oil.

Excerpted from Better Cooking by Alice Zaslavsky. Copyright © 2024 Alice Zaslavsky. Photographs by Ben Dearnley. Published by Appetite an imprint of Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.