Sonja and Alex Overhiser of the popular food blog A Couple Cooks share their lifehacks for a strong partnership. Their top secret? Cooking together.

Whether it’s a weeknight dinner or a homespun candlelit date night, somebody has to get dinner on the table. And what if that task was something you could do in tandem with someone you feel close to, making the work more pleasurable and spending quality time together? Enter A Couple Cooks, your guide to making this dream a reality.

With over 100 recipes for all occasions, from everyday dinners and large gatherings to intimate dinners for two, this book is designed to make meal planning and prep a stress-free and enjoyable experience. With designated roles for each partner, each recipe is crafted to be made lovingly by two:

• Having friends over for a weekend dinner? Have your sous chef put out Whipped Ricotta Crostini with Hot Honey while you’re prepping the Smoky Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna.
• Craving a sweet pick-me-up at the end of a long week? Prep the dry ingredients while your partner preps the wet ingredients, and chow down on hard-earned Brown Butter Miso Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars together. 

Brimming with vibrant photography, A Couple Cooks includes tips and tricks for hosting, upping the romance in the home, table setting and styling, and enhancing your home bar cart. Much more than your average weeknight cookbook, this is an inspiring and hardworking guide on how to make the most of the quotidian moments that make up our days by relishing time spent together, working as a team.

COOKING GIFT FOR TWO: From weddings and engagements to hostess gifts and more, A Couple Cooks fits the bill for a variety of life events with a gifting moment. Pair with a bottle of wine or fun aprons and you have the perfect housewarming present for any couple!

INCLUSIVE MEAL PREP COOKBOOK: Couples cookbooks have long been overdue for a refresh that includes all types of couples. Whether newlyweds, freshly engaged, together-for-a-century couples, cohabitators, or platonic life partners, A Couple Cooks is designed for all sorts of pairs looking to harmoniously divvy up jobs in the kitchen.

EXPERT HUSBAND & WIFE TEAM: Sonja and Alex collaborate as cookbook authors, recipe developers, cocktail experts, and parents. Their award-winning food blog, A Couple Cooks, inspired by their shift from processed foods to cooking at home from scratch, offers thousands of original recipes, cooking tips, and meal-planning ideas to make home cooking easy. This beautiful, giftable book brings together 100 of their star recipes with the warm and wise guidance that has made their blog one of America’s most popular recipe websites.

Perfect for:

• Partnerships of all kinds (including marriages, life partnerships, long-term or new coupledom, and roommates)
• Parents with busy schedules looking to get dinner on the table in a snap
• Couple gift for newlyweds or the recently engaged 
• Fans of healthy, vegetable-forward cooking seeking lots of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options 
• Followers of A Couple Cooks blog or such popular cookbook authors as Joanna Gaines, Erin French, and Erin Clarke

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Sweet Heat Salmon

One taste of this thick, glossy sauce and you’ll want to drizzle it on everything. This quick salmon is great for spicing up date night—although we make it on the regular because it’s just that good. Stir up the sauce, pop the salmon in the broiler for 10 minutes, then brush with more of that luscious glaze before serving.

If you can handle the heat, feel free to add more hot sauce; this recipe comes out mildly spicy as written. Serve with Lemon Asparagus with Crispy Prosciutto (page 211), Ginger Miso Chopped Salad (page 193), or Everyday Arugula Salad (page 187).

SERVES 2

Two 6 oz [170 g] salmon fillets, skin on, about 1½ in [4 cm] thick

2 Tbsp salted butter

½ Tbsp Louisiana- or picante-style hot sauce (such as Valentina, Cholula, Tabasco, or Frank’s) (see Tips)

½ Tbsp sriracha

2 tsp honey

½ tsp soy sauce or tamari

Minced chives, or green onion tops, for garnishing

Allow the salmon to come to room temperature, about 20 minutes (see Tips).

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the hot sauce, sriracha, honey, and soy sauce. Taste and add additional hot sauce if desired. Pour half of the sauce into a small bowl.

Preheat the broiler to high.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly oil it. Put the salmon on the foil skin side down and sprinkle it with several pinches of kosher salt. Brush the top and sides of the salmon with half of the glaze.

Broil the salmon until just tender and pink at the center, 7 to 10 minutes (thinner salmon will need only 4 to 5 minutes). The internal temperature should reach at least 125°F to 130°F [50°C to 55°C] when measured with a food thermometer at the thickest point.

Remove from the oven and brush with the reserved half of the glaze. Garnish with chives and serve.

 

Tips

This recipe has a mild-to-medium heat level; increase the hot sauce to your liking to make a spicier dish. Keep in mind that the final dish will taste less spicy than a taste of the sauce directly from a spoon.

It’s important to bring the salmon to room temperature for even cooking in the broiler. If the fish is too cold, it can blacken on the outside without fully cooking through on the inside.

Repurpose this dish as a salmon salad: Flake the cooked salmon and use it to top chopped romaine with tomatoes, croutons, and Creamy Parmesan Dressing (see page 189).

Wine Pairing: A dry Riesling is the perfect match for this dish. Its crisp acidity and subtle minerality balance the spicy sweetness of the sauce. For a nonalcoholic pairing, try a zero-proof Riesling (we like Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling).

Cooking Together: Make a side dish together while the salmon comes to room temperature, then one of you can whip up the sauce while the other prepares and broils the salmon.

For Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free soy sauce or tamari.

For Dairy-Free: Use vegan or dairy-free butter.

Storage: Leftovers will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 days.

Diet: Pescatarian, gluten-free option, dairy-free option

Published with permission from Chronicle Books.