If you’ve got a mixed bag of leftover items and are wondering how to make them work, check the category starting pages for general-purpose tips.
As often as possible, my recipes call for either a small amount or a flexible amount of the main ingredient. The idea is to enable you to deal with whatever amount is left, be it half a mango or four mangoes.
The recipes were developed and tested using an induction stovetop with a heat scale from 1 to 9. I use settings 1-2 to keep cooked food warm, and in recipes I refer to this as very low heat. When I write low heat, I refer to setting 3 or 4. Medium heat is 5-6. Medium-high is 7-8. High heat is 9.
Oven temperatures mentioned on this site are tested using a convection oven. Since ovens vary, cooking times should be seen as an advice time rather than a strict instruction. I always try to describe another way to test for doneness. If oven recipes from this book are consistently taking longer than advised, I recommend to set your oven 10ºF higher as a rule.
I considered it important to waste as little food as possible while developing these recipes. The photos are of the real food that ended up on our family dinner plates. I did not use any tricks to create unrealistic photos of perfect foods. Each photo should represent the food as you can really make it.