In for Dinner: 101 Delicious, Affordable Recipes to Share

In for Dinner: 101 Delicious, Affordable Recipes to Share

101 delicious and achievable, budget-friendly, vegetable-forward recipes made for communal eating and entertaining, from food writer, chef, and supper club host Rosie Kellett. Sharing a warehouse home in London with her six flatmates has taught supper club host and former Violet Bakery employee Rosie Kellett that making delicious food is possible on any budget. Rosie and her housemates cook and eat most of their meals communally: each person pays just about $30 per week to cover grocery costs and they take turns cooking each night, with everyone coming together to share a meal at the end of the day. Through this approach to cooking and eating, Rosie has come to cherish the physical act of sitting around a table with others, and she has learned how to feed a crowd with minimal effort, waste, and cost. With her first book In for Dinner , Rosie shares her affordable and approachable recipes that are designed for sharing—be it with friends, family, or yourself (leftovers!). From a flavorful and comforting Conchigliette with Porcini Mushroom Ragu and a bake-and-blend Roasted Carrot, Cumin, and Coconut Soup to an irresistible Hot Harissa Shakshuka and a delicious and endlessly customizable Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cake , Rosie is a pro at coaxing sophisticated flavors from humble ingredients. The recipes often serve up to eight and mirror the way Rosie and her housemates eat—mostly vegetarian with a little bit of fish now and again—to maximize affordability and nourishment, but the dishes are impressive enough to serve up at your next dinner party. While a communal lifestyle isn’t everyone’s reality, Rosie believes that coming together to share food is more economical and also creates joyful opportunities to connect at the end of each day. Rosie Kellett is a food writer, chef, and supper club host living and working in East London. Rosie started her career as an actress and lived in Los Angeles for a short time, but always had a deep love of food. She worked in the restaurant industry at e5 Bakehouse and Violet Bakery, where she was inspired by their seasonal approach to cooking. After moving into a warehouse with six flatmates, she took to the internet to share her love of food and communal way of life, launching a supper club and a Substack newsletter and going viral on social media with videos of her beautiful dishes and inspiring lifestyle. In For Dinner is her first book. Introduction This cookbook is a love letter to food, community, friendship, and family. It’s for that big house share who each have their own bottle of olive oil but could so easily be sharing. For couples who love to host their friends and are always looking for an excuse for a dinner party. For families who want to eat delicious, affordable food but get stuck in a rut with the same recipes on repeat. For those people who live alone and want new and interesting ways to feed themselves. It’s for students on a budget, hoping to make their money go that little bit further. This book is for everyone, but the people I have really written it for are those who feel intimidated by cooking for big groups, who shudder at the idea of making pasta for ten on a vacation. I want to give those cooks the confidence to make a casual chili for all their friends on a Wednesday night, because in reality, it’s achievable—and cheaper!—if you know how. “Who’s in for dinner?” Every day, I, or one of my six housemates, will ask this question on our group chat. We’ve been living communally for five years, cooking, eating, and planning weekly food shops together, each one of us pitching in about $30 for the week. Every night there will be a delicious meal on the table that caters to the needs and dietary requirements of whoever is in for dinner. This book’s journey to becoming a physical object is an unconventional one, shaped by the way in which we approach home life. It was created with communal living in mind and is filled with recipes inspired by all corners of the globe, representing the international makeup of our house. Our housemates collectively share a heritage that stretches from the UK to Italy, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Southeast Asia, and beyond. The book is a patchwork of staple dinners from the warehouse where my housemates and I reside, my personal family recipes, passed down through generations, and staff food concoctions that have stayed with me well past my shifts in professional kitchens, which I have been working in for the past decade. When I think of home, I think of food. Of cold hands warmed over the stove, of stacks of hot buttered toast, of crumpets swimming in pools of salted butter, steaming bowls of porridge topped with stewed raspberries while a steady patter of snow falls outside. My fondest memories are punctuated by food—that green onion shrimp pancake my housemate Pier fed me as I collapsed at the warehouse kitchen table, having just moved for the seventh time that year. The macaroni cheese my mum made f