Is this Cooking in Real Life? Is this just fantasy?

A review of Cooking in Real Life by Lidey Heuck

In retrospect, I should have known we were getting a soft launch of Lidey Heuck. In 2019 or 2020, Food Network Magazine gave us her charmed origin story. If memory serves it went something like this: Hired out of college to work for the Ina Garten, Lidey was unfamiliar with cooking. To help Lidey out, Ina completely decked out the new hire’s kitchen with top-of-the-line cooking appliances and gadgets. Soon, Lidey was developing recipes alongside the cookbook legend and part of her inner circle.

Now, I’m not really into Hallmark movies, but if someone dramatized this particular fantasy, I would watch it and swoon.

I can’t remember exactly, but I’m almost certain I then read this story in a few other food publications around the same time. What I know for certain is that Lidey really came onto my radar without me working for it.

Basically—as I now know—what was happening at this point is that Lidey was preparing to strike out on her own, and Ina was throwing her support behind her protégée. Suddenly, or so it seemed, Lidey was all over the place. She began contributing to the New York Times food section and launched her lifestyle website, Lidey Likes. I, personally, was both seething with jealousy and excitedly following her Instagram (I contain multitudes).

In March of this year, Lidey released her first cookbook, Cooking in Real Life. I’ve had my eye on the cookbook for a while, so when my library came through with a copy, I jumped. Then, the clock started ticking on my tight two-week deadline to figure out if I wanted to buy it or not.

Lidey v. Ina

That Lidey is Ina’s pupil is obvious in the book (and not just because Ina wrote the foreword). The book is cast in the Garten mold, and by that I mean the breakfast chapter comes after dessert. There is, of course, a roast chicken. Both authors keep an eye towards entertaining when writing recipes, i.e. what can be made ahead, how to alter the recipe to serve several guests, etc.

Thankfully, however, in a departure from her teacher, Lidey calls for large and not extra-large eggs, so I can bake from it a little more easily on the fly. (I know, I know, everyone bows at the throne of Queen Ina, but how many keep extra-large eggs on hand?!) Also, where Ina can lean unapologetically rich and often opulent, Lidey has a lighter, more restrained touch. Finally, while I regularly consult Ina when cooking for polite company, I pretty rarely use her recipes for my weeknight dining room circus.¹ Lidey, for my purposes, is a bit more weeknight friendly.

The recipes and flavors skew basic—perhaps even safe—but that’s not a dealbreaker for me. So, even though nothing jumped off the pages at me upon first flip-through, I was easily able to make an entire week’s meal plan from it, and that’s maybe even more important.

I actually cooked a lot from this book. There were peaks, there were valleys, and there was a killer ice cream cake. Here goes.

Snacks

Lidey’s first chapter is Snacks & Drinks, which alternates between one small bite and one drink, and I think that’s a nice little structure.

I made the Golden Beet Dip with Yogurt & Tahini, which Lidey’s husband jokingly calls their “house dip” because it is one of her go-tos.

I found this dip quite good. It was a little sweet, a little earthy, and had a good amount of salt. One of my kids ate it by the spoonful. The other took one bite and asked for some ranch, please. Win some, lose some.

Lidey recommends eating it with toasted pita, crudités, or baby carrots. I ate it with crackers and baby carrots, and it was definitely too much root vegetable for me when when paired with carrots. But with crackers it was great.

Dinner

For soup Sunday, I made Melon & Cucumber Gazpacho. I’m not drawn to cold soup, really, and I always feel a bit like Lisa Simpson (It’s tomato soup, served ice cold!) when I serve it. But my kids like soup and it’s really hot out, so I made it.

Good news everyone, you don’t have to eat meat—I made gazpacho for all!

Lidey gives the option to make it with either cantaloupe or honeydew. I chose the former, and I have to say, I really loved this soup. It wasn’t too sweet and the flavors were really nicely balanced. Not only that, my kids absolutely devoured it, and I think this one is going to go into regular rotation for the summer.

Grilled Skirt Steak with Romesco Salsa was an okay recipe. The directions on how to slice it thoroughly confused me, however (“slice the steak crosswise into 3-inch pieces then slice against the grain to cut the steak into wide strips”). I taste tested what amounted to an entire portion of steak before I figured out I was not, in fact, cutting against the grain. I course corrected, but half the steak was a little chewy, and the other half certainly didn’t look like the picture in the book.

Other than that, the steak was good enough. It didn’t wow anyone, but it wasn’t disappointing. The marinade was simple to mix together and did the job. The salsa was good, though I couldn’t stop thinking about how good actual romesco (like the one I made from Pizza Night) would taste with the steak.

We grilled with Lidey again. This time, it was Grilled Chicken with Yogurt & Shawarma Spices and Grilled Zucchini with Charred Lemon Dressing, Feta & Mint (without the mint, not for lack of trying).

This meal, I’m sorry to say, was actually pretty disappointing. Lidey’s light touch with spices in the yogurt marinade just didn’t seem to flavor the meat enough. To be fair, we were comparing it in our minds to a very excellent grilled shawarma chicken we made only a few days before from Gaby Dalkin’s Grilling All the Things (review forthcoming!). It wasn’t bad, it just isn’t something I would repeat.

The same goes for the zucchini. For that recipe, the zucchini was grilled then tossed with a simple lemon vinaigrette and some feta. Maybe the mint would have really tied the recipe together, but I doubt it. Still, the directions were clear and easy to follow, and nothing was hard to make.

I then went for the token “kid-friendly” recipe of the book, One-Pan Chicken Meatballs with Red Sauce and Spinach. For this recipe, you make some chicken meatballs, sear them in a pan, finish them off in some Rao’s (a signature of the Ina school), then wilt in some spinach. I served mine with spaghetti.

I didn’t get a picture of this because of the sheer chaos that took over dinnertime yesterday, but I will say we are a house divided on this recipe. Everyone devoured it with enthusiasm as I sat mumbling between bites about the meatballs falling apart.

Because, on a Monday night, I performed the miserable task of forming 16 little balls of meat, and then getting splattered with hot oil as my hard work returned to its natural state—ground meat. Ashes to ashes, and all that. This could be user error, or it could be the recipe. Either way the outcome is the same. I won’t make it again. But it did taste good.

Finally, I made Roasted Fish with Green Herbs, Lemon & Olives alongside Roasted Broccolini with Pickled Pepperoncini (with a broccoli sub).

The fish was baked in olive oil mixed with lemon zest, tarragon, thyme, and green onion that was supposed to be chives, but man was my grocery store herb section cleaned out this past weekend. It was light and simple, but really quite good. For the side, I roasted the broccoli and added the dressing of pepperoncini, red wine vinegar, and parsley. I think I would have actually preferred the broccoli more without it.

Dessert

First, the Rainbow Sprinkle Ice Cream Cake.

Though Lidey begins this recipe with a headnote describing the challenges of living in the Hamptons in her twenties, you can forgive her by the time you eat the cake. There is nothing complex about it. A press-in Oreo crust, with nary even a parbake. Then, a couple of pints of softened Haagen Dazs smushed in, cream whipped with cream cheese and spread over. Back into the freezer. Done.

It was an absolute cinch to assemble, and very Ina-esque in its admonition to just buy the good stuff and put it together in an easy but delicious way. Was it cheap? Nope—though probably cheaper than a Dairy Queen cake. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

This cake is now on the roster. I will certainly file it away for all traditional cake haters and warm weather occasions. It is a keeper for sure.

I felt I was on an ice cream roll, so I thought I’d go all in and do the Almost-Famous 4th of July Ice Cream Sandwiches. These comprised strawberry ice cream smooshed between Blueberry Muffin Sugar Cookies. Lidey seemed particularly emphatic about these cookies, so I decided to try them.

The cookies were not bad, but I don’t think the effort to reward ratio was there for me. I was hoping to be blown away, but I didn’t like how the blueberries turned into little snowballs, and the flavors, all mixed together, were a bit muddled. Please note, my husband strongly disagrees.

Breakfast (see what I did there?)

If you have a subscription to New York Times food or read Lidey’s blog, some of the recipes in this book might be familiar to you. One of them is the English Muffin Breakfast Bake, which you can find here.

I found this one good, not great; pleasing but a bit forgettable.

One recipe I did really like, but didn’t photograph, was Lidey’s Overnight Oats with Almond Butter. Overnight oats aren’t exactly pushing culinary boundaries, but I love a simple, make-ahead breakfast. I have been under the impression for over a decade that I don’t like overnight oats, but I think it might just be that I don’t like chia seeds in overnight oats. (Or maybe I’m just really tired in the morning and happy to eat anything these days.)

Whatever it is, I have already memorized Lidey’s simple mix of oats, milk, maple syrup, almond butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. I add a spoonful of jam from the jar, though she includes a recipe for a quick fridge jam. It is a solid recipe I am sure I will make a lot. I cannot say the same for the above casserole.

Final Thoughts

There are a few other nice features I like about this book that I haven’t mentioned. One is the cute menu suggestions at the end. Two is Lidey includes recipes for how to simply sauté proteins and make basic sides. It’s a simple thing, but books will often tell you to add some grilled shrimp and then never actually say how to do that. I think it’s a nice touch.

The strength of the book also lies in its relative accessibility. None of the ingredients are hard to find, and the recipes are, overall, easy to execute. They are also reliable. Everything—save the meatballs and maybe the steak—turned out as promised.

Taking all that into consideration, I think this is a lovely book for anyone learning their way around the kitchen. I think it is an especially good book for someone cooking for one or two people who likes to occasionally entertain.

My final recipe accounting is as follows:

Keepers: 3 (ice cream cake, gazpacho, overnight oats)

Good: 2 (fish, dip)

Not for me: 6 (broccoli, zucchini, shawarma chicken, steak, ice cream sandwiches, breakfast casserole)

I have been a bit torn about this book. I vacillate on how much I like it. Overall, it’s not a bad ratio of keepers to non-repeats. I also have enjoyed cooking from it, and obviously found it very practical. That being said, a lot of recipes were a bit middling for my taste.

Will I buy it? Who am I kidding. Of course I will. But probably on sale.

Cooking in Real Life, my version

1. Yes, I do, in fact, own all thirteen (!!!) of Ina Garten’s books.