The most useful piece of cookware in any household is a good heavy skillet. Bon Appetit's Brooke Dojny and Melanie Barnard share their extensive culinary experience with this indispensable kitchen helpmate to create a collection of entrees so delicious it's hard to believe they only need one pan and 30 minutes or less to get them to the table. Serving up a meal of Garlic Shrimp Marbella can be just that easy. Same goes for Corned Beef Hash the old-fashioned way. From down-home favorites like Beer-Battered Fish 'n' Chips to more exotic fare like Curried Couscous with Chickpeas and Dried Fruits, now dinner can be ready in, well - a flash in the pan!
Brooke Dojny is an award-winning food journalist and cookbook author with a specialty in writing about New England food. Her recent books on the subject are The New England Cookbook (1999), The New England Clam Shack Cookbook (2003, revised 2008), Dishing Up Maine (2006), and New England Home Cooking (2011). Lobster! will be published by Storey Publishing in 2012.
Brooke began her career working as a chef-caterer for Martha Stewart, assisting with recipe development on Martha's first book, Entertaining. In the 1980s, she was hired by the original COOK'S Magazine as a recipe tester and developer, equipment tester, and assistant food stylist. Teaming up with Melanie Barnard, another COOK'S freelancer, the duo launched a syndicated newspaper column and, in 1985, published their first cookbook, Sunday Suppers, which was nominated for an IACP award. Several other titles followed, including Let's Eat In and Parties! (both nominated for James Beard awards), and The AMA Family Cookbook which was a James Beard Award winner in 1998. Brooke was also the winner of the Newman's Own/Good Housekeeping recipe contest in 1998 as an entrant in the food professional category. She has made numerous television and radio appearances around the country.
For many years, Brooke and Melanie co-wrote "Every Night Cooking," a regular monthly column in Bon Appetit Magazine. Brooke's work has appeared in Food & Wine, Saveur, and Cooking Light. She currently writes a weekly column in the Portland Press Herald and is a frequent contributor to Down East Magazine. Brooke lives on the Blue Hill peninsula in Maine.
