Menu No 2: Chicken, Aromatic Herbs, Fennel, Chili, Orange, Fig, Buttermilk

The second in an imaginative series of small books, each of which offers a charming dinner menu. The Italian word sprezzatura is mentioned early in this volume, referring to studied carelessness or effortless elegance. It's most apt. The 7 recipes in this small book (5" x 7", 36 pages), are  accompanied by a shopping list as well as notes on what author Brian Voll calls Get Ahead.  You can make the jam you'll need months in advance, and the panna cotta you'll serve it alongside will hold for two days in the refrigerator. Resourcefully-minded cooks will note that buttermilk, parsley, dill, and lemons, all do double or triple duty, reducing waster Menu No 2 offers recipes for: Gin cocktail Spicy mussel soup Buttermilk-brined roast chicken Freekeh salad with fennel and chilies Green beans with prosciutto and gremolata Buttermilk panna cotta with fig and orange jam As for author Brian Voll, a self-taught, trial-and-error, home cook, he says, I was born in Indiana to a mother who love