Subscribe now As you likely know by now, my most favorite kind of summer cooking is a simply grilled something surrounded by a bounty of farm-fresh, creative salads. (It always reminds me of my old magazine boss, Carrie, whose fashion philosophy was “Gap clothes, Prada accessories.”) This is probably why I love Susan Spungen’s new book Veg Forward so much. You might… Read more »
Last month, I was thrilled to speak with my old friend Elizabeth Mayhew, aka The Dutchy, for a Q&A assignment. We worked together at Real Simple and she is the one behind the banana bread that gets more ink on Dinner: A Love Story than either of my children do. Well, Elizabeth is still baking (as she told me in the interview: “That’s what I… Read more »
Well, I finally did what I’ve been threatening to do since February’s London visit: I recreated the fish we ate at Noble Rot, that cozy black-wood-paneled restaurant on charming Lambs Conduit street in Bloomsbury that I still haven’t shut up about. We ate some pretty amazing food in London, but I think the fish we ate at Noble Rot is the… Read more »
“In the late summer of 2019, I hit a wall. I felt cruddy after years of eating everything I wanted, all in the name of professional research.” So beings Andrea Nguyen’s wonderful new cookbook Ever-Green Vietnamese, where she reimagines her traditional Vietnamese repertoire, seeking out savory depth while wearing more plant-forward goggles. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that the whole project… Read more »
How do I eat vegetarian without leaning on carbs? Since I wrote The Weekday Vegetarians, I have gotten this question at every turn. The first thing I need to say about this is that in general, we eat a normal amount of carbs in our house. We’re not eating pasta every night, but nor are we serving riced cauliflower with our… Read more »
I cleaned out our refrigerator over the weekend and found a tub of Gochujang (Korean fermented chile paste) hiding in the back, far away from where most of my condiments live. Which might explain why I forgot about it for some time. And I’m not sure how because it’s one of those ingredients that really earns its keep — it… Read more »
I’ve gotten really into shoving whatever vegetables I’ve got into a 400°F oven soon after breakfast so I have something hearty and healthy waiting for me by lunch time. (Perks of working from home, yes, I know.) Here are three recent winners, which you should of course feel free to serve for dinner. Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Tahini Dressing… Read more »
A few weeks ago, we met some friends for dinner at Maialino, Danny Meyer’s recently relocated Roman trattoria and wine bar that is now housed in the Redbury Hotel and, with its checkered tablecloths and sepia portrait-lined walls, still as charming as ever. We ordered the obligatory cacio e pepe and the vongole, and it was all wonderful, of course, but… Read more »
I know you’re not going to believe me, but I didn’t even realize these tacos were vegan until maybe the fourth or fifth time we made them. To give you an idea of how easy and thrifty the meal is, Andy scraped them together on one of those end-of-the-week nights when it felt like we had no food in the… Read more »
I’m so used to cooking for two in my recently emptied nest, that I almost felt like I had to re-learn how to cook for four when the girls came home last week. And because I was busy doing advance prep work for Thanksgiving, I found myself craving family dinner recipes for them that were welcome-homey and cozy, but didn’t… Read more »
Fun fact: I have only made one Thanksgiving turkey in my life and it wasn’t even on Thanksgiving Day (my mom owns that duty). It was one random afternoon in the middle of July, when I was in the recipe testing phase of my book. (Deadlines are deadlines!) If you’re wondering why you should trust a relative novice with one… Read more »
Honeynut squash is like a butternut squash’s best version of itself—sweeter and more intensely flavored. This recipe, Rigatoni with Honeynut Squash, Chard & Hazelnuts, which essentially adds vegetables to a peppery cacio e pepe–style sauce, is a simple, healthy, warm-your-bones way to enjoy it. If you can’t find honeynut, butternut or kabocha would be a fine swap-in, and the pre-cubed varieties you can… Read more »
Last year, I wrote about a half dozen fall vegetable love stories: Cabbage Loves Apples, Beets Love Dill, Chinese Greens Love Ginger, and I’d like to add a new one to the list: Squash Loves Tahini. Specifically delicata squash; I’ve been making this salad above for lunch almost every day: Greens, roasted delicata, tahini dressing, and store bought dukkah, the Middle… Read more »
When I had young kids, a lot of activities fell off the priority list — happy hour drinks with coworkers, catching the newest Wes Anderson movie in the theater, general self-care — but I was determined to continue having people over for dinner. For whatever reason, it was the kind of activity that reliably brought me joy and connection, not just… Read more »
One of my more favorite mini NYC itineraries when the girls were little was a walk on the High Line, a stop at the magical Books of Wonder on 17th Street, then, of course, a hot chocolate (or the iconic “cold hot chocolate”) and pretzel croissant at City Bakery, just off NYC’s Union Square. For decades before it closed in 2019, City Bakery helmed… Read more »
Hot take alert: I don’t know if I’ve ever had a pasta salad and thought, Wow, this is a great pasta salad. Have you? They always seem to be just too pasta-heavy and…room temperature-y. Well, after trying this one from Odette Williams’s wonderful Simple Pasta last week, I am on my way to changing my mind. Why? Well, for starters, the noodle she… Read more »
When Hannah Che’s The Vegan Chinese Kitchen first arrived on my desk, it was a 90-degree morning in July. I started flipping through the pages, and I’m not kidding, within 10 minutes I was putting together this dinner you’re looking at above: Cold Vermicelli and Cabbage Salad. I had leftover rice noodles and the rest of the ingredients are pretty much staples… Read more »
Over 1300 posts acrosss ten years on Dinner: A Love Story, and somehow, not until today have I ever written up the most classic, most satisfying thing you can do with tomatoes this time of year: Make a fresh tomato sauce and toss with pasta. Do you even need a recipe so simple? I don’t know, but not giving it… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
