September, as always, was a busy month, compounded — in a good, happy, lucky way — by our move to Manhattan. Which is probably why this past Sunday, our first completely free day in what felt like weeks, Andy turned to me and said “Why do I feel like I still don’t know my own kitchen?” I knew what he meant,… Read more »
When we were in Maine a few weeks ago, we road-tripped to Damariscotta, a picture-perfect town on the Damariscotta River famous for its pristine, hearty oysters. It’s one of those small towns that seemed to have every business necessary to live the good life as a food lover — a butcher-gourmet store, a seafood market, a robust used bookstore, an… 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 »
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 »
This photo probably looks familiar to longtime readers. What can I say: We are creatures of habit down in South Carolina. If I look back at my dinner diaries, without fail, there’s a Pan-fried flounder with some form of slaw in the line-up. (But that certainly does not mean you have to be south of the Mason-Dixon Line to enjoy… Read more »
Remember winter? On this sunny, second day of spring down in South Carolina, as I trade in my boots for Birkenstocks, I already feel like it’s shrinking away in the rearview mirror. Also helping things along are these decidedly warm-weather tacos we ate for dinner last night, which made excellent use of the otherworldly shrimp down here. As always, the… Read more »
I love a roasted salmon, but even after all these years of cheffing up salmon salad seemingly every week, I still get anxious about doneness. Lately, though, I’ve been into pan-frying my fillets, something I started while I was cooking for Andy’s mom in the days my father-in-law was in hospice. I was usually only cooking enough for her, so a simple… Read more »
We’ve been vacationing in Kiawah Island, South Carolina forever, and it doesn’t matter how long the drive has been, or how tired we are of being in the car (or the plane) we always stop at our favorite open-air market on the way to the island. No matter what we are in the mood for, no matter what time of year it is, this… Read more »
We are huge soft shell crab fans in my house, but only really get to enjoy them in our takeout spider roll a few times a year. Right now, though, they are in season up here in New York and when I spied them at our new fish store (we are so lucky, everything there tastes like the boat-to-market time is, like,… Read more »
We made this Spicy Shrimp with Yogurt over the weekend because my friend Robin had texted me a photo of it, rediscovering the meal after poking around in the DALS archives. (You would laugh at the percentage of our text thread that is dinner-related. Thank you, Robin!) The meal had not graced our table for a very long time, and it was crazy how… Read more »
As many of you know, Saturday night dinner has become a real thing for us during the pandemic — a way to differentiate a weekend night from all the others — and the dishes we’ve made to mark it run the gamut, each one somehow special in its own way. Sometimes Saturday dinner is super old-school, like Marcella Hazan’s Milk-Braised Pork… Read more »
Greetings dinner makers! I want to get right down to business here and tell you about this salmon we made the other night. It was so good, so exactly the fresh, healthy hit I needed on a Sunday night, after a stretch of soups and stews and braisey, warm-your-bones kinda dishes. The salmon preparation could not be more basic —… Read more »
Thank you all for the Seattle restaurant recommendations. As predicted, I didn’t get a chance to explore as much as I usually do on these kinds of trips. Other than a quick hop to Fremont Bowl to eat salmon poke bowls and what I think is maybe the best tofu on the planet, we cooked and ate in. I should… Read more »
Summer has arrived a little early in my house — as usual, we are spending spring break down in Kiawah, South Carolina at my in-law’s place, and it has not taken us long to get into vacation rhythm. That goes for the bike riding and general sun-lizarding, but mostly I’m talking about dinner-making, which is to say grilling. Why do I… Read more »
I didn’t make any resolutions this year. I don’t know if this is because I’ve gotten lazier and grumpier as I’ve gotten older, or if it’s just that I’m more of a realist about these things working out. But it’s a slippery slope from realist to cynic, something I’m resolved (!) to never become in any part of my life,… Read more »
Old-timer readers will take one look at this photo and recognize that main dish as DALS MVP Spaghetti with Clams and Extras. It’s on page 56 of my first book, Dinner: A Love Story, and has made countless appearances on my summer table and instagram feed. I would be willing to bet almost anything that if you check back with… Read more »
It gives me great pleasure to cede the floor to guest-poster Jenna Helwig today. Jenna is the senior food editor at Parents Magazine and author of Baby-Led Feeding, an inspiring manual for raising good eaters and kickstarting the family meal habit nice and early. Yes, your baby can eat the salmon you’re looking at above. Read on for the recipe and for a fun little… Read more »
This is a quick one and goes out to all my snowed-in Northeastern brethren whose color palette for the past few days has been white, gray, dark gray and darker gray. I developed these Shrimp Tacos with Pineapple for a Bon Appetit dinner column, and they are the rarest of wintry meals: substantive without being stewy; deeply flavorful without being laborious;… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
