Keep ’em coming. “I’m up way past my bedtime trying to read too many of your posts in one sitting. Such a wonderful find for me! Thank you for this site, and your great balance of striving for wholesome cooking without striving for perfection/guilt. We can’t stand dry chicken, so your yogurt-marinated grilled chicken will become a new standard for us—thanks! … Read more »
My NPR app has become something of a lifeline to the real world for me this summer. You see, since I no longer have my 8:43 commuter train to Manhattan, I no longer have my dedicated reading time for my New York Times. I know what you’re thinking — now that I’m working from home don’t I have big, fat, wide… Read more »
When my childhood best friend Jeni got married ten years ago, my mom and I threw her a shower in our house. I still remember the menu. Probably because I wrote it down in my Dinner Diary but also because it was so perfect if I do say so myself! There was a baked goods and pastry spread, a smoked… Read more »
If you’re like me, during these peak weeks at the market, the bounty comes with a side of panic. Did I pick up enough tomatoes? Enough corn? Enough peaches? Enough apricots? Too many apricots? Will they turn to mush before the girls can finish them? Will that ginormous bushel of summer spinach go sad and wilty before I figure out… Read more »
Let’s say you just went shopping at Trader Joe’s so your refrigerator is stocked with staples like pork and chicken and onions and olive oil as well as some fun little extras like prosciutto and Whole Wheat Naan. Let’s also say that on your way home from your weekend in the Berkshires, you picked up some fresh corn and tomatoes… Read more »
1. Because it’s arguably easier and faster than cooking up another pot of Annie’s Mac & Cheese. 2. Because the afternoon birthday party served pizza at 4:00. (What is up with these parties? Will someone please enlighten?) 3. Because the clock is ticking and the kids won’t be awake by the time your dreamy white wine sauce has reduced. 4…. Read more »
The best thing we eat this summer will take us three minutes to minutes to make. It will involve only five ingredients, a serrated knife, and not a single charcoal briquette. I’m talking about the tomato sandwich. Not the bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich; not the grilled-cheese-and-tomato sandwich; not the tomato-mozzarella-and-basil sandwich: the tomato sandwich. Period. It is a thing of simple, summery, kid-friendly beauty: After enduring ten depressing months of the color-enhanced Styrofoam junk that passes for tomatoes at the Stop ‘N… Read more »
I have been trying to make this dinner since July 1993. I know that sounds ridiculous — chicken with arugula and tomatoes seems almost too basic to be named something let alone to have been stuck in my brain for that long, especially since my brain has seen stickier days. (I forgot to photocopy the immunization forms for camp, again!…Again!)… Read more »
For a good long stretch, when the girls were little, Finding Nemo was in the DVD 24/7 and quickly became the Annie Hall of my 30s — it seemed as though I couldn’t go a day without quoting Marlin the Clownfish or Bruce the Great White, who belly-belted the titular line of this post (you recognized it, right?) before attempting… Read more »
Sides and Starters Asian Cabbage Slaw with Peanuts Asparagus with Chopped Egg and Onion Baked Potato Bar Beet and Carrot Slaw Beets with Oranges and Feta Bibb Lettuce with Summer Peas Broccoli Slaw Carrots, Roasted with Garam-Masala Yogurt Sauce Cauliflower, Roasted with Anchovy Breadcrumbs Chard, Sautéed with Horseradish Chicken Wings Chilled Napa Cabbage with Cilantro and Pickled Shallots (Alice Waters)… Read more »
I bought this Lodge pre-seasoned cast iron skillet about seven years ago after writing a story for Real Simple about pots and pans. The 8-inch skillet costs only 17 bucks, is naturally nonstick, moves easily from stovetop to oven, has been the site of untold thousands of pancake and French toast fry-ups, and, not least, is always good for conjuring up… Read more »
[Photo and Recipe updated August 2022] We never used to grill chicken. It was… eh. Never quite satisfying. We were always throwing it back on the grill (“does this look cooked to you?”) because we were paranoid about getting sick, or complaining that it was too dry, or overwhelming it with some ketchup-y four alarm KC BBQ sauce that,… Read more »
The recipe for these sweet, braised meatballs is written on a notecard with company letterhead from Andy’s first job. It’s written in shorthand — I can picture him in his beige, cookie-cutter cubicle fifteen years ago, scribbling down the instructions as his mom dictated the exact amounts of peppers, onions, and beef over the phone… her standing in his childhood… Read more »
If you’re going to have a site devoted to family dinner, you gotta walk the walk, right? So when I asked Jenny where she wanted to eat for her birthday dinner last week, I should have known what the answer would be: home. I huddled with the kids and asked for some help: what should we make? The only requirement… Read more »
Want to know what I’m making this weekend? I wrote the text for a story about bruschetta for the current issue of Martha Stewart and from the moment I spied this picture — I had nothing to do with the recipe developing or the photographing — I have been plotting bruschetta night with the kids. This particular toast has been… Read more »
“Oh my gawd. The crust is epic!” That is what Aunt Patty said when she had her first bite of my latest most favorite party trick — otherwise known as the Jim Lahey pizza that you’ve already heard me go on and on and on about. This is Aunt Patty we’re talking here — Aunt Patty of milk-braised pork fame —… Read more »
It’s way too easy for me to shovel down the straggler crusts of my kids’ PB&J or grilled cheese sandwiches and call it lunch…only to fight a losing battle with a bag of tortilla chips an hour later. This quick open-face has recently proven to be a good antidote to that cycle — and a vegetarian antidote at that. It’s… Read more »
I realize there is a whole segment of the American population that is going to be instantly turned off by the title of this post. Seafood and cheese — that’s just…wrong. But this recipe might just change your mind, as it did for me the first time my friend Melissa made it for us about a decade ago. Melissa,… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
