“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 »
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 »
[First posted 2016; Updated July 2022] Forgive me broader readership, I’m going super local today. Many of you probably know that I live in Westchester County, which borders New York City to the north and is flanked by the sailboat-dotted Long Island Sound to the East and the mighty Hudson River to the West. With the exception of college in… Read more »
When we were first trying to get our kids on board with the whole Weekday Vegetarian thing, we were never quite sure if we should tweak old recipes that they had an attachment to, or just ignore them completely. Sometimes we got lucky and just swapped beans for meat in a favorite dinner and no one was any worse for… 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 »
Good morning! Before we get to the food, I wanted to extend a huge thank you to those of you who have donated to the DALS World Central Kitchen fundraiser. I can’t tell you how good it feels to watch that amount creep up, even in increments of $5 or $10 — so keep the cash coming! (And remember, if… Read more »
Here in New York, we’ve been willing the universe to make fall last as long as possible because, as Andy says every single morning in ominous, Game-of-Thrones-like tones, winter is coming. In normal years, I don’t usually care that much. Cold weather is the season of cozy food — braised meats, red wine, warm-your-bones stews, and friends and family around… 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 »
It’s September, which means it’s time for another recipe from Leah Koenig, my go-to source for the Jewish holidays and beyond. (Remember her fattoush? I make that throughout tomato season.) I’m pleased to let you know that this year, Leah herself is making a cameo on DALS, talking about a favorite topic of mine (family traditions) along with what is soon… Read more »
When my first book, Dinner: A Love Story, came out, I will never forget my agent calling me to discuss publishing the book in England. “There’s an agent over there who wants to buy the rights for it,” she told me, “but he’s concerned about all the Trader Joe’s talk and ground turkey recipes.” The Trader Joe’s thing I understood,… Read more »
Those of you who follow me on instagram know that you are looking at the latest episode of This Week in Pizza, featuring Brussels sprouts and bacon. It was a riff on a pie we order all the time at one of our favorite local haunts, and yes, it was delicious and easy and fast and bla bla bla, but… Read more »
A few weekends ago, Andy and I took a 55-minute flight from New York to Montreal to celebrate our 20th anniversary. I had never been, and we were only going for 48 hours, so we had some crucial decisions to make, especially as those decisions related to eating and drinking. There is only so much one can consume over the… Read more »
I’m beginning to think that my kids are never going to warm up to tofu. Though I guess I can’t blame them considering that I never served it until relatively recently…and also because I never really ate it myself, unless a little silky white cube in my miso soup accidentally slipped onto my spoon. In the last few years, though,… Read more »
Last week, when Susan Collins, Republican Senator of Maine, broke with her party to vote against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, I know what you were all thinking: Yeah, it’s good to know where she stands on vouchers and charter schools, but what I really want to know is: Where does she stand on meatloaf? I hear you! As any… Read more »
How ya doing on those New Year’s resolutions? I’m pleased to report that it’s only Day Five of 2017 and yet I’ve already checked off THREE of my big ones: Edit and organize passwords on important accounts, book mammogram, and start every single day with a Starbucks Grande Pike or its caffeine equivalent. (I take it to heart to set… Read more »
No, the word is not “yakitori,” though that is what you are looking at above, and that does play a small role in this post. A delicious role, actually…all scalliony and salty and glazy. No, yakitori, as good as it is on the grill, shared with friends on a Saturday summer night, that is not the word I want to talk about… Read more »
A few weeks ago, under the category of “Nice Work if You Can Get it,” I was tasked with tracking down the best cookbooks of the spring for the Times. Those of you who made your way through that round-up (bless you, it was a lot), might remember one of the stand-outs: Tasting Rome, by Katie Parla and Kristina Gill,… Read more »
Since I write about food, it should probably come as no surprise to you that publishers send me cookbooks from time to time (ok, all the time) in case I find them interesting enough to write about. In addition to receiving emails with subjects like “Celebrate National Beef Jerky Day!,” I find this to be one of the more glamorous… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
