My heart swelled a little bit last week when Abby texted me from college saying she had figured out how to concoct a pretty decent vinaigrette using only dining hall ingredients (“oil balsamic a lil soy sauce onion powder pepper salt sriracha and yellow mustard…i’m surprised yellow mustard works”). Not only that, but she was whisking up a batch with… Read more »
Does the world need another fried rice recipe? I didn’t think so until I made Kenji López-Alt’s Basic Vegetable Fried Rice from his new, somewhat astonishing book The Wok. The dish, which I consider to be an absolute cornerstone of a Weekday Vegetarian’s repertoire, has always been something I’ve kind of made up on the fly. Ginger here, soy sauce there, eggs… Read more »
A few weekends ago, Abby was home from college for a mini-break, and right before dinner one night, she came into the kitchen to tell me her friend Alex was going to stop by. It’s dinnertime, I said. Will he be eating with us? She (somewhat annoyingly) couldn’t confirm one way or the other, but I decided to be prepared just 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 »
Wow it’s been a while since I wrote a travel post. That might be one of the reasons why this recent long weekend in Vermont was so memorable — I think because I’ve been holed up in my dining room staring at a screen for an unhealthy amount of hours all day every day, I was so appreciative of even… Read more »
I feel pretty good about my vegetable life at dinner time, but I’ve recently realized I am not terribly consistent about getting produce into my lunches when I’m working from home. When I even have lunch, that is. Often my mid-day meal, if I remember to stop what I’m doing to actually have it, is just a forkful of leftovers standing in… Read more »
Our friends Sonya and Pierre came over for dinner on Saturday and instead of doing what we usually do with starters — a lot of little salty, tangy treats to whet the appetite, not smother it — we essentially stuck with one medium-size salty-tangy treat: These pickled white anchovy toasts with caramelized onions. We always order them at a favorite local… Read more »
You know what ingredient makes my heart sink a little every time I come across it in a recipe? Vegetable broth. I know, I know, cry me a river, but I just cannot find a store-bought vegetable broth that doesn’t have, how do I say this…top-notes of low-tide on the marsh? Weekday Vegetarian owners know this is why, when I have time,… Read more »
We were in Vermont for a round-trip college drop-off, and didn’t have time for a lot, but because it’s Vermont, where you can buy local craft beers at the corner gas station, it felt wrong not to hit the markets and load up on the many regional specialties. That means maple syrup and dairy of course — often the combination… Read more »
Whenever I find myself within a mile radius of Daily Provisions, the Danny Meyer-owned Manhattan cafes in NY, I do whatever it takes to get there, even if it’s just to pick up a cup of coffee. I love the neighborhoody vibe and the simple, comforting menu — breakfast sandwiches, rotisserie chicken, soups, everything fresh, everything executed exactly right. Last summer,… 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 »
I feel like every year there is heated discussion on whether or not chocolate has a place in the holiday cookie box. (My stance: There is no place where chocolate isn’t welcome and also, who exactly is grading us on this?) This lovely red velvet crinkle cookie from pan-banging cookie icon Sarah Kieffer solves that problem handily and deliciously. Best of all:… Read more »
As I’ve probably mentioned a few hundred times in this space, my oldest daughter, Phoebe is a college runner and when I asked her this past weekend what she wanted for dinner, her eyes got all dreamy talking about one of her last races of the season, notable not just for how good she felt, but for what she ate… Read more »
Greetings! I’m so pleased to present The 11th Annual Dinner: A Love Story Holiday Gift Guide, complete with ideas for all the readers and eaters in your life, PLUS a few DALS-exclusive codes to give you a discount or two. Happy holidays everyone! Fresh Catskills (Delivery or Gift Card, $50 minimum) I love going to the farmer’s market to run… Read more »
There are all kinds of ways people prefer their latkes: thin and lacy, meaty and crispy, kicked up with horseradish or shredded vegetables, spun from leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes (!!!)…and I know you’re probably expecting me to give you some diehard purist take here, but the truth is, I love them all equally. They are fried potatoes after all. Below is the recipe… Read more »
Fun fact: This recipe appears in two of my books. A version of it first appeared in How to Celebrate Everything, but I make it so frequently, it felt wrong not to include it again in my last book, devoted to my easiest, go-to-iest weeknight vegetarian dinners. It’s the kind of homey comfort-food meal I make when I’m cooking for… Read more »
Even though I’m no longer cooking for young kids on the clock every day, I can’t seem to shake the habit of scanning new cookbooks for potential weeknight recipes while wearing my Efficiency Goggles. How long will that take? How many pots? How forgiving is it? (Like, will I be arrested if I use 2% vs. whole milk?) How many… Read more »
I wanted to post a Friday note with some personal news. My father-in-law, Stephen Ward, died last week; he was 81. Though many of you have only recently “met” me through my newsletter and books, I’ve been writing for over a decade about my family here on this blog, and I just wanted to touch on loss, something that affects,… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
