Posts By: Jenny

Broccoli Melts for Dinner

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 »

Simple Butter-Fried Salmon

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 »

Cookie Box Dispatch: Red Crinkles

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 »

Bean Burritos With or Without Chorizo

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 »

Holiday Gift Guide 2021

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 »

Latkes for Dinner

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 »

Crispy Spicy Chickpeas with Yogurt

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 »

A Galette for All Seasons

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 »

A Mini Fall Cookbook Preview

Every day is like Christmas when it comes to the mail lately. I’ve gotten review copies of some pretty exciting cookbooks, which isn’t surprising considering we are heading into the holidays, traditionally when all the Big Ones come out. A few to put on your gift-giving radar: Black Food, a collection of recipes and stories from the African diaspora (and the… Read more »

Easiest White Bean Soup

This is a true story: When I wrote up the Easiest White Bean Soup for The Weekday Vegetarians (page 78), I actually asked myself: Is it too easy? As in, will anyone learn anything from making this recipe? Turns out, when the clock strikes 7:00, dinner-makers care less about learning something new and more about feeding the hungry charges at their table; it remains… Read more »

Stephen E. Ward (1940-2021)

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 »

Tofu with Pineapples, Peppers & Spicy Peanut Sauce

I think hands-down the best tofu is crispy tofu, i.e. when it’s been dredged in cornstarch, then pan-fried in a generous amount of oil and tossed with some form of glaze or sauce. (Exhibit A: Hsiao-Ching Chou’s Crispy Weeknight Tofu with vegetables.) But honestly, dredging and frying can be a pain sometimes, and when my friend Robin (by way of our friend Kate,… Read more »

Apple-Stuffed Apple Cake

Last week, I had an overwhelming craving for apple cake. Not apple crisp. Not apple pie. Not apple bread pudding. And not just any old apple cake, either. I wanted an apple-stuffed apple cake, the kind where there’s more apples than not in every bite, and where hopefully the apples are still a teeny tiny bit crispy so the cake texture is,… Read more »

A Transition Cocktail for September

Here in New York, we’ve had a stretch of amazing weather. Comfortably warm during the day, chilly at night. Think jeans and fleeces, but still Birkenstocks, which let us hold on to summer for just a tiny bit longer. I feel like this drink is the cocktail version of that outfit — I’m not quite ready for a Manhattan, the… Read more »

A Deal for DALS Readers

Have you noticed the beautiful ceramic dinner plates and bowl that often make cameos here on Dinner: A Love Story? They’re from East Fork Pottery, who I’m proud to say I partnered with while shooting The Weekday Vegetarians. I love how homey and expertly handmade-feeling they are, but I also very much appreciate how perfectly sized all of their products are. So… Read more »

My Book is Out!

Today is the day! I could not be more excited to announce that The Weekday Vegetarians is officially out in the world. I was just telling Andy on our walk to get coffee this morning that usually when one of my books comes out, there’s a lot of anxiousness mixed in with the excitement…but with The Weekday Vegetarians, it’s just 100% LET’S GOOOOOO. Pure… Read more »

Empty Nest Eggs

Last Thursday, a week and a half before we dropped off Daughter Number 1 at college, Andy and I found ourselves in a not-unusual position as the parents of teenagers: There would be no kids eating dinner with us — both had plans. I wouldn’t normally care, but with the clock ticking down to their Departure Days, each missed family… Read more »

Small Plates Night

Good morning! Look what’s now keeping me company as I work on your weekly dispatch. My copies arrived last week and I was so excited I even made a reel about it. For those of you who pre-ordered, a) THANK YOU and b) your copy should be arriving in exactly two weeks. One of the more liberating discoveries about cooking vegetarian dinners —… Read more »