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 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 »
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 »
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 »
My children would disagree with this statement but you’re looking at one of the best things I ate last week on vacation that did not include corn or tomatoes. It’s crispy fried eggplant with Romesco sauce and shredded basil and even though I couldn’t get the girls on board, I locked in Andy whose most enthusiastic endorsement of eggplant in the… Read more »
I write about slaw a lot. For good reason — I eat it a lot, especially in the summer. It’s almost always the answer to the question: What can I add to dinner that will give my plate that hit of freshness and texture? (Do you not ask that question of yourself constantly?) I realized though, that I haven’t ever… Read more »
I’ve been attempting to recreate some version of these tacos ever since my daughter tried them at a sweet 16 party in the city a few years ago. “You sure they were cauliflower?” I asked her. “Yes,” she said. “You don’t like cauliflower, though.” After a few follow up questions, I determined that they had been deep-fried to resemble popcorn… Read more »
I’m in love with the new cookbook, Vegetable Simple. Eric Ripert — the chef and owner of one of New York’s most revered Michelin-starred restaurants, Le Bernardin — is known for his refined seafood dishes, but here, he turns his eyes towards his second love, vegetables. The most amazing thing about it is how actually simple the recipes are. Like not chef-pretending-to-be-simple… Read more »
I realize this is maybe the seventeenth time I’ve written about this pizza in various ways throughout the years, but it’s such an important recipe in my rotation that I felt it was time it had its own dedicated page. Especially since my version of it (with cheddar and caramelized onions) seems to have strayed so far from the traditional… Read more »
I could not be more excited to introduce you to The Weekday Vegetarians. Can you believe how happy and gorgeous she is? Before I started writing this book, it’s not an exaggeration to say that a piece of animal protein anchored our dinner plates at least five out of seven nights a week. Back then, when I was trying to decide… Read more »
Please do not skip over this one if you’re “not a tofu person.” That was me for the longest time! The key to my conversion was perfecting crispy tofu. And by crispy, I mean a lot of things: I can get a good golden-brown edge on my tofu when I toss 1/2-inch cubes in soy sauce, cornstarch, and oil and… Read more »
At least one morning during the school week, some time between 11:00 and 11:30, my daughter, Abby, a 12th grader who has spent her final year of high school almost entirely in a remote classroom, comes downstairs in her flannel pajama pants, stretches, looks at whichever parent is first in her line of vision with fluttery eyelids, and says: “Cacio?”… Read more »
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to tell you about these beans. Maybe it’s because it’s one of those recipes that’s not really a recipe, which is, of course, the best kind of recipe. Every time I make them, I text someone a photo saying, you have to make these beans. Then I follow up with the “recipe,”… 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 »
Not that Halloween was very much of anything for the kids this year, but at about 5:30 on October 31, Abby, outfitted in a Walter White costume that involved a white mini skirt, announced she was heading out to some kind of outdoor get-together. Did you have dinner? I asked her. Nah, she said. There’s gonna be candy. She’s 17…. Read more »
A few weeks ago, the Times did a story about dialing back on meat and there was lots of great stuff in there — not the least of which: that mushroom bourguignon that everyone including us seemed to be making over the long weekend — but the part I keep turning over in my dinner brain was this quote: According… Read more »
We were about halfway through the Mojave dessert last week, praying the rental car wouldn’t break down, when I turned around to ask the girls — who were sitting on the same sides of the backseat they’ve sat on since they were toddlers in boosters — a very pressing question. It was Day Six of our California road trip (read… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
