What I’m eating and reading this week:
You Don’t Need a Recipe! Have you seen this special section? It’s a collection of Sam Sifton’s “no-recipe” recipes culled from his popular cooking newsletter, and includes a few dozen recipes that are simple enough to improvise if you have the most basic skills and ingredients on hand. Think Roasted Fish with Ginger, Scallions, and Soy, or Savory French Toast with Basil and Tomatoes, or Steak Tacos with Pineapple Salsa, or that super cool looking Hasselback Kielbasa up there which is guaranteed to make you a hero in your own house. The print version, out on Sunday, is gonna be something you’ll want to keep around on the kitchen counter.
What else?
The author of Untangled, go-to guide for parents of teenage girls everywhere, has a new book out and I am all over it.
Trader Joe’s Hack: Personal Pot Pies
Related: The 50 Most Popular Trader Joe’s Products of All Time
That podcast about the flame-out of Silicon Valley’s Elizabeth Holmes sent me down a rabbit hole ending here.
Speaking of frauds: A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions
Meghan Markle cooks every day.
I’ll read anything about Christina Tosi. (Look at her bookshelves!)
On the Very Near Future line-up: Oven-Fried Hot Honey Chicken
9 Kitchen Tools Chefs Don’t Use Ever
What The Silver Palate taught us!
Dear Employers, Please Value ‘Camp Counselor’ on a resume.
Parenting: Job for life.
Photo credits: All pics by David Malosh for The New York Times
i love the silver palate cookbook, and that my non-cooking husband actually brought it into the marriage (he was gifted it by his sister). it is such an under-appreciated stalwart!
Jenny,
Thanks for the book rec – I’m on it. The HONY post also struck a chord. I think I’ll teach my kids to make that oven baked chicken this weekend and we’ll all have a nice dinner together. Sounds like a plan, right?
The Silver Palate cookbook article brought back so many childhood memories! My mom (who passed away three years ago at 64 from cancer) was the queen of what we now call the “side-hustle.” She ran a small catering company out of our kitchen for several years (I was a frequent server at parties in my early teens), and one of her staples was the phyllo triangles: she stuck with the spinach and feta and roquefort and pistachio. She was also known for her decadent chocolate cake, which I believe is another recipe from The Silver Palate. And I just remembered that she was published in Bon Appetit in August 1989–it was part of a home cooks section, I think? All I can turn up is this link to the recipe for her famous strawberry ice cream pie: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/double-strawberry-ice-cream-pie-591. Anyway, thanks for stirring up some happy memories of my mom. Making a note to call my dad to see if he still has a copy of the magazine and tell him that I’d like to inherit the cookbooks when the time comes–the grease spots and my mom’s notes on certain recipes are priceless.
I always tell my graduating seniors from high school to get their camp directors to write letters of recommendation as it is such a great skill set to have worked at camp. I know I did it for 4 summers and my ability to be flexible and creative on the job are skills that were developed working at camp. Thanks for the book rec, buying immediately. And I think we all need a little bit more Christina Tosi in our life.
Everyone stop what you’re doing and go make that hasselback kielbasa. Made it for dinner the other night and it didn’t even make it to the plates. The whole family stood in the kitchen and ate it straight out of the pan.
I was all set to HATE that “no recipe” section in the Times, and I found that I loved it. It was fresh and useful, and would be awesome for someone just starting to cook.