Three Things

A festive cocktail, easy salmon dinners, the prettiest tablecloths

Good afternoon readers and eaters! I hope you’re all hanging in there and getting excited for the holiday no matter what the holiday might wind up looking like. So far the only two things on the itinerary besides A Lot of Cooking are 1) watching that Beatles documentary that everyone is going crazy over and 2) some long in-front-of-the-fire sessions curled up with Intimacies. (Thanks for the rec Pamela!) Alas, before we get to your last Three Things dispatch of 2021 — I’ll be on vacation next week — I wanted to thank you yet again for being here. I’m so grateful for this community every day, and never more so than this past year, you’ll have to trust me on that. Thank you, thank you, thank you. xoxo

1. New Cocktail Alert: Last Word

I don’t know what possessed me, but a few weeks ago when I was picking up a bottle of wine, I asked my friend Jeff, the all-knowing manager at my favorite wine store, to suggest some sort of treat I could pick up for my husband that might inspire a new cocktail. (I guess this is what passes for fun in the empty nest?) Jeff reached for a bottle of Chartreuse and launched into a story about an all-night adventure in Paris involving a Moroccan ex-pat before describing the liqueur to me — it’s very herbal, getting its natural green color from over a hundred macerated herbs, so the obvious pairing for it is gin. Works for me! And it worked for Andy, who promptly found a tasty use for it: a cocktail called Last Word (shown above) which can be traced back to the Detroit Athetic Club in the early 1900s. (Loved all you Detroit readers DMing me after I storied it on instagram.) It’s equal parts gin, Chartreuse, lime juice, and Luxardo maraschino liqueur, and I thought the light green (um, chartreuse) color was just so stunningly festive. (Imagine serving them next to Negronis on Christmas Eve!) Here is the recipe for one, but it can be batched:

Last Word

3/4 ounce gin
3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
3/4 ounce Luxardo maraschino liqueur

Add to cocktail shaker with ice, shake, strain into coupe glass.

1. Simplest 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 pan-fry felt easiest — I didn’t have to wait for an oven to heat to 400°F and all I really needed was a little butter in the pan, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of fresh chives or tarragon at the end to make it taste good.

Best of all, the butter-fry technique reliably yields that gorgeous lacquered top and just lets me have so much more control over the doneness factor. You can look at the side of the fish to see the line of cooked flesh creeping up the side, you can touch the top of the fillet with your finger to determine how close it is. (You want it to be firm to the touch but not rock hard, no squishiness whatsoever.) I don’t want to write the instructions in official format because I feel like that will make it seem like a fussy capital-R Recipe, so here’s the gist of it. (And FYI, this whole salmon dispatch will also live on Dinner: A Love Story.)

Butter-Fried Salmon Technique: Add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter to a heavy-bottomed skillet (I like cast iron) set over medium-high heat. Add skin-on salmon fillet (this one in pic was 3/4 pounds) flesh-side down and fry until the line of cooked flesh comes about a third of the way up the side of the fillet. Flip the fish and cook another 2-3 minutes (it will splatter a lot because the skin is fatty), until the top of the flesh feels firm to the touch but is not rock hard. Remove and serve. At this point you can sprinkle with fresh tarragon or chives or…

…Do what I did last week: I flaked my butter-fried salmon into a version of our favorite Brussels Bowl. (I skipped the teriyaki drizzle and just roasted the Brussels sprouts with a tablespoon of white miso paste mixed with 2 tablespoons of olive oil) then served with a spicy mayo on the side (3 tablespoons mayo mixed with 2 teaspoons sriracha.) WINNER.

3. Tablecloths FTW!

I know it might sound hard to believe, but this year is the first time I’ve ever hosted Christmas dinner at my house for a large group of people. I pretty much have the menu nailed, but the rest of it? Well, let’s just say I have a whole new admiration for hosts and their eagle eyeballs for details like water pitchers and centerpieces and linens. All this to say, I was grateful to spend last week researching tablecloths for a Cup of Jo story, because I ended up purchasing this pretty little number. (From Zara! Who knew?) It’s not necessarily super holiday-ish, but it works with my wedding China, which btw has been used maybe twice since I got married. Here is a link to a more traditional Christmas pattern — I love how festive it is without beating you up with the mistletoe and holly. You might not have time to order one before the holiday, but try your luck. Mine came in 72 hours.

P.S. A Holiday Brunch Menu + Shopping List

‘Tis the season for holiday brunches! Yesterday, we hosted one in honor of my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday, and I was so happy with the spread, not only because everything tasted good and it looked so cheerful (speaking of pretty tablecloths) but because it was on the lower end of the effort spectrum. For bonus content this week, subscribers will be able to download the menu along with a shopping list. If you’re not a subscriber and don’t want to miss out (on this and all the other bonus content!) you can upgrade your subscription here. Or just click this button »

Have a safe, wonderful holiday!

Jenny

P.S. For the person you love the most in this world: There’s still time to order a copy of The Weekday Vegetarians before Christmas. :)