Three Things

Home-from-college dinners, a picky eater tip, addictive veggie burgers

Greetings dinner makers and royal baby watchers! Lots of new people here this week so I’d like to extend a hearty, happy Welcome to the table. If you want to know more about Dinner: A Love Story, you can check out the About page, and, also (this is a reminder for everyone) please know that every recipe and every post lives permanently in my Archive. Even if you just signed up today, you have access to the whole shebang, a decade’s worth of dinner inspo. OK, onward…

Here in New York it feels as though we are entering my favorite dinner season — the season of no-cook, no-plan, no-pressure dinners. There is an entire section in The Weeknight Vegetarians dedicated to small plates night, aka collection of throw-together sides and salads, aka tapas, meze, dim sum, aka nothing I am pretending to have invented. The move I use most, though, is a pot of beans or lentils or store bought hummus surrounded by the most simply prepared grilled vegetables, some fresh slaws, greens, tomatoes, snap peas, usually a dollop of burrata somewhere on something. So easy, so fresh. With that, here is your weekly Three Things dispatch….

1. Home-From-College Dinners

Phoebe is home! She had about as good a year as she could have, given the circumstances, and is already missing her friends and general independence. This one over here — me! — I couldn’t be more thrilled that there are somehow twenty more pairs of shoes cluttering up the front doorway again. When Phoebe left for school last September, I mentioned her departure on the blog or maybe on instagram, and a reader commented something like “Lucky you, you get to look forward to the home-from-college dinners.” I was so grateful for that sentiment because it reminded me that this love story about dinner isn’t actually a book that ends; it is in fact a multi-volume series with many, many chapters. All this to say: It’s come-home-from-college week in my house! Phoebe gets to pick what she wants and so far here’s the line-up. Grilled Tuna Sandwiches with Salsa Fresca (above; the recipe is also in How to Celebrate Everything), Burrito Bowls (with chicken or black beans or both), and Salmon Salad. (Longtime readers know her obsession with this dinner borders on the pathological.) Lastly, shout out to that wise commenter — if it was you, will you let me know so I can give you proper credit? I can’t find the conversation anywhere. Perhaps I dreamed it?

2. Picky Eater Strategy: Surprise Me!

Speaking of small plates and vegetable-forward cooking, I was reminded recently that one of the more effective strategies we had for convincing our kids to try new things (especially vegetables) was handing them five bucks at the farmer’s market with the assignment to return with something they’ve never seen before. It could’ve been something as easy-to-love as a dinosaur plum or as random as a pickle on a stick, but they loved the challenge, and, usually, their selection. Just wanted to re-up that idea for those of you out there dealing with a vegetable hater. P.S. Another sneaky trick.

Photo by Joe Lingeman

3. Your New Favorite Veggie Burger

NoNoNoNoNooo don’t scroll away! I know, you’ve never had a good veggie burger so why would this one be any different? The answer is: mushrooms, pinto beans, a flour dredge that gives it a craggy edge, and the fact that it’s not trying to be a beef burger. Is it trying to be meaty? Yes. Substantial? Yes. But beefy? No. I developed the recipe for my upcoming book, but The Kitchn featured the burger (and me, and Gregory Gourdet and Priyanka Naik!) in a special package called Eat More Plants that is jam-packed with great ideas for people headed in that direction. The burger is one of the recipes I’ve been really excited to share with you — we appreciate them on any night of the week, but we have especially appreciated them on nights when the kids have those inconveniently timed late night sports practices. You know when you don’t know whether to feed them before or after….or both? THIS IS YOUR ANSWER for any scenario you decide. Make a batch, freeze them individually, dole them out in single servings as necessary. (They thaw right on the skillet.) You will be hearing a lot more about this recipe because I am such a believer, but for now, give them a try and let me know what you think.

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