Three Things

Pavlova for your holiday table (any holiday!) a new dinner cookbook, gift books for the little ones

Good morning eaters and readers! Hope you all had a nice weekend. I’d like to say that we enjoyed a proper English fry-up as we watched that excellent Liverpool-Man City match on Sunday, but sadly, Americanly, it was leftover lentil salad for me. Later, for dinner, I made my chilled asparagus soup from The Weekday Vegetarians (it was for a live cooking demo, but ‘tis the season for asparagus!) along with a simple butter-fried salmon. Here are your Three Things…

1. For Your Holiday Table: Pavlova!

Can someone please tell me why my instagram and news feeds are not cluttered with images of Pavlovas? They are flour/gluten-free for Passover, springy and festive for Easter, and when I posted this photo on instagram over the weekend, reader Kohinoor C. noted that pavlova “would also look great on an Iftar table during Ramadan — those strawberries would be very refreshing to a fasting person.” I can imagine! The truth is, the dessert is good for any occasion any time of year; I love what my friend Vanessa Holden wrote about her pavlova recipe on Dinner: A Love Story: “There’s something magic about a Pav — it makes any gathering a celebration. Something about its flamboyant piled-high swooshiness that says Wow! We’re here! Isn’t this great? I love you! Isn’t this fun?!” I topped mine with fresh sliced strawberries, torn mint, and powdered sugar, but Vanessa gives a few options that would work just as beautifully. And how great is the word “swooshiness?” Note: Each pav serves 4-5, so plan accordingly if you’re serving a large group.

P.S. My go-to Matzoh Ball Soup.

2. A Book for Dinner Lovers

Like a lot of people, my younger daughter, Abby, discovered cooking during the pandemic, her senior year of high school. For her it wasn’t about project cooking — she didn’t bake a single loaf of sourdough — it was much more about self-care, about ensuring that she had at least one moment of joy in a day spent mostly staring at her friends and teachers over Zoom. She became particularly adept at making pastas and seemed to be always studying techniques on YouTube videos and saving recipes from her favorite instagrammers. But at a certain point I started noticing that the answer to “Whose recipe is this?” was almost always the same. “Ali,” she’d say, throwing her gnocchi into a sizzling pan to make it crispy, a technique I’d never seen before that moment. That pasta with lemon and ricotta? Ali. That addictive “Midnight Pasta?” Ali.

Ali is Ali Slagle, a contributor to the New York Times and The Washington Post, and was of course on my radar, too for how her recipes are so unpretentious and cookable (sorry to use that word but, they just are!), and always somehow exactly the thing you feel like eating. It goes way behind pasta, too. Consider her Crispy Sour Cream and Onion Chicken which begins “Picture sour cream and onion dip slathered on chicken cutlets, dredged in panko bread crumbs, and fried until crisp like a potato chip, and you’ll envision this recipe.” (!!!) Her first book, I Dream of Dinner (so You Don’t Have To) is out today, and not surprisingly, it’s filled with more of the same. Like way more. All-Corner-Pieces Baked Pasta, Fish & Chips Tacos, Egg & Cheese Sliders, Cheesy Bread Potpie, Mushroom “Orzotto.” I mean, how fun does all that sound? You can see why the kid in all of us would be drawn to her recipes. In honor of the book’s publication, here’s Ali interviewed by my daughter, Abby Ward, now a freshman in college.

Where’d you get that goat cheese bacon and date dip recipe for your dorm Super Bowl party, Abby? “ALI!”

3. Book Report, the Littles Edition

My friend Ali Moss is like a human Siri. Hey Ali, who should I vote for? Hey Ali, what novel should I read next? Hey Ali, where are the best bagels in New York? She’s a documentary producer (most recently Fauci), but in her spare time — lucky us! — she has her own newsletter, and last month she did an excellent kid’s book round-up. It was the first place I went to pick out a book for my niece Vivi, who just turned four. I ended up buying two: Out of a Jar, by Deborah Marcero, based on the gorgeous art and also Ali’s description of it as “the kind of book you can read over and over again at bedtime without wanting to hide it behind the couch;” and Nina, the story of Nina Simone, by Traci N. Todd (art by Christian Robinson) because it’s never too early to learn about one of the greats. (I ended up playing this on repeat while making dinner the other night.) I supplemented her suggestions with two more classics from that era: That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown and Amos & Boris because books are my favorite thing to give always and sometimes I just can’t help myself.

P.S. Subscribers

Thrilled to let you know that the esteemed Joanna Goddard of Cup of Jo will be my next guest on the Dinner: A Love Story podcast. If you’re a new subscriber, just a reminder that you can always access old episodes including interviews with To Asia with Love’s Hetty McKinnon and Food IQ’s Matt Rodbard.

Have a great week,

Jenny