Three Things

A one-bowl-one-skillet dinner, vegetable-forward thinking, a helpful mantra

Good afternoon readers and eaters! It’s hard to believe I am saying this, but tomorrow marks my one-year anniversary writing this newsletter and before we get to your weekly Three Things dispatch, I wanted to extend a hearty thank-you to longtime readers for being here. (Reminder for new readers: You can always visit my archive to read old posts, and might I recommend starting with those Cover Girl beans? Definitely the most popular recipe of the year in this space.) In other news, I just started Cloud Cuckoo Land (Doerr’s last book, All The Light We Cannot See was easily in my Top 10 of All Time), the family watched Don’t Look Up (B+), and Abby baked a batch of insane 45-minute Magnolia Bakery cinnamon rolls (shown above, potential paywall) to ring in the new year. (Abby: “Whoever said you have to use yeast in cinnamon rolls was LYING.” And she’s not wrong!) Without further ado, Three Things I’d like you to know this week:

1. One Skillet Dinner: Sausage, Cabbage, & Apples

We were in Vermont for a round-trip college drop-off and didn’t have time for a lot, but because it’s Vermont, where you can buy local craft beers at the corner gas station, it felt wrong not to hit the markets and load up on the many regional specialties. That means maple products and dairy of course — often the combination of both: I’ve discovered I really love maple Skyr — but also microgreens, cabbage, and some good- quality locally farmed meat, specifically sweet Italian sausages. Once home in New York, I just had to fry up the sausage, add the cabbage, onions, apples, a little vinegar, and dollop the whole thing with mustard. (And all in one skillet to boot.) So easy, so nourishing. Recipe on Dinner: A Love Story today.

2. Not just vegetarian, vegetable-forward

For my Cup of Jo column last week, I asked a few of my favorite food people about their tricks for upgrading roasted winter vegetables and I immediately wanted to try every single one of their suggestions. Up first, this idea shown from my old pal Kay Chun: A little toasted seed mixture to lend texture to butternut squash. You just sauté some minced shallots in olive oil in a skillet, then add pepitas, sunflower or sesame seeds (or whatever combination of them you have) and sprinkle on top of the roasted squash. (I also drizzled a little chili oil on there.) The best part about all the ideas is that they reminded me of one of the rules outlined in The Weekday Vegetarians, i.e. if you are excited about preparing a vegetable, as opposed to thinking about your vegetable as though it’s an afterthought, it becomes a starting point for dinner. (Much the way you probably think about, say, some old trusty chicken recipe.) If I was using Kay’s butternut squash recipe as a starting point for dinner (as opposed to my lunch shown above) I’d round it out with that microgreens and blue cheese salad, plus some simple crispy spicy chickpeas, fried in olive oil and spiked with cayenne, onion powder, salt and pepper. Maybe some crusty bread. Reminder for Weekday Vegetarian owners: There is a comprehensive chart in the back of the book devoted to this Vegetable-First way of thinking.

P.S. I’ll never get tired of this easy (vegan) way to upgrade roast vegetables: Serve them on a bed of pureed artichoke hearts. More details here.

3. Solvitur Ambulando

Lastly, I’d like to take this Monday to remind you of the Latin phrase solvitur ambulando, which translates to “It is solved by walking” and which I subscribe to as almost a religion, even when it’s freezing outside. (Especially when it’s freezing outside.) It’s just the truth: Rarely do you return from a walk feeling worse about things.

Have a great week.

Housekeeping

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