I can't remember where I read about Persian cucumbers with a sprinkle of sea salt and rice vinegar (maybe DALS?!), but today I upgraded it by pouring a cup of crushed ice over the bowl. Perfection on a hot & humid day! Hoping you are noticing one or two things getting easier each day - wishing you all the best.
Ohmygosh! I hope you are well on your way to healthy! I wouldn't have guessed you weren't 100% when we were in Parma in March. Best trip ever. But, onward to those cookbooks! I had a dinner last summer where everyone brought a dish from Alison Roman's Nothing Fancy. And everything was a taste sensation. I made—and everyone LOVED—the Potato Salad with Lemon and Mustard. The lemon and dill in that were sensational. (Not sure of the exact recipe title, because I'm moving soon and just packed all of my cookbooks.) Do I have to pick just one? Then it would be that potato salad. But that night, I also made the Chicken with Dates and Caramelized Lemons. And someone brought the Crushed Blackberry Cornmeal Cake....so good. And the chocolate salty cookies were incredible. I love a themed Nothing Fancy potluck dinner.
The cobbler from Renee Erickson's A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus. Easy and so yum! It's comfort food. Maybe I'd missed this technique along the way-- I hadn't seen a cobbler finished this way, pouring hot water over the sugary top. Boy is it good!
Right now, our family life demands easy and quick-to-make recipes that will be surefire hits with our 3-year-old. But really, this recipe is one I swear by and always recommend to anyone: the skillet cheddar turkey burgers from Caroline Chambers' cookbook! So juicy, cheesy, delicious. https://whattocook.substack.com/p/skillet-cheddar-turkey-burgers
Look at Moosewood, sitting there all the way on the bottom! Her spinach-rice casserole was a staple of my 20s when I was newly married and living in a strange town without any friends and a husband who worked long hours. When my parents would drive down to visit me on the weekends, I would make this on Friday and then sit at the front window and try to read a book while I waited for their car to pull in the drive. My mom often cooked rice (or pasta) of all kinds with vegetables - in fact, those were our main dinners throughout my entire childhood, and my mom never used a recipe, just used whatever vegetables the grocer had. I was a little embarrassed by my need for this arguably very simply recipe, but not embarrassed enough to stop making it. The creamy spinach, chewy rice, and spike of nutmeg will never not make me feel like that 25-year-old, desperately homesick and lonely, waiting for her parents' brights to cut through the dark light of the front yard.
The Golden Get Well Chicken Soup from Molly Baz's Cook This Book is delicious and would be the perfect meal for restoration (perhaps on a cooler day than today however!).
In 1972 or so I purchased the Craig Claiborne NYTimes Cookbook at an Austin street fair for fifty cents. The variety of cuisines, instructions, amusing stories gave me a thorough, exciting look at the food world along with practical and down-to-earth basics. The book is well-used; ripped and stained, missing pages and the covers. But what have I made most often? P.238 Oven Fried Haddock Fillets. Over and over and over again. When we moved to Gloucester, MA in 1977, Haddock cost about $2.99/pound. Now it is well over $20.00 at the local fish markets. But this is still a go-to winner. Our kids learned to like fish with this recipe. Kids who would never taste fish would ask for it. I'll serve it on a busy work night or for guests on a Saturday. It never fails and is delicious. Thank you and RIP Mr. Claiborne. Thank you, Jenny for the fun.
In the Chez Panisse Vegetables book, I’d recommend the recipe for Green Goddess Dressing, and from the Chez Panisse Cafe cookbook, I recommend the recipe for the pluot galette!
I have Nothing Fancy too, and Alison Roman's Slow Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes (featured on the cover) is a weekly staple in my house! I graduated from Ina's 'perfect roast chicken' to this slow roasted chicken. My youngest child openly misses the crispy skin that comes with a roasted chicken! Otherwise, it is a winner in our house!
Out of all those books, I only have Nothing Fancy (is that the one with the beet dip? If so, recommend!) I DO, however, own ALL the DALS. Number one has been used so frequently that’s it’s literally falling apart!
Not really about making something special tonight, but something both special & ordinary a few days ago: there I was mid-afternoon with my first ripe, juicy peach of the season, making a peach & tomato caprese-ish salad for a late lunch, tearing a few basil leaves over it when I got a notification: Do you know what you were doing at this very moment seven years ago? I don’t think you need me to tell you it was a photo of a freshly made caprese salad. Still going to love every single one I eat over the next six weeks!
I can't see which Maida Heatter it is, but if it's Happiness is Baking my family is obsessed with the pumpkin loaf. It takes forever to bake but it's sublime! Worth every minute.
Dear Jenny, it was such a wonderful surprise to see your email land in my inbox today. Hearing you news last week about your brain surgery was incredibly scary, but reading your reflections on feeling lucky and grateful truly touched my heart.
Your R&R setup in the Hudson Valley cottage sounds absolutely lovely. You are so lucky to have a beautiful, peaceful place to heal.
Per your request, I looked through the stack of books. Here are my top two picks for you to try:
1. From Good Things (the more recent book): You have to try the Shoyu Chicken. I know you love this book too, so you might of already tried it, but the Shoyu Chicken is my ultimate pick.
2. From the Moosewood Cookbook: Wow, seeing that title is such a wonderful blast from the past! I highly recommend the classic Apple Krisp. It is the perfect cozy cottage dessert.
Please know that this entire community loves you so much. We are all sending you our warmest thoughts and wishing you all the very best things in life as you recover
What a wonderful haven you’ve found for your recovery. That cookbook stack alone would bring me joy every time I passed it. My favorite cookbook of the stack is the New Basics Cookbook ad it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Having lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan walking distance from the Silver Palate it was wonderful both to take out as well as make their recipes. Of course the Chicken Marbella is my number one having made it more than 2-3 dozen times, it never fails and is wonderful as leftovers. Wishing you strength and swift healing during this time.🥰🥰
I can't remember where I read about Persian cucumbers with a sprinkle of sea salt and rice vinegar (maybe DALS?!), but today I upgraded it by pouring a cup of crushed ice over the bowl. Perfection on a hot & humid day! Hoping you are noticing one or two things getting easier each day - wishing you all the best.
Ohmygosh! I hope you are well on your way to healthy! I wouldn't have guessed you weren't 100% when we were in Parma in March. Best trip ever. But, onward to those cookbooks! I had a dinner last summer where everyone brought a dish from Alison Roman's Nothing Fancy. And everything was a taste sensation. I made—and everyone LOVED—the Potato Salad with Lemon and Mustard. The lemon and dill in that were sensational. (Not sure of the exact recipe title, because I'm moving soon and just packed all of my cookbooks.) Do I have to pick just one? Then it would be that potato salad. But that night, I also made the Chicken with Dates and Caramelized Lemons. And someone brought the Crushed Blackberry Cornmeal Cake....so good. And the chocolate salty cookies were incredible. I love a themed Nothing Fancy potluck dinner.
The cobbler from Renee Erickson's A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus. Easy and so yum! It's comfort food. Maybe I'd missed this technique along the way-- I hadn't seen a cobbler finished this way, pouring hot water over the sugary top. Boy is it good!
Right now, our family life demands easy and quick-to-make recipes that will be surefire hits with our 3-year-old. But really, this recipe is one I swear by and always recommend to anyone: the skillet cheddar turkey burgers from Caroline Chambers' cookbook! So juicy, cheesy, delicious. https://whattocook.substack.com/p/skillet-cheddar-turkey-burgers
Look at Moosewood, sitting there all the way on the bottom! Her spinach-rice casserole was a staple of my 20s when I was newly married and living in a strange town without any friends and a husband who worked long hours. When my parents would drive down to visit me on the weekends, I would make this on Friday and then sit at the front window and try to read a book while I waited for their car to pull in the drive. My mom often cooked rice (or pasta) of all kinds with vegetables - in fact, those were our main dinners throughout my entire childhood, and my mom never used a recipe, just used whatever vegetables the grocer had. I was a little embarrassed by my need for this arguably very simply recipe, but not embarrassed enough to stop making it. The creamy spinach, chewy rice, and spike of nutmeg will never not make me feel like that 25-year-old, desperately homesick and lonely, waiting for her parents' brights to cut through the dark light of the front yard.
Good Things Samin Nosrat- chicken thigh schnitzel & pane criminale. You will love them because Samin is divine. xoxo
The Golden Get Well Chicken Soup from Molly Baz's Cook This Book is delicious and would be the perfect meal for restoration (perhaps on a cooler day than today however!).
In 1972 or so I purchased the Craig Claiborne NYTimes Cookbook at an Austin street fair for fifty cents. The variety of cuisines, instructions, amusing stories gave me a thorough, exciting look at the food world along with practical and down-to-earth basics. The book is well-used; ripped and stained, missing pages and the covers. But what have I made most often? P.238 Oven Fried Haddock Fillets. Over and over and over again. When we moved to Gloucester, MA in 1977, Haddock cost about $2.99/pound. Now it is well over $20.00 at the local fish markets. But this is still a go-to winner. Our kids learned to like fish with this recipe. Kids who would never taste fish would ask for it. I'll serve it on a busy work night or for guests on a Saturday. It never fails and is delicious. Thank you and RIP Mr. Claiborne. Thank you, Jenny for the fun.
In the Chez Panisse Vegetables book, I’d recommend the recipe for Green Goddess Dressing, and from the Chez Panisse Cafe cookbook, I recommend the recipe for the pluot galette!
What an amazing stack (sort of Jenga-like though…). Grab the Canal House Grocery Store book and thumb through - grab things from local market.
I have Nothing Fancy too, and Alison Roman's Slow Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes (featured on the cover) is a weekly staple in my house! I graduated from Ina's 'perfect roast chicken' to this slow roasted chicken. My youngest child openly misses the crispy skin that comes with a roasted chicken! Otherwise, it is a winner in our house!
Out of all those books, I only have Nothing Fancy (is that the one with the beet dip? If so, recommend!) I DO, however, own ALL the DALS. Number one has been used so frequently that’s it’s literally falling apart!
Not really about making something special tonight, but something both special & ordinary a few days ago: there I was mid-afternoon with my first ripe, juicy peach of the season, making a peach & tomato caprese-ish salad for a late lunch, tearing a few basil leaves over it when I got a notification: Do you know what you were doing at this very moment seven years ago? I don’t think you need me to tell you it was a photo of a freshly made caprese salad. Still going to love every single one I eat over the next six weeks!
I can't see which Maida Heatter it is, but if it's Happiness is Baking my family is obsessed with the pumpkin loaf. It takes forever to bake but it's sublime! Worth every minute.
Dear Jenny, it was such a wonderful surprise to see your email land in my inbox today. Hearing you news last week about your brain surgery was incredibly scary, but reading your reflections on feeling lucky and grateful truly touched my heart.
Your R&R setup in the Hudson Valley cottage sounds absolutely lovely. You are so lucky to have a beautiful, peaceful place to heal.
Per your request, I looked through the stack of books. Here are my top two picks for you to try:
1. From Good Things (the more recent book): You have to try the Shoyu Chicken. I know you love this book too, so you might of already tried it, but the Shoyu Chicken is my ultimate pick.
2. From the Moosewood Cookbook: Wow, seeing that title is such a wonderful blast from the past! I highly recommend the classic Apple Krisp. It is the perfect cozy cottage dessert.
Please know that this entire community loves you so much. We are all sending you our warmest thoughts and wishing you all the very best things in life as you recover
Take good care of yourself.
~ Caroline
What a wonderful haven you’ve found for your recovery. That cookbook stack alone would bring me joy every time I passed it. My favorite cookbook of the stack is the New Basics Cookbook ad it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Having lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan walking distance from the Silver Palate it was wonderful both to take out as well as make their recipes. Of course the Chicken Marbella is my number one having made it more than 2-3 dozen times, it never fails and is wonderful as leftovers. Wishing you strength and swift healing during this time.🥰🥰