Three Things

Butternut squash-inspired dinners, beans alla vodka (!), Ina Garten's long-awaited memoir

Greetings eaters and readers! What’s for dinner tonight? Might I suggest easy, hearty Cioppino with Garlic Bread or “Craggy” Chicken Caesar or Sara Forte’s Blackened Salmon with Pico, which I made for my friend Kate last night, and which blows my mind every single time. In the reading department, I have so many books going right now depending on where I happen to find myself — on weekend road trips we’re listening to Demon Copperhead because Andy has never read it, an upsetting fact that his family was close to disowning him over. (I’m of course thrilled to re-listen.) In bed, I’m reading the very Demon-adjacent Shuggie Bain. On the subway, I’m dipping in and out of Rejection, a collection of interconnected short stories by Tony Tulathimutte that is, in a word, original. The characters are all going through various personal crises that center on rejection and the writing is sharp, hilarious, and extremely dark. (Read more about it here.) Meanwhile, after seeing this headline in the Times (“If You Liked the Plot in ‘The Plot,’ Then You’ll Love Its Sequel, ‘The Sequel’”) all I want to do is clear the decks for Jean Hanff Korelitz’s follow-up to the book I would not shut up about for the better part of 2022. Lastly!! Happy New Year to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah this week! I’ll be bringing the usual Fattoush to my sister’s feast tonight. And now — sound the shofar — your Three Things…

1. How do I turn my butternut squash into dinner?

You don’t need me to tell you that a Butternut Squash Soup is always the right answer to that question. And that’s exactly what I did last week, as you can see up there, topping my bowl with sour cream and candied pecans (I like the sweet and spicy ones from Trader Joe’s), and serving it alongside “the viral cucumber salad.” I gotta say, it doesn’t get much better than that in terms of ease and comfort. (You can trace the cucumber salad back to this guy, but the version I made was here.) For Weekday Vegetarian book owners: There are two squash-forward dinners I’d like to point you towards: in TWV, volume 1, there’s a variation on that soup (page 81), made with coconut milk and lime, and it is out of this world. (It’s also vegan.) In TWV Volume 2, there’s my Squash Galette with Feta & Chiles (page 119) that is excellent served at room temp if you feel like making dinner ahead of schedule. I have to say, though, the winning squash recipe of the week was not a dinner, but the Greens with Roasted Squash, Blue Cheese, and Candied Nuts shown at the top of this newsletter. Here’s the no-recipe recipe:

Peel and cube a butternut (or honeynut) squash, toss the squash in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roast for about 25 minutes at 425°F, until the cubes look golden around the edges. Let cool, then add to market greens and top with candied pecans, crumbled blue cheese, and about 2 tablespoons of very finely slivered red onion. Toss the whole thing with a simple Apple Cider Vinaigrette. (To make: In a jar or small bowl, shake or whisk: 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon honey, 1/3 cup olive oil, salt and pepper.)

What do you think? What’s the best thing you’ve made with squash lately?

photo by Nico Schinco

2. Carolina Gelen’s Beans alla Vodka

I have such a crush on Carolina Gelen. And I have ever since my daughter forwarded me her hugely popular instagram during the pandemic a few years ago, writing only “omg you will love her.” (My daughter knows me very well.) Carolina grew up in Transylvania, cooking by her mother’s side, and following a very tracked career path in computer science until a passion for cooking derailed her plans and led her to various restaurant jobs in the US. She gained an enormous following during the pandemic thanks to her charming, sun-filled reels, swooshing fresh breads through runny eggs, shoving spoonfuls of creamy soups and chocolate-drizzled desserts straight into the camera, twisting her lips comically and widening her eyeballs in delight, and in general emitting an infectious, welcoming energy. Now, lucky us, Carolina has a book out called Pass the Plate, and she was nice enough to share one of the recipes with us, her Butter Beans Alla Vodka. The beans are signature Carolina: comforting, familiar, clever without being cute. I love this book. You can head over to Dinner: A Love Story for all the deets.

3. The Ina Garten Memoir is Here!

Ina Garten's memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens, came out yesterday, you might’ve heard. I discovered Ina in my mid-twenties, just as I was trying to figure out my way around a kitchen. I cooked from her first book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook so often that many of those recipes still feel like members of my family: The Coconut Cupcakes, the Indonesian Chicken, the Turkey Meatloaf, the Outrageous Brownies, the Roasted Carrots. Recipes famous enough that I feel like I don't even have to elaborate, because you can picture them, too. I also distinctly remember how different her books felt from Martha Stewart and Gourmet magazine and other big food names of that era -- Ina's food was messy, real, and approachable without making any sacrifices in quality.

Ina had a tough childhood. She was raised by an emotionally bereft mother and an abusive father prone to unsettling bouts of anger. Her life changed, as all real fans know, when she was 16 and met her famously adoring husband Jeffery. One of the more notable revelations of the book was that the couple separated briefly, right after Ina bought the Barefoot Contessa specialty store in the Hamptons and struggled to redefine her role as an equal partner in their marriage. There were other surprising tidbits -- she can fly planes (!) and once stood up to a man who robbed her at gunpoint -- but for me, the most compelling thing about the memoir was the way she discussed her philosophy around food and cooking, including her theory on the maximum amount of flavors that belong in a recipe. (Aren’t you curious?) You can read about that and other highlights in my Cup of Jo column today.

Have a great week!
Jenny

P.S. I was a guest on the “Another Mother Runner” podcast, talking about the new book as well as my somewhat complicated relationship with running these days. If you know, you know. You can listen to it on Apple or Spotify.

Order The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple wherever books are sold…

Penguin Random House | Amazon | Bookshop | Barnes & Noble |
Hudson Booksellers | Books A Million | Powell’s | Target | Walmart |

(🥬🌿Or pick up a copy of the first Weekday Vegetarians if you’re behind on your homework. Thanks for the support! 🌺🥬💚 )