Three Things

A foolproof way to make fish, a Brooklyn meet-up, a new book from Allegra Goodman

Feb 17, 2026

Greetings, everyone! Hope you enjoyed your long weekends. We celebrated my daughter’s birthday with a batch of chocolate melting cakes and a big-screen viewing of The Godfather at the Walter Reade, naturally. I also saw the “He Built This City” exhibit, a 50-by-27 foot miniature model of New York City crafted by a Queens truck driver who, in 2004, started fashioning his neighborhood out of cardboard, balsa wood and Elmer’s glue, and then…

…just never stopped. How insane is that? (My friend Robin made a reel if you want to see more.) Lastly, I have a fun update on our first Dinner: A Love Story Meet-Up happening this Thursday at East Fork’s Brooklyn outpost: They’ll be providing a 15% discount code for all attendees who want to shop that night, PLUS giving two door prizes from their new Thistle Collection to two lucky winners. Not to be outdone, Random House will be door-prizing one bag o’ books that I hand-selected this morning, and I’m not gonna lie: it’s a solid batch. I’m excited! I hope you are, too.

And now, your Three Things…

1. Our New Favorite Way to Make Fish

Have you ever baked fish in banana leaves? We never had until this past fall when we stumbled upon a recipe that used the technique in Samin Nosrat’s indispensable Good Things. And now we can’t seem to stop, especially when we have people over for dinner, because in addition to yielding a fragrant, herbal-infused, slow-roasted, meltingly tender fish, the whole technique just feels so theatrical and fun. Look how huge and dramatic those banana leaves are! (Samin’s recipe calls for fig leaves, but it’s easier for us to find banana leaves, which are usually in the freezer section of most supermarkets.) The leaves play the same role as parchment paper or foil in a fish en papillote, creating a sealed little oven that lets the fish steam in its own juices. Here’s the basic how-to:

Salmon Baked in Banana Leaf

Heat the oven to 225°F. Place two banana leaves horizontally on a baking sheet (they can overlap), then two more banana leaves on top, vertically. Add salmon to the middle, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Wrap the salmon in the leaves, folding in the sides first, then the top and bottom. It does not have to be perfect. Bake for about 45 minutes on the oven’s center rack until the fish is flaky and still very tender. Break it up with a fork and serve drizzled with Avocado-Basil Sauce or Yogurt-Dill Sauce or Peruvian Green Sauce.

To round out the meal: We serve with a coconutty basmati rice (follow rice package directions, subbing in coconut milk for half the liquid) plus a vibrant salad like Roasted Carrots with Ricotta and Pistachios (above) or Greens with Fennel and Orange or Samin’s Crunchy Slaw with Creamy Miso-Sesame Dressing.

Banana-Leaf Salmon stars in this gluten-free, winter dinner production!

2. Something Charred + Something Creamy

Over a decade ago, when I was freelancing for Bon Appétit I edited a story for one of their summer issues about how beautifully something just off the grill, all hot and smoky, pairs with a cool and creamy sauce. The recipes we featured in that story were combinations like grilled chicken and tzatziki, grilled sausages on a bed of whipped ricotta, and grilled salmon drizzled with a yogurt-dill sauce. I have never forgotten this technique, and in fact, deploy it all year long, even when my broiler has to stand in for the Weber, and even when what’s being grilled isn’t a piece of meat, but a robust vegetable that can not only handle the high heat, but turns into its best, caramelized self when blasted and charred. My most recent example of this was last week when I rescued a green cabbage that was seemingly only hours away from the compost bin. I broiled it, then served it atop a bed of lemony yogurt. I loved how the charred edges of the cabbage peeled away to reveal a steamy, tender interior. Here’s how I did it:

Roasted Cabbage with Lemon-Yogurt and Pistachios

Heat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut a small head of green cabbage in half through the core, then cut each half into thick slices, like you’re cutting a crusty boule. Arrange the slices on your baking sheet and drizzle them all over with olive oil, about 1/4 cup total. (I like using the Graza squeeze bottle olive oil for this so I can get into the nooks and crannies.) Gently flip the wedges so they retain their shape (it’s ok if they fall apart a little, don’t worry) and drizzle oil on the other side as well. Season with salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes. Using a spatula, again gently flip the wedges and roast another 10-15 minutes. (The cabbage should be charred and golden on the outside and tender in its folds.) While the cabbage roasts, whisk 1/2 cup plain yogurt (any fat content) with the juice of 1/2 lemon, salt, pepper, and a squeeze of honey. Top with crushed pistachios. If I had any fresh dill on hand, I would’ve absolutely sprinkled some on top.

3. This is Not About Us, by Allegra Goodman

This is Not About Us is my favorite kind of read — it’s not a novel, it’s not a short story collection, it’s a book of linked stories that together add up to a big, messy, richly textured modern family drama. At the center of the drama are the Rubinstein sisters, three elderly Jewish women in varying states of motherhood, which is to say: grandmother-hood, stepmother-hood, mother-in-law-hood. One sister is dying of cancer and two are locked in a feud that begins over a mistimed apple cake incident and lingers uncomfortably over all three branches of the family. (I was very grateful for the Dostoevsky-like family tree sketched in the opening pages.) The characters can feel unnervingly relatable, for me at least, in that modern Jewish American way that they nag and worry, obsess and adore, cook and bake and gather. I love that feeling when you meet a character briefly and superficially during one story, then completely change the way you feel about them a few chapters later, when the spotlight has shifted and you get to go deeper on their struggles and dreams. This is my first Allegra Goodman book — I never even read Isola, her extremely popular 2025 bestseller! — and plan to remedy this shortcoming right away. Also, I’m really craving apple cake, so let me know if you have a good one.

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