Three Things

Three easy asparagus-forward dinners, anatomy of a breakfast spread, Charles Simic

Greetings eaters and readers! And thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s Ask a Book Editor hotline with Dinner A Love Story intern/book editor/my husband, Andy. The thread was a lot of fun to read through after the fact, and I’d like to give a special shout-out to reader Jen who asked “What are your all-time favorite books?” I mean, how hard a question is that? She went there! (Reminder, you have to be a subscriber to have access to hotlines.) In more book news, happy publication week to That Cheese Plate Wants to Party, which is every bit as fun as its earlier iteration where the Cheese Plate just wanted to change your life. Speaking of which! I just found out what the difference is between a drinks party and a cocktail party. From the all-knowing Joanna who had to explain it to me: “A drinks party is British -- you just go to someone's house for drinks and bites, but it's very casual and often last-minute; a cocktail party is more formal, cocktail attire, etc.” So now I know! And now, it’s the only way I’m entertaining forevermore. Here are your three things…

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1. How to turn asparagus and mushrooms into dinner

We were in Vermont again over the weekend and before skipping town, swung by the Middlebury co-op to get a few crucial items on the official Green Mountain State Shopping List: Heady Topper, maple skyr, Jasper Hill Bayley Blue, Vermont Creamery Honey Goat Cheese, plus whatever looked fresh in the produce department. Because it’s mid-April, that of course meant asparagus, so I picked up a bunch along with a little container of chestnut mushrooms, then loaded everything into the Igloo, which now lives in our car permanently for this exact purpose. Then we had the 4 1/2 hour drive back to New York to figure out how to turn all that into dinner, with asparagus and mushrooms playing the starring role. Obviously pasta would be a no-brainer — we could roast the vegetables then toss them into a spaghetti with the goat cheese. Or swap them in for the Brussels sprouts here. We could stir them into a farrotto (See: A Farrotto for All seasons, page 50, The Weekday Vegetarians) or, if we wanted to go easy on the carbs, we could roast them, then top with a fried egg and drizzle with a little chili crisp. Ultimately, we off-roaded a bit and went with savory crepes (I know, crazy right?!), something we did quite often during the pandemic when the kids were home and we needed our spirits lifted. (Crepes = instant joy.) To make the whole thing feel more like dinner, as opposed to breakfast or something to eat while walking around the farmer’s market, I used buckwheat flour in the batter. This lent it an excellent nuttiness, and was a nice contrast for the sweet and tangy goat cheese. It goes without saying that you can use any vegetables you’d like, but I do find asparagus and mushrooms to be a magical, and magically spring-is-here combination.

Buckwheat Crepes with Asparagus & Mushrooms
A few notes: If you don’t have buckwheat flour, you can just swap it out for equal parts all-purpose. I used shallots, but leeks would significantly up the springiness factor here. I served with a pea shoots and avocado salad. Recipe makes 4 large crepes.

Vegetables
12 ounces mushrooms (I used some chestnut mushrooms because I had them, but shiitake works great, too)
2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and chopped into large-ish pieces, as shown
1/2 small shallot (or 1 leek, or 1/2 yellow onion), chopped roughly
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces honey goat cheese (or regular goat cheese + a drizzle of honey)
1 teaspoon Chili crisp (or more to taste)

Crepe batter
1 cup ice cold water
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, melted (plus up to 2-3 tablespoons more for greasing pan)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour

Heat oven to 425°F. Add mushrooms, asparagus, and onions to a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Toss vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast 25 minutes until vegetables are crispy. Remove from oven and, fashioning a “chute” out of the parchment paper, slide the vegetables into a mixing bowl. Toss with dots of goat cheese and chili crisp until the cheese has somewhat melted.

Meanwhile, heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. In a large bowl, whisk together water, milk, eggs, and melted butter. Add salt and both flours and whisk until smooth and combined.

Add another pat of butter to pan. When it’s melted and gets a little brown, add 1/3 cup of batter to the skillet, tilting the pan around, so the batter covers the surface in as thin a layer as possible. Once tiny bubbles appear, after about 1 minute, flip and cook another minute or so, until it is cooked through and looks speckley golden brown as shown.

Remove to a large platter, heap a thin layer of mushroom-asparagus on top, and fold as shown or just roll enchilada style. Tent with foil to keep warm, and repeat with remaining batter, adding butter to the pan as you go.

2. Anatomy of a Breakfast Spread

While we were in Vermont we stayed at our favorite inn, The Tillerman, and this time I decided to take notes on their elegant self-serve breakfast spread in order to figure out exactly why it brings me so much joy. We can start with the fact that it’s entirely make-ahead and almost entirely locally sourced: Hard-boiled fresh eggs, Rogers Farmstead local maple yogurt with homemade granola, chopped fresh fruit (mango, strawberries, oranges), a Vermont famous maple pull-apart bread. Next I’d like to point out that, you get your own little French Press to make coffee and finally: Those nostalgic pom-pom coasters! They are officially my new favorite host gift…

…Anyway, If I were throwing, say, a casual Mother’s Day brunch, or a Women’s World Cup breakfast viewing party (July 20 people! Mark your calendars!) I’d replicate their menu exactly, but instead of the maple pull-apart bread bake either my Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Nut Loaf (recipe is in How to Celebrate Everything), or Luisa Weiss’s Marmorkuchen or…

…Abby’s Cinnamon Buns, or Lemon-Blueberry Pound Cake. Also, wouldn’t mind trying something new. Let me know if you have suggestions. Links appreciated, as always.

3. Sadness and Good Food are Incompatible

I found this quote in an old file and it made me laugh. It’s from The Life of Images, a collection of essays, most of them hilarious, by the Pulitzer-Prize winning poet/philosopher/food-lover, Charles Simic, who died earlier this year.

“Sadness and good food are incompatible. The old sages knew that wine lets the tongue loose, but one can grow melancholy with even the best bottle, especially as one grows older. The appearance of food, however, brings instant happiness. A paella, a choucroute garnie, a pot of tripes a la mode de Caen, and so many other dishes of peasant origin guarantee merriment. The best talk is around that table. Poetry and wisdom are its company…Cats and dogs don’t stay far from the busy kitchen. Heaven is a pot of chili simmering on the stove. If I were to write about the happiest days of my life, many of them would have to do with food and wine and a table full of friends. One could compose an autobiography mentioning every memorable meal in one’s life and it would probably make better reading than what one ordinarily gets. Honestly, what would you rather have, the description of a first kiss or of stuffed cabbage done to perfection?”

Have a great week,

Jenny

Have a great week,

Jenny

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