Three Things

Freezer empanadas for those late practice nights, a one-pan meal that's been on repeat all summer, and our first weekend as New York City residents

Greetings eaters and readers! Well, we made it. We have officially traded in our house in the suburbs for an apartment on the Upper West Side of New York, and now that I’m on the other side of the downsizing, the packing, the unpacking, the closings, the “this-isn’t-goodbyes!” to neighbors, the 3:00am insomnia, the moving truck breaking down on Broadway eight blocks from our apartment, I have to say: I feel pretty great. It’s been so long since we’ve moved that I forgot how fun it is to explore a new neighborhood, how even going to the hardware store somehow feels adventurous. Andy woke up yesterday and said “Why does it feel like we are on vacation?” Probably because we’ve packed in about eight million iconic Upper West Side things in four days, including a few runs up the Hudson in Riverside Park, a bagel-and-lox at Barney Greengrass, a quick picnic in Central Park, a Sunday morning wander through the 79th Street Greenmarket, a grocery shop (or four) at Fairway, dinner at Sushi Yasaka, a local favorite. Who knows how long the novelty will last, but I really want to hold on to this tourist-like feeling in my own neighborhood as long as possible. Anyway, enough about me! Let’s talk back-to-school, back-to-the-grind, back-to-the-routine, back-to-the-happy-chaos, and, for our purposes here: back-to-easy dinners. I’ve got a few recipes below that you’ll want to have in your back-pocket this fall, but before we get to those, a big thank-you to everyone who contributed one-pot dinner options in last week’s subscriber thread. I counted SIXTY FIVE IDEAS and I plan on working my way through that list as soon as my kids are back-from-school…in November, haha. Here we go! Your weekly Three Things….

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1. Black Bean Empanadas with Pickled Onions

Moving was stressful — lists upon lists upon lists upon lists — but I’ll tell you one part of it that was downright therapeutic: Cooking down the fridge. It’s that magical combination of creativity and frugality that feels almost like a competitive sport to me. (Me against…the trash can?) Not to brag, but I’d definitely make varsity. There were ice cream sandwiches made with half a pint of ice cream and a roll of chocolate chip cookie dough I had frozen and forgotten about months ago. There were gingery cabbage-and-carrot stuffed dumplings using wrappers hiding in the furthest recesses behind the ice box. And there were these very comforting black bean and pickled onion empanadas, essentially a mash-up of an old DALS black bean burrito recipe and my colleague Bianca Cruz’s mom’s empanada recipe. I had half a head of Napa slaw from the market, so a quick slaw made it dinner. And speaking of sports: If I was still feeding kids on family-dinner-decimating late-night practice schedules, I’d do my future weeknight self a favor and freeze them for a quick grab-and-go meal. Head over to DALS for the recipe.

2. Lazy Man’s Ratatouille

I’ve been chomping at the bit waiting to share this one with you — I’m not kidding, I’ve probably made it five times since first reading about it on Brooks Reitz’s newsletter back in June. The recipe is part of the five-ingredient dinner series I’ve been working on for Cup of Jo, and it’s such a winner, not only because it uses so few ingredients, but because it all comes together on one sheet pan. The one wrinkle, at least in my house, is that no one in my family likes eggplant or, um, zucchini, so I’ve been primarily making a big batch on Monday, then eating it by myself for lunch all week. (On those days, all morning I think about it sitting in the fridge melding flavors and getting more delicious; and I eat lunch exactly when the clock strikes noon.) I’m going to assume you live with people who enjoy the classic Provençal dish like normal people, and as such, might I suggest you serve it for dinner, tossed with pasta or with a hunk of crusty bread or simply as you see above, with a big dollop of ricotta on top? You can head over to Cup of Jo for the recipe. Thanks, Brooks!

3. Welcome to the Neighborhood!

When the moving truck broke down with all of our furniture, including the bed we were planning to sleep in that night, I stood in my new empty apartment panicking. Then I got two heaven-sent texts: One from my best friend Jeni (of Rosa Goldman Mud Cake fame) telling me there was an empty bedroom in her apartment two blocks away that had our name on it, and one from our friend Taffy telling us she was bringing over a lasagna, homemade by her husband Claude. People are so nice. These gestures, seemingly little, are pretty much everything. P.S. Here’s my go-to lasagna, my mom’s recipe, if you don’t have one already. Thank you Jeni, Ben, Claude and Taffy!

See you soon — with a book rec I’m so excited to tell you about!

Jenny

Happy second birthday to this baby! ❤️