Three Things

World Central Kitchen, a frozen dinner care package, a pizza upgrade

Greetings eaters and readers. Hope everyone is holding up ok. World Central Kitchen (a charity this DALS community once raised over $12,000 for) is on the ground in Poland providing hot meals for families fleeing Ukraine. Please consider donating to their effort. As Sam Sifton reminded us in The New York Times Cooking newsletter over the weekend, “The point is to celebrate humanity even when others seek to destroy it, to find joy amid sadness and above all to show love, the emotion we need to embrace most of all when conflict soars.” Here are this week’s Three Things.

1. A Freezer Care Package

A few weeks ago, when I wrote about Janet Reich Elsbach’s Extra Helping, a book about caring for people through food, a newsletter reader reminded me of the Freezer Care Package I assembled for a friend undergoing chemotherapy. I wanted to re-up it in case you are charged with cooking for someone’s family today or tomorrow…or in the future. The care package consists of all homemade meals that can be frozen, and it includes a downloadable pdf with thawing instructions for each dish. (Please note this was 2017, a year before my Weekday Vegetarian epiphany, so most of the meals contain meat. It’s easy enough to figure out how to tweak them, though, if you are cooking for vegetarians. If you’re swapping something out, I’d suggest butternut squash soup or this curried red lentil dish, which will be dinner in my house tonight.)

2. Gear Upgrade Alert

My friend Anthony and his wife Rachel are maybe the most generous people I know. Anthony is Anthony Terranova of the Arthur Avenue, family-run Terranova Bakery and every time we see him, he has a Santa-sack of treats for us, straight from the bakery: dozens of pizza doughs, sometimes made with heirloom grains; loaves of pane di casa; little cellophane bags of sweet and savory taralli. I’m telling you, every day is Christmas with this guy! But he really upped the ante last fall when, after dinner at our favorite pizzeria (omg, the guy knows his pizza), he pulled out a gift-wrapped pizza stone (plus peel), from the trunk of his car. He didn’t say this, but I think it’s hurt his pizza-obsessing heart to see me making pies on a regular old baking sheet all these years. Well, I’m sure I’m telling many of you something you already know, but baking pizza on a pizza stone after baking pizza on a cookie sheet for so long is like driving a Ferrari after riding a tricycle. I couldn’t believe how professional my crust looked and tasted — all charred and crispy, no flop in the middle. I can’t recommend the gear upgrade strongly enough. (If you are interested in exploring other options, check out these recommendations from Wirecutter, which includes a budget pick.) Thank you Anthony and Rachel! P.S. The pizza shown is our favorite potato-cheddar.

3. Superhero Muffins

Phoebe, my distance runner, had a big college race this past weekend, which I was lucky enough to watch live-streamed from my living room 1200 miles away, and for some reason it made me nostalgic for all of the food rituals she had in high school: Pasta parties with her team the night before Saturday meets; bagels in her coach’s classroom after 6:00am practices; loading up on chocolate milk (the ideal recovery drink for runners) every time we hit the supermarket; and, of course, that one cross country season I was really into baking Shalane Flanagan’s superhero muffins. Made with almond flour, carrots, almonds, raisins, oats, and maple syrup, they are gluten-free, great for breakfast or a recharging snack, and fall under the category of what Flanagan, a professional marathoner, calls “indulgent nourishment.” I think I’ll bake a batch this week.

P.S. What’s Your Food IQ?

Do you know when to use Morton salt and when to use Diamond Crystal? Or what vegetables you should always buy frozen? What is the formula for a perfect sandwich? I’m thrilled to announce that Matt Rodbard, co-author of the new, extremely fun book Food IQ which answers all of these questions and so many more, will be my guest on the next episode of the DALS podcast. Look for it in your inbox later this week. (Reminder, only paying subscribers have access to the podcast.) Thanks as always for your support.

Have a good week,
Jenny