Three Things

Small plate dinners, a cool burger trick, a food tour (with me!) in beautiful Sicily

Greetings eaters and readers! Today’s newsletter has been caffeinated by the Awesome cup of coffee that I am savoring as I write. And I mean capital-A Awesome on every level: John Green, author of one of my family’s most favorite books of all time (not favorite young adult book, favorite book book), one-half of the brother team behind Crash Course, and all-around force for good in the world, has now launched a coffee company, the Awesome Coffee Club, which works directly with small farmers’ collectives; 100% of the profits support efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone. I don’t even need the coffee to be good with all that going on, but it’s actually amazing — bold, round, slightly fruity. Win-win! In other news, we grilled my yogurt flatbreads (page 222, The Weekday Vegetarians) instead of pan-frying them last week and I’ve declared it my party trick of Summer 2022. Here are your Three Things…

1. Small Plates for Summer Dinner

As Weekday Vegetarians owners know, all year long, but especially during the summer, I am a huge proponent of the small plates approach to dinner. This generally means a straightforward legume or bean-forward anchor dish (here, that’s my Creamiest Hummus, page 165) surrounded by various seasonal salads and a special bread that can scoop and sop everything up. Shown above is the yogurt flatbread plus a simple chopped salad (use what you’ve got, but I tossed: cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, feta, mint, then added fresh lemon juice and olive oil); plus grilled carrots, which were boiled first on the stovetop (like 8 minutes) then finished in the grill basket to give them that beautiful char. I added a few dollops of harissa-spiked yogurt (about 1 tablespoon harissa mixed in with 1/2 cup plain yogurt, plus a little olive oil, salt and pepper) and showered with mint, sea salt, pepper. Here are some other combinations if this kind of eating sounds appealing:

cold lentil salad + snap pea salad + crusty bread
braised beans + tomato sandwiches
avocado & white bean salsa + fresh corn on the cob + ciabatta

Lots more suggestions in The Weekday Vegetarians.

2. A Burger Trick

One of my oldest friends, Laurie, came over for dinner on Friday night and maybe it’s because she lives in L.A., or maybe it’s because we’ve been having a lot of those bean-forward dinners lately, but as soon as she was in the calendar, I started craving California-style burgers. Of course it could’ve also been because I had just watched the Alison Roman episode on smashburgers where she does the coolest thing…

…she fries the patties on top of very thinly sliced white onions, infusing the meat with a sweet, oniony flavor that, for me at least, tapped into a nostalgic 1980s White Castle-like fast food burger. Abby joined us late, and after taking one bite, asked if every Friday could be smashburger night. Uh, no. But I’ll say this: Whenever we have burgers from now on, we’ll be deploying this trick.

3. A Sicily Tour with Yours Truly

As promised, I’m thrilled to announce that next spring, I’ll be hosting an epic food-centric adventure in one of my most favorite places on earth: Sicily. The tour is curated by Italian food expert, Elizabeth Minchilli, who is the author of nine books on Italy (including most recently The Italian Table) and writes a popular all-things-Italy newsletter that you already know I love. We’ll be based in Ortigia, the small, ancient island off Siracusa, and from there we’ll be touring vineyards and almond farms, exploring ancient ruins and jewel-like seaside towns, drinking aperol spritzes (above) and the magnificent wines of Mount Etna, cooking with local ingredients that we procure from the region’s gorgeous markets, and, of course eating like Italians, which is to say, we’ll be eating very very well.

We’ll be going to many of the same towns I visited last time I was in Sicily — here’s a refresher course in case you need to be reminded how special the island is.

The dates for the trip are May 21-27, 2023.

If you’re interested learning more, here is the email link* where you can request a brochure and registration instructions. Note: Because this email went out to paying subscribers last week, space is now very limited. The good news is that even if you can’t make it this time, Elizabeth organizes tours year-round, so be sure to subscribe to her newsletter (the premium level) to be in the loop for the next one.

Sicily, I love you! Have a great week, everyone.

Jenny