Three Things

Five easy vegetarian dinners, next-level pretzels, the case for reading what your kids are reading

Greetings everyone. I’m home from Italy, in body if not in spirit, and have an important question: What is your Irish Soda Bread game plan? Forgive me for being so 11th-hour on that one, but please know: Rosa’s Irish Soda Bread is good all year long, even if you are one of those people who have always considered the traditional loaf a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. (Me 👋 ) In other news, Michael Ruhlman made a case for Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows being “the real New York theater experience,” and I found myself convinced, especially as Broadway tickets have become so astronomically expensive. If you’re visiting New York (or living here), check out his list of theaters to follow and support, and then read my New York Restaurant Guide to book a pre-theater dinner reservation. And now, Three Things I’m excited to tell you about this week…

1. The Weekday Vegetarian Repents

The Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, where I spent last week, is famous the world over for Parmigiano-Reggiano, cured meats like Culatello and Prosciutto di Parma, as well as slow-cooked, meaty Bolognese, and dishes like Anolini in Brodo, where little beef-stuffed pastas float in a rich beef broth. You know what it’s not famous for? Vegetables. You’re not going to hear me complaining, not for a second, but now that I’m home, it does make sense that this Weekday Vegetarian is craving leafy greens and plant-forward everything. The first thing I did when my jet-lagged self stumbled through the door at 5:30 PM New York time, was tip over a bag of Trader Joe’s frozen green beans into a hot skillet, and eat every last one of them standing over the stovetop. The second thing? Plan a week of vegetarian dinners. Here’s what’s on the line-up: The greeniest green of all green dinners, my Quinoa Salad with Sweet Green Things and Tofu (top); Smoky Black Beans with Plantains and Avocado (bottom left, vegan), which has the added benefit of being lightning-fast; Chilled Avocado-Cucumber Soup (bottom, right) made in a blender; definitely some version of my Big Giant Dinner Salad, it could go in many directions! And, as always, Coconut Curried Red Lentils with Yogurt and Tamarind Sauce, which has made various cameos in this space throughout the years for a good reason: It’s a healthy, simple, delicious keeper. Here’s the recipe, which is from The Weekday Vegetarians — book owners can also find it on page 162.

Coconut Curried Red Lentils

Download the PDF for the recipe. Serves 4.

Coconut Curried Red Lentils

119KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

You can top it with plain coconut yogurt (I like Cocojune brand) to keep it vegan.

2. This Week in Starters

I am pleased to announce the latest inductee into my Starter Snack Elite Squad Hall of Fame: Snyder’s Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzel Pieces. Those of you who have been around long enough know that when I have people over for dinner, I don’t bother with any kind of elaborate homemade starter spread. I want only store bought bites of salty, briny, pickly things to wake up the taste buds, not smother them. Rarely cheese. Rarely anything that requires more energy than opening a bag or a jar. So the other week, when my friend Eric Kim set out a bowl of these salty-sweet-sharp mustardy pieces before dinner for me and a few friends, I knew I had a winner. I love how they are shard-like which encourages nibbling. Plus, a small bowl of them is plenty, because they are highly addictive and the name of the game is, as always, Leave Them Wanting More.

3. The Jane Eyre Book Club

I read Jane Eyre in high school and loved it. I mean, I think I did? The truth is, I can't remember more than the broad strokes of the storyline, and when certain friends — usually my most emotionally-attuned, critical-thinking, book-loving friends — talk about how meaningful Jane was to them as teenagers, I am envious. My daughter, Phoebe is one of those readers, and recently when I asked her why she re-visits the Charlotte Brontë novel so often, she said it’s because “Jane validates the experience of being obedient and good but secretly rebellious while living in an absurd, often awful world that wants her to be anything but herself.” She added, “And how being that way is actually a gift.”

I’ve decided to re-read Jane Eyre, which was all the excuse Phoebe needed to justify another re-read herself. Naturally, we looped in her sister, and I guess this means we have officially launched a Mother-Daughter Book Club.

I’m excited to re-discover Jane, and also eager to make one more case for reading what your kids are reading, even if those kids are now grown women living on their own. Here’s what I wrote about that nearly a decade ago when they were just barely in high school:

The Case for Reading What Your Kids are Reading

Remember that heartbreaking scene in Catcher in the Rye when Holden drops the record he bought for his little sister and it shatters into a million pieces? Or when Sylvia says she can no longer be with Dorian Gray because their love is interfering with her art? Or the deeply sad ending to Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men? Wait, what, you don’t? Just kidding, neither did I, at least not until recently. It wasn’t something I thought about too much until I had middle-school age kids who had graduated to reading books that used sophisticated literary devices like, you know, symbolism. Then suddenly I found myself fielding questions like “Mom, what would you have done with Lennie if you were George?” When I tell then 13-year-old Abby that I don’t remember much about Of Mice and Men, she is incredulous.

“How could you forget the last scene? I can’t stop thinking about it!”

Instead of lecturing her on the seven million things that have cluttered my aging brain since eighth grade, I decide she’s right. That summer, on a long flight with the family, I read Of Mice and Men cover to cover, and find myself weeping over Lennie’s tragic fate. I’m consoled only by Abby, who is sitting next to me and eager to talk it through. The book was way better than I remembered — truly, how could I have forgotten the ending? — but the real reward was that conversation, a genuine heart-to-heart with my daughter about friendship and loneliness.

Bonding over books is not the only reason I love reading what my kids are reading. I read The Giver and Maus, and A Picture of Dorian Gray to fill a few of my embarrassingly wide literary voids. Phoebe, a dark fantasy girl of the highest order, read Dorian Gray so many times that I lived in fear of her discovering the truth about her mother: I had never read anything by Oscar Wilde. (This as an English major, no less!) Other times, I’ll read something just to feel a little closer to them. Like the time Phoebe wrote to us from sleepaway camp saying how glad she was that she brought along her best friend Tintin. That night, out of solidarity, I started reading the half dozen or so Herge volumes she left behind. There were still other instances when I’d pick up titles — like Wonder and The Fault in Our Stars — simply because I sensed they were going to define my childrens’ era and I wanted to know why.

Is it always a hugely rich and satisfying literary experience? Of course not. No matter how much Phoebe begs me to read V is for Vendetta or even Brave New World, I just can’t get into either. But I’m pretty sure both of the girls at least appreciate the effort.

I’m excited. If you want to join our Jane Eyre Book Club, I hope to have some kind of official discussion around mid-April. (Reminder: Book talks are for paying subscribers.) More details coming soon.

Have a good week!
Jenny 💚

P.S. The next bonus post for subscribers: My week of tasting and exploring in Emilia-Romagna.

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For more easy, approachable vegetarian recipes, check out my New York Times bestselling books The Weekday Vegetarians and the follow-up: The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple. 🍳🌿