Three Things
Viral meatballs, an easy upgrade for grilled vegetables, a summer novel I devoured
Greetings eaters and readers! I am lucky enough to have received an early copy of Samin Nosrat’s next cookbook, and I’ve been using it like crazy — the book is so good, just absolutely packed with keepers and stories and lessons that will inspire you to gather and share and cook for people. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it in a few months, but if you can’t wait that long, I have good news: Samin just launched a newsletter on Substack called A Grain of Salt, promising a series of “un-recipe” recipes (like an asparagus with kumquat and herb salsa), a format she hopes “will help you acquire the skills and confidence needed to use any recipe as inspiration rather than doctrine.” Sign me up! In read-of-the-week news, did you see the story about Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery in last week’s New Yorker? (Possible paywall.) Maybe it’s because my daughter lives right next door to it now — that’s her hanging with Bean in Prospect Park — but I found the history fascinating. So many iconic New Yorkers are buried there, not just the famous ones like DeWitt Clinton and Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pete Hamill, but the everyday New Yorkers whose names are logged in the cemetery’s dusty old ledger, like the inventor of the safety pin and the first guy who decided to put an eraser on a pencil. Not surprisingly, the cemetery managers are quite a cast of characters themselves. Lastly…
…reminder for New Yorkers (and visiting New Yorkers) that I am always adding to my Upper West Side Restaurant Guide, most recently with this new-to-me neighborhood discovery above. Paying subscribers can find my restaurant picks for the entire city here. And now! Your Three Things…
1. The Viral Meatballs
The first time I ever made these Chicken Parm Meatballs was on a night back in 2012, when my then 10-year-old daughter Phoebe requested meatballs and her sister, then-8-year-old Abby, requested Chicken Parm. I didn’t have the energy to mediate or disappoint, so instead, I created a mash-up of the two requests. I can’t tell you how un-me this was, and probably because of that, the girls were delighted, plus (win-win!) I had some content for my new-ish family dinner blog, Dinner: A Love Story. I wrote up the recipe, shot a badly lit photo, pressed “publish” then didn’t think about the meatballs until a day or two later, when I noticed an alarming spike in my website traffic. Someone — I still don’t know who — had posted that badly lit photo on Pinterest, and for whatever reason, the viral Gods were activated. Before long hundreds of thousands of visitors, and eventually millions, were discovering my small-potatoes operation by way of the Chicken Parm Meatball Pinterest portal. (Maybe that’s why you are here this many years later!?) I still haven’t quite figured out why that recipe, of all the recipes I’ve written, was the one that hit the jackpot — I mean, besides the fact that the meatballs are legit tasty. (As my husband would say “It’s not like melted cheese on a meatball is gonna be bad.”) Also, you might be surprised to hear that I can count on one hand how many times I’ve made the recipe since that first night in 2012. One of those times was last week, and they didn’t disappoint.
Chicken Parm Meatballs
The recipe makes 12 large or 15 medium-large meatballs. If you’re not in the mood for all the chopping and mixing involved in meatball-making, you can always use the instant meatball trick.
2. Make Your Beds
Well, my obsession with the carrots from Wood Thrush Farm shows no sign of waning. Can someone please explain to me how a carrot can taste so rich and sweet and…carrot-y? And while you’re at it, explain how I’ve managed to live so many decades without experiencing this? Well, I am not going to go on and on about something that 95% of you will never be able to try, but it’s a good reminder — for me anyway — not to become so focused on whatever produce darling is trending at the market (looking at you, garlic scapes!) that I overlook the basics. Also: You know what is delicious underneath a plate of roasted carrots? Or really, any roasted or grilled vegetable? A bed of something creamy and cool, like ricotta or labneh or hummus or a bright avocado sauce. I love how the smooth beds contrast with a vegetable (or fish or meat) that has been charred, crisped, and concentrated. Exhibit A above: My roasted multicolor carrots over a bed of fresh ricotta, then topped with excellent olive oil and some crushed pistachios. (Roasted Carrots How-To: toss 1-inch carrot pieces with olive oil, salt, pepper, then roast at 425°F for 20 minutes or until lacquery, tender, and slightly shriveled.)
This has nothing to do with carrots, but how pretty and bold and delicious is spicy avo sauce bed under a grilled salmon?
3. Bug Hollow, by Michelle Huneven
This novel was such a lovely surprise. I’ve never read anything by Michelle Huneven (author of Search and Off Course, among others) and found myself instantly pulled in, enamored by the Samuelson family at the center of the story. We enter their lives in gold-tinted 1970s suburban California, but we have just barely gotten acquainted with the prickly mother, Sib, the kind-eyed father, Phil, and their three children, when the oldest, Ellis, dies in a drowning accident during his first week of college. He leaves behind a pregnant girlfriend and a legacy of grief and loss that endures across generations and decades and continents. Each of the subsequent chapters is told from the perspective of a family member, and what has the potential to turn into a somber, heavy read, is instead an…ok, somber…but lively, all-in immersive page-turner. This is largely because of Huneven’s deeply observed characters, particularly the youngest daughter Sally, an artsy ball-of-fire who becomes a combo aunt-older-sister-mother figure to Eva, the child Ellis left behind. “With them, there was always some pleasure in the mix,” observes her older sister Katie when she’s with the two, and that’s how I felt spending time with (almost) the entire cast of characters. I read Bug Hollow in one sitting, stopping only to eat dinner, which was take-out, so I could get back to business as soon as possible.
Have a great week,
Jenny
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For easy, approachable vegetarian recipes, check out my New York Times bestselling book The Weekday Vegetarians and the follow-up: The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple. 🍳🌿
I read Search years ago, after serving on a search committee, and loved it. Adding Bug Hollow to my list!
I just love everything you share - and that carrot recipe in particular sounds incredible!