Three Things
A six-ingredient dinner, latke season, a tip for holiday entertaining with kids
Good morning readers and eaters! Hope you had a great weekend. We had friends over on Saturday and made our stand-by red-wine braised short ribs with polenta. I’ll say two things about this meal: 1) I simply cannot believe how good it makes the house smell and 2) If you’re gonna break your weekday vegetarian streak with something meaty, this is your girl. (The short ribs and polenta came from a Fresh Catskills order, above, and you will be hearing about more ensuing deliciousness soon.) ANYWAY! I know you have a busy week, too, so I’ll get right to your Three Things…
1. Six-Ingredient Dinner: Baked Shrimp with Feta
What more do I even need to say about this one? It’s the trusty old friend I’d serve a queen or a neighbor or a 6-year-old, and is just the right meal to have in your back pocket during a week when you don’t want to expend a single extra ounce of psychic or physical energy on dinner. (To get a sense of how easy it is, check out this reel I made on instagram.) Here is the recipe which calls the parsley optional, but you know that it is not. (Photo by Yossy Arefi for Cup of Jo.)
2. Tip for Entertaining with Kids
We haven’t had little littles at the Thanksgiving table in a while (so sad!) but for those of you who will this year, here’s a tried-and-true tip from the Dinner: A Love Story archives (ca. 2012!) that might save you the tiniest bit of angst:
“My friend Lori recently told me that the single best piece of advice I ever gave her about family dinner was to get the kids’ drinks on the table before doing any cooking. The task was just annoying and afterthought-y enough to set the wrong tone for the meal she worked so hard to get on the table. I will take this so-stupid-it’s-smart tip one step further: When you are entertaining or cooking a large holiday meal, fill the water glasses and sippy cups before the first doorbell rings. Then you won’t have to fill up a glass or root around matching lids to cups for the 2-year-old at the very moment the sauce is treading the fine line between deglazing and disappearing.”
3. Latkes for Dinner
There are all kinds of ways people prefer their latkes: thin and lacy, meaty and crispy, kicked up with horseradish or shredded vegetables, spun from leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes (!!!)…and I know you’re probably expecting me to give you some diehard purist take here, but the truth is, I love them all equally. They are fried potatoes after all. Below is the recipe I use the most often — I realize using onion powder instead of shredded fresh onions might be controversial, but I find it helps reduce the liquid content and liquid = enemy of crispy. I’ve made them for holiday parties (you can fry ahead of time and warm up, covered, in a 350°F oven for 20 minutes), serving them alongside a selection of toppings like smoked salmon and fresh shredded horseradish. We will definitely do this for a complete dinner, too, once Hanukkah starts on Sunday.
Latkes with Fixins
3 large russet potatoes
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
vegetable oil (a lot, or at least enough to maintain about 1/4 inch in the pan)
Assorted toppings: smoked salmon, sour cream, chopped fresh dill, capers, freshly grated horseradish, chunky applesauce, minced red onion, caviar
Grate the potatoes in a food processor using the shredding disk. Add to a colander and rinse with cold water. Press down to remove as much liquid as possible, then transfer the potatoes to a dish towel and wrap, squeezing so every last drop of moisture is extracted. Add to a large mixing bowl with the onion powder, egg, flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large skillet in about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat, fry 1/4-cup dollops of the potato mixture, flattening with a spoon, for about 4 minutes a side. remove to a paper-towel-lined platter, then place in a baking dish, covered with foil, to keep warm. Serve with various toppings.
P.S. If You Are a Writer…
….or if you think you might want to be a writer, or if you want to feel part of a community of writers, or if you don’t want to be a capital-W Writer but believe that the act of journaling might make you feel connected to something bigger or hold some mysterious therapeutic power…please subscribe to The Isolation Journals. The project was started by Between Two Kingdoms author Suleika Jaouad, and every week, she sends out a prompt from your favorite writers and artists and thought leaders, like: What does home mean to you? Or: Think of a moment when you made a difficult decision and imagine what might have happened if you had made a different one. This week, I was honored to contribute a prompt to the project about three of my favorite topics: food, love, and gratitude. Please consider subscribing or following them on instagram.
P.S. The supply chain disruption is affecting products far and wide, including books! If you plan to order The Weekday Vegetarians (or any book) for a holiday gift, do it sooner rather than later. Writers the world over thank you very much.