Three Things

Easy weeknight dinners, a trick for better salads, my next international food tour (please join me!)

Greetings eaters and readers! After seven nights sleeping in seven different beds, I couldn’t wait to sit down with a cup of coffee today and write this newsletter from my own dining room table, and to thank everyone for all the Get Simple love this past week, online and on the road. There were three events in three culinary bookstores in three cities, and one was more energizing than the next. I just have to say, I love an indie book store, but an indie cookbook store just hits in terms of intimacy and curation and all-around cheerfulness. There is no other word for it! It’s impossible to walk into Vivienne (Portland) or Omnivore (San Francisco) or Book Larder (Seattle, above), all run by women with real passion who know so much about food and cookbooks, and not feel a jolt of joy. It reminds me that here in New York, I need to spend more time at Kitchen Arts & Letters and Bonnie Slotnick’s East Village gem of a shop. (I was so happy to see Bonnie profiled in the New Yorker last month.) There are two more book events I’d like you to know about before I wrap up my official Get Simple tour. For Friends in Westchester and the Tri-State area: Please join me tomorrow for an everyone’s-invited book party; there will be wine and snacks and a book talk and of course I’ll be signing. Friends everywhere: You are cordially invited to attend a Get Simple Zoom event on Thursday, September 26 at 6:30pm ET, where I’ll be in conversation with the great Emily Nunn of The Department of Salad. (Register here.) OK then! Thanks for indulging me, here are the week’s official Three Things…

*But FIRST: A GRATITUDE SALE

To thank this community for the support these past few weeks, I’m offering 15% off all subscriptions to Dinner: A Love Story through the end of the month. Expect recipe indexes, dinner party menus that include shopping lists, meal plans for the week, travel itineraries for cities like New York, Lisbon, and London, and so much more. Click here to redeem the offer:

And a big thanks to those of you who already support the operation. It means a lot.

1. An Easy Idea for Weeknight Entertaining

In San Francisco, I stayed with my generous friend, Anna, who reminded me that preparing fish in parchment paper (or “fish en papillote”) is not only delicious, it’s also elegantly simple, and such a smart idea for a weeknight dinner for friends — not to mention an excellent way to cater to different appetites at the same table if you’re cooking for, uh, particular, diners. Anna made five packets (or “presents” as we once marketed them to our young girls), one for each eater, including her two young kids, and wrapped up cod, tomatoes, shallots, parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice, before baking at 400°F for 20 minutes. A few weeks ago, I revisited my own fish en papillote, Flounder, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, and instead of cheffing up a separate coconut-curry sauce on the side as the recipe instructs, I followed the tip of a reader and just drizzled a little coconut milk (whisked with a dollop of curry paste) and sesame oil on top of the fish before baking. It made the recipe simpler than it already was, which is really saying something.

Three other easy dinners I’d serve to guests in a second: Cioppino with Garlic Bread or Fish Chowder or, above, Pasta with Yogurt, Spinach, and Sweet Onions. Actually, I might make that pasta tonight…just for Andy and me.

2. How to Next-Level a Salad

In Portland, I had lunch* with my friend Jill at bright, vegetable-forward Cafe Olli, and it was my most favorite meal of the trip — can’t you just tell how bright and fresh everything was from the above photo? We ordered the panzanella salad with croutons (I want to say they were made with rye), an heirloom tomato tart with stracciatella, and a gem lettuce salad with, among other things, corn vinaigrette, radish, cucumber and fried quinoa. The spread reminded me of how absolutely imperative it is to have texture in a salad if you want to next-level the whole thing. I am speaking of the crispiness of cucumbers and radishes, yes, but mostly I’m talking about the crunchy things, like those rye croutons and the fried quinoa. There are all sorts of ways to achieve this. In The Weekday Vegetarians, I talk a lot about using crushed pistachios and peanuts instead of just the whole nuts themselves. Crushing creates something like a crunchy dust which distributes well on dressed lettuce, ensuring texture in every bite. In Get Simple, I call for crunchy chickpeas (the kind sold in the snack section of your supermarket) to check that box.

*Look for a highlight reel of the tour coming soon!

And then there is toasted buckwheat, which has to be one of my more clutch discoveries of 2024. To make: Just add hulled buckwheat grains to a dry cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat. Shake the pan a little as they toast, then scoop out of the skillet once the grains start smelling nutty and look golden brown. Let cool, then add your salad — like this one with chopped tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, feta, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.

3. Come With Me to Mexico City!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be hosting another food tour in the spring of 2025 — this time in one of the richest culinary regions of the world: Mexico City and Puebla — and I would love it if you joined me. The dates for the trip are March 31 – April 7, 2025. Matt Rodbard, the Editor-in-Chief of TASTE Magazine and an intrepid traveler himself, will be my co-host, and we’ll be exploring the country under the guidance of on-the-ground locals, Mexican culinary experts, and chefs to learn about local produce, craftsmanship, mezcal, classic street food staples like guisados, tacos al pastor, and freshly made tamales; We’ll be stopping at Pujol, Enrique Olvera’s Michelin-starred restaurant from that frequently tops the list of the best restaurants in the world! We’ll be visiting the historic city of Puebla, where we’ll learn how to make mole sauce in a private cooking class…and so much more! You can click here for the full itinerary plus registration information. Hope to see you there.

Have a great week!

Jenny

Order The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple

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(🥬🌿Or pick up a copy of the first Weekday Vegetarians if you’re behind on your homework. Thanks for the support! 🌺🥬💚 )