Three Things
A weeknight dinner soup that's hearty and bright, the viral chick pea crumble, and a surprising perk of city living
Greetings eaters and readers! Couple things I’d like you to know about before we get to your official Three Things today. To begin with, as of last week, a few spreads and recipes from my upcoming book The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple are officially live on Amazon. I get very impatient waiting out the six months between shipping the final pages of my cookbooks and getting them into your hands, so hopefully this will help somewhat. All the way on the other end of the book spectrum: On Tuesday, April 16, I’ll be attending this virtual recorded conversation between Suleika Jaouad (you know she’s my favorite) and Salman Rushdie discussing “the power of art, and finding the strength to keep going—and stand up again.” Lastly, reminder for Easter celebrants: My longtime food-writing hero (and Food52 co-founder) Amanda Hesser suggested the most elegant menu for Dinner A Love Story readers last year, and you can pull it up here. Lastly lastly! Thank you to readers who weighed in on my very inside-baseball Top 5 Rules of Newsletter Writing last week — I got teary reading the comments! And now, finally, your Three Things…
1. Cioppino with Garlic Bread
I first discovered Cioppino back when my kids were little, like 3-and-5-years-old little. It was the dinner I made on Day 15 of an experiment called “30 Days, 30 Dinners,” when I cooked something new every night for a month — new to the girls, new to me as a cook — because I was determined to break out of our pizza-pasta-burger rut. (The whole experiment might sound familiar, it eventually turned into Dinner: The Playbook.) The soup went over like gangbusters, even with my under-four-feet-tall skeptics, and I still hold dear the image of Phoebe actually licking her bowl clean like a dog. (Teaching manners was not part of the experiment.)
For those of you new to Cioppino, it’s an Italian-American tomato-based seafood soup, typically packed with shellfish (crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, mussels, etc) and firm, flaky fish, and it’s just right for winter-into-spring time of year, when dinner still calls for something hearty but also bright. I’ve made several tweaks to the recipe over the years, but I would say it still qualifies as a “shortcut” Cioppino, as easy to make on a weeknight as it is for Sunday dinner. Here’s the downloadable PDF with all the instructions.
Garlic bread included! P.S. Whenever I’m talking tomatoes and shrimp, it’s hard not to think of my old 30-minute fave, Shrimp with Feta. (Which would also be tremendous with garlic bread.) Other easy fish dinners for a weeknight: Maine-Style Fish Chowder, Gochujang-Glazed Salmon, and Everyday Pan-Fried Fish with Whatever-is-Left-in-The-Fridge Slaw.
2. I Made the Viral Chick Pea Crumble
Ok that’s an exaggeration, maybe they’re not technically viral. But! I first saw the crunchy chick pea crumbles on Justine Doiron’s very popular instagram (aka @justine_snacks) and maybe it’s because I’m always in search of innovative plant-based protein applications, but it lived in my brain rent-free, as they say, for a few days before I finally decided to try them out myself. They seemed like just the thing to kick up a lunch salad to Filling status. I was correct. Here are some pretty in-depth how-to instructions from from The Kitchn, but you don’t really need to know more than this: 1) Pulse a 14-ounce can of well-dried chick peas about 5 or 6 times in a food processor until they resemble crumbs. 2) Place them on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt, and whatever seasoning you’d like. Justine uses za’atar, I found cayenne to be more universal. 3) Toss with your hands, spread into an even layer and bake at 400°F for 30 minutes or until the chickpeas are dry and crunchy. Store in an airtight container for up to a week and apply liberally on salads and pastas.
3. I’m In Town! Can I Swing By?
In the exhaustive pros-and-cons list I drew up last year as my husband and I wrestled with the decision to move back to New York from the suburbs, I had overlooked one giant Pro: People are always swinging through town! Friends from college, friends we’d lost touch with from our pre-kid 20s, old coworkers, world-traveling uncles, and, best of all, our daughters’ college friends — very little makes me happier than receiving a text from one of them saying “Hey, I’m in New York next week, can I come by?” I always say yes, always. Sometimes it’s for a bagels, sometimes it’s for a homemade focaccia lunch, but mostly it’s weeknight dinners…
…like these simple Cider-Glazed Sausages I made last week for my daughter’s friend Ron. They’re from Lidey Heuck’s new book Cooking in Real Life and I wrote all about it over on Cup of Jo today. Head over there for the story and recipe.
P.S. Portugal Advice, por favor!
Six very exciting words: I’m planning a trip to Lisbon! Where should I go? What should I do? What should I eat?
Day trip to Sintra!! Check out the gardens and pottery too!!
I realize this isn't the kind of suggestion you were probably seeking, but Lisbon is the place for your most comfortable and sure-footed shoes. The hills are steep and the sidewalks covered in slippery tiles.