Three Things

Summer-meets-fall chicken dinners, an easy Sunday frittata, a kitchen I'm obsessed with

Sep 19, 2023

Greetings eaters and readers! Yesterday, I turned in revisions for my next book (a follow up to The Weekday Vegetarians) and I celebrated by picking up a copy of The Rachel Incident, by Caroline O’Donoghue, which my college junior has been begging me to read all summer. Not that I don’t trust Abby, but my book reviewer friend Liz also mentioned the novel was “universally beloved” and the Times called it exhilarating, noting it “recalls the fiction of both Sally Rooney and Anne Tyler as the author interrogates the dynamics of power, from academia to publishing houses to bedrooms.” Um, sold. Have you read it yet? Let me know what you think. Also, with my move to the city this past month, I feel like lately this newsletter has been all about ME ME ME. So, tell me (haha), what do you need help with these days? Fast dinners? Cookbook recs? Easy entertaining? Elaborate entertaining? What food can I throw at your problem? You can tell me here>>

1. Summer-Meets-Fall Chicken Dinners

Maybe it’s because this week, the air is carrying an ever-so-slightly whiff of fall, but lately I’ve been craving dinners anchored to roasty, crispy chicken. I’m not quite ready for, say, the stewy coq au vins and rich-and-gooey pot pies, but a roasted chicken thigh with late-summer vegetables or even fruit? Sign me up. You already read about Leah Koenig’s Chicken with Peppers last week, but I also made the lovely Chicken with Figs and Roasted Grapes (shown above) which is the cover girl of Adeena Sussman’s wonderful new book Shabbat. (Her interview on the podcast Taste about Friday rituals, kugels upon kugels, and the complicated history of Israeli food is absolutely worth a listen.) Last weekend, we visited our old friends Naria and Peter in Providence, and in addition to cocktails made with Barr Hill’s honey-infused gin, and a miraculous summer fruit crisp, they served us the most flavorful “Staff Chicken” (NY Times gift link) which had been marinating for 24 hours in anticipation of our arrival. (FYI, they grilled the chicken but I’m sure the roasted version, as written, is just as amazing.) Lastly, if you can still find some good corn in your neck of the woods, check out my Corn Stew with Chicken recipe, which I described on Food52 as “special enough for Sunday, easy enough for the weekdays.”

2. Well the Broiler Works

We had family over for lunch on Sunday to see the new apartment, and even though it was tempting to use this occasion as an excuse to go off at various exciting markets nearby, I decided to just pick up a few croissants and cinnamon buns at a bakery I’d been meaning to try, but also to make my own frittata. No matter how good a spread I can assemble with the takeout from our new neighborhood, I still think nothing really says “welcome” quite like something warm out of the oven. Or, as it turns out, even like something kinda burnt out of the oven. (Still getting to know my appliances, the “high broiling” setting is indeed high, as you can see from that, er, sheen on top.) Shown above is the artichoke-corn frittata I made with Gruyère, corn, and some crazy good garlic-leek mash-up (called garleek) that the nice people from Row 7 seeds sent me to try out last week. In spite of the “extra-golden-ing,” the whole thing was excellent. And I don’t think you need me to tell you, the frittata would also make a most excellent dinner.

Artichoke-Gruyere Frittata
Serves 4 for dinner or 4-6 for a light brunch-type thing alongside other sides. Here’s the PDF for your printing convenience…

Artichoke Gruyere Frittata

73.1KB ∙ PDF file

Download

3. Old Meets New

I’ve always been a sucker for rooms where modern and vintage dance together in perfect sync, and I think this kitchen, featuring a dramatic backsplash of hand-painted china, is currently topping my leaderboard for examples of that. The kitchen belongs to Heather Ross, an artist, author, illustrator, textile designer, and all-around creative inspiration, and her instagram, where I first spied this photo, is an absolute delight. As she wrote in the caption: “This photograph is dedicated to anyone who has ever wondered if they do, indeed, need another odd number of beautiful mismatched hand painted plates made during a time when dinner was served on a dish that now might barely contain a salad.” I asked her for more details on the how-to, and here’s is what she told me:

The rack is basically just a box with three shelves, sized for small, medium, and large plates. Each shelf has a groove cut into it to hold the plate in place as it leans against the copper pipes — we are letting the copper age on its own, it’s unlaquered. The blue paint is Oval Room Blue, Farrow & Ball, and one of the reasons why I love it is because it looks so different as the light changes.

Many of the plates belonged to Heather’s great-grandmother, which of course adds a whole new layer of specialness to it.

This was the “before” shot. Heather left the lower cabinets and appliances in place, but switched out the countertops for quartz, added the plate rack, a backsplash and two standing cabinets. Not bad, right? P.S. A few years ago, I wrote about Heather’s old house in the Catskills and I still refer to it all the time for sourcing things like affordable art, rugs, and wallpaper.

Thanks, Heather! Have a great week, everyone.

Jenny