Three Things

Greetings, friends! Two things before we get to your Official Three Things. First a big thank-you to free subscribers who converted to paid last week. It goes without saying that you are the reason I am able to keep the lights on here at Dinner: A Love Story, and I appreciate every single subscription, whether it’s a month or a year or forever. (OK, fine, I’m a little biased toward you Forever People.) Next, if you are smack in the middle of college drop-offs or new apartment move-ins with the “kids,” just a reminder that my Halfway Homemade menu plan is quite popular with the twenty-something set heading off on their own or cooking for themselves for the first time. (Add my 15-minute hot-smoked salmon bowl to that line-up then you’re really talking.) And now, Three Things I’m excited to tell you about this week…

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When I first became a mom — possibly a thousand years before those drop-offs — I remember one of the toughest adjustments I had to make was redefining what it meant to have a productive day. I was on maternity leave, but in between the exhausting cycle of nursing, diaper-changing, bathing, and trying to feed myself, I still somehow felt guilty that I wasn’t…doing something. Why raising an actual human didn’t qualify, I’m not sure. I’ve been thinking about that period a lot lately because somehow my recovery this summer has felt remarkably similar. One of the things I’ve had to really work on these past few weeks is being OK with days when I do “nothing” but take care of myself and lie on the couch all morning and all afternoon. I have to be OK with falling asleep after only a page or two in whatever book I’m reading, and OK with having very little energy to cook dinner, something that normally anchors my day. I especially have to accept that most of the things on my summer bucket list — hikes, movies, trying recipes that have been on my radar forever, swimming holes, lazy patio dinners, cookouts for friends — are just not happening this year. Except the other day, I came across a photo of Spaghetti with Clams, all briny and loaded with corn and tomatoes, and something I try to make a lot this time of year, and I realized…this one wasn’t negotiable, it was not OK that I’d gone the whole summer without it. We fixed that real quick.

Serves 4

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then decrease heat and simmer 2 large ears of shucked corn for 4 minutes. Using tongs, remove the corn. Once cooled, remove the kernels and set aside. Turn the heat up a bit on the pot of water and once it’s boiling, add a pound of spaghetti, cooking according to package directions.

In a separate large stock pot or Dutch Oven set over medium heat, sauté 1 sliced shallot, 1 minced garlic clove, a few shakes of red pepper flakes and some freshly ground pepper in olive oil. (Not necessary to salt — the clams are naturally briny.)

Add about 20-24 fresh clams (we like Little Necks), 2/3 cup white wine, and a small bunch of whatever fresh herbs (chopped) you have, such as parsley or basil. When the clams steam open, add 2 1/2 cups of chopped tomatoes (any shape or color), and cook another two or three minutes. Discard any clams that haven’t opened, then toss the whole thing with spaghetti, and reserved corn. Serve in wide shallow bowls, making sure to scoop lots of the clam broth into each bowl.

Serve topped with more herbs and crusty bread for sopping.

I shook things up a bit in the Pan Con Tomate Dept (did you actually think I was going to go a week without mentioning/eating one?) and I think the protein police as well as general joy-seekers will be pleased to know that this time, I replicated the classic tapas dish and added some marinated anchovy filets. I probably don’t need to tell you that it was a wild success. P.S. Here’s your Pan Con Tomate Refresher Course and here's how to turn the leftover tomato water into a mocktail or cocktail.

And no one would be mad if you went straight-up tomato sandwich on peasant bread with mayo and sea salt. How good are tomato sandwiches? Why does summer ever have to end?

Pierce Abernathy’s new cookbook, his first, includes a wealth of creative vegetarian recipes that I’ve already added to my ever-growing To Be Cooked list — first up: Chickpea and Caramelized Eggplant Stew — but I’m pleased to report that Every Leaf, Every Stem is more than just your average plant-based cookbook. Abernathy, one of the pandemic’s breakout Instagram stars, gained a following for his creativity and resourcefulness with produce — his superpower, which you might have guessed from the title of his book, is transforming even the most overlooked vegetable, as well as every part of that vegetable, into something legit restaurant-worthy. He’ll start with, say, a ball of kohlrabi, and just as you are saying to yourself, this is not going to end well, somehow before your eyes, he transforms it into a fritter with braised leeks and herby pesto that I swear even the biggest kohlrabi skeptic would one hundred percent eat immediately.

It can often be tricky to translate instagram energy into cookbook format, but I’m delighted to report that there’s a lot of you-can-do-that?-magic in Abernathy’s book pages, too. Just a small sampling: He adds miso and brown butter to banana bread. He doubles down on the same vegetable in the same dish — like roasting broccoli stalks then drenching them with a broccoli salsa verde. He “brulées” a honeynut squash making it look indulgent enough for dessert. He reimagines a classic artichoke dip with cashew cream, nutritional yeast, and chard. He makes “corn compound butter” (!!) to spread under tomato sandwiches (!!). He uses a mixture of mushrooms, raw beets, miso, Aleppo pepper, and cannellini beans in place of ground meat, as a “meat alternative.” Some of Abernathy’s moves feel a little cheffy — this is not a 30-minute meal cookbook and thank goodness for that — but it doesn’t matter. Every Leaf, Every Stem is as much about shifting your mind towards resourcefulness and creativity as it is about the recipes. I am going to learn a lot from this one.

Have a great week!
Jenny

Here’s where I’ll be if you need me. 💚

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A slam dunk again! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Jenny doesn’t know me, but her words and recipes have shaped my family’s life and eating. And now, she has done it again, with this incredible cookbook. I have made more than 20 recipes from the book (”our favorite kale salad” truly is a favorite for us now!) and it has made me think about eating and cooking in a whole new way.” Amazon reviewer “cookingandtravel” on my New York Times bestselling book The Weekday Vegetarians, shown here with its sequel The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple.