Lemony-Harissa White Beans on Toast

This week’s recipe is just for paid subscribers. So are the Epic Jewish Grill Platter, Hungarian Summer Noodles, and most of the recipes in The Jewish Table archive. Don’t miss out—update to a paid subscription today. Thank you, as always, for your support. xo

Last week, while on an afternoon walk, I came across a giveaway box outside a neighbor’s home. Inside was this perfect plate—warm, eggshell white with a brick red rim and graceful, but also fierce, flower pattern. I flipped it over and saw it was part of a vintage collection Martha Stewart designed for Macy’s. That made sense. The plate is not quite dinner-plate sized, but not a tiny salad plate either—just right for a petite stack of pancakes or an afternoon snack of cheese and crackers.

Obviously I took it home with me. And obviously, 7-year old Beatrice immediately claimed it as her own. (The kid has great taste—far better than mine.) I’m more than happy to share a killer street find with my daughter. But yesterday, I got to enjoy it solo. The kids are at Yoshie’s parents for a couple of days, which means tacos and drinks with friends at 8pm—a time of day I am rarely out of the house unless for a work event—a bike trip to the beach with considerably less packing, and cooking whatever the bleep I want to.

I am hardly the first person to lean into the joys of cooking for absolutely no crowd whatsoever. There’s Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, a collection of essays on solo cooking edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Eleanor Wilkinson’s cookbook One Pot One Portion, and The Pleasures of Cooking for One by editor-icon Judith Jones. (Among so very many others.) But when you are accustomed to cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner, day after day, with everyone’s likes/dislikes and nutritional needs in mind, there is an exuberant freedom in cooking for just one or two.

So yesterday, I made exactly what I wanted to eat for a late lunch: Lemony-Harissa White Beans on Toast. Just single piece of toast spread with a downy layer of Greek yogurt, and topped with a pile of lemony, herby, spicy white beans—flavorful, summery and most importantly, unfussy. I nestled the toast in the hollow of my perfect new plate and savored the meal without interruption. What a delight.

Scroll down for the recipe, and gift yourself a moment of peace.

Have you pre-ordered The Dessert Table: 100 Joyful Jewish Sweets yet? If not, I totally get it. There’s lots going on. So let me share a reminder via photos from two The Jewish Table readers who received advance review copies: Scott Filkins and Betsy Zalaznick. Scott and Betsy have already started baking, and kindly shared photos of their creations with me. And may I just say: wowza!

There is nothing more fulfilling than seeing a new cookbook come to life in people’s kitchens. Pre-order your copy today, and be among the first to get baking on Sept 1.

Do you listen to podcasts while you cook (and drive, and go for walks…) like I do? If so, perhaps you already caught these two recent episodes from The Focus Group and The Daily. But if not, I highly recommend listening to both.

America’s 250 Great (And Awful) Years

This episode of The Focus Group Podcast with Sarah Longwell lets historian (and national hero) Heather Cox Richardson do what she does best: share clear, engaging context for this moment in American life. It’s a sobering, but also fascinating and surprisingly uplifting conversation. When the episode ended, I immediately wanted to share it—so here you go!

Why Are Grocery Prices So High?

This episode of The Daily digs into the reasons why grocery prices are sky high—climate change, supply chain challenges, and the devastating impacts of Trump’s self-serving tariffs and foolish (both in conception and execution) war with Iran. We are absolutely feeling the pain of expensive food in my household. It has changed the way I shop and changed the way we eat. Listening to this episode, I realized just how enormous the problem is, and how it is impacting everyday people and families.

Serves 1 or 2