Give the people what they wantIf you’re reading this, I’m en route to the airport and leaving you in the capable, kale-massaging hands of my colleague Becky Hughes next week. But before I go, I wanted to tackle a few of your hyper-specific recipe requests, lightly edited for length. Could this really be the first Recipe Matchmaker of the year? Forgive me. And in case you missed it: You can now preorder my new cookbook “Veg Everything,” out Sept. 15! You’ll get 100 of your favorite vegetarian New York Times Cooking recipes (51 of which are vegan) to have and to hold. A perfect match. Summer baby supremacy
Congratulations! For the hot times ahead, stock the freezer with meal components that can come together in fresh and inventive ways, rather than casseroles that must be baked. A double batch of Jenné Claiborne’s crispy tofu nuggets can be prepared in an air fryer or a conventional oven, frozen and then reheated without thawing. Eat them with ketchup or honey mustard, or toss them with buffalo sauce and throw them onto a simple salad with ranch or blue cheese. You can also tuck them into wraps with fresh crunchy vegetables and either hoisin or peanut sauce (or, hell, both!), at the recommendation of a couple of readers in the comments. (The nuggets can be frozen for up to three months.) Crispy Tofu NuggetsMake some fresh tomato sauce to freeze, too, to use for summery pastas. There are plenty of great options, if you’d like to shop around. A great place to start: Eric Kim’s pasta al pomodoro with plenty of basil. Or you could make David Tanis’s quick fresh tomato sauce, or Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce or Alexa Weibel’s fiery arrabbiata sauce. Similarly, the components of Zaynab Issa’s spiced tomato and eggplant pasta can be prepared (and the sauce frozen) ahead. (Tomato sauces are good in the freezer for three months.) What about calling over some friends and making a big batch of Kristina Felix’s sweet corn tamales (good in the freezer for six months) or Sue Li’s vegetable dumplings (good in the freezer for three months)? Definitely make and freeze pesto. (It’ll keep frozen for up to three months.) With frozen corn and shelf-stable gnocchi, which I prefer to store in the freezer, you can quickly throw together Carolina Gelen’s cheesy gnocchi with corn and pesto. Prep not only dinners but also breakfasts and snacks, like Naz Deravian’s make-ahead egg, spinach and feta wraps (good in the freezer for three months) and a stash of Zaynab Issa’s sweet and salty frozen grapes to break into on especially hot days. If you’re feeling spontaneous, you might even try a batch with citric acid (which you can buy online or at specialty stores) for more of a Sour Patch Kids feel. (They’ll keep in the freezer for six weeks.) Grill sergeant
I don’t mean for this to sound obvious, but I want you to grill every vegetable in sight. Pairing smoky, in-season vegetables with a quick-cooking bean will make for a filling centerpiece, as I understand that the concern here might be protein. Think Hetty Lui McKinnon’s grilled eggplant, herby lentils and turmeric tahini. Prep the sauce and the lentils before you head out to the backyard or patio, then assemble this earthy salad when you’re ready to eat. Ali Slagle employs the same strategy in her barbecue vegetable salad. A can of drained and rinsed white beans adds heft to a colorful assortment of zucchini, eggplant, peppers, carrots, scallions — really, whatever you like to grill — and peaches. Don’t skip the peaches. And if you are open to cheese of the nongrilling variety, I think you should make Ali’s grilled corn panzanella, which features a little bit of creamy mozzarella. Party full
LENTILS! The idea you seek is a lentil. That Hetty recipe above isn’t a bad place to start, but let me point you in a few other directions for every season of entertaining. Make your friends Ali’s lentil soup potpie in the winter. Forget the taper candles and bubbly wine. Nothing says “I like hosting and I’m good at it” like puff pastry. In the early spring, Yotam Ottolenghi’s confit leeks with lentils, lemon and cream are incredibly luxurious. In the late summer, Nik Sharma’s roasted cauliflower, paneer and lentil salad would impress, and in the fall, make them Gabrielle Hamilton’s roasted mushrooms with braised black lentils and parsley croutons. Hey, I’ve done it myself!
Pasta al Pomodoro
Grilled Eggplant, Herby Lentils and Turmeric Tahini
Roasted Cauliflower, Paneer and Lentil SaladFor a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started. One More Thing!Perhaps you saw that we published this week Ligaya Mishan’s list of the 100 best restaurants in New York City. It is a feat of eating. Everyone say “thank you, Ligaya (and Ligaya’s stomach).” There is much here for the meatless eaters to crave. Ryan Sutton zeroed in on a few incredible offerings:
Click here for the rest of Ryan’s recs, and here for Ligaya’s full list and rankings. Thanks for reading! See you in a few weeks. Email us at theveggie@nytimes.com. Newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have questions about your account.
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