It’s Friday, we’re maxxed out, we’re making this post (and all the recipes within) available to all. Pass it along if you’re so inclined; consider becoming a paid subscriber if you’re so inclined; have a great weekend!
1. Pasta making with Max
I’ve had plenty of experience cooking with and for children and I did write How to Cook Everything Kids so … when, earlier this month, I suggested that we make fresh pasta with Max — Emma and Jeff’s kid, my three-year-old (four in December) grandson — there we were.
In the morning we mixed the eggs and flour. Max cracked a few eggs, which was cool, and then we mixed and kneaded the dough. We refrigerated that all day; when it came time to rolling it out I decided that the KitchenAid attachment would save us some time and energy over the cranking. (Although cranking is fun, but we decided to go for efficiency because making pasta for four people is a lot.)
And it worked: Max was into it, the pasta was perfect, I served it for the grown-ups with a sauce of eggplant and tomatoes and some ground beef and lamb (we’d made burgers the night before). Max had his with butter and Parmesan which he seems to be calling “Gumps noodles” (I’m Gumps).
A couple recipes: Marcella Hazan’s Homemade Yellow Pasta Dough and (my) Fresh Spinach Pasta. – Mark
2. NYC’s bike lanes should be recognized as part of the food system
“As the Mamdani administration writes the next five-year Streets Plan, due December 1, 2026, it has an opportunity to treat bike lanes as essential food, labor, and transportation infrastructure for the app-based workers who depend on them most.”
This makes so much sense. – Mark
3. Eat Like a Sardinian: Live to 100
This cookbook came out in June, and it somehow made it to my shelf without me looking at it first, and I’m so glad I realized that that had happened, because, as it turns out, it’s terrific. Sardinia, as you may know, is one of the world’s five original “blue zones” — where people live longer than anyone else, a trait that chef and author Francesco Mattana believes is not due to just diet and nutrition, but to Sardinians’ way of living and community spirit.
“Thanks to its strategic geographical position,” Mattana writes, “Sardinian dishes have been influenced throughout history by a variety of cultures to create a truly unique cuisine that is more Mediterranean than almost any other. This can best be seen while travelling around the island.” (Yes, please.) Some of the recipes I’m eyeing: Grilled Pecorino and Honey Bruschetta (recipe here), Celery and Bottarga, Tomato and Saffron Spaghetti (recipe here), and Sardinian Lasgne (made with, not pasta, but stale bread). Beautiful. – Kate
4. Reader question! (It’s been a minute.)
Jean wrote in: I’m having a dinnertime existential crisis at home. My husband lost more than 50 pounds on the Keto diet and is now a fairly strict eater. His daily diet consists of Greek yogurt, steak, boneless chicken, and salmon, along with vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, and asparagus. The good news (other than losing weight and becoming very healthy) is he’s learned to cook for himself. But it’s putting a cramp in my cooking style as I’ve always been the main cook in the household and would cook to my diverse palate. How can we continue our nightly family dinner when there are three needs? My husband is on Keto, I am not and like diversity, and my teenage daughter needs to gain weight so prefers richer and fattier foods.
Kerri answers: Hi Jean! I’m Kerri Conan, Mark’s longtime collaborator, and this is an excellent question that applies to every household where multiple diets are in play.
The key to solving your conundrum is to think in terms of cooking components rather than finished dishes. That way you’re customizing for you and your husband and daughter at the assembly stage of meal prep, rather than while cooking. And you won’t have all those dishes to do!
Then it hit me that a handy visual menu planning tool is a simple Venn diagram where two intersecting circles show which components are for your husband, which satisfy you and your daughter’s preferences, and which are common ground you can share.
Component cooking brings you and your husband into the kitchen together to prepare ingredients in bulk: Turn on the oven once or twice a week to roast a couple proteins — one for you and your daughter, one for him; or sometimes things everyone’s diet allows, like boneless chicken parts or seafood. May as well cook a couple sweet potatoes and potatoes at the same time.
Make a batch of hot or cold creamy sauce; keep a rich vinaigrette or oil-based drizzle sauce in the fridge. Ditto salsa or a light vegetable relish. Always keep a spinner of salad greens in a spinner in the fridge. Boil a pound of pasta and make sure there’s good bread on the counter and a pot of cooked whole grains in the fridge at all times. Steam or grill assorted mixed vegetables. Keep fresh fruit compote or fresh berries chilled and ready. (You put yours on pound cake or ice cream; your husband has his in a fancy serving bowl with Greek yogurt.) Keep butter and cheese handy.
When it’s time for dinner, one night you toss grilled chicken and steamed vegetables with pasta, cream sauce, and Parm, while your husband enjoys the chicken with salsa or relish over a pile of greens. Another night while he’s warming sweet potato and vegetables to build his Keto-friendly plate, you stir-fry the vegetables and some sliced roast pork loin in butter or oil to serve over warmed portions of grains.
Thank you, Jean, for taking the time to write us. Now we wonder: What hacks do other proponents of component cooking have to share?
Comment