September & October Cooking Notes
Everything I cooked
Welcome to Home Cooking Diary, a newsletter on my journey as a home cook—the successes and failures alike. Cooking log, photo diary, and recipe recommender. This is a recurring installment in which I recap my month of cooking and highlight noteworthy meals. Note: if you’re reading this as an email, you may want to read it in your browser, lest it cut off at the end.
Oh boy am I late with this! Thanks to you all for understanding (I doubt you care, in fact) that I missed this self-imposed deadline (for the first time, I might add). Writing this is a challenge because now I barely remember what happened last month (er…month before last, now that I’m returning to this draft on Nov. 1, and now Nov. 8). All I know is that on October 22 when I first drafted this it felt like Fall had just began. Now that it’s November, I’m swallowing my pride and combining my September and October Cooking Notes. It is now cold in earnest—the leaves turned, but never became vibrant because of the constant rain. And now they’re falling and I have to acknowledge that it’s late fall. I lost all sense of forward momentum in early fall, even as the days kept clipping past and I got closer and closer to some big things coming up.
At the bookstore I opened in August we threw a Grand Opening weekend—last weekend, in fact. We hosted our first author event to kick things off—featuring two of my faves, Isle McElroy and Chloe Caldwell—and that felt really major and nerve-wracking and strange, given that in my previous life I helped plan book events for a living—but on the publishing side of the book industry. Events gave me the most grief and made me anxious—perhaps because I had very little control over their success—often being far away and unable to attend. This time, I’m on the other side—as a bookseller—so it’s my rodeo. I had no idea what to expect, but people turned out and seemed genuinely grateful to have a literary event to attend. Even jaded old me got a bit emotional over it. And then we had a party in collaboration with one of my favorite local chefs, Yasuyo Hibino, and then the following day two wonderful people opening a cafe called Downstate Coffee & Kitchen (shout-out to Brandon and Fernando) offered to serve coffee in my shop, thereby concluding the weekend on a perfect note. What goes better together than books and coffee?? It couldn’t have been more rewarding. Now that the hard part of figuring out how to open and run a small business is behind me, I can enjoy the fact of the it in my life. And I feel so lucky to be doing this utterly unimaginable thing of owning and running a bookstore. A true privilege. Grateful. Grateful. Grateful.
I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve lost the thread cooking-wise. I know it isn’t lost completely, but with less time and energy for it at home my ryhthms are off and I find myself staring at the vegetables we have in the fridge, without ideas. I’ll read recipes I want to try, buy the ingredients, but then forget about them a day later. The other day I realized that I had two pounds of turkey meatballs prepped in the fridge, that I completely forgot about and were ruined (they had to sit for 24 hours). Glumly, I regard the buttermilk wondering what I bought it for. At least buttermilk lasts a long time unopened!
I’ve been cooking from three new cookbooks: Dan Pelosi’s LET’S EAT, Molly Baz’s MORE IS MORE, and Sohla El-Waylly’s START HERE. All are fantastic, but since they came out pretty close together I think that’s adding to the muddled feeling. I do much better when I let one cookbook take over my life for awhile. Dan’s Chicken Marsala, Pastina, and White Bean & Linguica skillet dish are all memorable—they’ll definitely become staples in this house. As for Molly—I have a lot of THOUGHTS about the design of the book, but all of the recipes I’ve tried have been just as fantastic as I expected. The Bolognese, made with mascarpone instead of milk, is a banger, as is the Crispy Rice Egg-in-a-Hole and Pepperoni Fried Rice—I told you pepperoni was in the air, didn’t I?? Oh and the Shells with Peas & Buttermilk is delicious—though I really think you *do* need a blender to get the sauce perfectly smooth. I tried getting away with a food processor (having moved our blender to an inconvenient place), and it worked but didn’t achieve what the recipe sets out to achieve—more of a loose pool of sauce that the shells swim in.
As for Sohla, the book is still too new, but I can’t put it down. Frankly, I’m a little overwhelmed by all of the information packed into it. I think it will become a manual for me—I’m learning a lot and grateful to have an approachable resource to clarify techniques that I’ve learned cooking from recipes but was never taught. I think the key will be to cook through it chapter by chapter (not necessarily in order)—hone each technique, whether it be braising or poaching or browning, before moving on. I’ve been cooking a lot from her newsletter and a bit from the book. Her Black Sesame & Nori Rice Pilaf is my new favorite. My latest go-to for when I don’t really know what to do. It’s one of the most delicious rice dishes I’ve ever had and goes with so many things. I’ve been serving it alongside caramelized wedges of roasted winter squash and it’s just the best. One time, I added generous servings of poorly executed bolognese as a side dish, and all three went so well together.
I baked nonstop in September and then stopped completely in October. I’m hoping to get back into it soon. My starter is hanging in there (Poor ‘Stel). Highlights included discard chocolate chip cookies, scallion pancakes, blueberry muffins, morning glory muffins (Carrot and apple), and chocolate chip sourdough bread.
On the improvisational front, I made a pretty good Spaghetti alla Vongole with clam juice and canned, chopped clams in lieu of fresh clams. It’s my all-time favorite pasta dish, but I never make it at home, and a friend mentioned that her mom would make it from the canned stuff growing up. Clearly, I’ve been sleeping on canned clams. And of course I continue to make Egg Rice with any and all leftovers—including scrambled eggs and frittata that Tycho doesn’t finish. My grandmother’s Giambotta and good old chicken soup continued to be lifesavers. Oh, and pasta.
As I continued to make the old reliables—Mina Stone’s Roasted Veg with Sausage, Alison Roman’s Dilly Bean Stew, Colu Henry’s Meatballs—I acquired some new favorites, including Hetty Liu McKinnon’s Creamed Corn Pudding, Braised Lettuce from Tenderheart, Nigel Slater’s Pot Roast with Sage and Potatoes from My Kitchen Diaries, and the Beef Stew from Rie McClenny’s Make It Japanese (which I made two days in a row).
Those are the highlights! Love you all! Thank you thank you for reading and for your patience as my output has slowed a titch. Now that I’m in the swing of things at Golden Hour I’ll get back to my usual speed. It’s good to be BACK.
xo AV
Everything I cooked
9.1.23 / Zucchini scramble; waffle with butter
9.3.23 / Pozole (Emotional Eating by DIMES)
9.4.23 / Sourdough loaf; Sourdough discard scallion pancakes
9.5.23 / Annie’s mac and cheese with sauteed spinach
9.6.23 / Tomato-mayo toast
9.7.23 / Zucchini frittata; Cast iron skillet chocolate chip cookie (Sohla El-Waylly’s Hot Dish); Chocolate chip sourdough loaf (Emilie Raffa’s Artisan Sourdough Made Simple)
9.9.23 / slow-roasted sweet peppers; slow-roasted okra; tinned muscles on toast
9.10.23 / Roasted Vegetables and Italian Sausage (Mina Stone’s Lemon, Love, and Olive Oil)
9.11.23 / Dilly Bean Stew (Alison Roman)
9.12.23 / Sourdough loaf; Sourdough discard blueberry muffins
9.13.23 / Morning glory sourdough discard muffins; Chicken soup
9.14.23 / Sourdough loaf
9.15.23 / Sourdough discard blueberry muffins
9.16.23 / Dilly Bean Stew (Alison Roman)
9.18.23 / Sourdough discard blueberry pancakes; Pot of white beans
9.19.23 / Slow-roasted eggplant; Vegetable stew; Tomatillo Romesco (Alison Roman’s Dining In)
9.20.23 / Eggplant ricotta toasts
9.21.23 / Meatballs and tomato sauce (Alison Roman)
9.22.23 / Meatballs and tomato sauce (Alison Roman)
9.23.23 / Meat sugo from leftover tomato sauce, with spaghetti
9.24.23 / Kale Orzo (Hetty Liu McKinnon’s Tenderheart)
9.25.23 / Sourdough discard blueberry pancakes; Vegetable stew; Chicken pot roast with potatoes and sage (Nigel Slater’s My Kitchen Diaries)
9.26.23 / Sourdough loaf; Tinned mussles on toast
9.27.23 / Chicken stock; Turkey meatballs with mascarpone (Colu Henry) with tomato sauce; Chocolate chip cookies
9.28.23 / Sauteed lettuces with sesame and white rice (Tenderheart); Roasted acorn squash
9.29.23 / Gyeran Bap; Spaghetti alla vongole
9.30.23 / Sourdough discard oatmeal muffins
10.2.23 / White bean, kale, and linguica skillet dish (Dan Pelosi’s Let’s Eat)
10.3.23 / Giambotta
10.4.23 / Creamed Corn Pudding (Hetty Liu McKinnon)
10.9.23 / Chicken Marsala (Dan Pelosi’s Let’s Eat)
10.10.23 / Pastina (Dan Pelosi’s Let’s Eat)
10.12.23 / Nonni’s Giambotta
10.16.23 / Mushroom pasta (Colu Henry’s Back Pocket Pasta)
10.17.23 / Zucchini frittata over rice w/ chili crisp; Greek Frappe (Mina Stone, Lemon, Love & Olive Oil); Nori & sesame rice pilaf (Sohla El-Waylly, Hot Dish) w/ roasted winter squash
10.18.23 / Crispy rice egg-in-a-hole (Molly Baz’s More Is More)
10.19.23 / Bologonese w/ pappardelle (Molly Baz’s More Is More)
10.20.23 / Shishito Peppers; Pepperoni Fried Rice (Molly Baz, More Is More)
10.21.23 / White Bean, Kale and Linguica (Dan Pelosi’s Let’s Eat)
10.25.23 / Beef Stew (Rie McClenny & Sanae Lemoine’s Make It Japanese)
10.26.23 / Beef Stew (Rie McClenny & Sanae Lemoine’s Make It Japanese)
10.27.23 / Braised Chickpeas and kale (Sohla El-Waylly’s START HERE)
10.30.23 / Nori & Sesame rice pilaf and roasted winter squash and leftover bolognese
10.31.23 / Gyeran Bap w/ roasted winter squash
My last few weeks has been a ton of dilly bean stew and the sausage and roast veggies!! Same wavelength as we head into fall! (Except I don’t like dill.... so I make my own version of the stew haha)
Love that you’re cooking from kitchen diaries. It continues to surprise and delight me after years of owning it - recently made the pork and lemon polpettine and they were a revelation.