I just came to say hello
Pizza toppings, pumpkin season, and a perfect challah
Hi friends,
Welcome back to This Needs Hot Sauce. It’s a new decade in the Jewish Calendar (welcome to the 80s) and it’s starting to get slightly cooler. I have a quick one for you this week, so let’s dive in.
Something to cook:
If you’re having a friend over for dinner and you’re tired, make broccoli fried rice. Chop everything in advance and let it get nice and crispy. Top with chili crisp and feel free to add other green veggies, like snap peas.
Rosh Hashana Dinner was a success! My challah rose and browned beautifully and Ian made homemade chocolate raspberry pecan rugelach. Deb’s apple cake was a huge hit as always and the night started strong with halloumi and fried cauliflower. One of the biggest hits was an orange soup from Adeena Sussman’s new cookbook Sababa. It’s a blended soup with a mix of orange vegetables, topped with seeds and honey harissa. It’s not online but, I’m going to try to get the recipe to share with you all! Shana Tovah to all who celebrated :)
Something to order:
Last week, my family and I went to Martha Stouman’s east coast release party at westbourne, an excellent vegetarian restaurant in Soho. The wines are delicious (order a glass if you ever see it at a restaurant) and supporting two women-owned businesses was a lot of fun (both Martha and Camilla Marcus, the owner of westbourne, are pregnant).
Another women-owned business to visit is Pop Up Grocer, founded by Emily Schildt. They’ve got a pop up on Bowery for the month and it’s definitely worth a visit. I got some chili crisp, skin-on cashews that I can’t stop eating, and a shirt that’s perfectly on-brand (reveal tk).
If you’re in Williamsburg, Mesa Coyoacan is great for a lowkey brunch. They have so many options, like enfrijoladas, an omlette with huitlacoche and oaxaca cheese and the classic huevos rancheros and chilaquiles. Dale and I also get chips and salsa because I love their four housemade salsas and am usually starving by the time we get to brunch.
Last night, Dale moved into his new apartment (I’m joining him there in the spring and very excited about the whole thing). For now, though, there is no furniture and we were quite tired and hungry after many trips up and down the stairs. Luckily, Roberta’s is a short walk away. We eavesdropped on an awkward first date and shared the bee sting (had to have some honey on Rosh Hashanah), the normcore, a new special pie with sungold tomatoes and basil, and my favorite romaine salad. (do you spot #daleshands?)
Something to read:
Many thoughts on cookbooks: How to get a good cookbook deal // How much these authors got for their first cookbooks // The crazy companies paying authors little to no $ to write a cookbook
Do you have dinner plans you’re dying to cancel? How to do it thoughtfully
Why are we obsessed with the perfect way to boil an egg?
Intrigued by this zero waste wine bar opening in Brooklyn
Wow, traveling the world to find the best restaurants sounds grueling
I wrote two stories last week: A Bushwick Chef released a cookbook dedicated to his hometown of Mexico City and An Atlanta Pastry Chef winds down with a rose bath soak.
How to copy someone’s recipe (there’s a right way and a wrong way)
Loved this review of Win Son Bakery
A beautiful tribute to Gina Depalma, a talented pastry chef gone too soon.
I’ll be back later this week with all the info about our paid newsletter! The tldr is…This Needs Hot Sauce is launching a subscriber edition. For $5 a month (or $50 a year), you’ll get bonus content throughout the month and special personalized recs. You’ll also support the work I do to create this newsletter, which is 100% a labor of love.
More to come soon :)
Now, to share your pumpkin recipes because it is truly the season:
Teal’s fave pumpkin recipe ever looks so chocolately and good.
Erica has a nonedible recommendation: I’ve been excited for autumn since August (though summer is my very favorite season, I simply can’t avoid the joy and nostalgia that the first crisp day—or crisp leaf, crisp apple... crisp anything I guess—brings) and I like pumpkin EVERYTHING. It’s not a food item the vanilla pumpkin candle from TJs really gets me in a crispy mood.
Julianne loves the pie and the carving, but no spice: The best pumpkin "thing" is pumpkin pie, but I'm honestly not ~here~ for the pumpkin spiced craze. (Dear America, THIS we have taken too far!). However, although I did not grow up carving pumpkins, it's become a tradition for me and Ian since we started dating.
This week, I’d love to know your favorite pizza topping. I had a heated debate over the weekend about whether olives belong on pizza (I say no) and want to know how you like your slice. Reply to this email with your hottest takes.
Happy eating and thanks for reading.
xo,
Abigail