The birria spot with my new favorite quesadilla
Plus, meal prep success and your favorite cocktails
Hi friends,
What a week! Yesterday, Erica and I led a meal prep class with over 50 attendees. I’m still riding the adrenaline high and I’m thrilled my fridge is stocked for the week (you can purchase the recording and get all the recipes here). If you were in class, I’d love to see your meals on Instagram. I’m also teaching a Challah class on Friday with several breaks if you’d like to bake bread with me. Get a promo code right here.
The past week has been full of devastating news, seemingly every hour. The epidemics of covid, white supremacy, and gun violence are colliding over and over and I don’t know how much more we can take. I’ll share a few resources: this website on abolition, and this piece on finding an organization to work with (found both of these via Ann Friedman) and a 21 day course to pursue Black liberation. For my New Yorkers, make sure your party registration is updated so you can vote in the mayoral primary and check out this resource to see which candidate aligns with your vision of New York’s future (Morales and Stringer are my current frontrunners).
Now, let’s dive in.
Something to cook:
Cherry tomato pasta is one of my favorite summer dishes and I made a version with some cubed mozzarella and arugula. It was delicious and I wish I had made more for leftovers.
I made hummus with my students and used it all week in pita sandwiches with cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, and hard boiled eggs. That, with a little feta and some za’atar is a great lunch or even breakfast. We did a tahini free hummus because of allergy concerns but this is my go to recipe.
My East Asian sampler set from Omsom arrived and I cooked from it right away. This is the power of Omsom: I had no interest in cooking, but as soon as I checked the mail, I was inspired to turn a block of tofu into dinner. I made the spicy bulgogi with tofu and really liked it. I should have pressed my tofu for maximum crisp, but I was hungry and tired so I plowed ahead.
I was in a bad mood on Thursday and decided to bake some cookies with the almond flour lingering in my pantry. I made a half batch of this recipe, which is really good. I made the cookies smaller than suggested so I could have more. They were all gone by the next morning, a ringing endorsement.
Finally, I spent much of yesterday cooking with Erica and a bunch of you. We made tahini chocolate chip banana bread, soba noodles with spring vegetables, tempeh lettuce wraps, tofu with green beans and maple tahini sauce, and coconut lime rice. I can’t wait to eat these dishes throughout the week and am planning to make some fried rice later in the week.
Something to order:
Leah and I grabbed a drink at Tuffet and their backyard remains one of the nicest in Brooklyn. I hosted my first This Needs Hot Sauce happy hour there a few years ago, maybe I’ll do one later this summer!
Erica and I met for lunch/a last minute planning session at the HiHi Room, another stellar backyard. I got their grain bowl and we had some potato bites, which were basically mini hashbrowns.
Natalie, Oset, and I visited Fandi Mata, a new restaurant near McCarren Park. The space is gorgeous and has DJ on the weekends. We ate on the sidewalk patio and enjoyed the cocktails, green salad, pizzas, and dips.
I got to hug Hillary for the first time in over a year at dinner on Friday (yay vaccines). We ate outside at Ako (the backyard is partially covered which was helpful when it started to rain) and had all the sushi. For vegetarian rolls, I love the oshinko, the peanut avocado, and the vegetable tempura.
I worked most of Saturday and then went to Wegman’s to get groceries for class. Dale picked me up (he borrowed his mom’s car for the weekend) and we carried everything upstairs. I was tired and planning to watch TV when he mentioned checking out a birria spot in Bushwick he had heard about on a podcast. We drove over and had a great time at Nene’s Taqueria on Starr street. He got the quesabirria and some other tacos and I got the veggie quesadilla on a homemade corn tortilla, which was huge and loaded with mushrooms, avocado, and crema. The cheese empanadas were great with the house salsas (I’ll get extra next time). While we waited for our food, we grabbed a drink at 101 Wilson and picked up cocktails from Abe’s Pagoda Bar on the drive home. It wound up being a fun Saturday night and I was pleasantly surprised to find such a good vegetarian option at a birria spot.
After finishing the dishes from class, I hopped on the train to meet Erica and Quentin for oysters and wine at Cafe Paulette by Fort Greene Park. It was beautiful outside and so much fun to celebrate and recap things in person (we are planning more classes, so stay tuned).
Something to read:
My body got me through the pandemic, it doesn’t need to be bikini ready
More on Nene’s Taqueria and the birria phenomenon.
Twitter got very mad about popcorn salad. Aaron Hutcherson gave it a try.
Alejandra made beautiful garden focaccia
An oat milk company covered up street art in Philly with ads and people are not happy.
How Chef Park Kyeong-Mi Creates Some of Korea’s Best Tteok
Eating well during Ramadan (Ramadan Mubarak to everyone who celebrates)
Life lessons from the Korean Vegan
There’s Still So Much Stigma About SNAP. Here’s What Needs to Change
TikTok is fueling this popular night market in LA
Layla dug into why natural wine is so divisive.
It’s tulip season and Grossy Pelosi has a detailed guide to caring for your blossoms.
Immigrants know all about disaster preparedness
With Covid grief, there is no after
Some thoughts on the restaurant labor shortage
FOH did a great episode on the same topic, so much of which boils down to a lack of workplaces that respect their employees.
Tejal Rao also wrote about how the expectations of hospitality have changed during the pandemic.
Mayukh Sen on the past and future of food media and veggie slander in America
Now, let’s talk cocktails. You all shared some delicious drinks.
Gemma has a timesaving tip: my bar tip is if you don't feel like making simple syrup, you can microwave honey or maple syrup and it thins out and adds good flavor to a drink. you can also use mike's hot honey here which is safer than chopping a jalapeno while intoxicated :)
Jackie’s favorite drink sounds so good, try it if you’re in Michigan: to answer your question, I'll go for almost anything with tequila, but my favorite cocktail has to be the Medicina Latina at a bar, Nightcap, in Ann Arbor. It's mezcal, honey, ginger syrup, lime juice, and montelobos - I ask them to make it strong and it's spicy, sweet, smokey, and the perfect foil to my typical college-student order of a bottom-shelf G&T :)
Chrissy celebrated her vaccine, as one should: Also, regarding cocktails: I'm not a big liquor drinker, but this weekend after getting my second shot of the vaccine (!!!) I went directly to a local distillery, sat outside in the beautiful weather, and toasted science with a classic gin and tonic.
Julianne’s recommendation inspired my dinner plans this week (I tried this cocktail and it was so good): I normally find mezcal drinks too smoky (I don’t like smoky flavors and usually mezcal cocktails are with smoky ingredients) but I *do* like Mezcal. I went to Fandi Mata for the first time this weekend and their Sabrosa cocktail was actually sending me back to CDMX in my mind! It was so good and now it’s all I want lol. It was mezcal, pineapple cinnamon puree, fresh lime juice, and ancho reyes verde (spicy but not smoky chili) and I just really want to recreate this now! Too bad mezcal is so expensive or else I would just pump this out. But if I did get mezcal for home, I could definitely see myself happy enjoying this with you on my roof this summer. I know this is so up your alley!
Kate makes a shrub with frozen berries, a great idea: I am jonesing to make a new batch of raspberry shrub so I can add a splash to sparkling water. It's delicious and feels kind of fancy. I got my initial inspiration from Food in Jars, and Marissa points to Serious Eats for her inspiration. I use the cold-process method.
This week, I’d love to hear about your favorite appetizer or snack. As we look towards summer, I’m anticipating some more socializing, which will include having people over for drinks and nibbles. What’s your go-to appetizer to make or order? I love party nuts, squash toasts, guacamole, or a cheese plate. Reply to this email with your favorite and I’ll share the answers next week.
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Happy eating and thanks for reading!
xo, Abigail