The World Is Your Oyster
A new way to make eggplant, patio fries, and a party invitation
Hi friends,
Welcome to This Needs Hot Sauce. We have a lot of new faces this week and I’m so excited to have you. I’m Abigail Koffler and this is a newsletter all about cooking, eating out, and making the most of it. I’m a freelance writer based in Brooklyn and I love vegetables, oysters, traveling, tahini, and of course, hot sauce. If you have questions for me or anything to share, reply to this email and I’ll get back to you ASAP.
And if you’re around this Sunday in NYC, I’m having a Darty in Brooklyn! RSVP and come hang.
Let’s dive in.
We did some serious baking for Yom Kippur break fast. While, I don’t exactly recommend baking while fasting, somehow I wind up doing it every year. Since you’ll be less sharp, remember to double check things and set all the timers.
A pro tip: Drink coconut water the night before the fast and save some for after. Angely heard this from Muslim friends observing Ramadan and I swear it helped.
Julia and I made this Smitten Kitchen Fig Challah by hand and wow, it’s truly a gift. Making challah is a several hour project but so rewarding (and forgiving). For the filling, we used fig preserves since we don’t have a food processor and the filling was a lot wetter than the original. Next time, I would cook down the fig preserves to thicken them up before braiding but it still worked.
I rarely make cakes but I’ll definitely make this Julia Turshen Applesauce cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting again. The batter comes together in one bowl and the frosting has only 4 ingredients (honey, cream cheese, sour cream, salt) and you can spread it with a butter knife. The assembly was quick (hurrah for a single layer cake) and the texture and sweetness levels were perfect. The recipe says to bake for 55 minutes but mine was done sooner, so set your timer for 45 and check it every few minutes. This is the fall dessert you need! Leftovers kept well wrapped in plastic wrap.
First, make a sauce by stirring together 1/2 cup sour cream/labneh/greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of tahini, juice from one lemon, and a little salt. Add some water if you want it thinner. Then choose some vegetables (I used sugar snap peas, red onions, purple cabbage, and kale). Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and heat a stainless steel skillet till it’s really hot. Cook the vegetables over medium high heat until they’re slightly tender and have a good char. Serve this by spreading the sauce on the bottom of a plate or bowl and piling the vegetables on top. Top with toasted nuts (she suggests hazelnuts, I used cashews) and hot sauce. You’ll have leftover tahini sauce, which goes on almost anything.
We both used blue bowls…and I wish I had Alison’s manicure/food styling skills.
This week, I am hunting for delicata squash, the squash you don’t need to peel. It’s so good roasted and I want to try this topping.
Something to Order:
Chelsea is a hard spot to find a casual, cheap dinner but El Cocotero fits the bill. Zoe and I got tostones and arepas there last week and each spent less than $20. Their house green hot sauce is SO good so make sure that’s on your table. You can and should add plantains to any arepa for $1.
El Kucho is becoming one of my favorite restaurants in Bushwick. It’s a family run Mexican spot with locations in Puebla and Texas, and they’re so nice. Their guac is excellent and comes with fresh tortilla chips. I’m a fan of both the tacos and the tostadas. Angely got the molé enchiladas and that may be my order next time.
tfw you snag a seat at the park.
If you have a lot of friends looking to show off their light jackets in a backyard, head to The Springs in Greenpoint. We went her for Julianne’s friends birthday party and I was surprised at how big and nice it was. Plus, they have truly excellent fries: perfectly seasoned and still warm.
A rare meat mention: Dale is a huge fan of the wings at Old Town Bar, a spot near Union Square with a ton of history. We got them to go but I would have totally gotten a drink if I hadn’t been headed to pilates. The space is awesome.
Coffeeshop of the Week:
Haven’s Kitchen is a cooking school, events space and cafe in Chelsea. There’s wifi, lots of seating, the food looks fresh (I saw warm cookies be restocked twice), and there are good messages all around. Each bathroom is full of inspirational little reminders and funny food quotes and they have a few shelves full of cookbooks that you can browse. Erica introduced me to this place and it’s really becoming one of my go-tos.
Meet the man restaurants trust to bring them the best avocados.
In other countries, Ranch dressing is called “American Dressing.” More on this ubiquitous condiment here.
Hugely useful: How to eat like a human even though you work from home. Lifehacker’s Work from Home Week was great, and this made me want to try working at bars.
A podcast recommendation: Ellen Marie Bennett, the CEO and founder of Hedley & Bennett shares how she went from line cook to CEO and is so enthusiastic and genuine.
Definitely want to try this new Indian restaurant in LIC.
Boys who talk about their cooking habits on dating apps are such a specific type of bro. Bon Appetit goes in on this.
I trust Alison Roman when she says bad wine is a cocktail in the making. And I have a bottle of Trader Joe’s wine I’m planning to test this with.
Inside the instagram trap/nightmare that is the rosé mansion.
And to stoke your fall wanderlust, I want to share Julia’s Guide to Edinburgh:
Hi! For those of you who don't know me yet, I'm Abigail's roommate Julia. I recently took a solo trip to Edinburgh, where I'd never been, and instantly fell in love with it. It's a city of stunning scenery, castles, cool medieval stuff, spooky plague history stuff, great seafood, fudge, everything Harry Potter, and the best accents you've ever heard. Go there. And when you do, here's where you should eat.
The Outsider: Get dinner here if you want to eat fancy European food and drink wine with an amazing view of Edinburgh Castle...and then be shocked to learn it all cost just 22 pounds.
The Fudge House of Edinburgh: Edinburgh has dope fudge, and in way more flavors than chocolate. I stopped here my first day for a hunk of ginger fudge and came back the next day for another. Please go here and bring me back some, I am begging you. [Ed note: Can confirm, she brought me a souvenir].
Sandy Bells: A traditional pub with live Scottish music!
Jolly Judge: Scottish AF. I saw two men in kilts here who I’d seen playing the bagpipes on the street earlier. I’m not kidding.
Last week, I asked you guys about your favorite lunch spots and got some great ideas. Take a lunch break:
-Maryse shared an affordable gem in Soho: Birdbath bakery on Prince Street in Soho. $12 flat for the BIGGEST box of food ever. They make all their salads fresh and you can pick as many as you want for them to cram in. I love well made, delicious food, and a bargain, so this place is my nirvana.
-My cousin Hannah just started college and she’s really leaning in to the dining hall: My favorite lunch spot is definitely Union College's West dining hall. The mediocre, supposedly high-ish quality, occasionally different food selections make for quite the experience. Getting a wrap may take 5-47 minutes and the may be no more forks when you're ready to sit down, so you really need to plan ahead. Though finding seating can be challenging during lunch hours, when it's so loud that they serve Tylenol for people's headaches, if you eat your lunch from 3-4pm, you and your friends (if you have any) can take up as much space as you need! The food only costs one meal swipe and is all you can eat. I'm so excited to eat lunch at West Every. Single. Day. for the next 26 weeks!
-Teal’s been living in London for the past several months and has some great suggestions for lunch: Itsu, Hani Poke, Soho House Dean or Greek St if you are having a meeting, Princi (Italian), M&S Food Hall, Savage Salad [ed note: best name ever], Berwick Street Food Market in Soho, Joe and Juice, Wasabi, Leon, Wagamama, Wahaca, Ben’s Cookies or Crosstown Donuts for an afternoon treat! Or for delivery, Deliveroo is the best app ever!
-Meghan shared her favorite lunchtime treat: I work in San Francisco in the SoMa district (right across from AT&T Park, in fact), and there's a place named Oren's Hummus that is about a 20-minute walk away. When I'm in the mood to treat myself, I walk there with a few of my coworkers for hummus (duh), warm pita, Romanian eggplant, shakshuka, and a food coma. Everything I've had there is absolutely delicious and it's worth 100% worth the walk.
This week, I want to know about your favorite fall treats. I held off till it was officially fall, but let’s talk apples and pumpkins and maple lattes and all things cozy. Reply with your fall faves. I’m really excited about this.
Hope to see you this Sunday at our Darty at the Well from 2-5 pm! There will be all kinds of snacks in their gorgeous backyard, plus 2 for 1 drafts and $7 frozen drinks. If you're attending, please consider making a donation to Immigrant Families Together which is working to reunite families around the country and right here in New York City.
Happy eating and thanks for reading.
xo, Abigail
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