Most of all, I have been buoyed by your engagement, whether it’s responding to the questions I’ve posed in various newsletters, cooking the recipes we’ve featured and sharing the results on social media, or just sending a kind note along the way.
This morning, I went back through my inbox to read the first newsletter I wrote, from March 11. In addition to introducing myself and describing how I approach cooking (long story short: simple, comforting food with as few dishes to wash as possible), I wrote a little proclamation about cooking dinner regularly:
“Making dinner might not seem like a big deal, but I think it is. It is a big deal to feed yourself and the people who rely on you. I think you’re doing something important. And I’m here to help.”
I hope my work on this newsletter has helped you do this very important, very relentless work of feeding yourself.
And for my final recipe (the pressure!), I am excited to share a special one from my new cookbook, “What Goes With What,” which comes out in October — so consider this a special sneak peek.
The recipe, Tomatoes Casino, features stuffed tomatoes that have all the familiar flavors of classic clams casino: bacon, garlic, breadcrumbs and parsley. Serve the tomatoes with a simple green salad, as well as rice, pasta, polenta or bread, to make a complete meal, or make it a side dish with any simple main course, such as air fryer salmon or roast chicken.
Although the recipe stands on its own in the book, Tomatoes Casino appears in a chart of recipes for stuffed vegetables. What do I mean by that? The whole book is a collection of charts that each show you the basic infrastructure of a recipe with examples for how to riff on it. Then there are the recipes for each example. In addition to stuffed vegetables (so fun!), there are also tons of simple, useful things such as salad dressings, roasted vegetables, one-bowl baked goods and more. It’s also a very personal book: It includes a number of essays; I took all the photos myself; and my sweet parents designed the whole thing.
It has been so much fun hanging out with all of you, and although I will no longer be writing this column, I am excited to get back to reading it along with you. Take good care, everyone, and I hope your days continue to be filled with simple, good food that makes you feel loved.
