Welcome to What We’re Cooking This Week, a weekly love letter from our recipe developer Emma Laperruque, all about what the Food52 team is cooking and craving off-hours (with a few snacks for thought, too).
Have you signed up for our Thanksgiving newsletter yet? The holiday is four-ish weeks out, which means we’ve been thinking about Turkey Day for several months. Consider this special-edition email series our all-in-one guide. We’ve got go-to techniques, favorite recipes, pro tips from staffers, and so many words of encouragement. Join us!
For now, I’ll be jogging around my small town in New Jersey (where I moved in May), gawking at my neighbors’ over-the-top Halloween decorations. I can’t stress enough that almost every yard is like this:
What a time to be alive.
While my husband and I couldn’t get our act together in time (what must they think of us?), we do have big plans to make spooky martinis with eyeballs (olives), then eat as many Reese’s cups as we possibly can, even though the kids can only take one each (because we’re monsters).
Should we do a Halloween newsletter next year? Would you sign up? I probably wouldn’t! Anyway, let me know.
Spaghetti Squash in its Happiest Mood
Spaghetti squash recipes can be broken down into two categories: squash pretending to be spaghetti and squash doing everything else. I’m Team Everything Else. Spaghetti squash is like vegetable magic (halve, roast, then spiralize at the touch of a fork!?!?!). It’s also delicious, utterly fall-esque, but not as attention-hogging as butternut squash. So, let spaghetti squash be spaghetti squash. Show it off! With, say, a funky Pecorino Romano cream and ruffly kale and fatty walnuts. This recipe is fresh out of The Saltwater Table by Whitney Otawka and I can’t wait to make it soon.
A Very Famous Salad
Every Wednesday, a new Genius Recipe publishes, which is to say: Every Wednesday, a new recipe gets added to my wishlist. But last week’s column was too much for me to resist for more than a few days. Behold: Nancy Silverton’s chopped salad. It has radicchio and iceberg, salami and provolone, cherry tomatoes and chickpeas, red onion and pepperoncini, your hopes and your dreams. It also has 2 tablespoons of dried oregano in the dressing (and no, that’s not a typo). I’m making it on Monday night (and making my husband record me—thank you to my sweetie), so join us on Instagram. Salami party!
Steak Night for Date Night
“I loved this steak au poivre for an at-home date night with my husband,” says Senior Account Executive Lauren Black. The recipe comes by way of our co-founder, Merrill Stubbs, and is as savory and satisfying as it gets: shallots, cream, cognac, and beef broth, with a zing of peppercorns. Another steak recipe—from our other co-founder, Amanda Hesser—flank steak with green sauce. “The back-pocket recipe you'll want on hand always,” Amanda writes, “and especially in case of dinner party emergency.”
Brothy, Garlicky, Cozy-as-Heck Beans
“I want to make these brothy, garlicky beans now that the weather's a little chillier,” our books & special projects editor, Brinda Ayer, told me. Heck yes. As a proud fangirl of Rancho Gordo (my husband and I put their 20-pound bean box on our wedding registry, and it may last our entire marriage), I can’t wait to copy Brinda, and have us eat matching brothy-bean lunches at our desks. You bring the aioli to dollop on top, B; I’ll bring the bread.
Braised Onion Pasta for Someone You Love
Including yourself, you bet! Our editorial team can’t stop talking about this dish. Kenzi Wilbur first published the recipe, lightly adapted from James Beard, in 2015, and it swiftly earned many stans, including our assistant editor of partner content, Erin Alexander. Erin recently wrote about how she only makes this recipe for people she loves (fair!). Our senior editor, Arati Menon, is making it tonight (“because I love myself.” Yeah, Arati!). Meanwhile, our other senior editor, Eric Kim, “bought another bag of onions and fresh linguine so I can make it for a third time.” As should we all.
I just finished Where the Crawdads Sing, a book that’s so popular right now (Reese’s Book Club) that a woman on the train started talking to me about it as I read. Think: Nicholas Sparks romance meets nature documentary meets murder mystery. Highly recommend for the next time you’re on the beach (or on a long plane or train ride).
Three stories waiting for me in my pocket:
- Why so many directors want to work with Adam Driver, whose Girls character I loved to hate and hated to love. The New Yorker
- Where are all the Chinese fast-casual restaurants? Eater
- Spotify saved the music industry. Now what? Fortune
What are you cooking and reading and reading while you’re cooking? Here’s to a kick-butt week.
Talk soon,
Emma
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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