Hi!
It is, somehow, still January (for at least another day). Let’s get on with it.
What I made for dinner
Chicken parm is a beautiful thing. Eggplant parm too, when prepared with care (i.e. not soggy). And if you’re from Buffalo, you’re probably familiar with spaghetti parm, my personal favorite parm (this feels very local to Buffalo, but if you’re from elsewhere and it’s on the menu, do tell).
To parm as a verb is to coat something in breadcrumbs, fry it until crispy, douse it with tomato sauce and then blanket everything with a mozzarella cheese. There is even a place in San Francisco that will parm — or burrito — any dish on its menu. It’s a technique that I think is deserving of broader use, especially if your local parm purveyor has disappointed you and you’re facing down a pantry full of beans. I used those, but now I’m wondering what else I can parm. Tofu parm? Sausage parm? Zucchini parm? The world is our oyster (…parm?).
When I made this last week I went through the fuss of making tomato sauce from scratch. You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. Next time I’m just going to use jarred sauce. So sorry, so not Italian, so very lazy. Also — while the breadcrumbs gave the illusion of a crispy cutlet when fresh (it’s not like you can individually bread and fry each bean), the crumbs don’t have quite the effect the next day if you microwave your leftovers. This is an instance where reheating in the oven produces superior (crispy) results.
Now parm your beans!
Cannellini bean parm
Serves 4
2 to 3 cups (or 16 to 24 oz.) prepared pasta sauce
2 14.5 oz. cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan, plus more for serving
Salt
8 oz. ball fresh mozzarella, sliced into thin circles
Preheat your oven to 400°.
Warm 2 cups of your sauce in a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Once it’s at a simmer (hot throughout and starting to gently bubble), add in your beans. At this point, evaluate your bean-to-sauce ratio. If you’re happy with it as is, proceed. If you want more sauce, add it in. Once you’re satisfied, cook until everything is warmed through, about 5 minutes.
While your beans are getting cozy, mix the panko and parmesan together with your olive oil in a small bowl, stirring until coated. Set aside.
Taste your beans and sauce and adjust to your liking with salt. Arrange the mozzarella slices over the beans and then sprinkle the panko mixture around the cheese. Transfer your skillet to the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, uncovered, until your kitchen smells great and your cheese is melty. You might need to throw it under the broiler for a few minutes to get those textbook freckles on your cheese.
Other things I made for dinner:
Red curry chicken noodle soup: I’ve made this before and liked it enough to save the recipe. Yet for some reason, it was absolutely incredible this week? It did not elicit the same reaction last time, I assure you, which goes to prove that recipes are not a science. Was it because I used a different brand of coconut milk? Was it the slightly thinner rice noodles? Was it because it was snowing outside? Was the moon in it’s fifth house, or something? It’s impossible to recreate a recipe in your kitchen exactly as X author made it with X ingredients on X date. Some days you’ll get pretty good soup, some days you’ll get pretty great soup. Either way, you’ve got soup.
Hummus plates with homemade naan: This was an appetizers-for-dinner night, which is a very kind gesture toward yourself on days where you don’t have it in you to spend your entire evening in the kitchen. While I did complicate the plan by making fresh naan, you can just throw the rest of the meal together on a plate with ease: a dollop of hummus from the tub, cucumber and carrot sticks, feta and a couple of Trader Joe’s stuffed grape leaves. Done and dusted.
Sous-vide chicken breasts with maple chile-glazed sweet potatoes: These were two very easy and hands-off recipes that produced above-average results. I mean, when has someone ever recommended a chicken breast recipe to you? They usually suck.
What I’m reading:
My U.K. edition copy of Nigella Lawson’s latest cookbook, “Cook Eat Repeat,” arrived this week. I opted to order it from overseas because, as with many other books, the U.S. cover just isn’t as pretty. This article delves into why U.S. publishers so often change them.
Other ephemera from this week:
Please enjoy this video of how a spaghetti parm is made:
Someone please come get the brands. I’m fine with the novelty of pink mac and cheese, but it’s SWEETENED!!!
I am so happy that I got this email before my Instacart order was shopped for! I just added all the necessary ingredients to parm all of the beans! I have never parmed anything but I am READY! I also am mildly horrified by the sweet Mac and cheese but something in my heart is telling me to try it. Maybe that will be for a day when my niece and nephew are over and they can be my test subjects!