After rhapsodizing about the joys of hosting last week, I walked the walk and threw an elaborate dinner party on Sunday. It was a truly delightful way to spend the weekend, but I’ll say this: After all of the shopping and the prepping and the being on my feet for 12 consecutive hours, I don’t very much want to cook at all right now. I contain multitudes.
So I’m letting the pendulum swing squarely into capital-E easy territory over the next few days, sticking to the kind of cooking that makes you question whether you can even really call it cooking. And as the days continue to ascend in daylight and in warmth, I’m trying to spend even less of my weeknight evenings in the kitchen: I want a quick dinner and a leisurely sunset walk after work.
In practice, that’s looking a lot like Sarah DiGregorio’s 30-minute one-pot miso-mascarpone pasta (above) with Ali Slagle’s 30-minute roasted spring vegetables (scallions! asparagus! green beans!) going in the oven at the same time if I feel like multitasking, or a heaping handful of frozen peas going straight into the pasta pot if I don’t. Neither of those recipes calls for more than six ingredients.
One-Pot Miso-Mascarpone Pasta
Eric Kim’s been on the supremely easy sheet-pan cooking beat as of late, and I’m eternally grateful for it. I have his 30-minute sheet-pan japchae on standby for the day my body cries out for a tangled heap of vegetables, and his sheet-pan quesadillas at the ready for the day(s) I want little more than a vehicle for crispy, melty cheese.
The luxurious presentation of Yotam Ottolenghi’s grilled asparagus with miso and olives might imply a certain level of effort, but do not be fooled: We’re talking six ingredients (not including salt, pepper, or olive oil) and 25 minutes of your precious time. I’d scarf that down with Ali’s simple miso-broiled tofu (inspired by the miso black cod of Nobu fame) to really commit to the umami bit.
But perhaps no recipe can unseat Priya Krishna’s everyday dal, a triumph in easy cooking and a riff on the version in her cookbook “Indian-ish.” (Also: “Indian-ish” turned five yesterday! Everyone say “Happy birthday, ‘Indian-ish!’”). It’s so easy — clocking in at 15 minutes and five ingredients — that it’s the first thing Priya whips together whenever she returns home exhausted from a reporting trip. If that’s not an endorsement, I’m not sure what is.
One More Thing!
Last week, I asked readers to send me their favorite tunes for a dinner party playlist. What you all sent me ran the gamut of genres and generations. Your favorites are also some of my own, and so many of you put me on to new songs that immediately got added to my personal playlists.
Without further ado, The Veggie (and its tasteful readers!) presents: A Very Groovy Dinner Party Playlist. We’ve got the six songs I recommended last week, and the rest of this four-hour soundtrack comes from you all. Bookmark it, cook to it and, most important, groove to it.
Thanks for reading and for listening. See you next week!
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