Again, a list. (Don’t look at me like that! This is not a cop-out of a blog post or a sneaky avoidance of any actual writing, nor is it an indication of my brain being not entirely up to forming full sentences. Or is it…?)
Regardless, this is a collection of bits and snippets that I’m excited about—and it’s as much of a way to inspire you as it is a way to remind me about each of these items. If I didn't list them here, I’d probably end up sticking half of them on Post-Its which would get lost in the pages of cookbooks on my bookshelf or hidden underneath a pile of size 6 - 9 month whale-printed pajamas. Or I’d jot a few of them down in the Notes app on my phone and bookmark some in a random collection on Pinterest—obviously forgetting that I never remember to actually check or open either of those apps.
Okay so here goes. Let’s call this “Potentially Likeable Things to Remember”:
-Kokomo by Victoria Hannan (one review calls this novel “a beautiful, muscular work crackling with longing, boredom, love, and hope” and another calls it '“an intricate, glittering gem”).
-Book of Delights by Ross Gay (a collection of essayettes about joy and life, which author Celeste Ng refers to as a “balm for the soul”—if you need further convincing, one quote from the book reads:
“I suspect it is simply a feature of being an adult, what I will call being grown, or a grown person, to have endured some variety of thorough emotional turmoil, to have made your way to the brink, and, if you’re lucky, to have stepped back from it—if not permanently, then for some time, or time to time. Then it is, too, a kind of grownness by which I see three squares of light on my wall, the shadow of a tree trembling in two of them, and hear the train going by and feel no panic or despair, feel no sense of condemnation or doom or horrible alignment, but simply observe the signs—light and song—for what they are—light and song. And, knowing what I have felt before, and might feel again, feel a sense of relief, which is cousin to, or rather, water to, delight.”
-Two more books which look good: The Dud Avocado (hilarious title, described as a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and Holden Caulfield) and Expectation by Anna Hope which is recommended for fans of Fleabag, so, SIGN ME UP.
-Oh wait, one more book! Sorry! I love reading! The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe.
-Sfoglini pasta: I’ve been ordering a few different varieties from this excellent Brooklyn brand. They make beautiful shapes and have some interesting flavors—all using good, simple ingredients. So far my favorites are the mint radiators, the sriracha fusilli, the beet fusilli, the saffron malloreddus, and the cuttlefish ink spaccatell (the recipe I used follows down below)i. I’d like to try the porcini trumpets, the hemp zucca, and the basil reginetti.
-Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. You might be winding down in your ice cream consumption as fall creeps in but we are fierce ice cream consumers in all months, baby. (By we I mean me.) I’m planning on making an online order, and trying to decide between Jeni’s Splendid (flavors of choice: sun-popped corn, sweet cream biscuits & peach jam, fluffernutter pie, and blackout cake) or McConnell’s (flavors of choice: boysenberry pie—a sweet cream boysenberry base with chunks of rye pie crust, sprinkle cake, cinnamon & oatmeal raisin cookies, and sea salt cream & cookies) or Salt & Straw (flavors of choice: salted malted chocolate chip cookie dough, huckleberry cast iron corn bread, and hazelnut s’mores) or Morgenstern’s (flavors of choice: raw milk, passion fruit with sticky rice, or cinnamon toast).
-Allison Joseph’s poetry. Specifically “Extraction” and “Why I Can’t Swim”
-Note to self to watch this video whenever I feel overwhelmed about the state of the world.
-This cocoa-carrot cake recipe with cocoa crumble.
-This spicy sesame coconut rice (without so much spice!).
If you follow along with all of these suggestions then firstly, I applaud you, and secondly, you will find yourself with a box of Sfoglini cuttlefish ink pasta on your hands. You will find yourself standing in the kitchen, holding said box, and wondering what in the world does this taste like? You will Google it and discover that squid ink pasta is “salty and briny, like the sea” and that it goes well with seafood. You will confirm your suspicion that you do not, in fact, have any seafood unless you count canned tuna which you do not.
You will then confirm your further suspicion that you only have chicken thighs and a bag of frozen spinach, unless you want to use the billions of cherry tomatoes that are overrunning your garden. You do not. That seems weird, flavor-wise.
You will forge ahead! You will throw the chicken thighs on the grill while you casually do some kettlebell exercises on the patio. You will curse loudly, both from the difficulty of lifting a 15-pound weight over your head more than three times and also from the realization that you forgot to get more propane and your chicken thighs are now 10% charred and 90% raw and WTF.
You will crack yourself up instead of weeping over this sort of thing. You will crank the oven on to 450 degrees and slide the kind-of raw chicken in on a sheet pan and hope for the best! What else can a lady do, really?
You will cook the spinach in some garlic while the chicken cooks, then you’ll cut the chicken into pieces and throw that in the pan. Meanwhile, you’ll cook the pasta just shy of al dente, then add that to the pan along with a glug of olive oil and some pasta cooking water and a pinch of sel piment d’Espelette. Did I mention you’re feeling fancy?
You’ll let it all cook for a minute or two until glossy, and then you’ll spoon into into bowls, shower it with a little bit of lemon zest, and eat and consider it a successful dinner. So successful in fact that you’ll pour a sliiiightly more generous glass of wine than usual.
You’ll remind yourself that lemon zest is a tiny extra step that makes nearly everything taste better. You’ll do the dishes and climb into bed and attempt the Sunday crossword until your eyelids grow heavy and you slide into sleep in that drowsy, just-aware-enough way that feels exceptionally delicious.
And that will be another day well-lived.
Note: You can absolutely use any pasta shape for this recipe! I’d recommend something short or round like orecchiette or penne rather than a long shape like fettuccine or pappardelle.
Cuttlefish Ink Pasta with Chicken and Spinach
For the chicken
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons honey
For the pasta
1 pound dried pasta (I used this)
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
2 cups frozen chopped spinach
pinch of salt
zest of one lemon
First, marinate the chicken: Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper, and honey. Add the chicken thighs and coat well—cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to a day in advance.
Once the chicken has marinated, heat a grill to medium-high. Place the chicken on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until cooked through and nicely browned on the outside.
Place the chicken on a plate to cool slightly while you make the pasta. (If you don’t want to grill the chicken, you can cook it in a a 450 degree oven! Or HA, DO BOTH. Just kidding. Don’t do that.)
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook for about 2 minutes shy of al dente.
Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.
Add a glug of olive oil to a large, deep skillet and heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook for about 1 minute, then add the frozen spinach and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, chop the grilled chicken into smallish pieces. Add those to the pan with the spinach and cook for about 1 minute. Add the pasta and 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the sauce looks glossy. If the pan seems dry, add a bit more of the reserved water.
Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest. Taste and adjust for more salt if needed.