I can't talk, so I typed a lot of words to you all about leeks
Thank you all so so much who came out to see me over the last few weeks! I had so much fun talking to all of you that my throat is currently sore and raw and I'm typing with tea next to me and a heating pad wrapped around my neck (not sure if that's helping, but it feels better, anyway). I'm going to attempt to not speak a word out loud to anyone for at least the next two days, which is a real challenge for me, and I hope that helps heal me in time for the Tucson Festival of Books, where I'll be on March 2nd and 3rd.
If you couldn't make it to my events, here are a few other places I've been chatting recently. I had this great conversation with Nicola Yoon about writing romances that center black women and girls. I was on The Nod podcast, along with two of my heroes, Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins, talking about writing black romance! I listed some of my favorite rom com scenes for Hello Sunshine! And speaking of rom coms, I got to contribute to this great piece about what some rom coms haven't done well, and how romances can improve women's love lives!
This recommendation is a real niche one, but it's fulfilled something I've been looking for for YEARS, and it's my newsletter so I'm telling you all about it. A few things to set this up: I'm lactose intolerant, which means I take lactaid pills if I eat a bunch of cheese, but otherwise avoid most dairy products; I drink coffee every morning with somewhere around a teaspoon or so of milk or half and half in it, which is fine on my stomach, but means -- because of that first thing -- that the milk or half and half always goes bad long before I'm finished with it. So for a long time I've been looking for some sort of non dairy milk that I like for coffee that has a much longer period before it goes bad, and my friends, I think I've found it! Almond and soy and coconut milk all have too strong of a flavor for regular morning coffee, and while I've enjoyed oat milk in espresso drinks at a few coffee shops, I haven't found it in a store. I went looking for it in Whole Foods this week, and while I didn't see it, I did see this: Ripple. I bought it on a whim to see how I would feel about it, and I was especially excited about its months from now expiration date, and after drinking it in my coffee all week, I'm a huge fan. The flavor of it doesn't fight with coffee (I don't even notice it, which is what I want), it's not super expensive, and again, it doesn't expire for months! We'll see if it actually lasts that long, but for now, I'm very happy.
When I got home from a week and a half of travel, I did what I normally do and threw myself into cooking, so this is going to be a cookbook recommendation and a recipe all at once. I made a lemon pound cake (which was fine but not good enough to share with you all; I'm going to try a different recipe soon so stay tuned), and then I made Samin Nosrat's Buttermilk Roast Chicken along with Suzanne Goin's braised leeks. Here is my photo of the two of them together, and I promise, it was all as delicious as it looks. I've already told you all to buy Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, so now I'm going to tell you to buy Sunday Suppers at Lucques, which is where the braised leek recipe I'm going to give you is from, and contains a ton of other fantastic recipes that always always work. In the book, she roasts her devil's chicken thighs (probably my favorite chicken recipe ever) on top of these leeks, but I was in the mood for something that was a little less work, and rest assured, the leeks are just as good under a plain roast chicken. But they'd also be good along side salmon, or steak, or just by themselves, piled on a slice of crusty bread. They're so good that I can only eat them alone or around people I know very well, because I make indecent noises when I eat them, and when's the last time you heard someone say that about a vegetable? (Also, they're vegan, for all of my vegan friends out there!) (lots of vegan content in this newsletter!). And look, I know cleaning leeks is a real pain, but I promise, these are worth it.
Braised Leeks
6 large, or 12 small, or any number somewhere in the middle, leeks
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup sliced shallots (I used about three shallots and didn't measure)
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine (if you don't drink wine, use a little of another acid instead -- lemon juice or vinegar -- and then more stock or water)
1 1/2 to 2 cups stock or water (I used water because I was out of stock and they were just as good!)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Trim the leeks, so any of the tough outer layers are gone, and cut off the majority of the green part, leaving about 2 inches. Cut the leeks in half lengthwise, and then put them under running water and drop them in a bowl of cold water to get all of the dirt out of the insides. Shake them, then change the water in the bowl and do it again until they're clean, and dry them off really well. Place them in a row so the cut sides are up, and season with salt and pepper.
Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat for a few minutes, and pour in about 1/4 cup of the olive oil (you're going to do this in batches, unless you have a very large saute pan, so add more olive oil when you add more batches of leeks). Let the oil heat up, place the leeks in the pan, cut side down, and sear for about 4 or so minutes, until they've browned. Sprinkle with salt and paper, turn over and cook for another 3-4 minutes, and transfer to an oven safe dish that can hold all of the leeks (and a chicken, if you're later going to cook a chicken on top of this). Once you're done with all of the leeks, pour another 1/4 cup of olive oil into the same pan, and add the shallots, thyme, and salt and pepper. Cook for about five minutes until the shallots are softened and slightly darker. Add the wine (or your other acid) and stir and simmer until it's reduced, then add your stock or water, and bring it all to a boil over high heat. Note: if you're going to eat these leeks alone, I'd add more stock or water than the recipe calls for and also cook them about 30 minutes longer.
Pour the liquid over the leeks, and braise in the oven for about 30 minutes until the leeks are tender (or, as I said above, for longer, depending on what you're going to do with the leeks in the end).
Enjoy!
Have a great weekend!
Jasmine
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