As clutter-haters and city-dwellers, Andrew and I do our best to not accumulate many possessions. Two notable exceptions: my cookbook collection, which is currently overflowing into a file cabinet, under the bed, and pretty much everywhere else I can stash them, and Andrew’s massive box of cords, cables, and other electronic doodads (I thought I was pretty clever when I coined the term, “corder” as in cord hoarder).
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seafood
Mussels Puttanesca
Between keeping track of sustainability guidelines and preparing it within a fleeting window of freshness, cooking seafood can feel like a bit of a bother. Add in that it tends to be pretty pricey, and it’s easy to see why fish and shellfish often get passed over for other proteins. One completely-underrated exception: mussels. Aside from the somewhat-pesky — meditative, if we’re being generous — task of cleaning them, these bivalves are quite winning. Simple to cook, budget-friendly, and sustainable, they’re a killer choice for a fancy-feeling dinner.
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Shrimp and Quinoa With Mango-Avocado Salsa
After years of living in San Francisco, where beautiful farm-fresh produce is practically a given year-round, the adjustment to New York’s seasons has been a bit of a shock. The snow and cold hardly phased me (granted, the past winter was freakishly-mild); grocery shopping was a different matter. I’m not particularly proud of it, but I basically gave up on the farmers market after a couple depressing mid-January trips where I came home with naught but a couple sad, wrinkly onions and a few pounds of storage apples. On the flip-side, this seasonality makes the first peeps of spring produce all the more exciting. Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
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One-Pan Sesame Salmon With Shiitake Mushrooms
Over five years, my boyfriend Andrew and I have shared too many meals to count, but this simple, elegant salmon dish is one I’ll always remember. One of the first things I cooked for him, it felt like an unequivocal success, a meal enjoyed by all parties. Years later, when I made it again, Andrew gently revealed that he wasn’t too keen on it that first time; to his tastes the salmon was a bit too rare, something he was far too polite to point out at the time.
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