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I think about food a lot, both personally and professionally, which leads to a fair amount of decision fatigue. That’s when I let Chris and J.M. make decisions for me.
Rather than shoot them an email—which I could do!—I check the newest issue of Milk Street Magazine. It’s the easiest way to get an idea of which recipes they’re excited about (and it has beautiful photos).
And wouldn’t you know it, this issue’s cover girl is exactly what I want to eat right now. Our Butter-Braised Tomato Soup takes its cues from the iconic three-ingredient Marcella Hazan tomato sauce—you know the one. We start with the same ingredients—butter, tomatoes and onions—cook them down until everything gets soft and supple, then blend it all together until creamy and finish with Parm and croutons.
Also in this issue: two end-of-month, low-on-funds-friendly recipes to make the most of what’s in your pantry (and any stale bread you might have lying around). Our “Soup from Nothing” starts not with broth, but water infused with toasted caraway seeds. Onion, garlic and paprika give it some oomph, and a small measure of flour provides thickening. It’s shockingly flavorful. And Spaghetti with Garlic and Walnut Breadcrumbs isn’t just a good way to use up that last bit of boule—it was Chris’ favorite thing he ate on a recent trip to Calabria, “hands down.”
Another thing I like to do is take a glimpse into my freezer and see what types of protein I have hanging out in there. Right now it’s a pound of ground beef and many bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. If it’s a weeknight, I’ll type one into the ol’ search bar and pick a recipe with the fewest number of ingredients.
For ground beef, I’ve been really into our Ginger Beef with Rice and Peas. The combination of soy sauce, mirin and ginger creates such complex layers of salty-sweet flavor. For chicken thighs, I’ll usually make Slashed Chicken, because it requires all of six ingredients—an onion, garlic, fish sauce, sugar and salt—and I always have those in-stock.
When I’m really stumped, I’ll turn back to my greatest source of inspiration: myself. Claire Lower’s Favorite Weeknight Dinners has all of my favorite hits, with soups, sandwiches, traybakes and takeout dupes (like tacos and butter chicken).
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