JUNE 28 VIRTUAL COOKING CLASS

Join me Tuesday, June 28 from 4-5:15pm ET for my next virtual cooking class. Cooks of all skill levels are welcome and our menu is vegetarian-friendly. $40 per Zoomer.

We’ll be making three summer sides so you’ll have recipes you feel confident about going into BBQ season. (I’m looking at you July 4.) Each salad is a riot of colors, flavors and textures. They are each stand alone, knock-it-out-of-the-park sides, but they also complement each other perfectly. This means you will be praised if you make just one of them and will be worshipped if you make all three. Here is our menu…

Orzo Salad with Charred Broccoli, Cranberries and Toasted Walnuts

Corn Salad with Tomato, Cucumber and Basil

Peach and Burrata Salad with Spicy Arugula and Pickled Shallots

The Orzo Salad has all of the flavors of your typical broccoli salad but elevated. First of all, raw broccoli is…meh. It’s good but I’d choose roasted broccoli 10/10 times. We’re giving ours a little char and then we’re adding pasta to the party because who doesn’t love pasta?

Nothing says summer like a corn salad. After toasting corn on the stovetop (or you could use a grill if you have one), we’ll take it off the cobb and toss it in a bright vinaigrette. Then we’ll bulk it out with cherry tomatoes and cucumber and give it extra oomph with fresh basil. There are endless directions you can take this corn salad including the Mexican-ish vibe above with cilantro, lime and tajin.

Finally, we’ll make a peach and burrata salad to introduce a little sweetness into the menu. I think of any salad that includes fruit as a “gateway salad” – salads that entice even those so called “salad haters” out there. I love this salad with any stone fruit, so feel free to swap in cherries, plums, nectarines or a mix of all. Fruit + milky burrata = perfection.

Register for the class here. I will approve your registration, and send you an invoice and more information about the class including a grocery list, our recipes and answers to common questions. If you can’t make it live, the recording will be made available to all registrants after the class.

HOPE I SEE YOU THERE!

x

JUNE 15 VIRTUAL COOKING CLASS

My next Zoom cooking class will be Wednesday, June 15 from 4-5pm ET. Cooks of all skill levels are welcome and our menu is vegetarian-friendly (though this time not vegan). $40 per Zoomer. 

The class will be short and sweet but leave you with a delicious dinner to enjoy with family or friends that night *and* an extra meal to stick in your freezer for the coming weeks/months. 

*MENU*

Now or Later Turkey (or Lentil) Meatballs

Roasted Tomato and Corn Pasta with Arugula and Ricotta

Pasta and meatballs…. what’s not to love? 

This is one of those menus that I find myself making on repeat. It comes together quickly, tastes as good room temperature (or cold from the fridge) as it does hot, is enjoyed by toddlers and adults alike, and leaves me with plenty of lunchbox leftovers and even a second meal in the freezer.

The Roasted Tomato and Corn Pasta with Arugula and Ricotta is summer in a bowl. It is made with the pasta:veg ratio I love, which is about 50:50. That way it serves double duty as the meal’s “salad.” You can toss the noodles with the ricotta so they are all equally coated with the milky cheese or leave it like I do with big, billowy pockets. The dish is so hearty that I oftentimes serve it as dinner all on its own. 

But I want to make meatballs with you, so let’s do that! In my opinion, meatballs are an essential recipe that everyone should have memorized. If you have a basic template (which I of course will be giving you) you can make endless variations to suit your tastes. The turkey (or lentil) meatballs we’re making are a basic Italian-style ball flavored with garlic, more ricotta, salty parmesan cheese and tomato paste. We’ll prepare some to serve with the pasta and freeze leftovers in your favorite jarred sauce. In my opinion, meatball recipes should always be doubled. It’s far less than twice the work, they freeze like a dream and it feels so good knowing you have them on hand when you could use the short cut later on.

Register for the class here. I will approve your registration, and send you an invoice and more information about the class including a grocery list, our recipes and answers to common questions. If you can’t make it live, the recording will be made available to all registrants after the class. If you miss this entirely or catch this post after the fact, send me a message directly and I’ll get everything to you.

HOPE I SEE YOU THERE!

xx

MY INAUGURAL ZOOM COOKING CLASS

GUYS! Everyone! I am so excited to officially invite you to my very first Zoom cooking class. The class will be this Sunday, May 22 from 4-5:30pm ET at a cost of $40 per household. Cooks of all skill level are welcome. Here is our menu…

Jalisco Express

Tangy Roasted Salmon and/or Tofu

Spring Caprese

Citrus Farro Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Olives

Citrus Olive Oil Cake

Our menu will celebrate the official transition into spring. To me, that transition happens once temperatures remain above 60 degrees and real spring produce shows up at the farmers markets, not when the calendar tells us its spring in March. We are just getting there here in the North East.

All dishes (even our cocktail!) include bright, verdant flavors – think lots of citrus, green vegetables and fresh herbs. We’ll start with a Jalisco Express – a tequila cocktail that’s the tiniest bit spicy from the addition of a jalapeno, and fresh from cucumber and basil. It’s just as yummy made virgin with soda water for those who don’t want to imbibe. We’ll make Tangy Glazed Salmon (and/or tofu) with orange, Dijon mustard and honey and discuss the many directions you can take it by switching up your glaze ingredients. To serve alongside of that, we’ll prepare my Spring Caprese, a mix of perfectly blanched spring vegetables layered with top-quality mozzarella, basil and mint; and a flavorful farro salad tossed with lemon-shallot vinaigrette, crunchy toasted walnuts and salty olives. And don’t forget about dessert! We’ll whip up a very forgiving citrus olive oil cake that gets better as it sits. You will be enjoying the fruits of our labor for days to come.

Cook along with me and enjoy the meal with family or friends or pack it up and enjoy it for lunch throughout the week. Register for the class here and I will invoice you via Venmo or Quickbooks. Once paid, I will approve your registration and send you more information about the class including a grocery list, our recipes and answers to what I anticipate to be common questions. 

This is something I have wanted to do *forever* and hope I will see you there. Thank you so much for your support!

xx    Laura

SMOKY TOMATO AND CHICKPEA SHAKSHUKA

We are in the no man’s land of seasonal cooking in the northeast. I am totally over traditional winter fare and root vegetables but there is nothing green and local in sight. This leaves me with two options: fake it out and settle for supermarket asparagus and the like from California or Mexico, or turn to more flavor-forward, globally-inspired cuisine like this Smoky Tomato and Chickpea Shakshuka.

What is Shakshuka?

Apparently, the literal translation of Shakshuka is “all mixed up.” Don’t you love that? It is a popular Israeli breakfast with North African origins that traditionally consists of eggs baked in a tomato-y, peppery, oniony sauce. It’s deliciousness explains why it has spawned endless variations, including those with Mexican, Italian and Indian influences. While I would be psyched to have this for breakfast, I most often enjoy Shakshuka for dinner.

About this Recipe

The saucy base for my Smoky Tomato and Chickpea Shakshuka is actually an offshoot of these slow-roasted tomatoes from my Winter Caprese. I use my oven set low, a casserole dish and plenty of olive oil to gently stew a mixture of canned tomatoes, chickpeas, bell peppers, garlic and olives spiced up with red pepper flakes and smoked paprika. This recipe takes time (2 hours + a few minutes to bake the eggs) but almost no effort or baby sitting. It is rich, intensely flavorful and vegetable and protein-packed.

Even without the eggs, the stewed ingredients are a perfect side or entree all on their own. But this can’t be Shakshuka without them. So right before dinner, I bump up my oven temp, nestle in a few raw eggs and crumble over some feta cheese. In just a few minutes in the hot oven, the eggs gently poach in the liquid, absorbing all of the mix’s vibrant flavor. The sweet spot is when the egg whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. That way the yolks impart their own magic back into the sauce.

Make It Yours

  • Serve this Shakshuka over Israeli couscous, fregola, rice or a whole grain like farro, or scoop it up into warm naan, pita or your favorite bread.
  • A simple cucumber and red onion salad would be a great (but unnecessary) accompaniment.
  • Sometimes I serve this with big dollops of whole milk Greek yogurt as well.
  • As mentioned above, feel free to leave out the eggs if you are vegan. The vegetable-chickpea mixture is a complete meal on its own.
  • Add in another good slow roasting vegetable like summer squash or zucchini at the start, or fold baby spinach into the cooked vegetable-chickpea mixture before nestling in the eggs.
  • You could swap the chickpeas for a white bean like cannellini or butter beans.
  • Leave out the olives if you aren’t as obsessed with them as I am!

I hope you take this dish and make it yours. If you do, report back here and post a photo on Instagram tagging me @whatweeat.nyc. I love to see your creations!

xoxo

SMOKY TOMATO AND CHICKPEA SHAKSHUKA

Ingredients
  • 1 32-oz can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and torn apart (seeds discarded)
  • 1 16-oz can chickpeas, drained
  • 8 garlic cloves, smashed and skin removed
  • 2 bell peppers (orange, yellow) cut into strips
  • 1/2 c evoo
  • 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • Pinch red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
  • Handful castelvetrano olives, pitted and roughly chopped
  • 6-8 eggs
  • 2-4 oz crumbled feta
  • Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pep 
  • Red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar (really any hit of acid – lemon or lime juice would also be nice)
  • For serving: couscous, rice or other grain or pita and fresh cilantro/mint/basil
Method
  1. Preheat the your oven to 300 degrees. Place the drained and torn tomatoes, drained chickpeas, bell peppers, and smashed garlic in the bottom of a roasting dish that will fit them all very snugly. Top with 1/2 cup evoo (they should be swimming a bit), 1.5 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp kosher salt and as much red pepper flakes as you like. (I only used a small pinch in the hopes my littles would enjoy this…no luck so should have added more!). 
  2. Roast for one hour, remove from oven, gently stir and add in the castelvetrano olives. Return to the oven for a second hour. (FYI, stop right here and enjoy this with flatbreads for scooping or over a grain if you’d prefer to keep this meal vegan.)
  3. Bump up the oven heat to 425.
  4. Make 6-8 little nests in the roasted vegetable mix using the back of a spoon and crack 6-8 eggs into the wholes. Crumble the feta here and there around them. Bake for 8-12 minutes, just until the whites are set. Check every minute or so after 8 minutes because they can go from pretty raw looking to totally cooked through quickly. You are looking for your yolks to remain jammy.
  5. To finish, sprinkle over a hit of acid (red wine or sherry vinegar or lemon or lime juice), top the eggs with a little Maldon salt and freshly cracked pepper. Serve over something like Israeli couscous, fregola, rice, or any whole grain or with warmed pita or naan. Offer a bunch of fresh herbs like cilantro, mint and/or basil alongside. Enjoy!

Serves 4-6