Surprise! Just in time for Halloween, we have returned from (seemingly) the dead. Well, we weren’t dead; truthfully, we were just having too much fun. Summer came and went, memes lived and died (it’s corn! #spitgate! Spirit Halloween!), and we didn’t cook. Save for a few meals of seasonal produce (read: BLTs), we spent this summer renaissance everywhere but our kitchens. But the time is nigh, soup season is here, Sifted’s back, and we’re ready to cram as many pots & pans on as our dumb NYC stovetops will allow (which is to say 3 max). Our desire to help you use all those greens you optimistically bought at the greenmarket has never been stronger, our skepticism over TikTok food has never been higher, and our absolute disdain for following a recipe to the T (sorry, Ina!) is as steady as ever — so buckle up, [peanut] buttercups! Here’s a classic Dinner Plans to whet your wicked appetites, but please, if you’ve missed anything specific about Sifted, we dare you to drop it in the comments. We’re all [f]ears.
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DINNER PLANS:
Seared & Sauced Swordfish: Since watching a friend cook a delicious dinner of golden brown swordfish steaks over herby rice a few weeks ago, I’ve been hung up on making something similar in my own kitchen. Having never cooked swordfish before, I was surprised by how simple and forgiving it was to work with — I simply but aggressively seasoned both sides, then dropped the whole thing in a hot, hot pan to sear. A newfound olive lover, I dressed it in this crushed olive situation, which was delicious but a still little too olive-y for me. I think next time I’ll follow this recipe, which is very similar, but replaces the meaty, crushed olives with briny, crispy capers. -Gab
Slow-Cooked Squash Pasta: No, I’m not talking about some slow-cooker butternut squash concoction claiming to be mac & cheese. It’s been a month since I made a pasta somewhere between Smitten Kitchen’s zucchini spaghetti and Carla’s cauliflower pasta, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. To make, just swap in 4-5 small or 2-3 big squash (zucchini, yellow squash, whatever end-of-the-season squash your farmer’s market has) for cauliflower in Carla’s recipe. You can grate the squash to speed up the process, but I decided to slice it as thin as possible on my mandolin. Then you’ll just cook the squash down in a good amount of olive oil with garlic, shallots/onion, a little tomato paste, red pepper flakes, and anchovies in you have them. Let that go on medium-low heat in a heavy-bottomed pan for as long as you can manage to be patient, deglazing with wine, pasta water, or broth in between and scraping up the fond from the bottom of the pan. Once it releases its moisture and begins to caramelize, the squash (and seemingly any veggie with high moisture content) will transform from bland and spongy to an unrecognizable, intense, unbelievably delicious sauce that tastes like toasted breadcrumbs. Toss with pasta (this is my current fave shape), a salty cheese like parm or pecorino, and lots of pasta water. Think of it like that shallot pasta we all made in 2020, only veggie-r. -Court
Apple Cinnamon Cake: This weekend, I drove upstate and baked an apple crisp for ten friends, a task I thought would require 50 apples before discovering that just 10 would suffice. Upon arriving back home, dozens of leftovers apples colonized not just my dining room table, but also my mind. I’ve spent all day, every day thinking of ways to make a dent in the pile, so when I discovered this apple cake, whose recipe calls for 4 cups of chopped apples, it felt like a godsend. As you’re making the cake, you might think there’s not enough of the cinnamon-heavy batter for the abundance of apples, but their juice loosens everything up just enough to hold everything together. What comes out of the oven is a tender, spiced, apple-packed cake sitting underneath a thin and sugary shell. It’s special enough to serve warm with vanilla ice cream for dessert, but something about the warm spices and the apples make a slice easy to crush first thing in the morning, too. -Gab
BBOTW (Best Bites of the Week)
Court: I finally got to try a dosa from the dosa guy a.k.a. @nydosas. The line is notoriously long, the owner is notoriously nonchalant with both his schedule and pace, and the dosas are notoriously incredible. Having tried and been turned off by snaking lines long past the chess players, I finally got my hands on a dosa after an hour-plus wait at 11am. Shatteringly crispy near the edges and pleasantly spongy near the middle, the signature Pondicherry Dosa had a nice amount of heat from some potent chili sauce. Hunched over on a bench in Washington Square Park, deliriously hungry, it was a glorious mess to eat. Dragging some bites through bright coconut & mint chutneys and dunking others in the mild curry that comes in a disposable espresso cup, I shoveled the whole thing down in minutes after waiting for over an hour. Since the closure of the Hampton Chutney Co. on Grand Street I have longed for another quick-hit dosa spot. With the line as it is, NY Dosas is not that. But thankfully Unapologetic Foods (the group behind Dhamaka and an ever-growing list of restaurants) are helping with my dilemma. If I could afford to, I’d eat the Gunpowder Dosa at Semma every day of the week. And of course, if you have dosa recommendations please, please, please drop them in the chat.
Gab: Sometime during our Sifted hiatus, I spent a weekend in Philadelphia. I saw the Rocky statue, ate a cheesesteak and a roast pork sandwich at the Phillies game, and of course, went to K’Far for breakfast. The warm, glistening Jerusalem bagels stuffed with buttery salmon and cheesy scrambled eggs were a crispy, stretchy, savory delight, but what really blew my mind was the pistachio sticky bun. I’ve never sunk my teeth into a softer, more pillowy yeasted dough, and the pistachio-studded caramel was wonderfully salty and yes, sticky. If you ever find yourself in Philly, make a beeline for K’Far.
Welcome back!! I've missed recipe ideas for the week that feel as it they were designed just for me - someone who loves to cook but hates cooking but is a huge nerd about it and loves to laugh all at the same time!
OMG GET THE DOSAS AT ADYAR ANANDA BHAVAN - they’re amazing