Cooking for Fun is SO BACK!

With a new recipe for NYT Cooking!

Hello and happy Saturday! I am writing this from an allegedly jet-lagged state (I pretend jet lag is a state of mind, so I’m still in denial that I’m tired), so the timing of this newsletter is arguably a bad idea. But so much has happened in the last two weeks! There’s so much to cook, so many spring recipes to eat - it would be a disservice to wait until my body is in the correct time zone to write this.

If there are any typos, you can blame Iberia Airlines, if there are any questions you have or recipes you want for spring, you can pop them in the comments. It’s good to be home.

The first episode of Cooking for Fun since November. We! are! so! back!

This time it’s with Salmon with Farro and Snap Peas for NYT Cooking! It’s a quick recipe, and exceptionally streamlined.

I tried to take your standard grains-and-greens bowl and make it more interesting, more fresh, but still packed with what you need for a dinner to feel satiating. I call this my: “what to cook when mentally it feels like spring, but it still is a little chilly.”

This recipe uses Greek yogurt to make herby, snap-pea-filled farro taste similar to a springtime gratin, except it’s remarkably healthy. There’s a bit of blanching and boiling involved, but it’s all worth it for some pretty phenomenal leftovers.

You can get the full recipe in the gift link here!

To tell you about Spain. All of it. If you missed it, I just spent 11 days in Spain with Lonely Planet Journeys, a company who I’ve worked with in the past (you can book my Chile itinerary here!) that curates boutique travel itineraries for more off-the-beaten-path types of travelers.

They did not pay me anything, just hosted me on this trip with their team to learn more about Northern Spain. We spanned from Barcelona to San Sebastián (the full itinerary is here), and I don’t think I’ve ever had a trip where I’ve experienced a bigger array of adventure, food, people and connection. It deserves a full newsletter, because from oyster farms in Ebro Delta, canyoning in Aragon, to hunting down pintxos in the streets of Bilbao, to snowshoeing in Ordesa (AGAIN), it’s too much for just this section.

If you’re the kind of traveler who loves to really dig into a city instead of just check off the main sights, or someone who doesn’t have a ton of time to plan trips but still wants to go to more ambitious places, I really love LP Journeys and wholeheartedly recommend them. You can choose wherever you want to go in the world, say what you are interested in (food, architecture, hot springs, anything!) and they can help shape the best trip and resources for you. Again, not sponsored, but you can use my link to build an itinerary here.

Again, we will have to revisit, because going from Catalonia to the Basque Country covers a lot of ground! I will say my favorite pintxos spot hands-down was El Globo in Bilbao. Of course, this is the one I took zero pictures of, so you’ll just have to trust me.

(I also firmly believe that good bar and restaurant lighting is not conducive to good photos, and honestly, shouldn’t be).

Whenever I go on a trip, I like to have a bunch of content pre-prepped for you. It’s my work, and I love my work. Here’s what I posted while I was gone!

Carrot Top Hot Sauce - maybe not our prettiest recipe, but by far my most useful. I love a good carrot top pesto or to throw them in soups, but sometimes it’s nice to have something a bit different (that also lasts forever).

Mushroom Steaks over Polenta - This was another old recipe that I revisited for some small (delicious) improvements. It’s just as filling as it always was, and is very simple for the result you get.

Toasted Sugar Banana Bread - there will definitely be some spring desserts coming your way these next weeks, but I love to start with a classic brown butter-y situation. This one is a riff on my most popular banana bread, but with a toasted sugar blend and a buttercream that’s designed to melt. Delicious.

Like everyone else, the Noma + René Redzepi allegations that have torn through the food world, especially the differing reactions between the LA/USA and his hub city of Copenhagen. To me, his stepping down felt like the simple and correct answer. But in the F&B world it feels like suffering, abuse, and sacrifice are nearly glamorized, so I’m curious about the fallout to the rest of his enterprise. It’s not just one person who is impacted from things like this.

PHEW, okay - did that feel jet-lagged to you? It did to me. Look out for a more fleshed-out travel guide next week. I’m excited to build it out!

In the meantime, enjoy this glorious weekend.

Xoxo,

Justine