Did I do this ok?

And if not - here have some biscuits!

***A longer newsletter today, but you can find the bonus recipe at the bottom if that’s more your jam!

I’ll never forget the time a book agent (not my current one, thankfully) said to me on a call, “well…just hire a writer, and then hire a recipe developer, and you’ll just be sitting on a boatload of money.”

It was 2021, and I was telling this agent that I simply didn’t feel ready to write a book. I was still flexing my cooking muscles (something I believe we all do in perpetuity), and writing a book to share thoughtful recipes, let alone teach anything, felt nearly impossible. Yet in every meeting I was hearing:

“You have an audience! You have a platform! The next step is a book!”

And I’m gonna go there: You would be shocked at how many public figures “write” a cookbook, but don’t have a huge hand in the actual WRITING of their book. (I still like to believe Snoop Dogg tested his own potatoes, though). I’ve had friends write cookbooks top to bottom for someone, all to have their name buried halfway down the Acknowledgements. It’s a business! And if I wanted to write a book where I didn’t test the recipes, didn’t write the sidebars, or where I wasn’t present for the photoshoot, I totally could have.

And in 2021, that’s what a few people were trying to get me to do. Put my name on a book, take the payout, sell the copies. And all I could hear in my head during this call with this agent was:

“We know you can’t really write a book, but we’d still like to make this money from you.”

And as a perpetual people-pleaser, I thought if I pitched a book idea that was sparkly enough, maybe they’d change their minds. Maybe they’d actually believe in me. This is a good time to note that you should not pitch a cookbook from a place of insecurity. You should also only work with people who believe in you.

After that meeting I pitched a half-hearted book on snacks. And the pitch was really, really bad. Mostly because, how was I supposed to write a book where I couldn’t include Baked Salads? Where I couldn’t write about all the grain bowls and tofu I wanted to be eating? It wasn’t a book I wanted to write, and it wasn’t a book that needed to be in the world. So I took a hard pause.

The best advice I’ve ever gotten: Don’t rush your timeline.

A year later, an idea for a cookbook (this book!) hit me. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had ditched the voices around me that were pressuring me to write a book, and over that year I had used my time to find and align with what cooking meant to me. How it saved me, and why I valued it so much: Cooking was simply how I built my sense of home.

Writing this book was easy, because I knew why it was supposed to be in the world. Repeatable, transformable and adaptable recipes that are wholesome, inventive, and designed to help you build out your kitchen and round out your skillsets. A book worth cooking through (I promise!).

I also tested every dam* recipe and suffered over every dam* headnote so I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM.

All that to say: this week has been an emotional one. Launching the book (which I know all of you haven’t pre-ordered, so if you are still waffling, join us and pre-order!), was big, and I’ll still never feel like I did it fully “right.”

But maybe that’s just me rushing my timeline, no? We still have six months to go!

But as a book preview (and a general THANK YOU), here’s a recipe from the book!

Hominy Biscuits & Hot Tomato Spread

You’ve probably seen this image a million times, but that’s because it’s my favorite in the book! Make sure your butter doesn’t get too warm and that you have enough baking powder, otherwise you won’t get these poofy, flaky, crusty layers on your biscuits.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE HOMINY BISCUITS

16 tablespoons / 226g salted butter, chilled

2 cups / 280g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 cup / 140g white corn masa harina or white cornmeal, plusmore for dusting

¼ cup / 50g sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

Diamond Crystal kosher salt

1⅓ cups / 300ml cold buttermilk, plus more for brushing

FOR THE HOT TOMATO SPREAD

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound (1 pint) cherry tomatoes, halved

1 Fresno pepper, seeded andfinely chopped

¼ cup fresh basil leaves

2 garlic cloves, grated

Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

METHOD

1. Make the hominy biscuits: Either grate the butter with a cheese grater or cut it into small cubes; chill in the freezer while you prep the other ingredients.

2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and 2 teaspoons salt. Add the butter into the flour, tossing to coat each butter piece in flour, and flattening any big butter chunks as you go. When the butter is incorporated, slowly pour the buttermilk around the edge of the dough, and use a fork to combine into a crumbly dough. Transfer the dough onto a clean (preferably cold) work surface. Using your hands, press the dough together. Fold it in half, then press down. Dust the top with cornmeal, rotate 90 degrees and repeat the fold again. You’ll begin to see the dough start to come together. Rotate and repeat one more time.

4. From there, pat the dough into a rough rectangle that is 1½ inches high.

5. Cut the dough into nine square biscuits. Transfer them to the lined pan and chill in the fridge while the oven preheats.

6. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 375°F.

7. Before baking, brush each biscuit with a layer of buttermilk. Bake until golden, 25 to 30 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, make the tomato spread: Set a small pan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Let the oil heat up for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes and Fresno peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes to allow the tomatoes to break down.

9. Add the basil and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes burst and are jammy, an additional 6 to 9 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and a few cracks of black pepper. When the tomatoes are fully collapsed, turn off the heat. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar and stir in the brown sugar. Set aside. The mixture will thicken into a chunky, almost spreadable jam.

10. When the biscuits are out of the oven, serve alongside the tomato spread.

    

And that’s it for this week! But also….here’s another picture from the book because I just can’t help myself.

Back to regular programming next week!

Xoxo,

Justine _Cooks