What’s your Welcome Home Meal? You know, the dish you use to greet someone after a long day of travel or a long time away? Do you tailor the Welcome Home Meal for each person based on favorites and preferences, or is there a time-honored go-to that guests can expect when they grace your doorstep?
(A Welcome Home Meal does not have to be something you make. It can be a fridge full of leftovers, ready to be raided after a delayed flight or an overheated bus, or a snack drawer that’s been replenished and is bursting with Trader Joe’s best.)
Ours is chili. I tend to make it well before the landing time of my expected loved one, so that the flavors have hours to mingle and deepen on the stove. With the rice cooker keeping the cooked rice nice and warm (we always have our chili with rice), all I have to do is grate some Cheddar and slice some scallions once everyone’s settled. My husband made Pierre Franey’s turkey chili this past weekend to welcome me home from New York; I think I’ll use Lidey Heuck’s white chicken chili to say hey to my family when they arrive from San Francisco.
Featured Recipe
White Chicken Chili
I could see Kay Chun’s soy-glazed salmon hand rolls being an excellent Welcome Home Meal, the sort of nourishing, light yet satisfying meal that hits hard after a wearying day of overpriced airport sandwiches and teensy pretzel packs. As you might expect, the reader comments are full of great suggestions: Add sriracha mayo; sprinkle the salmon with sesame seeds or furikake; swap the fish for air-fryer tofu.
Maybe you’d like to roll out the culinary red carpet? This pepper-crusted flank steak from David Tanis is simple yet stunning, perfect paired with Dan Pelosi’s green beans almondine. The flank steak can be served room temperature — perfect for train delays — but the green beans you’ll want to serve hot. Not a problem: Your guest can crack open a bottle of red and help themself to Ali Slagle’s ginger-scallion squiggles while you get on with the beans.
(Because it’s not the holidays without puff pastry: Here are 17 easy puff pastry appetizers for a great party.)
Whatever your Welcome Home Meal may be, I think some sort of warm, gooey dessert is a great way to say “I’m happy you’re here.” Yotam Ottolenghi’s sticky date and pecan pudding is the decadent melding of a classic sticky toffee pudding and a self-saucing pudding; you can assemble it ahead of time and pop it in the oven when you’re ready. (Not for nothing, I would absolutely serve leftovers for breakfast the next morning, reheated and served with a hefty swoop of Greek yogurt.)
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