As peak one-pot season draws near once again, it’s the perfect time to celebrate not only those cozy, soul-warming dishes, but the vessels that contain them: the sturdy cast-iron Dutch oven, the gleaming stainless-steel soup pot and the earthy donabe, a traditional Japanese clay pot, to name a few. All can be used to bubble up a plethora of savory meals. What’s more, these champions of coziness are often interchangeable. So feel free to pull out your Dutch oven or soup pot to cook Kay Chun’s chicken and vegetable donabe.
This soothing mix of napa cabbage, daikon, mushrooms and boneless chicken is mild on its own, then gets a zippy boost from a drizzle of ponzu and an optional spike of yuzu kosho. Kay uses chicken thighs for their deep flavor, but feel free to substitute boneless, skinless breasts. Just watch them closely so they don’t overcook.
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Chicken and Vegetable Donabe
Of course, you could also use your soup pot to make, you know, soup. As a red lentil superfan, I’ve got my eye on Ifrah F. Ahmed’s new recipe for maraq misir, a fragrant Somali soup buzzing with xawaash and a mix of cumin, cinnamon, clove and other warm spices that give big autumnal vibes, and right on time.
You know what else feels autumnal? Pasta in a heady cream sauce, tinted bronze with fried onions, chopped roasted chicken skin and a dollop of Dijon mustard. Christian Reynoso’s rotisserie chicken and greens pasta happens to be exactly that, with a handful of baby kale or spinach thrown in for color and a dose of other healthful vegetables, along with garlic and lemon juice for their inimitable sparkle.
Early autumn is also party time at the farmers’ market. The last of summer’s eggplants, peppers and zucchini are still looking bright and fresh, when who should arrive but fall’s new apples, broccoli and cabbage. Pack your tote with the glories of two seasons and let’s go!
Use the cabbage to make Ali Slagle’s miso-mustard salmon, in which the chopped green brassica is charred in a skillet and then topped with the seasoned fish fillets before roasting. More of the miso-mustard mixture is dabbed on top as a thick and savory sauce.
Then let that eggplant live its best life in Sue Li’s vegan zha jiang mian, a quintessential Chinese pantry noodle dish. Classic recipes call for pork belly, but by substituting sautéed eggplant and crumbled tofu, the dish gains a silky sweetness to contrast with the springy udon noodles and salty, fermented soybean paste. Mung beans and sliced cucumbers are the usual accompaniments, but other crunchy vegetables like romaine lettuce, shredded carrots or even some of the cabbage left over from Ali’s mustard-miso salmon would work beautifully, too.
While we’re overbuying at the farmers’ market, let’s not forget to pick up some new-crop apples, which are at their crisp and tangy zenith right now. Naturally you could bake them into a pie, but Genevieve Ko’s apple pie bars have all of the syrupy, buttery sumptuousness while requiring about half the work. Go ahead and serve them à la mode, letting the ice cream melt into a custardy sauce that soaks into the cookie-like crust.
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That’s all for now. I’ll see you on Wednesday.
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