A peek at The Fresh Letter Menu
Hi there! Thank you so much for subscribing to The Fresh Letter. As a little token of my appreciation, I’m sharing a peek at the Friday newsletter, which I’ve dubbed The Fresh Letter Menu.
You can read more about this resource here, but in short, every Friday, I carefully curate a selection of recipes that come together to create a cohesive weekly meal plan. I share helpful tips and thoughts alongside each recipe to make cooking them a breeze. Everything is meal prep-friendly, so cook as much or as little as you’d like from it and as far in advance as 4-5 days before you plan to eat it. If this seems like it might be helpful, you can (for $1 a week!):
For this edition of The Fresh Letter Menu, I focused on little swaps, omissions, and shortcuts you can take to make each recipe I’ve shared a bit easier without sacrificing much in terms of flavor. In honor of Lunar New Year, tomorrow’s meal plan highlights some of my favorite Asian and Asian-American recipe writers. Upgrade to receive that and all future meal plan emails! Or maybe give it as a gift to a foodie Val-or-Gal-entine. Now, let’s get into it:
Main Dishes
Turkey and Ricotta Meatballs (GF) I’ve made this Julia Turshen dish a number of times and it’s always been a slam dunk. It’s fairly low lift but if you’d like to make it a true breeze, I recommend picking up a jar of your favorite marinara sauce and skipping the homemade sauce all together.
White Bean and Kale Soup with Sausage (GF, VO) This soup works great on a menu with the kale salad below because both only call for a partial bunch, so together, you’ll buy a single bunch and use it up, instead of being left with a sad half bunch that wilts in the fridge. Prep the kale for both all at once, even if you plan to make the soup one night and the salad a few nights later or vice versa. Kale holds up chopped in the fridge for many days. Sub with plant-based sausage for a vegan version.
Vegan Kale Caesar Salad with Garlicky Chickpeas (GF, V) The built-in protein in the form of chickpeas makes this salad main dish-appropriate, and the dressing from the lovely Remy of Veggiekins is also an I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-dairy revelation. My notes: when making kale salads, I always remove the entire stalk rather than just the bottom as called for in this recipe. If you have one, pulsing kale in a food processor a couple times is a really quick way to chop it and make it easier to digest. As with all cruciferous veggie-based salads, feel free to pre-dress this and store it until you plan to eat it. The longer it marinates, the better.
Side Dishes
Miso Roasted Cauliflower (GF, V) I wrote this recipe and think it’s extremely straightforward. My guidance here is on multitasking: first, get the oven preheating, then do the prep for the cauliflower and pop it into the oven. While it roasts, start working on something else. Seems like a no-brainer, but I promise, consistently following this order of operations with roasted veggies will help get dinner on the table so much faster.
Massaged Winter Brussels Sprout Salad (GF, V) I think this salad is gorgeous as is, but if it feels a little ambitious for you (no judgment!), here are the ways I would simplify it without losing much of the flavor: opt for store-bought toasted or candied nuts, and sub the segmented oranges with canned mandarins. Since roasting the grapes will lend a lot of depth of flavor and is as easy as popping them in the oven, don’t skip that. The salad won’t be exactly the same, but you’ll get close. I also think this would be stupendous with a little crumbled feta if you eat dairy.
Sweet Potatoes with Tahini Butter (GF, Veg) Since we have the oven in play with a few of the other recipes here, I’ve opted to include a steamed, rather than roasted sweet potato recipe. There’s not a whole lot I’d change about this recipe, though you can definitely get away with omitting the toasted sesame seeds. They do add a nice crunch so you can also opt to buy them pre-toasted. Find these in the unfortunately vaguely named “international” aisle of your local market or from H-Mart or another Asian grocer.
Bonus! For this week’s menu, I also recommend picking up a good crusty bread from a local bakery (we’ve been really into the sourdough bread from Austin’s Easy Tiger) because it’ll make creating a full meal out of the soup and meatballs a breeze. Bake it yourself if you’re feeling extra ambitious. If you don’t think you’re going to get through it within a couple days, slice it and pop it in the freezer so you can pull out a slice-or-two to toast as needed.
Suggested Pairings
Turkey and Ricotta Meatballs with Massaged Winter Brussels Sprouts Salad and some crusty bread
White Bean and Kale Soup with Miso Roasted Cauliflower (but honestly, you could get away with just crusty bread here)
That’s a wrap on this week’s menu. If you liked what you read here and think this resource could be useful to you, upgrade your subscription here.
With love and a tip of my chef’s hat,
Erica
Want more? I’m so flattered! You can also follow me on Instagram or check out my blog where you can find my tip-laden e-book collection.