Special feature: New ways with ingredients we love
Stories from fellow renowned cooking experts
Hello dear readers, and welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage! I have a very special post to share with you today. I’ve asked some extraordinary women who live, eat, and breathe food as much as I do, to share a favorite ingredient and why it holds such a prized place in their kitchens.
As we wind the year down - and brace for the cooking feats of the holidays - I wanted to share today’s post with all subscribers, thinking that one of these perspectives might bring that a-ha moment you’ve needed as you begin to consider holiday fodder. Thanks so much if you can upgrade to paid. Your support directly helps me to consistently create meaningful content here. As a supporter, you’ll receive two additional newsletters each month that delve deeper into my process, with additional behind the scenes and more zesty recipes.
When I wrote each of these experts I had no idea what to anticipate, and what I received back delighted me. Partially because I didn’t expect these ingredients. To be honest I was a blank slate, so I had no expectations. And partially, because they helped me see these ingredients in a new light. I hope this collection - and how each of these talented women loves using them - brings inspiration to your own kitchen.
Giulia Scarpaleggia and I have been liking (read: loving) each others’ food on Instagram for easily ten years… Her cucina povera approach to food is one that has long resonated with me, an approach that always looks to extract the most out of simple, humble, ingredients. Giulia is is a Tuscan-born food writer, cookbook author, and cooking teacher. Since 2009, she has shared her passion for traditional and seasonal Tuscan cuisine through her blog Juls’ Kitchen, alongside her husband and photographer, Tommaso Galli. Author of several cookbooks that celebrate the simplicity of Italian cuisine, she also teaches cooking classes in her countryside studio, and has been featured at BBC Good Food, Saveur, Bake from Scratch, and Food52. She’s also on Substack! Click here to read and subscribe to her newsletter. She and Tommaso live in Tuscany with their daughter, Livia, and two rescue dogs.
Here’s what Giulia says of one of her favorite ingredients…
Born and bred in Tuscany, my favorite ingredient has to be extra virgin olive oil. A top-quality bottle of this golden elixir is still one of my favorite gifts, to make and receive. I always keep at least two bottles in my pantry: one for everyday cooking and a special one reserved for finishing and seasoning dishes.
For cooking, I use high-quality, 100% Italian, often organic extra virgin olive oil. It’s versatile and reliable, perfect for braising, baking, or even frying—yes, you can fry with extra virgin olive oil! It withstands high temperatures, making it a staple for everyday culinary needs.
Alongside that, I always keep a bottle of excellent extra virgin olive oil for finishing: it might be one of the few bottles we press every year from the olives of our olive grove or that of a trusted local producer from Tuscany or another region of Italy.
When buying extra virgin olive oil, remember that it is not like wine: don’t keep it for special occasions, it doesn’t age gracefully.
Another accomplished woman in food, I always love seeing what Anna Kovel is up to. Her home is her workshop, just like mine, and her kitchen always has things bubbling away on the stove or in the oven. Her devotion to seasonal cooking has been deepened by living and working in Boston, New York, Berkeley, Paris, Rome, and the Irish countryside. She is a writer, food stylist, and recipe developer, and she is often a force behind-the-scenes, gently teasing out nuance: amongst other things, she co-wrote the recent cookbook Via Carota, A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking, from the famed Greenwich Village restaurant. She always has something poignant to share, and she’s recently joined Substack - find her newsletter right here.
Her background as a restaurant chef and as a food editor for Martha Stewart Living inform her work; her life as a home cook keeps her grounded in reality. Anna lives in Brooklyn, NY and the Hudson Valley.
Here’s what Anna has to share….
As a kid, spaghetti with tomato sauce was my favorite dinner, and when I was twelve years old, I asked my mother to teach me how to make it for myself. I inhaled the scent of oregano as I stirred it into the pot, and I fell in love with its sharp, Mediterranean accent. I was eager to use my new discovery wherever I thought a dash of extra seasoning was needed: in a bowl of vegetable soup at lunch, and my scrambled eggs at breakfast. I’ve become more sensible as I’ve grown up, but I still reach for the oregano on a regular basis.
I find oregano adds an uplifting note to a pot of earthy black beans, and I always stir it into my chili. To me, it’s indispensable in a Greek salad, along with red wine vinegar, good olive oil, and Kalamata olives. Of course, I still add oregano to tomato sauce, but also to yellow cherry tomatoes as they burst into a pan of olive oil with sliced garlic, black olives and basil, for tossing into pasta. And I play with the herb in other ways, mixing it with sumac and onions in a meatball seasoning, using it to season the breadcrumbs that coat eggplant for my parmigiana, and mixing it into a garlicky butter to melt onto broiled clams.
I much prefer the dried oregano that is sold in a bunch, like a bouquet. I look for it at Italian, Greek, or Middle Eastern specialty shops, and I store it in a tall jar, to catch the loose leaves.
I cannot remember how Susan Spungen and I originally met, but her food sensibility has always spoken to me: fresh, dynamic, and bright. On a perfect summer day some years ago, I visited her airy Amagansett home and there, we made a point of stopping at her favorite farm stand, then cooked and photographed a delicious brunch together from the bounty.
Susan Spungen is a cook, food stylist, recipe developer, and author. She was the founding food editor and editorial director for food at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She was also the culinary consultant and food stylist on the films Julie & Julia, It’s Complicated, and Eat, Pray, Love. Susan is the author of multiple books, and she writes a newsletter here on Substack. Find it here! Susan lives in New York City and East Hampton, NY.
Here’s Susan’s hot take, perfect to incorporate right now…
Most of the year, I pass by the hard pears that are always in the supermarket. You know, the ones that never seem to ripen no matter how long you leave them on the countertop? But in the fall, when pears are truly in season, it’s a different story.
The first ones to arrive are the petite Seckels. These are best eaten out of hand — they're too small and fussy to bake with — although they’d be fine sliced into a salad. More often than not, they are sweet as nectar, and juicy as can be. They are ripe and ready to eat before they seem so. They won’t be soft, exactly, but if you press firmly just next to the stem, they should yield slightly.
Later in the season, the fat and juicy Comice pear comes along. It is necessary to eat a Comice pear over the sink, and certainly not in public. Although I did that once with my good friend Claudia Fleming after shopping at the organic market on Boulevard Raspail in Paris. Luckily it was a quiet Sunday morning and no one saw us standing on a corner with pear juice dripping down our forearms. I think it’s safe to say that was the best pear I ever had.
There are other heirloom varieties I seek out this time of year too. Although all of the images seen here are for sweets, pears go just as well with savory ingredients, like a runny stinky (I mean that in the best way) cheese, or just about any salad you can think of. I especially like the aforementioned Comice in a salad of bitter green like large-leaf arugula (the really bitter kind) and some shavings of pecorino. Or try throwing some firm pears onto your sheet pan with roasted veggies. Brussels sprouts come to mind as a good partner. Excuse me while I run out to the farmer’s market!
Maya Kaimal and I are members of an informal mutual admiration society. For years, I only knew of her delicious food brand, named after her. Then one day, Jim and I were commissioned to shoot packaging for a new line, to be sold at Costco locations around the country. Through a series of shoots and some years later, we now gather and eat at a women-in-food cookbook club, catching each other up on the latest goings-on, and it is truly the best.
Maya Kaimal is an award-winning Indian cookbook author, former photo editor of Saveur, and founder of Maya Kaimal Foods. She grew up in Boston with a South Indian father and American mother - both avid cooks. Family trips to India helped her fall in love with the food, culture, and colors of India. Her desire to share that love with as many people as possible inspired her to write cookbooks and start her namesake company.
Here’s what Maya has to say…
I can’t imagine life without fresh ginger! I crave its warm woody flavor and its gentle but unmistakable bite.
It’s often lumped together with garlic and onion as an “aromatic” ingredient in Indian food, but I think it belongs with hot chilies and black pepper as part of the pungent backbone of South Asian cooking.
I love it with vegetables, in yogurt, with fish, and in all my meat curries all the time. It’s beautifully versatile and plays well in both savory and sweet dishes. I add fresh ginger to my gingersnaps and gingerbread to give them extra depth. And when I don’t feel good, it soothes my belly in the form of ginger tea.
What more could you ask of an ingredient?
I’d love to hear in the comments, did any of these surprise or inspire you? I’ve got a hunch you’re going to be seeing some upcoming recipes that take cues from these foods. And as an aside, I love that reaching out to each of these wonderful women for a fun collaboration brought new ideas into my own world. Win-win all around. Pretty excited to see what winter recipes come of this exploration… ;)
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This is wonderful! Generous and filled with true love of good ingredients. Theee cheers all around, to all of my colleagues, and thank you Melina, most of all.
So many of my favorite ladies! What a joy to read!