Broccoli-guacamole with spiced corn and black beans
makes 'broccamole'?
Choy Love Club is the paid subscriber area of To Vegetables, With Love…Everyone (free and paid) will see a preview of this newsletter but only paid subscribers will see the recipes. As always, thank you for being here.
A special shout out this week tofor making the trip to Darien, Connecticut to interview me Barrett Bookstore. It was a delightful event - thank you to the bookstore team for cooking up dishes from Tenderheart and to everyone for coming to see me. Now onto a dip for dinner.
There is always a period of adjustment in the kitchen after I come back from a trip or vacation. I have to re-learn my daily habits, re-establish the rhythm of cooking everyday, re-stock the fridge with the ingredients that I like to cook with. I must wait for the inspiration to return. It is odd to think that just two weeks away from the kitchen upends the fluidity that I usually possess in the kitchen.
I get separation anxiety when I am away from my kitchen. I miss the control that I have when I am in the kitchen. Who am I if I can’t cook and feed?
But breaks from the kitchen can also be regenerative. It is a time for my creativity to reset. Distance and space always makes my love deepen.
When I got home this week, I craved vegetables. A common return-from-traveling pining. There was broccoli in the fridge, and some corn that needed to be eaten. I had picked up two perfectly ripe avocados from the local supermarket. I thought of combining the broccoli with the avocado and then smiled at the possibility of the mash-up term broccamole. That’s fun, I’ll give that a go. The result was a really hearty version of guac, very textural and satisfying. I topped it with spiced corn and black beans, so I could call this dip dinner. The recipe is below.
The great thing about being on tour is meeting home cooks. The other great thing is being able to sign lots of books so you can get autographed copies. Signed copies of Tenderheart are currently available from:
Kitchen Arts and Letters
Omnivore Books
Bold Fork Books (request)
Books Are Magic (request)
Now Serving LA
Vivienne PDX (request)
Leave a review for Tenderheart on Amazon here
For those who don’t yet own Tenderheart, here are some things you may not already know:
There is a photo for every recipe (as a visual person, I rarely try recipes without a photo). I cooked and photographed every recipe.
At 528 pages, it’s big and glossy. BUT still incredibly user friendly. My publishers have ensured that the book lays flat on the kitchen counter for easy cooking - without the need for cans or jars or rolling pins to hold the pages down!
Some ask about the percentage of vegan and gluten free recipes. I would say it’s close to 85% vegan. There are veganizations throughout the book too. And it is mostly gluten free or for those recipes that are not, I have substitution ideas.
The authorized version of US Tenderheart is hardcover and perfect bound. The spiral bound copy on Amazon is unauthorized - please do not purchase it. Only purchase the hardcover by AA Knopf or Plum Books/Pan Macmillan Australia.
This week
Listen (or read) to my interview with Evan Kleiman. I’ve been a listener of Evan’s and KCRW for a long time so it was an honor to be on the show.
Cook a salad. Or two. Last week installment from my The Washington Post Voraciously Plant Powered II newsletter was all about my favourite subject - salads. And I not only shared a flowchart of how to create a perfect hearty salad (from my book Community), but I also shared two new vegan salad recipes. This Miso-Eggplant and Rice Noodle Salad and this sunny Zucchini and Quinoa Salad With Za'atar and Herb Oil. Both are excellent for feeding a crowd and for picnics. Keep them in your back pocket for summer celebrations.
Watch Past Lives, a beautiful, aching story about love, longing, and the complex layers of loss experienced by immigrants. For me, it also redefines what an American movie is. It is the story told through the eyes of a Korean-American, but it is not limited to being a story about the Asian American experience. It is simply a human story. An important distinction.