midweek gems #5

NEW PTFS chats, vegetable charring tools, affordable wine tip, pastabilities

Hello! Hello! Hello!

As I type this, my fingers are emitting the aroma of smoky sweet Hatch chiles. Or, am I smelling that in my hair? More on that in one of this week’s gems. First up is something that I hope will enable us to share more . . .

💎 Community: PTFS chats

There’s a function on Substack that lets us informally connect — have chats at the watering hole or water cooler, depending on your beverage choice and the time of day. Some of you use the chats to communicate with me and others folks. I’d like to make better use of the chat function because it allows you to ask questions, share tips, and/or post photos of food you’ve made from my recipes — whether they’re from PTFS, my books, or website.

In the PTFS post comments, you can only share text. The chat threads are easy going and you can hop in and out as you like. Please note:

1. Paid subscribers will be able to start new threads (so go ahead and initiate them!).

2. Everyone (free and paid subscribers) can respond to the threads.

I like having your reactions to the newsletter in the dispatches themselves, but it may not work for all of you. Or, it may not be enough for you. So, feel free to communicate via the Substack chat!

To get us going, I started at chat thread about a sensational kale shira aé salad that I made a couple days ago. Weigh in on the idea here.

💎 Tools: Vegetable Charring Options

Many of you have tips and tools for charring vegetables. I took your suggestions and gathered a number of tools to test drive. These product and method experiments have been going on for a while. At one point last week, my stove looked like this:

I evaluated a total of five (5) options and wrote them up on the website for your consideration. A number of tools were not designed to be used the way I used them but heck, I’m into a little MacGyvering, arent’ you? Check out the vegetable charring tools here. I was surprised at which one I liked the most.

💎 Treats: Wine + snack time

On a recent evening I charred and peeled the red bell pepper pictured above to make a wine time snack for us — red pepper, goat cheese and herb rolls! I used Thai basil and Vietnamese shiso instead of Italian basil and made small rolls for easy to eat one-biters. That explains why the rolls are impaled on toothpicks.

To drink with the snacks? An affordable Pouilly Fume (sauvignon blanc from the Loire) that drinks like a $30 bottle but costs less than $20 at Trader Joe’s. Vignobles Lacheteau bottles are usually tucked away in the French section at TJ. It’s cheery and quaffable.

💎 Listens: Pasta Possibilities

Funny things happen on podcasts. No matter how much I prepare in advance for an interview, there’s always something surprising. Dan Pashman invited me and

Andrew Janjigian

to discuss our recipes and inspiration for Dan’s fun debut cookbook, Anything’s Pastable. I contributed a recipe for mapo tofu Casatelli, a pasta shape that Dan created. I’ve known Dan for years and he interviewed me when Ever-Green Vietnamese released. He’s talked with many celebrities over the years on his award-winning podcast.

I wondered why he’d taken such a shine to me. I write cookbooks. He’s an eater, not a recipe writer. I got my answer when we spoke for the Sporkful episode that dropped this week.

This coming Sunday’s Special focuses on my travels to Vietnam this year. I know some of you have traveled there or are planning to visit.