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small pasta (orzo, ditalini, star pasta, or even alphabet noodles or couscous)

tinned smoked fatty fish (we use a lot of Trader Joe’s lightly smoked salmon or trout, but it’s also good with leftover cold-smoked salmon, whitefish, or whatever you’ve got)

big handful of greens (arugula and pea shoots are my favorite, but wilted baby spinach or blanched nettles or even chard also work)

Herbaceous accent (fresh dill is my go-to, but any kind of pesto mixed in or even just some scallion or chive works)

Citrus (I use preserved lemon or yuzu kosho because I am a fancy boy who has homemade versions in my fridge that I always try to use up, but a squeeze of lemon will do you fine)

Hot pepper (I use TJ’s Calabrian chili bomba sauce, but regular cayenne, urfa biber, gochugaru, or plain red pepper flakes work great)

1: a person wears layered necklaces of black, white, purple, and green shelled beans along with a white collared shirt, unbuttoned into a v neck.

2: topdown photo of bowls of beans in their pods, various colors fo green, pink, purple, and white.

3: a purse over a person's arm, made of long purple-green beanpods partly open to show the beans inside. the strap is white beans strung onto string.

Hachiya Persimmon Salsa

The Maple Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts That Can Defeat Any Evil.

the original version of this recipe is from unpeeled journal, but I'm writing this out on my blog my way bc it's the season of the brussels sprout. take my hand let's go to brussels sprout world.

for the sprouts:

2 lbs brussels sprouts

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

24 turns of freshly cracked black pepper

for the vinaigrette:

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp cider vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp whole-grain mustard

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

3 tbsp pomegranate seeds (measure with your heart)

preheat the oven to 420°F. halve all your sprouts and remove any stumps or outer leaves that don't look particularly edible. (if eating-quality leaves fall off, you can just roast them along with the rest for extra crunch.) toss them with the olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread them on a half sheet pan, and roast for 20-25 minutes without stirring or turning. I like to do a quite hot oven and a quick roast for an extra crisp sprout, but ymmv.

meanwhile, chuck everything else but the parsley and pomegranate seeds in a bowl and whisk them together. if you do this towards the beginning of the roast, make sure to whisk again later because it'll start to separate quite quickly.

chop up your parsley into fine confetti. my favorite trick for this is to put the parsley in a cup and snip it violently with kitchen scissors a few leaves at a time, since this helps it stay light and fluffy.

sprouts should be done now, so transfer those over to a serving bowl, pour the vinaigrette over top, and toss with the parsley and pomegranate. eat right away, but in the event of leftovers, these are still really good fridge-cold.